Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/324

306 INDIAN WARS OF OREGON. bones were pointed out by the Indians to curious investigators of Indian history. Wright seems to have had enemies or rivals who strove to dim his popularity by a story of poisoning the Indians invited to a council. The tale had little to recommend it to belief had it never been denied by the most prominent citizens of Yreka, who were members of his company. It was seized upon by the regular army and reported by General Wool as a fact, the stigma of which is hardly yet removed from his name. Yet the story disproves itself, for he is represented as purchasing the strychnine for a feast to the Indians at the time he was in Yreka with the purpose of procuring boats to pursue them into their hiding places with arms. It was long after the failure of this attempt that a council was pro posed with a specific purpose as above related, and although beef was given the Indians, as is the custom of treaty makers, it was the same as that eaten by the company, if we may trust the word of honorable men who were partakers.

Says Tolman, who was well informed concerning these events, "If the Modocs had not been confident of getting the advantage, they would never have left their cave." He further says that Wright's boy had betrayed him, and the Modocs had come prepared to fight, and that had he wavered for a moment his own life and that of all his company would have paid for his indecision.

Oregon had been organized into a territory of the United States for over four years, and was still fighting her own battles. But in September of this year there arrived at Vancouver the skeleton of the fourth United States infantry, consisting of two hundred and sixty-eight men, rank and file, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bonneville. The regiment had been decimated by sickness on the Isthmus, and was still unfit for service had not the season been too late to do more than arrange their quarters for the winter. The following chapter will show the value of their arms.