Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/211

Rh found a settlement on the southern coast which would enable them to avoid the bar of the Umpqua.

The place selected was on a small bay about eight miles south of Cape Blanco, and a little south of Point Orford. Orders were issued to Captain Tichenor of the Seagull, which was running to Portland, to put in at this place, previously visited by him, and there leave a small colony of settlers, who were to examine the country for a road into the interior. Accordingly in June 1851 the Seagull stopped at Port Orford, as it was named, and left there nine men, commanded by J. M. Kirkpatrick, with the necessary stores and arms. A four-pounder was placed in position on the top of a high rock with one side sloping to the sea, and which at high tide became an island by the united waters of the ocean and a small creek which flowed by its base.

While the steamer remained in port, the Indians, of whom there were many in the neighborhood, appeared friendly. But on the second day after her departure, about forty of them held a war-dance, during which their numbers were constantly augmented by arrivals from the heavily wooded and hilly country back from the shore. When a considerable force was gathered the chief ordered an advance on the fortified