Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/420

402 general rendezvous was ordered at the mouth of the Illinois River, where Palmer was to meet in council the Indians who were being pursued by the volunteers, and lead them to the reservation on the coast west of the Willamette Valley. Smith moved from Fort Lane about the 13th of April, a few days earlier than the volunteer army began its march on The Meadows.

On the 27th the two battalions were ready to attack. A reconnoissance by General Lamerick in person had discovered their camp on a bar of Rogue River, where the mountains rise on either side high and craggy, and densely timbered with manzanita, live-oak, chinquapin, and chaparral, with occasional bald, grassy hill-sides relieving the sombre aspect of the scene. A narrow strip of bottom-land at the foot of the heights, covered with rank grass and brambly shrubs, constituted The Meadows, where all winter the Indians had kept an ample supply of cattle in good condition for beef. Upon a bar of the river overgrown with willows the Indians were domesticated, having their huts and personal property.

The morning was foggy, and favorable for concealing the approach of the volunteers. Colonel Kelsey with 150 men reached the north bank of the river opposite and a little below the encampment without being discovered, while the southern battalion took position on the south bank, a short distance above the encampment. When the fog lifted a deadly volley from both sides was poured into the camp from a distance of no more than fifty yards, killing fifteen or twenty before they could run to cover, which they did very rapidly, carrying their dead with them.