Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/552

534 out of the Shoshone war this tribe was treated with contempt, as incapable of hostilities, other than petty thefts and occasional murders for gain. When they first began their hostile visits to the Warm Spring reservation Robert Newell, one well acquainted with the character of the different tribes, laughed at the terror they inspired, and declared that three or four men ought to defend the agency against a hundred of them. But a change had come over these savages with the introduction of fire-arms and cattle. From cowardly, skulking creatures, whose eyes were ever fastened on the ground in search of some small living thing to eat, the Shoshones had come to be as much feared as any savages in Oregon.

As early as the middle of March detachments of troops were moving on the Cañon City road, and following the trails of the marauders. They travelled many hundred miles, killing with the aid of the allies twenty-four Indians, taking a few prisoners, and destroying some property of the enemy. On the 27th of July Crook, while scouting between Camp C. F. Smith and Camp Harney with detachments from three companies of cavalry, travelling at night and