Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/565

Rh Nichols and Denoille, left Camp Lyon in a four-horse ambulance to go to Fort Boisé, Denoille having with him his wife, who was in delicate health. Nine miles from camp, while passing through a rocky cañon, they were attacked by Indians in ambush, and Denoille, who was driving, was killed at the first fire. Nichols, not knowing that his comrade was hit, was giving his attention to the Indians, when Denoille fell out of the wagon dead, and the horses becoming frightened ran half a mile at the top of their speed, until one fell and arrested the flight of the others. Nichols now sprang out, followed by Mrs Denoille, whom he urged to conceal herself before the Indians came up; but being bereft of her reason by the shock of the tragedy, she insisted on returning to find her husband; and Nichols, hiding among the rocks, escaped to Carson's farm that evening. When a rescuing party went out from Silver City after Denoille's body, which was stripped and mutilated, nothing could be learned of the fate of his wife. A scouting party was immediately organized at Camp Lyon. At the Owyhee River the troops came upon a camp, from which the inmates fled, leaving only two Indian women. These women declared that Mrs Denoille had not been harmed, but was held for ransom. One of them being sent to inquire what ransom would be required, failed to return, when the troops retreated to camp to refit for a longer expedition. Col Coppinger and Capt. Hunt immediately resumed the pursuit, but the Indians had escaped. About the middle of Dec. a scouting party attacked a camp of twenty savages, killing five and capturing six. Some of Mrs Denoille's clothing was found on one of the captured women, who said that the white captive was taken south to Winnemucca to be held for a high ransom. It was not until in the summer of 1868 that the truth was ascertained, when to a scout named Hicks was pointed out the place of the woman's death, and her bleaching bones. She had been taken half a mile from the road where the attack was made, dragged by the neck to a convenient block of stone, her head laid upon it, and crushed with another stone. The Indian who described the scene, and his part in it, was riddled by the bullets of the company. Boisé Statesman, Oct, 24, 26, and Dec. 17, 1867; Owyhee Avalanche, June 13, 1868. steamer Shoshone, were attacked. Letters and newspapers were found in Indian camps clotted with human gore. The people, sick of such horrors, cried loudly for relief. But at this juncture, when their services were most needed, the Indian allies were mustered out, although General Steele, in making his report, fully acknowledged their value to the service, saying they had done most of the fighting in the late expeditions, and proved efficient guides and spies.

On the 23d of November Steele relinquished the command of the department of the Columbia, which