Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/611

Rh communication between Wheaton's camp by the lake and his supplies on the hill, which were left in charge of only ten men. Signal-fires were already springing up in that direction.

This determined Wheaton to fall back to camp, and he again signalled to Green his change of plan, authorizing him to withdraw to Bernard's camp, as just related. At dark the retreat to camp began, Applegate leading, the wounded in the centre, and Kelly's company, with the detachment under Ross, skirmishing in the rear. As the evening advanced the Modocs withdrew, and the stumbling and exhausted men reached camp a little before midnight.

The loss sustained in the reconnoissance of the 17th—for it could hardly be called a battle—was nine killed and thirty wounded. Among the latter were Captain Perry and Lieutenant Kyle of the regular service, and Lieutenant George Roberts of the sharpshooters. The dead were left upon the field, where if life were not extinct the Modoc women soon despatched them. The high spirits of the morning were sunken in a lethargy of mingled sorrow and exhaustion at night. Every officer who had taken part in the operations of the 17th was surprised at the result of six weeks preparation for this event, and it became evident that a much larger force would be required to capture the Modocs in their stronghold—the strongest natural position ever encountered by the army, if not, indeed, the strongest possible to find on earth.

The loss of life on the side of the Modocs was not thought to be great. The arms and ammunition captured on the persons of the fallen soldiers made good much of their loss in material. They were, in fact, scouting within six miles of Lost River on the 19th, Lieutenant Ream with twenty-five volunteers having