Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/642

 On the 2d of May Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, who had succeeded Canby in the command of the department of the Columbia, arrived at headquarters, where the army had lain inactive and much dispirited since the 26th. Davis sent for Wheaton, to whom he soon restored the command of the troops in the field, and Mendenhall's command having arrived, the army was to some extent reorganized, Davis taking a few days to acquaint himself with the country.

During this interval the Modocs were not idle. Their fires could be seen nightly in the lava-beds, and on the 7th they captured a train of wagons between Bernard's old camp and Scorpion Point, wounding two soldiers. Two Indian women, sent on the same day to reconnoitre the last position of the Modocs, reported none in the lava-beds, a statement verified by McKay. Hasbrouck's light battery, serving as cavalry, and Jackson's cavalry were immediately ordered to prepare for an extended reconnoissance on the 9th to make sure that no Indians were secreted in any part of the lava-field. On the night of the 9th Hasbrouck encamped at Sorass Lake, south-east of the pedregal on the road to Pit River, but the water being unfit for use, a detachment was sent back seventeen miles to procure some. While the detachment, which was escorted by the Warm Spring scouts, was absent, a company of thirty-three Modocs, headed by Jack, in the uniform of General Canby, attacked the