Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/643

 camp, stampeding their horses and leaving the command on foot.

While the troops were getting under arms, the Modocs continued to charge and fire, killing four soldiers and one scout, and wounding seven other men, two mortally. Hasbrouck rallied his command and charged the Indians at the very moment the detachment returned, which joining in the fight, the Modocs were pursued three miles and driven into the woods, with a loss of twenty-four pack-animals, their ammunition, one warrior killed, and several disabled, who were carried off on horses toward the mountains on Pit River, McKay's scouts following.

This was the first important advantage gained since the beginning of the war. The amount of ammunition captured led to the conviction that Jack was receiving aid from some unknown source, a suspicion which he afterward attempted to fix upon the Klamaths, against whom no evidence was ever shown, all the proofs going to show that the assistance came from Yreka.

On news of the attack on Hasbrouck reaching head quarters, Mason was sent to reenforce him with a hundred and seventy men, and take the command of an expedition whose purpose was to capture Jack. On arriving at Sorass Lake, Mason received in formation from McKay that Jack was occupying a fortified position twenty miles south of the original stronghold. He proceeded with three hundred men to invest this position, and keep a watch upon the Modocs until the batteries should come up to shell them out of it. But when the attack was made on the 13th Jack had again eluded his pursuers. Hasbrouck's command, which had been again mounted, was ordered to give chase toward the south, while Mason remained in camp, and Perry's troop made a