A. Bush--Dear Sir: A command of 50 men arrived here yesterday under Maj. Latshaw. 100 men of his command will be here tomorrow, and then he will move down the river where there are a ranch of Coast Indians.
    On the 5th inst. a company of volunteers commanded by Capt. Bledsoe and two companies of regulars from Col. Buchanan's command left this place and moved down the river on opposite sides. On the same day Capt. Bledsoe had a skirmish with a party and killed five. On the 6th, Capt. Bledsoe marched down the south side of the river, and two companies of regulars on the north side until they reached a village of the enemy, and made a simultaneous attack upon the Indians, killed fifteen and drove most of the others into the river, and a great many of them were drowned. Col. Buchanan has sent a messenger to them giving them leave to come in and surrender by Tuesday next, and the prospect is in favor of their coming in. There are now 240 Indians who have surrendered themselves to us unconditionally, and they are constantly coming in. They consist of Limpy, George, Kiola, the Galice Creek tyee and all their people.
    Gen. Lamerick is here with the command and will expedite matters as much as possible. J. C. Hale, his former aide de camp, has resigned, and Lieut. L. C. Hawley is appointed in his stead. There is considerable sickness among the men, in consequence of exposure and fatigue which they have undergone for the past six weeks. I send this by Mr. Charles Williams, Gen. Lamerick's special expressman. I shall write again whenever opportunity affords.
Oregon Statesman, Salem, June 24, 1856, page 2

    We have at length full confirmation of the fact that a battle was fought on Rogue River, between Captain Smith's command and the Indians, in which Captain Smith lost eleven killed and twenty-one wounded. The report heretofore published is, in the main, correct. We obtain this news from the Yreka Union extra, of the 18th June. It is made up from the extra of the Jacksonville Sentinel, of the 14th. There had been a consultation with the savages about the 1st of June, which resulted in nothing. The report proceeds:
    About the 5th of June, Captain Smith, in command of some eighty regulars, advanced about fifteen miles above Col. Buchanan's command, and encamped near the Big Bend of Rogue River. In the evening, old George informed the Captain that the movements of the Indians looked suspicious. Captain Smith, after dark, moved his camp further up the mountainside, and posted double guards. During the night the Indians, under old John and Enos, surrounded the camp, and about sunrise in the morning fired on the guard, killing eleven men and wounding twenty-one. The battle continued until next day about noon--thirty-six hours.
    During the battle two Rogue River Indians were with Captain Smith, and stated that they understood the conversation that was going on between John and Enos. They heard John say, "Enos, you have always told me that you could whip the soldiers; now, if you can, why don't you charge on them with your knives and kill them, and save your powder and balls?" He accordingly made the charge, but did not effect anything. During the battle old John was seen swinging ropes, and was heard to say that he intended to hang Captain Smith. The Indians obtained the body of one of the dead soldiers and hung it up, and tied a stick on the shoulder to represent a gun.
    On the day of the battle a Mr. Sloan was dispatched from Col. Buchanan to Capt. Smith. Before reaching his destination, he came upon a body of Indians, but made his escape by leaving his mule, and returned to Col. Buchanan, who immediately set out for the scene of action, arriving the next day about 10 o'clock. In a short time the Indians drew off.
    It is not known what number of Indians were killed in the engagement. It is not known in what direction the Indians went.
    MOVEMENTS OF THE VOLUNTEERS.--Major Latshaw, with about 120 volunteers, was moving down Rogue River and was fired upon by the Indians from the opposite side of the river, but fortunately one company of about fifty men were on the same side the Indians were, and only a short distance above when the firing commenced, and they immediately charged upon the Indians, killing five and wounding several, and took about twenty squaws and young Indians prisoners.
    The Indians were of George and Limpy's bands. They immediately fled to Col. Buchanan, and some sixty-five warriors placed themselves under his protection--giving up about forty rifles and thirty-five revolvers.
    Maj. Latshaw continued down the river with his command, and arrived at the camp of the United States troops in the evening, after Col. Buchanan had driven the Indians from their attack on Capt. Smith. We have not been able to learn whether Maj. Latshaw lost any men or not.
    TREATY.--We are informed that Buchanan's command is proceeding down Rogue River with George and Limpy, their warriors and women and children, to a place near the mouth of the river, for the purpose of making a treaty. Joel Palmer is there, and has made arrangements to have beef furnished those Indians.
Sacramento Daily Union, June 24, 1856, page 1

    . . . we returned to Big Bend and tried to make a treaty. While we were camping one night a friendly squaw stole through the close trees and bushes to our campfire, and she warned us that attempt at a treaty was in vain, but we persisted and held our camp. The result was that nine men were killed on guard and we had the dickens of a time until
Captain Ord was relieved. Then we licked them, and in the end the conquered Indians helped carry our wounded to the hospital at Port Orford, and we conducted the Indians safely to the reservation in the Willamette Valley.
Walter S. Kitchen, "How I Came to Be in 165 Battles," San Francisco Call, October 13, 1901, magazine section page 1


    [John W. Noah], in company with Jim Purdy, took a dispatch from Big Bend on Rogue River to Whiskey Bar, when reinforcements were needed. He secured these reinforcements, went back with the troops and fought the battle under Col. Kelsay in which the Indians were badly defeated.
"Death of John W. Noah," The Plaindealer, Roseburg, December 30, 1901, page 1


    In 1855 I enlisted at Eugene in Captain Matlock's company for the Rogue River Indian War. See this scar on my head? That was made by one of those black obsidian arrowheads going through my hand. This broad scar on my arm was where an arrow went through. It had an arrowhead made out of hoop iron. The nastiest wound I got was in a big fight on the Big Meadows on Evans Creek. [The Big Meadows/Big Bend fight was on Rogue River near Billings Creek.] I got an arrow through my leg. I broke it off and pulled the arrow out and went on fighting. I tied up the wound, but my leg began swelling. My leg got so big my trousers were skin tight. They took me to a barn, and I lay on the barn floor for 22 days. The doctor said I had blood poison, and he got out his kit of saws and knives to take off my leg near the hip. I refused to have it cut off. He insisted and said I would die if it didn't come off. I said I would die with all my legs on, so he said all right, go ahead and die. An old German came in and saw me. He said, "Don't let them saw your leg off. I will fix it for you." He came back with some stuff in a big bottle that smelled like horse liniment. He made a fire and got some water scalding hot and put a blanket around my leg and poured that hot water on. For hours he kept soaking my leg in water so hot it nearly took the skin off. He would pour the medicine onto the wound, and he told me to keep the cloth on the wound soaked with the medicine. It burnt like fire, but I kept the cloth wet with it. Next day my leg was all over wrinkles, but it was a heap smaller. In a day or two it was the same size as the other leg, and pretty soon the wound quit running and healed up.
John Sidney Montgomery, quoted by Fred Lockley, "Oregon: In Early Days," Oregon Journal, Portland, February 20, 1915, page 4  The Evans Creek skirmish took place in 1853. Montgomery segues into an anecdote about escorting Chief Sam to Siletz, suggesting that Montgomery was wounded elsewhere than on Evans Creek.


    During the early part of 1856 Lieutenant Colonel R. C. Buchanan of the Fourth Infantry was in command and kept us in the field constantly. He had two batteries of the Third Artillery, four companies of the Fourth Infantry and our troop--Troop C of the First Dragoons. Our hardest fight was in May at the Big Bend of the Rogue River. We were 50 strong, and we stood off a vastly superior force of Indians for a day and a half until we were relieved by Captain C. C. Augur of the Fourth Infantry. More than a third of our force of 90 men were killed or wounded in the 36 hours' fighting. Captain John's band finally surrendered.
Michael Kinney, quoted by Fred Lockley, "Oregon: In Early Days," Oregon Journal, Portland, May 12, 1915, page 6


    Captain Patrick Hasson, U.S.A., retired, is a long-time resident of Vancouver, Wash. I interviewed him at his home there recently. He saw service in the Rogue River war in 1856, in the near-war during the dispute with Great Britain over the ownership of San Juan Island, in the punitive expedition under General Wright after the Steptoe defeat, in the Civil War and in the Indian wars in the Southwest against the Apaches and Comanches. He enlisted more than 70 years ago and after his retirement from the army settled at Vancouver.
    "I will celebrate my 91st birthday on December 23," said Captain Hasson. "I was born in Ireland in 1834 and emigrated to America when I was 16. I was 21 years and 20 days old when I enlisted. I was assigned to the 4th Infantry. The regiment to which I was assigned was stationed on the Pacific Coast. I was sent with a number of other recruits that had been assigned to the 4th Infantry, to join my regiment. We went from New York City to San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. I was assigned to Company E and sent to Northern California, where my company was stationed. The regiment was pretty well scattered. For example, Company H was engaged in the fight at the Cascades of the Columbia on March 26, 1856, while we were fighting the Coquille Indians in Coos and Curry counties. Major John F. Reynolds, with a detachment of the 3rd Artillery, was stationed at Port Orford. General Wool was in charge of the Department of the Pacific with headquarters at San Francisco. He made frequent trips to Vancouver. In March, 1856, when he sailed for Vancouver Barracks, he took with him Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, in command of the 4th Infantry, with 96 officers and men, and left them at Crescent City, in Northern California. When he arrived at Vancouver he issued orders for Captain Edward O. C. Ord, with a detachment of the 4th Infantry, to reinforce Major Reynolds at Port Orford. Captain Floyd-Jones, also of the 4th Infantry, was ordered from Fort Humboldt to Crescent City to report to Colonel Buchanan, while Captain Smith, who was stationed at Fort Lane, was ordered to march with a detachment of 80 dragoons across the Coast Range to Port Orford. Colonel Buchanan was ordered to bring all available troops with him to Port Orford, prepared to fight or to hold a council with the Indians."
    It may not be amiss to give a brief statement right here to explain why the troops were being concentrated at Port Orford. This was in March, 1856. A week or so before, or, to be exact, on Washington's Birthday, while the settlers and volunteers were having a dance at Whaleshead, as Gold Beach was called, the Indians rose and killed Ben Wright. the Indian agent; Captain John Poland, captain of the company of volunteers, and more than 25 other residents of that section, including a man named Geisel and his two sons, while they took his wife and two daughters prisoners--one of whom, by the way, is now a resident of Portland. The Indians had also burned more than 60 cabins of the settlers along the coast, and the settlers had taken refuge in 'Miners Fort,' where they were besieged for more than a month, until the arrival of the troops from Crescent City.
    And now let Captain Hasson resume:
    "On March 26 Captain Ord, with Company B of the 3rd Artillery and a detachment of men from the 4th Infantry, our force amounting to 112 men in all, attacked the Indians at their village 12 miles above the mouth of the Rogue River. This fight is known age the Mackanootney [Mikonotunne] village Indian fight. We lost one man in the fight. On March 20 Company B of the 3rd Artillery had a brush with the Indians near the mouth of the Rogue, and on March 24 Company C of the 1st Dragoons and a detachment from my company, Company E of the 4th Infantry had a fight with the Indians on the Illinois River near the Big Bend of the Rogue. Captain Smith, with part of Company C of the 1st Dragoons and part of Company E of the 4th Infantry, left Fort Lane on March 14. They followed the course of the Illinois River toward its mouth. On the 24th they discovered Indians. Leaving Lieutenant Sweitzer and the men of Company E in charge of the pack train, Captain Smith, with the dragoons, attacked the Indians, who fled. Lieutenant Sweitzer later charged a number of Indians, who also retreated. One of his men was wounded by a bullet in the neck. Captain Smith and his men reached Port Orford on April 5.
    "On March 13 Captain Augur marched from Port Orford to Oak Flat, but finding that Colonel Buchanan had not yet arrived, he camped. The Indians attacked him near the mouth of the Illinois River, but retired after five of their number had been killed. Captain Abbott of the volunteers started south to meet Colonel Buchanan, but was attacked at the mouth of the Chetco River. His men dug in on the beach or took refuge behind drift logs. The next day Captain Ord, with Lieutenant Jones and 112 regulars, came to their relief and drove off the Indians, with the loss of one soldier. A number of Indians were killed. The soldiers destroyed the Indian village and returned to Port Orford.
    "General Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, arranged for the Indians to meet with him and the soldiers for a council. Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, who was in command of our regiment in the absence of our regular colonel, who was on leave of absence, sent word to the various Indian chiefs to meet for a council at Oak Flat. The Indians attended the council and most of them agreed to make peace. The Upper Rogue River Indians agreed to surrender to Captain Smith on May 26 at the Meadows. Those along the lower Rogue River, and the Coast Indians, agreed to come to a point six miles below the mouth of the Illinois River. Captain Smith was to escort the Upper Rogues to Fort Lane. Major Reynolds was sent to meet the pack train from Crescent City, which was under escort of Captain Ord. Captain Augur and his troops camped just below the Big Bend of Rogue River, and Captain Smith, of whose command I was a member, was sent to the Big Bend to receive the surrender of George's and Limpy's bands of hostiles, as well as the Galice Creek, Cow Creek and Applegate bands of Indians. In place of coming in to surrender to us, Tyee John and his fellow tribesmen surrounded us and for two days we had all we could do to defend ourselves. We were rescued by Captain Augur and his men. We buried our dead on the grassy flat beside the Rogue River, where the town of Agness now stands, and with our wounded and our Indian prisoners went back to our camp near the mouth of the Illinois River. From there the Indians were taken to Port Orford and thence to the Siletz Reservation."
Oregon Journal, Portland, December 2, 1925, page 16


    Recently I interviewed Captain Patrick Hasson at his home at Vancouver, Wash. He retired from the United States army 33 years ago after serving 37 years. He enlisted as a private more than 70 years ago and rose to a captaincy during the Civil War. He saw his first fighting in the spring of 1856 on the Rogue River near Gold Beach. In telling me of his experiences in this fight, he said:
    "Major Reynolds was in command at Port Orford. Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan was in command of the Fourth Regiment of infantry. I was a member of Company E of that regiment. In May Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, with Company C of the First Dragoons, Company G of the Fourth Infantry and a detachment of Company E, of which I was a member, went to Oak Flat on the Rogue River near the mouth of the Illinois River to establish our headquarters there. On May 21 a council was held with the hostile Indians. Most of the Indians said they were tired of fighting and promised to return on the 26th with their people and deliver up their guns and surrender. Tyee John was the only one to hold out. He said he was willing to live in peace with the whites, but that this was his country long before the whites came there and he would not leave it and go on a reservation. He said his heart was sick of fighting, and that he was willing to go back to Deer Creek and live peacefully. Captain Smith told the Indians that if any of them were found off the reservation with guns in their hands, they would be hanged. We went to the agreed meeting place on May 26 and camped by the side of the river just where the town of Agness is now. It is a beautiful location, one of the prettiest I ever saw. We were there to receive the surrender of the Indians.
    "We reached there at about dusk and went into camp. Not long after dark two squaws swam the Rogue River and came to our camp and asked to see Captain Smith. They told him that Tyee John and a band of warriors were going to attack the soldiers at daybreak. We were camped on a grassy plateau beside the river. Captain Smith ordered us to break camp and establish camp on a ridge about a quarter of a mile back from the river. We had two days' rations. Captain Tichenor, founder of Port Orford, was the contractor who had charge of the government pack train and was serving as guide. Captain Smith told him to make his way back to Oak Flat, where the rest of the troops were stationed, to secure reinforcements. Lieutenant Sweitzer was detailed by Captain Smith to select a site that could be defended. He selected for our camp a knoll about 800 feet long by 150 feet wide. The approach from the south and the north was quite steep, while on the east the approach was more easily negotiated. We moved camp that night.
    "The next morning a number of Indians approached our camp, calling out to Captain Smith that they had come to surrender. They came closer and sized up our six-pounder and looked critically at our arrangements. Captain Smith told them to lay down their arms as agreed, but instead of doing so they went back to discuss the matter with the other Indians. Lieutenant Sweitzer was in command of the detachment of Company E, in which I was serving. We were guarding the western approach to our camp. As the Indians disappeared we saw our sentinel fall, and a second later saw the powder smoke rise and heard the report of the gun that had been used to shoot him. We were ordered to take refuge behind trees, but there were more soldiers than trees The Indians had climbed to the top of a nearby knoll and were picking us off. They had better guns than we had. We had musketoons, while they had rifles. One of our men, without any orders, digging with his bayonet and using his tin plate as a shovel, dug himself in. The other men, seeing what he was doing, followed his example, and we soon had rifle pits that protected us somewhat. The eastern slope was commanded by our howitzer, so the Indians did not attempt to attack us from that side. The Indians would charge up the side of our knoll and we would repulse them, but not without loss. They kept this up all day. We had moved camp the night before and had had little or no sleep, and we got but little sleep this night, either. We had used all the water in our canteens, and the wounded were moaning for water.
    "The next morning at daybreak the Indians attacked again. They knew we were thirsty, and they would call out, 'Mika hias ticka chuck.' One of the Indians who could speak English would keep calling out, 'One more sun no water, no muck-a-muck, no soldier. All dead.' When Captain Smith threatened to hang any Indian found off the reservation they had made a lot of ropes of cedar bark to hang us. Chief John, who was in command of the Indians and who had a strong voice, would call out to Captain Smith, 'O Captain Smith: If you promise to go on the reservation and not travel around the country I will not hang you. See this rope. It is for you, because you do not want to stay on a reservation where you can have plenty of plows and wagons, plenty to eat, and white men to teach you.' All of the second day, as we fought off their attacks, with our throats parched for water in the hot spring sunshine, they would call out tauntingly, 'Halo chuck, Boston. Mika hias ticka chuck.' (No water, white man. Wouldn't you like some water?) They would call out that white soldiers were not worth the powder and lead it would take to kill them, go they had plenty of ropes to hang us with. They did not know that we had sent Captain Tichenor out for help, and of course we did not know whether he had got through to Oak Flat or had been captured, but you can believe we watched with straining eyes all of that second day. Eleven of our men were dead and 16 or 17 wounded, and many of the wounded were delirious and begging for water.
    "Late in the afternoon Chief John called out to his warriors to charge and not to stop till they had killed or captured all the soldiers. Just as the Indians were starting up the hill to finish us we saw Captain Augur with 75 men of Company G, Fourth Infantry, emerging from the ravine. We gave them a cheer as best we could and jumped out of our rifle pits and charged the Indians. We were answered by a ringing cheer from our comrades of Company G as they charged the Indians from the rear. Chief John turned to meet the new attack, but it didn't last long, and soon the Indians were streaking away like race horses. Captain Augur was riding a white mule. As they charged he took a gun from one of his men and led his men in the charge. He was said to be the handsomest officer in the entire army, and he certainly looked good to us. Captain Augur lost two men in the fight. We dug a pit on the flat where Agness now is and in it we buried our dead. We captured the Indian canoes and some Indians. We placed in each canoe one wounded man, one prisoner and two soldiers and went down the river to Oak Flat, where Buchanan had established his headquarters. From there the Indians were taken to Port Orford and thence to the Siletz Reservation."
Oregon Journal, Portland, December 3, 1925, page 12


    On March 26 Captain Ord with Company B of the Third Artillery and a detachment of men from the Fourth Infantry, our force amounting to one hundred and twelve men in all, attacked the Indians at their village twelve miles above the mouth of the Rogue River. This conflict is known as the Mikonotunne Village Indian fight, and in the encounter we lost one man. On March 20 Company B of the Third Artillery had a brush with the Indians near the mouth of the Rogue River, and on March 24 Company C of the First Dragoons and a detachment from my company, Company E of the Fourth Infantry, had a fight with the Indians on the Illinois River near the big bend of the Rogue. Captain Smith, with part of Company C of the First Dragoons and part of Company E of the Fourth Infantry, left Fort Lane on March 14. They followed the course of the Illinois River toward its mouth and on the 24th they discovered Indians. Leaving Lieutenant Sweitzer and the men of Company E in charge of the pack train, Captain Smith, with the dragoons, attacked the Indians, who fled. Lieutenant Sweitzer later charged a number of Indians, who also retreated. One of his men was wounded by a bullet in the neck. Captain Smith reached Port Orford on April 5.
     On March 13 Captain Augur marched from Port Orford to Oak Flat, but finding that Colonel Buchanan had not yet arrived, he camped. The Indians attacked him near the mouth of the Illinois River but retired after five of their number had been killed. Captain Abbott of the volunteers started south to meet Colonel Buchanan but was attacked at the mouth of the [Pistol] River. His men dug in on the beach or took refuge behind drift logs. The next day Captain Ord, with Lieutenant Jones and one hundred and twelve regulars, came to their relief and drove off the Indians, with the loss of one soldier. A number of Indians were killed. The soldiers destroyed the Indian village and returned to Port Orford.
     General Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, arranged for the Indians to meet with him and the soldiers for a council. Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, who was in command of our regiment while our regular colonel was on leave of absence, sent word to the various chiefs to meet for a council at Oak Flat. On May 21 the Indians attended the meeting [and] were willing to make peace. They said that they were tired of fighting and promised to deliver up their guns and surrender. Tyee John was the only one to hold out. He said he was willing to live in peace with the whites but that this was his country long before the white men came here and he would not leave it and go on a reservation. He said that his heart was sick of fighting and that he was willing to go back to Deer Creek and live peacefully. Captain Smith told the Indians that if any of them were found off the reservation with guns in their hands they would be hanged. The Upper Rogue River Indians agreed to surrender to Captain Smith on May 26 at the Meadows. Those along the Lower Rogue River and the coast Indians agreed to come to a point six miles below the mouth of the Illinois River. Captain Smith was to escort the Upper Rogue River Indians to Fort Lane. Major Reynolds was sent to meet the pack train from Crescent City, which was under the escort of Captain Ord. Captain Augur and his troops camped just below the big bend of the Rogue River and Captain Smith, of whose command I was a member, was sent to the big bend to receive the surrender of George's and Limpy's bands of hostiles, as well as the Galice Creek, Cow Creek and Applegate bands of Indians.
     We reached there at about dusk and went into camp where the town of Agness is now situated, one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen. [Agness is several miles downstream from Big Bend.] Not long after dark two squaws swam the Rogue River and came to our camp and asked to see Captain Smith. They told him that Tyee John and a band of warriors were going to attack the soldiers at daybreak. We were camped on a grassy plateau beside the river. Captain Smith ordered us to break camp and establish ourselves on a ridge about a quarter of a mile back from the river. We had two days' rations. Captain Tichenor, founder of Port [Orford], was the contractor who had charge of the government pack train and was serving as guide. Captain Smith told him to make his way back to Oak Flat, where the rest of the troops were stationed, to secure reinforcements. Lieutenant Sweitzer was detailed by Captain Smith to select a site that could be defended and chose for our camp a knoll about eight hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide. The approach from the south and the north was quite steep, while on the east the approach was more easily negotiated. We moved camp that night
     The next morning a number of Indians approached our camp, calling out to Captain Smith that they had come to surrender. They came closer and sized up our six-pounder and looked critically at our arrangements. Captain Smith told them to lay down their arms as agreed, but instead of doing so they went back to discuss the matter with the other Indians. Lieutenant Sweitzer was in command of the detachment of Company E, in which I was serving. We were guarding the western approach to our camp. As the Indians disappeared we saw our sentinel fall, and a second later saw the powder smoke rise and heard the report of the gun that had been used to shoot him. We were ordered to take refuge behind trees, but there were more soldiers than trees. The Indians had climbed to the top of a nearby knoll and were picking us off. They had better guns than we had. We had musketoons, while they had rifles. One of our men, without any orders, digging with his bayonet and using his tin plate as a shovel, dug himself in. The other men, seeing what he was doing, followed his example and we soon had rifle pits that protected us somewhat. The eastern slope was commanded by our howitzer, so the Indians did not attempt to attack us from that side. They would charge up the side of our knoll and we would repulse them, but not without loss. They kept this up all day. We had moved camp the night before and had had little or no sleep, and we got but little sleep this night, either. We had used all the water in our canteens and the wounded were moaning for water.
    The next morning at daybreak the Indians attacked again. They knew we were thirsty and they would call out, "Mika hias ticka chuck." One of the Indians who could speak English would keep calling out, "One more sun no water, no muck-a-muck, no soldier. All dead." When Captain Smith threatened to hang any Indian found off the reservation they had made a lot of ropes of cedar bark to hang us. Chief John, who was in command of the Indians and who had a strong voice, would call out to Captain Smith, "O, Captain Smith: If you promise to go on the reservation and not travel around the country I will not hang you. See this rope. It is for you because you do not want to stay on a reservation where you can have plenty of plows and wagons, plenty to eat, and white men to teach you." All of the second day, as we fought off their attacks, with our throats parched for water in the hot spring sunshine, they would call out tauntingly, "Halo, chick Boston. Mika hias ticka chuck." (No water, white man. Wouldn't you like some water?) They would call out that white soldiers were not worth the powder and lead it would take to kill them, so they had plenty of ropes to hang us with. They did not know that we had sent Captain Tichenor out for help, and of course we did not know whether he had been able to get through to Oak Flat or had been captured, but you can believe that we watched with straining eyes all of that second day. Eleven of our men were dead and sixteen or seventeen wounded, and many of the injured were delirious and begging for water.
     Late in the afternoon Chief John called out to his warriors to charge and not to stop until they had killed or captured all the soldiers. Just as the Indians were starting up the hill to finish us we saw Captain Augur with seventy-five men of Company G, Fourth Infantry, emerging from the ravine. We gave them a cheer as best we could and jumped out of our rifle pits and charged the Indians. We were answered by a ringing cheer from our comrades of Company G as they charged the Indians from the rear. Chief John turned to meet the new attack, but it didn't last long, and soon the Indians were streaking away like race horses. Captain Augur was riding a white mule. As they charged he took a gun from one of his men and led them in the attack. He was said to be the handsomest officer in the entire army, and he certainly looked good to us. Captain Augur lost two men in the fight. We dug a pit on the flat where the town of Agness is now situated and in it we buried our dead. We captured the Indian canoes and some Indians. In each canoe we placed one wounded man, one prisoner and two soldiers and went down the river to Oak Flat, where Buchanan had established his headquarters. From there the Indians were taken to Port Orford and thence to the Siletz Reservation. Afterward we went back to Northern California.
Patrick Hasson, quoted in Fred Lockley, History of the Columbia River Valley from The Dalles to the Sea, vol. II, Chicago 1928, pages 593-598


    "In reading it I was thrilled to find on pages 21 to 23 [of A Trilogy in the Anabasis of the West, by R. J. Hendricks] an account of the Battle of the Meadows. The five men mentioned in page 23 as lost by Augur were buried under some big trees down in my father's lower field, as my childhood home was there.
    "The 'high knoll' I have ranged again and again for wildflowers.
    "Our garden was an old Indian camp sown thick with arrowheads. It is no wonder Smith's men suffered from thirst. That knoll is PLENTY DRY, though a lovely little stream below would have helped if they had been able to go near it.
    "I was glad to find a clearer account of the battle. All we Morris youngsters knew was that the last major battle of the Rogue River Indian War had been fought ON OUR LAND, and that it sheltered the bodies of five or six of the white victims."
Delia Morris Stephenson, quoted by R. J. Hendricks, "Bits for Breakfast," Oregon Statesman, Salem, April 16, 1938, page 4


    The last battle of the Rogue River Indian War was fought at the Big Meadows [Big Bend] on Rogue River May 27, 1856. Chief John and his Indians were on one side and Captain Smith with a company of United States soldiers and Mike Busby with a company of volunteers on the other side. My father was in the company of volunteers.
    The Indians attacked them on the morning of the 27th. Captain Smith realized that he did not have enough men, so he sent a scout to Fort Lane to tell Captain C. C. Augur to come to his relief. They fought the Indians all that day until dark.
    The next morning the Indians attacked them again, charging upon them and fighting a hand-to-hand battle. In this mixup, my father was shot by an Indian, and as he fell to the ground, another Indian struck him between the eyes with a tomahawk, making a very bad wound. The Indian raised the tomahawk to strike again, but before he could make the blow a man by the name of William Lewis rushed upon him and stabbed him to death with a knife.
    Lewis then grabbed my father and dragged him to one side by a rock. The soldiers drove the Indians back in this fight, which occurred in the forenoon. In the afternoon the Indians charged the white men again, with hideous yells, thirsting for the white men's blood. They rushed upon them and another hand-to-hand battle occurred.
    While this battle was going on Captain Augur arrived from Fort Lane and charged the Indians from the rear, soon driving them off and rescuing Captain Smith's soldiers.
    My father had lain all day long in the hot sun until dark, when William Lewis and Abe Cole came back to them. Mr. Lewis said, "Well, Dave, are you dead yet?"  My father replied, "No, but I am pretty weak."
    Lewis then told him to get on his back and he carried him two miles up a steep mountain trail. They reached the camp about midnight. The army surgeon sewed up the cut on his head and dressed his wounds.
    The next morning my father got on a mule and rode to Fort Leland over a rough mountain trail, a distance of about 40 miles. He stayed two days at Fort Leland, then went south to a hospital at Jacksonville, where he lay for six months before he was able to walk.
Charles D. Sexton, "Last Major Rogue River Battle," Grants Pass Daily Courier, April 2, 1960, page 13