USA > Idaho > The history of Idaho > Part 22
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In the Spring of 1873, the writer of this was in Washington, D. C., and, knowing these Indians claimed the right under the treaty for a part of Camas Prairie and knowing, also, that Joseph and other bands of the Nez Perce Indians refused to go upon the Nez Perce reservation, I went before the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior. I called their attention to the language of the treaties, and urged that compe- tent commissioners be appointed to visit all of these dissatisfied Indians and make such agreements with them as would be satis- factory and guarantee peace in the future. The Secretary of the Interior seemed to realize the importance of my recommendation and promised me he would appoint a commission at an early day to visit these Indians and have all unsettled matters adjusted.
Soon after this, I was notified the Secretary had appointed as commissioners to visit the Nez Perces, the following gentlemen: General Shanks of Indiana, Governor T. W. Bennett of Idaho, and J. B. Monteith, the Agent of the Nez Perce Indians; for the Bannock Indians, the two gentlemen first named ,and the Indian Agent at Fort Hall. These commissioners visited the Nez Perce agency at Lapwai. Their visit did not result in any good; on the contrary, seemed to create a feeling of dissatisfaction between the whites and the Indians. The commissioners met with the Fort Hall Indian Agent and Bannock Indians at Soldier Creek on Camas Prairie. Nothing was done or agreed upon. There were no white settlers on Camas Prairie at that time. The Indians
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roamed at will all over the Prairie. My opinion is that the two In- dian Agents succeeded in making Messrs. Shanks and Bennett believe they understood their work and would continue to man- age the Indian business in a proper manner. So the real object of the commission was defeated.
In 1878, some hogs were driven to Camas Prairie and herded on that portion of the Prairie which produces the camas roots, and a band of cattle and some horses were driven there by Wil- liam Silvey, George Nesbet and Lou Kensler. These three men camped on the south side of the Prairie about ten miles south- west from what is known as the crossing of Corral Creek. They had only been there a few days when two Bannock Indians came to their camp. These Indians appeared friendly and went out on the range with the men on the 27th of May. After looking at the horses and cattle, they returned to the camp and remained there until evening. They were treated well by the white men, and when they left the camp, appeared perfectly friendly. These two Indians could speak English. One was called Charley and the other, Jim.
On the morning of May 28th, soon after the white men had finished their breakfast, these same Indians rode up to the camp and dismounted. The white men gave them breakfast, and they still seemed to be friendly. While they were eating, William Sil- vey walked up on to some high ground to see where the cattle and horses were. As soon as the two Indians had finished their break- fast, Mr. Kensler walked out a short distance to where he had two horses picketed and started to saddle one of them. In the meantime, Mr. Nesbet was stooping over picking up the camp dishes from the ground. While in this stooping position, Indian Charley, without the least provocation or warning, shot Mr. Nes- bet through the jaws with a pistol. Nesbet made an effort to get into the tent, which was only a few feet distant, in order to get his gun. He succeeded in getting the gun and a box of car- tridges. In the meantime, Kensler left his horse and started for the tent but, before he could reach it, Indian Jim shot him; for- tunately, the bullet just grazed one side of his head knocking him down, but he soon recovered and got up and went on to the tent. Nesbet was in the tent unable to get up but holding a gun and cartridges. He gave these to Kensler. Silvey, hearing the shooting, had started back to camp, and the Indians were shooting at him from some distance. Kensler commenced shooting at the Indans and they both ran, one of them badly wounded. Silvey was not hurt. He and Kensler saddled two horses as soon as they
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could. Kensler got on one and Silvey put Nesbet up behind Ken- sler, while he took the other horse. They then started as fast as they could toward Boise. The nearest place where any white person lived was Dixie stage station, about twenty-two miles dis- tant. After traveling a few miles, they looked back and saw a large number of Indians headed for the camp they had left. They pushed on as fast as they could. The Indians did not follow them. They were evidently content for the time to plunder the camp and take the horses (nineteen head) and as many cattle as they wanted. About three miles further on they came to the abandoned camp of Jesse Baker, who had left one horse staked out. They took this horse, put one of their saddles on him and Kensler rode him, and they put Nesbet on the poorest one of the two other horses. This was an old pony with a sore back, and he had to ride this old pony without a saddle. They then proceeded on their way. When within about one mile of Little Camas Prairie, where the stage and freight teams coming from the west would turn from the road they were traveling to the left and go to Rocky Bar, they met two men on foot, John McCameron and John Young. They told these men of the trouble they had had with the Indians. Mc- Cameron and Young knew there were two freight teams on the road a few miles back; also, that it was about time for W. C. Tatro to come along with his stage, so McCameron got Silvey to let him take his horse and he hurried back to notify the team- sters and the stage driver of the Indian trouble before they left the main road for Rocky Bar. He reached the forks of the road just in time to notify the two freighters and Mr. Tatro. In a short time, the other men came up, Silvey leading the horse Nes- bet was riding. Nesbet was taken from his horse, the blood washed from his head, face and mouth as well as possible, and he was then put into one of Mr. Guard's freight wagons, made as com- fortable as circumstances would permit, and the two freighters turned around and drove back to the Dixie stage station, a distance of about five miles. Mr. Tatro made arrangements with Mr. Mc- Cameron to go through to Boise as soon as possible and notify Colonel Bernard, who was in command at Boise Barracks, of the Indian outbreak. Mr. Tatro with one lady passenger, Miss Clara Coffin, now Mrs. Charles Fury, then proceeded on his way to Rocky Bar and got through without trouble. Mr. McCameron on his way to Boise overtook Jesse Baker and they came through to- gether, arriving late at night, and notified Colonel Bernard and the people of Boise of the Indian outbreak.
On arrival of the freighters with Nesbet, Kensler and Silvey at Dixie station, Lafe Griffin, who was there, started at once on
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horseback to notify the people through the Bennett Creek, Cold Springs country, and Glenns Ferry, of the Indian outbreak.
After remaining at Dixie station two days, William Guard un- loaded one of his wagons and took Mr. Nesbet over to the Moun- tain House. This station was kept at that time by Mr. Porter and his wife. They cared for them as well as possible until the next day. Commodore Jackson came up from his ranch five miles below with a light spring wagon and took Nesbet down to his house, where he remained for two days, until James Agnew sent Samuel Chaney out to Jackson's ranch with a team and spring wagon after Mr. Nesbet. A mattress was put into the wagon for him, and he was brought to Boise.
It was about one week after Nesbet was shot before he arrived in Boise and was properly cared for by a physician. Dr. Tread- well, upon examination, found that his mouth was filled with live vermin from fly blows. The doctor cleaned it out and stitched his tongue together. After many weeks of suffering, he recovered.
It appears that the band of Indians who came to the Silvey, Kensler and Nesbet camp, only stayed there about one day, kill- ing cattle and drying beef; also, gathering up all the horses they could find and preparing for a general war. It seems there were two white men with the Indians, one whose name was Demsey; the other, Mabes. Demsey was about fifty years of age and had been living with these Indians for a number of years. He had an Indian woman, one of the Bannock tribe, for a wife. I saw this man, Demsey, several times before the outbreak and talked with him. He did not appear to be at all dangerous or blood- thirsty. He possessed ordinary intelligence, but seemed to be af- flicted with general indolence. In fact, he seemed to have been born tired and never got rested. It appears these Indians made Demsey write a letter to Governor Braymen at Boise telling him not to send troops to fight them; if he did, they would kill the people and destroy the property all over the country. They sent this letter by the other white man, Mabes, to be delivered to the Governor. Whether Mabes delivered this letter, we do not know, nor do we know what became of Mabes. But before the Indians left the camp on Camas Prairie, they killed Demsey and left his remains near the camp.
After the attack on the white men on Camas Prairie, it was stated by a friendly Indian, named Captain Jim, that some of the Indians had been drinking and they came very near having a row among themselves. Some were opposed to going to war, while others were determined for war. One of the head men, Buffalo Horn, who was in favor of war, finally succeeded in getting about
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two hundred warriors and a few of the young Indian women to follow him. They started on the warpath against the whites to murder, steal and destroy property. The remainder of the In- dians, who were on the Prairie at that time, returned to the Fort Hall or Bannock reservation. Buffalo Horn and his followers left the Prairie, and the next we heard of them they were at King Hill station on the Overland stage road about forty miles south of Camas Prairie. The stock tender at this station saw them coming and made his escape by running up King Hill Creek and keeping in the brush. They robbed the station of all provisions, blankets, etc., cut the harness to pieces and took all the stage horses, nine in number.
The next plaee they raided was Glenns Ferry on Snake River, five miles below King Hill station. The men attending the ferry had been warned of the danger by Lafe Griffin, and had gone. The Indians plundered their house, then took possession of the ferry boat. They ferried themselves and horses across, then burned the derrick that held the ferry cable which freed it from the boat. The boat drifted down the river about thirty miles, and was seen by John Carpenter. He and Mr. Calhoun caught it and tied it up. Later, Mr. Glenn came down and floated it back. Near the ferry on the east side of the river were several wagons loaded with merchandise for Boise merchants. The teamsters, who had been warned of the Indian troubles, had turned their horses out to grass, and they had gone. The Indians raided these wagons. Two of the wagons with trails belonged to George Ellis of Boise. They were loaded with stoves and other hardware for Mr. Frank R. Coffin of Boise. There was quite a lot of hay and straw in these wagons packed in with the hardware. They set fire to these wagons and burned them, and most of the hardware was destroyed. There were several other freight wagons, one of them loaded with cases of liquor, belonging to the late Davis Levi of Boise. The Indians opened these cases and helped themselves. They remained there that night and had a big spree, destroying most of the merchandise and cutting up all of the freighters' har- ness.
They left the next morning taking all they wanted from the wagons, also some of the freighters' mules and horses. A few miles down the river they met Mr. John Bascom and two other men traveling in a two-horse wagon. They killed these three men, and shot the team while still hitched to the wagon. From there they went on down the Snake River across to Bruneau. A few days later, Mr. Ellis and several other men went out to Glenns Ferry to look after the teams, wagons and freight. Mr. Ellis
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found all of his mules, but two of his wagons were burned and most of the freight had been destroyed. Some of the other team- sters' mules and horses were gone. Mr. Ellis and others went down the river to where Mr. Bascom and the other men had been killed, found and buried them. One was in the wagon, one, near the wagon, and the third, several yards from the wagon. At the time these Indians went on to the Bruneau, there were a few set- tlers living there, but most of them succeeded in getting away, excepting a Mr. Sweeney, whom they killed; and, further up, they killed a Mr. Hays.
We must now go back and mention some other matters which deserve attention here. On the day of the outbreak, W. C. Tatro, of whom we have spoken as being the proprietor and driver of the stage to Rocky Bar, drove into Rocky Bar that evening and gave the news of the Indian outbreak. Hon. George M. Parsons immediately raised a company of volunteers and started out the next day for Camas Prairie. They went to the Silvey camp, where Nesbet and Kensler were shot, from there to Glenns Ferry and searched the country well but could find no hostile Indians, so they turned back making a thorough search over the country on their return. As soon as Col. Bernard received the news, he got his troops ready and was ready to start for Camas Prairie the next day. He took with him Col. Rube Robbins who had been chief of scouts under General Howard, in 1877, in his long march after Joseph's band of Nez Perces. Mr. Robbins has the reputa- tion of being one of the very best Indian scouts and fighters on this coast. He is cool, brave, untiring and possesses most excel- lent judgment in that line of business. Col. Bernard marched his men to Camas Prairie to the scene of the outbreak. He found no Indians, so he took their trail and followed it to Glenns Ferry on Snake River. The ferry boat was gone and there was no means of crossing the Snake River. He there learned that the Indians had gone down the river on the opposite side, so he marched down to what is called the Big Bend, near where the Bruneau empties into the Snake. Here they swam their horses and crossed the river with their supplies in a skiff. They went up the Bruneau Valley, and found and buried the body of Jack Sweeney, who had been killed by the Indians. The Indians had left this locality so the soldiers continued on up the valley to where there is a settle- ment of white people. Here they built a picket fort for protec- tion.
During this time the people of Silver City, in Owyhee County, had heard there were hostile Indians in the mountainous country south of Silver. A small company of volunteers, armed and
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mounted, was soon raised. This company was commanded by the late Captain Harper. They started for the scene of the hostile camp, which was only a few miles south from a small mining camp, called South Mountain or Battle Creek. On this creek, they found the Indians ready and apparently anxious to fight. In- dians usually select a position for fighting where they have the advantage of the ground. In this case, the Indians not only had the advantage of the fighting ground, but they had three or four times as many men as the volunteers. It was bad policy to engage in a fight against such odds, but the Indians urged them to fight and it was fight or run. All this little company of twenty-six were brave men, and preferred to try a battle with the Indians rather than turn back and take the chance of being followed by them. The bat- tle was fierce for awhile. Most of the horses the volunteers were riding were unaccustomed to the sound of fire arms. This, com- bined with the hideous yells of the Indians, frightened them so many of them threw their riders, and others were so hard to man- age that their riders had a poor show to do much fighting. Sev- eral of the volunteers dismounted and sent many well directed shots at the Indians. This seemed to surprise them. The bullets went so fast that the Indians did not dare attempt a charge on the brave little company. Captain Harper lost two of his good, brave men-Mr. O. H. Purdy, a man who was loved by all who knew him, and Chris Studer, another brave man. Two or three were slightly wounded. The Indians seemed to recognize Mr. Purdy's bravery, for instead of scalping him, as usual, he was left unharmed; and, as a further token of their respect, his spurs were taken off and fastened to the limb of a tree. This seemed to be what might be called a "draw battle." It was never known how many the Indians lost. They seemed willing for the volun- teers to draw off and did not follow them. The next day, they broke camp and moved on west.
Word reached Col. Bernard on the 9th of June, while he was near the head of the Bruneau Valley, of the volunteers having a fight with the Indians. He started for Silver City at once with his troops, a distance of about seventy miles. They traveled all night and arrived in Silver City on the 10th at 6:30 a. m. Word had been brought in that the Indians had gone and were supposed to have moved toward Jordan Valley. Col. Bernard allowed his horses and men to rest only a few minutes, then started for Sheep Ranch in Jordan Valley about fifty miles from Silver City. Arriv- ing at Sheep Ranch, he learned that the mail stage, which was due there the day before, had not yet arrived. Col. Rube Rob- bins, chief of scouts, with a few men was sent out on the road
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to learn the reason for the delay of the stage and locate the hos- tile Indians. He started out on the Winnemucca stage road from Sheep Ranch to the crossing of the Owyhee River, a distance of six miles. They crossed this river and travelled about two miles further. They found what was left of the stage wagon. It had been burned. A short distance away they discovered the dead body of the stage driver in the sagebrush. They learned after- wards that the day before, while driving along this road, the driver, Mr. Mccutcheon, and one passenger saw a band of Indians approaching them. The driver stopped the team, and he and the passenger each took one of the lead horses and, mounting as quickly as they could, they started back on the road. For some cause it seems that, after going a short distance, the horse that Mr. Mccutcheon was riding fell (presumably stepped on one of the lines that was dragging). The Indians soon came up and mur- dered him. They chased the passenger and shot at him a number of times but his horse proved faster than the Indian ponies, so after a few miles they gave it up and returned to plunder the stage coach. Nothing was left of the stage only the iron. They took the three stage horses and moved west in the direction of Stein's Mountain. Col. Robbins had Mr. Mccutcheon's body packed on horseback to Sheep Ranch station, where it was buried.
The next day Col. Bernard, with his command, started in the direction of Stein's Mountain. Col. Robbins and scouts went on ahead in search of the Indians. They arrived at Camp Harney the next day about noon, June 21st. Major Downey was stationed here with a few soldiers. Mr. A. H. Robie, French and several other settlers were at Camp Harney, having been driven away from their ranches by the Indians, leaving their stock and every- thing they had. In their flight one Chinaman, a cook, was killed, and one white man wounded. Mr. Robie and the other settlers had just rounded up and driven several hundred head of fine horses and mules into a large lot or corral and were preparing to start to drive them out to some more secure place, when they saw a large number of Indian warriors coming on horseback at a furious rate and sounding the Indian war-whoop. They mount- ed their saddle horses and ran for their lives, the Indians close after them shooting every moment. They were chased by these hostiles for about fifteen miles, when the Indian horses began to fail and they turned and went to the corrals where the horses and mules were. The Indians took most of these horses and mules, and killed or crippled the others. There were a number of large herds of fat cattle ranging over the country through which the Indians passed. Col. Robbins says that when
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he came along with his scouts there were many dead cattle on both sides of the Indian trail. They seemed to delight in shoot- ing down the largest fat steers. Sometimes the tongue was cut out and a piece taken from the loin, but many of them had not been touched after the shooting.
A Mr. Smith and his son, John, who resided in Happy Valley, had taken his family to Harney and then returned to his ranch to look after his stock. He and his son were both killed by the Indians, his stock taken and the house plundered. In the mean- time General O. O. Howard with several companies had passed through Silver City, from there to Fort Lyon and across the coun- try west to Malheur Indian reservation.
By June 20th these hostile Bannock Indians had induced In- dians from other tribes to join them so they had in all about two thousand. Of these, about one thousand were male warriors and the remainder consisted of young Indian women and boys, who were very useful in moving camp, driving stock, cooking, etc. These recruits came from the Duck Valley Indians, Lemhis, Win- nemuccas, Malheurs, Snakes and others. In travelling they would send out scouting parties on either side of the road to kill, rob and destroy. One friendly Indian stated that, in talking with one of the hostiles, they had killed up to June 20th thirteen white men, and had lost only three Indians. They had destroyed a large amount of property belonging to the whites, had all the good horses and beef they wanted, and had lost nothing in the way of property.
A day or two after Col. Robbins brought the body of George Mccutcheon to Sheep Ranch for burial, Andy Baker, then Divi- sion Agent on the stage road, undertook to put the stages to running on the road again. Johnny Biggs, driver, E. B. Tage and William Moody, express messengers, left Sheep Ranch with Mr. Baker to drive to Camp McDermott. They had to drive sev- enty-five miles with one pair of horses, the stage stock having been turned out when the stock tenders left. They succeeded in getting most of the stock back, and in a few days, had the stages running on time. Several freighters loaded with merchandise for Silver City had to stop at McDermott some weeks before they would venture to go over the road.
Col. Robbins only stopped at Camp Harney long enough for his men to get some lunch and a few fresh horses which Major Dow- ney let him have. Several of the settlers, who had been run into this place, joined Col. Robbins' company of scouts, and they scoured the country that afternoon and found the direction the Indians were travelling. Feeling satisfied that the Indians were
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not far away, it was necessary for Robbins to report to Col. Ber- nard. He did not have much trouble in finding the Colonel, for he had been marching at the rate of fifty miles a day on the Indian trail. They camped for the night as men and horses were worn out. Col. Robbins was off with his scouts before daylight the next morning, June 22d, on the Indian trail, and soon after Col. Bernard and his command moving in the same direction. Af- ter following the Indian trail for about thirty-five miles, Robbins found it to be quite fresh, so he left his men and went on alone to a high mountainside where he could have a view of the country for several miles. He succeeded in locating the Indian camp a few miles distant in a canyon on Silver Creek. He returned to his scouts, and going back a short distance, met Col. Bernard with his command of four companies. It was too late to attempt an attack that day, so they camped for the night. Col. Robbins with a few of his scouts started about one o'clock a. m. to try and get the exact location of the Indian camp and the surrounding coun- try before they made an attack. He did this by going on their trail as far as it was safe, then, leaving his men, he climbed up a steep hillside onto a level plain. He traveled quietly over this until opposite the Indian camp. From this point he could see all the Indian camps and the surrounding country by the clear star- light. It looked like a hard proposition. There were at least two thousand Indians and about one thousand of them able bodied war- riors, and less than three hundred soldiers to fight them.
The sight of that big camp of hostiles would have made almost any man, excepting Robbins, feel it was right for him to go back and report to Col. Bernard that the Indians had such a strong force it would not do to attack them without re-inforcements. But not so with Robbins-he went back to his scouts and they soon met Col. Bernard with his command. Bernard asked if he had located the Indian camp and how many there were. Col. Robbin- told him of the location and that there were about two thousand Indians. Col. Bernard and his officers did not seem to think this possible, but wanted to know what Col. Robbins thought of mak- ing an attack. Robbins said to him, "Why, certainly, Colonel, I am here to find the Indians, and you and your men are here to whip them," adding, "but as this is likely to be quite a job, I will take my thirty-five scouts and climb the hill and go up and charge the Indian camp. I will expect you to come up the canyon promptly with your men to meet me soon after you hear us shoot- ing, for there will be plenty of work for all of us and it is liable to last all day." Here were two as brave men as ever shouldered guns talking very coolly, but every word in earnest. Robbins, a
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