Exploring the Coast Range in 1850 [pp. 320-326]

E22rploring t/ze Coast Ran,e iz z85o.
He leaped the bank nobly, leaving my
hat and almost my head among the branches,
and with two or three frantic bounds came
shock against two dragoons with carbines at
rest, and nearly unhorsed them. An explanation followed. They had seen us on the
hill and had been cautiously sent around to
intercept us.
We met the army, composed of forty dragoons and sixty infantry, under the command
of Lieutenant Davidson from Benicia. It
seemed that the winter before two men, Kelsey and Stone, who had a large band of cattle pasturing near Clear Lake, had been
killed by Indians. The soldiers had been
sent up to avenge the murder, and had made
a frightful slaughter of the Indians. Being
told that a tribe on Russian River had something to do with the murder, and with the
killing of the cattle, the soldiers then crossed
the mountains to attack that tribe. They
brought with them an Indian guide. The
story of the fight- or more properly slaughter - was briefly given as follows:
The Indians had taken refuge in a few
acres of timber and brush in a bend of the
river, and shouted defiance. The dragoons
then fired the brush woods through and
through, when the infantry entered and
picked off every Indian that could be found.
Then the rancheria was set on fire, and the
soldiers boasted that the tribe was exterminated.
\\e were not allowed to visit the battlefield that day, and Went down the valley with
the soldiers to our camping ground of the
night before, which I found occupied by the
rest of my party. Our camp was on the
western side of the river and but a few yards
from it. The ranch house was about a
quarter of a mile away on the other side of
the stream. The soldiers camped about a
hundred yards away from us to the west.
A curious incident occurred that night.
My San Francisco conizlpagnero and I made
up a bed together under a small tree. It
was a warm and moonlight night, and we
undressed as we would for a civilized sleep.
He remarked on lying down that he felt
more secure than he had any night since we
had been out. The Indians, he said, had
been taught a wholesome lesson which would
have a lasting effect, and we could now go
ahead with safety. In all the trip I had a
loaded rifle under the edge of the bed at
night, and a revolver under the pillow. Some
time past midnight my bedfellow gave a sudden start, threw the blankets over me, and
started on a run, shouting "Murder! Indians!" I was sleeping with my hand upon
the revolver, and sprang instantly to my feet,
cocking the revolver as suddenly; he had
not made ten feet before I was up and looking all around. I saw not a living thing but
himself. The night was bright and still.
The vision took in the plain around almost
as distinctly as in the glare of day.
A guard was set about half way between
the soldiers' encampment and ours. My
bedfellow, with only a pink calico shirt on,
rushed with long strides past the guard, who
would have fired their carbines but for his
shouts in unexceptional English; nor did he
stop until he had plunged headlong into
Lieut. I)avidson's tent. In a few seconds I
saw that officer rush out in undress, and his
clear voice rang out on the night air: "To
arms! horse!
A hundred soldiers rose as one from the
plain, a rush was made for the horses picketed a few yards away. The move was too
sudden,- cavalry horses, pack mules, and
all took fright, pulled up their pickets and
stampeded.
The air was a little chilly and I returned
to my blankets. I could hear the hoofs of
the runaway horses pounding the turf farther
and farther away for some minutes. The lieutenant meanwhile proceeded to put on his
clothes and prepare for battle. By the time
he got his boots on he was convinced there
had been a false alarm, and upbraided my
bedfellow for it.
But he met the reproach with vehement
assertions that our party was all murdered.
The lieutenant knew better, and drove the
frantic man away. The Doctor, as we
called him, moved cautiously toward our
camp, and had to be reassured by the guard
that we were all alive before he ventured to
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[Mar.