he volunteers to protect our
wounded and mule train in getting out of this place." It was soon
arranged that the men were to keep firing until dark and then begin the
retreat. Just after sundown Bernard signaled that the relief column had
reached him, but there is not a question of doubt had not the volunteers
pressed the Indians so hard at a critical time Fairchild's, Mason's and
Perry's command would have been annihilated. Jud Small was badly wounded
in the shoulder and afterwards told me that he was shot by an Indian not
twenty feet away. At one point the men lay in the water and rolled over
and over with only their heads exposed.

Night finally closed in and with the gathering darkness the fog rolled
in from the lake, increasing its intensity. Kelley's company was formed
in the rear with Applegate's company on the flank, and formed parallel
with the lake, along the shores of which we were to make our way, with
the wounded men on litters between. Finally the word was passed along
the lines to move forward. The night had meanwhile settled down to one
of Stygean blackness. Objects a foot away were indistinguishable, and we
had to feel rather than see our way. I fully realized the difficulties
and dangers of our situation, but my anxiety was for the nineteen
wounded men on the litters. I told Col. Bellinger that we must remain
together and behind the litter bearers, that I would rather leave my
body with our dead comrades in the rocks than to leave behind any of our
wounded men. But we had proceeded but a short distance when the lines
crumbled and became mixed up, in fact, an undistinguishable mob. Under
these circumstances, and relying on undisciplined troops, our position
was critical in the extreme. One shot would have precipitated a
stampede. Wheaton, Ross and Miller were somewhere mixed up among the
troops, but Bellinger and I stuck to the litter bearers and kept as many
of the men behind us as possible.

Donald McKay's Indians were in the advance, somewhere, but we knew not
where. In this order, or rather disorder, we stumbled along blindly,
knowing the waters of the lake were on our right. The bottom of the
bluff was finally reached and word passed back that the Modocs had
captured and held the summit. I stopped as many of the men as possible
and asked Col. Bellinger to remain with the litter bearers and I would
go forward and if necessary capture it back. Reaching the front I found
Indians, volunteers and offic