northeast fort, which was the principal one of the
chain, was surrounded by a natural gorge some fifty feet deep and
twenty-five feet wide at the top. A sort of banquette, or balcony,
making a practicable path several feet wide, extended around the fort
between the wall and the edge of the ravine. The fort proper was
enclosed by a wall of rock, partly natural, partly artificial, about
eight feet high. An assailant crossing the ravine and gaining the
crest of the peak would have ample standing ground between the edge and
the wall. The broken ground around these forts on the plateau formed a
series of natural rifle pits.

These works were held by no less than one hundred and twenty Shoshones
belonging to the Piutes, Pitt Rivers, Modocs and Snakes. Their chief
was Sa-hei-ta, one of the bravest and most brutal of the marauders.
When they saw Crook's little force of fifty white soldiers and a score
of Warm Spring Indians descending the bluff into the valley south of
the rocky canon, they laughed them to scorn. They were confident in
the strength of their position and in their numbers, and they resolved
to hold their ground. Indeed, after the first few moments there was
nothing else for them to do, for Crook distributed his cavalry {305}
and infantry around the northern and southern sides, put his pack mules
in camp in the valley on the east with a small guard, and threw the
Warm Spring Indian scouts back of the forts between them and the
cliffs. Thus he had the Indians surrounded, so far as seventy men
could surround nearly twice their number in chosen fortifications. The
whole place was popularly known as the Hell Caves of the Pitt River,
although in the War Department and official records it is described
more politely as the Infernal Caverns of the Pitt River.

Getting his men in position, Crook acted promptly. In long thin lines
on the north and south, taking advantage of the abundant cover, the
soldiers cautiously advanced, clearing out the rifle pits and driving
the Indians back toward their stronghold. There was severe fighting
all during the afternoon, in which First Sergeant Charles Brackett and
Private James Lyons were killed and a number were wounded. The Warm
Spring Indians, who were good scouts, did not fancy this sort of
warfare, and they took practically no part in the battle. They were
useful enough in one way, as they checked any retreat toward the
bluffs, although as it turned out the Indians