had no intention of
leaving.

Finally, toward evening, the plateau was entirely cleared of Indians,
who had all been forced back into the forts. Crook had sent a picket
of soldiers to the edge of the basalt cliffs and these men, with
long-range rifles, did some little execution on the defenders of the
forts, although the distance was so great that their fire was largely
ineffectual. Night found the soldiers ensconced behind boulders on the
very rim of the ravine, the Indians in the forts. In little squads the
{306} soldiers were withdrawn from the battlefield and sent down to the
camp in the valley to get something to eat. They had been without food
or water since morning, and fighting is about the hottest, thirstiest
work that a man can engage in. After they had refreshed themselves,
they went back to the plateau to keep watch over the fort. Desultory
firing took place all night long, the Indians blazing away
indiscriminately--they had plenty of ammunition, it appeared--and the
soldiers firing at the flashes of the guns. The voices of the medicine
men and the chiefs could be heard exhorting them and promising victory.

Crook determined to storm the place at break of day. The darkness
rendered it impossible to attempt the broken, precipitous descent and
ascent of the ravine in the night. Light was needed for that. He had
fought valiantly throughout the day, this major-general, as a common
soldier in the ranks. He was a dead shot, and had used his Spencer
carbine with effect whenever opportunity presented. He could assemble
for the assault but forty men, twenty-two of the First Cavalry and
eighteen of the Twenty-third Infantry. The Warm Spring auxiliaries
refused to assault, such close work not being to their taste. There
were several wounded men in the camp, and a small guard had to be kept
there to protect them and the horses from the attacks of some of the
Indians who had taken advantage of the night to escape from the
stronghold to endeavor to stampede the herd, and who from various
covers kept up a constant fire on the camp, so that Lieutenant
Eskridge, quartermaster, had his hands full in holding his ground.

First Lieutenant W. R. Parnell, now of San Francisco, who commanded the
cavalry, was directed to {307} lead the assault. Second Lieutenant
John Madigan, also of the cavalry, who had charge of the infantry, was
ordered to support. The troops were directed to creep to the brink of
the crevass