me, this time
his men using their sabres. When clear of the camp Bernard turned his
attention to the men under Pete French. The latter had gotten into a
"hot box," two of his men had been killed and one or two wounded and
required help. Bernard was not slow in giving it, and when all were
safely joined, Bernard dismounted his men and fought the Indians for
several hours with his carbines.

The loss sustained by Bernard in the charge and subsequent engagement
was four men killed and several wounded, not counting the loss sustained
by French. Bernard continued to hover near the Indians throughout the
day. He had taught them a lesson they would not forget. Those terrible
troopers on open ground, they discovered, could go where they liked, and
that nothing could stop them. Accordingly toward night they withdrew to
a rim rock, protected on three sides by high perpendicular walls. The
neck of their fort was then fortified and the savages felt they could
bid defiance to the fierce troopers. In this fight the Indians lost
heavily, forty-two bodies being pulled out of a crevice in the rim rock
where they had been concealed. Among this number was Buffalo Horn, the
greatest leader of the hostiles.

Toward evening Gen. Howard arrived within seven miles of the hostiles.
Bernard sent a courier telling of the position of the Indians and that
with reinforcements and howitzers under Howard the surrender could be
forced in a few hours, or days at most. They had entrapped themselves,
and without water must surrender at the discretion of the soldiers. Gen.
Howard, however, complained that his troops were worn out, that he could
not come up until the following day, and ended by ordering the command
under Bernard to return to his camp. This was Gen. Howard's first fatal
blunder, to be followed by others equally as serious. The Indians
remained in their position until the next day, when they moved out
towards the head of the South Fork of the John Day River. They camped on
Buck Mountain three days while Howard was resting his troops. They then
moved out leisurely to the north, keeping in the rough mountains to be
out of the reach of Bernard's terrible cavalry.

Meanwhile Gen. Howard followed, keeping pace with the Indians. His men
were mostly employed in grading roads through the rough, broken country
to enable his ox teams to follow. Some have questioned this statement.
But I saw with my own eyes the road down Swamp Creek and the mountain