at least one shot would be given
for these silent victims to Indian treachery. One officer was so
affected that he approached Colonel J. R. West, our commanding officer,
with the interrogatory: "Colonel, if we should at anytime meet any of
these Indians, what course should be pursued towards them?" "Tell your
men when they see a head, hit it if they can!" was the Colonel's quick
rejoinder. You may think this to have been rather harsh, but remember we
were standing above the remains of the innocent victims of a most
terrible tragedy.

A few miles after leaving Oatman's Flat we came to a pile of immense
boulders in the centre of a pleasant valley. These were the famous
"Pedras Pintados," or painted rocks. A march of fourteen miles brought
the command to Kenyon's. The next day, after sixteen miles marching, we
arrived at Gila Bend. Here we lay over a day, as our next march was to
be to the Maricopa Wells, forty miles distant, the dreaded Gila Desert.
After marching all night and all of the next day, we approached the
Maricopa Wells at about twelve o'clock on the second night. When within
a mile of this point, a small reconnoitering party that had been sent
ahead of our command, met us and reported that a large force of the
rebels had possession of the wells, and from appearances intended to
prevent our command from reaching there. This report served to put new
life into everybody, notwithstanding that the whole command had now been
without sleep for over forty hours, had marched forty miles and was
somewhat fatigued. One company was thrown out as skirmishers, the rest
of the command in line of battle. We approached the watering place, and
when we arrived there, instead of finding a formidable enemy, we found a
half a dozen of our own cavalry that had been scouting ahead of the
command. We found the water strongly impregnated with alkali, but it
served to assuage our thirst.

A short march of ten miles then brought us to the Casa Blanca, the
largest village of the Pimo Indians. Our command remained here for
several weeks, until at least a large part of the "Column" had arrived,
and large stores of commissaries and forage had been collected. Our
Indian scouts and spies brought every few days extravagant reports of
the force of rebels at Tucson, and they all agreed that when our troops
should reach that point, we would meet with a warm reception, and that
rifle-pits, sufficiently manned, extended a long ways on either side o