THE ROGUE RIVER WARS. 389
found to have penetrated the body from the front, one through the heart, one through the left shoulder, the other two through the breast. While the body was being prepared for burial, Weaver, who had called upon Mrs. Guess, came into the room and said she had asked if her husband was dead ; but that he had evaded the question, as he would not tell her. No one could be found to per form the painful office, and it devolved upon Captain O Neil, who, as all who knew him will recollect, was no coward ; yet he shrunk from this. But time was pressing and he must perform the sad duty. How it was performed is not known, but that he told her the terrible truth was soon evident from the anguished cries of the widowed wife and fatherless children ; sounds deeply painful to all who stood around that lifeless body on that February morning.
Such were the duties in which volunteers were month after month engaged, their time being divided between skirmishing with the enemy, protecting property, rescuing, if possible, those in peril, burying the victims of savage hate, and removing their helpless families to places of safety. If they lacked the discipline of mercenary soldiers, they did not lack either courage or sympathy.
The following brief reports found in some of the monthly returns further illustrate the conduct of the war. Writes Captain O Neil of how he spent the month of February:
The company for the past month, as will be seen by weeklj- report, has been stationed on Applegate, and Illinois valley. The most of the men have been continually on the move, scouting and escorting pack trains from Illinois valley to Jacksonville. No gen eral movements have been made toward the Indians this month, the greatest number of men, in pursuance of order No. 22, having been discharged, and recruits very hard to get. This month passed out by mustering in of recruits on February 29, 50.
Captain Bushey writes:
February nineteenth, organized by electing captain, first and second lieutenants, and first sergeant at headquarters ; remained in camp until the twenty-fourth ; marched fifteen miles down Rogue river ; twenty-fifth, marched to Fort Vannoy, crossed the river, and went down two miles and camped ; twenty-sixth, captain and nine men went as scouts to the mouth of Jump-Off-Joe creek, returning in the evening ; no Indian signs discovered ; remained in camp twenty-seventh, twentj T -eighth, and twenty-ninth, preparing for a trip in the mountains.
