Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/243

Infantry, with twenty regulars, came over from Fort Jones, California, and with him a large number of volunteers under Capt. James P. Goodall and Capt. Jacob Rhoades, two Indian fighters of experience. Captain Alden was given the command of all the forces. The first battle of the war was fought on the twelfth day of August, 1853, and was an exciting little fight between about twenty volunteers under Lieut. Burrell Griffin, of Miller's company, and a band of Indians under Chief John. The volunteers were ambushed at a point near the mouth of Williams creek, on the Applegate. The whites were defeated with a loss of two killed and Lieutenant Griffin severely wounded. There were five Indians killed and wounded in the battle. On August 10, 1853, John R. Harding and Wm. R. Rose, of Captain Lamerick's company, were killed near Willow Springs. On the sixteenth of August, 1853, Gen. Joseph Lane, afterwards United States senator from Oregon, and a candidate for vice president in 1860, came out from his home in Douglas County and brought fifty men with him, to take part in the war. General Lane was a man of large experience in Indian warfare and in all military matters. He had commanded an Indiana regiment in the Mexican war and enjoyed a well earned reputation for bravery. On the day that General Lane arrived what is known as the battle of Little Meadows was fought. Lieutenant Ely and twenty-two men met the Indians near Evans Creek, in the timber, and a short, but deadly conflict took place. Seven whites were killed inside of an hour; Lieutenant Ely and three men wounded. They left the battlefield in charge of the Indians—at least, in the popular phraseology of that day, "they got up and got out." On August 24, 1853, the battle of Evans Creek was fought. In this fight the Indians did not fare so well, twelve of them being