in silence to the point of attack. To surprise an Indian camp which had been notified of the neighborhood of an enemy was an impossibility. The boats, however, served as a decoy, and the Indians were gathered on the bank of the stream to oppose the landing of the white men, as was expected, when Casey and Wright dashed among them. Stoneman, from the opposite shore, was employed in picking off those who could be reached, and for about twenty minutes the battle raged hotly, fifteen Indians being killed, and many wounded. The reports of the affair make no mention of any white men killed or injured.[1] The Indians fled to the woods, and the troops returned to camp at the mouth of the river, and after a few days to Port Orford, where a garrison was erected of log buildings about half a mile from the town. Early in December Casey's command returned by sea to San Francisco, and the government had a bill of twenty-five thousand dollars to pay, for moving troops, horses, and supplies by the steamers of the Pacific Mail Company, was a costly affair in 1851.
In January, 1852, however, the schooner Captain Lincoln, Naghel master, was chartered to carry troops, under Lieutenant Stanton, and military stores to supply the new post called Fort Orford. A heavy fog prevailing, the vessel went ashore on a sandy point two miles north of the entrance to Coos bay, where by good fortune the troops and cargo were safely landed, if it could be supposed that a mere wind-swept sandspit was land. The men contrived to shelter themselves under sails stretched on booms and spars, where they spent four months guarding the stores from the pilfering fingers of the natives who found entrance to "Camp Castaway."
An effort was immediately made to explore a trail to Fort Orford, over which a pack train could be sent to their
- ↑ The writer of the letter from which the above account was taken was drowned in Sixes river before his letter was finished: Alta Californian, December 14, 1851.
