Oregon and Washington Volunteers/23
[Verified statement of W. T. Kershaw, relative to the disposition of the Indians on the southern Oregon immigrant road since 1851, and to the necessity of the service rendered by Captain Walker’s company of mounted volunteers, dated November 21, 1857.][edit]
Statement of W. T. Kershaw.
My knowledge of the character and disposition of the Modoc Indians dates back to the autumn of 1851, when, with Captain Ben Wright and other citizens of Yreka, (then called Shasta Butte City,) I went into the Klamath lake or Modoc country, in pursuit of some two hundred head of stock which had been driven off from Shasta valley by the Modoc Indians.
We went as far as Lost river, one hundred miles from Yreka, and succeeded in getting only about thirty-four head, the balance the Indians had either killed or got them off the trail, where we could not track them. Our party had several skirmishes with the Indians as we passed along our route, killing about thirty of their number. Two of our company were severely wounded, but finally recovered.
In August, A. D. 1852, immediately after the first train of emigrants had arrived at Yreka, over nearly the same route we had travelled after the stock the year previous, a man came into Yreka from the country of the Modocs, stating that the Indians there were very hostile, and that he was the only one out of a party of eight or nine who had packed across the plains that had escaped the Indians; and that he saved himself only by cutting the pack from one of his horses, mounting him without saddle or equipments, and charging through the Indian forces. This occurred at a place called “Bloody Point,” on the east side of Tulé lake, and in the immediate neighborhood of Lost river.
Immediately upon the reception of these tidings at Yreka, Captain Ben Wright, since murdered by Indians near the mouth of Rogue river, enrolled a company of volunteers, of which I was chosen first lieutenant. We left Yreka on the 29th day of August, and, making forced marches, soon arrived in the heart of the hostile country.
On our arrival at Tulé lake we met a train of sixteen wagons and somewhere between forty and sixty persons. This party had been attacked by the Indians, and had fought them for several hours near the place where the party of packers were killed, of which we had heard the news at Yreka. The Indians had them completely surrounded, leaving no possible chance for escape.
As soon, however, as our company had got within about a quarter of a mile from where they were then fighting, the Indians withdrew into the lake, which is shallow, full of small islands; its borders and islands thickly covered with tulé, affording secure hiding places for them, either when lying in ambush or when pursued.
Captain Wright, seeing the Indians taking to their canoes and pushing out into the lake, ordered a charge, which order was promptly executed. We fought them for about three hours, when, night coming on, we retired. Many of us fought in water to our armpits. In this engagement we must have killed as many as thirty or thirty-five of the enemy. The Indians themselves say we killed twenty. Our company sustained no loss whatever.
On our way to where the train was attacked, and where it still remained, we found the body of a man in the tulé, which had evidently been there several days. The cayotes and birds had torn off much of the flesh. We gave it as decent a burial as was in our power to do, and then proceeded on to the train. Here we found the emigrants nearly exhausted from the effects of their recent engagement; and that they could not possibly have held out much longer, as they had but few guns, and were withal becoming short of ammunition. A man by the name of Freeman Hathorne was severely wounded. I believe there was but one woman with the train. We camped at this place over night, and next morning found the bodies, as we supposed, of the first party of emigrants killed; and also the bodies of Coats, Orvenby, and Long, who had left Yreka about three weeks before to meet some friends whom they expected to arrive by this route. With these bodies there was also the body of a packer, who had been despatched to the settlements to procure supplies for a train that were becoming destitute.
During this and the next day we found and buried twenty-one bodies, making, with the one found in the tulé the day previous, twenty-two. We also found various articles of women and children’s clothing, &c., indicating that entire families had been massacred. We found the body of but one female, however, but we were all of the opinion that more had been killed or taken captives. In one of the Indian rancherias we found the hair from a woman's head, shorn close. A detachment of our company saw an immigrant wagon belonging to some of the murdered party some distance off the road. I saw the tracks of two wagons going in opposite directions, one to the northward and the other to the south, towards the country of the Pitt River Indians.
Our company remained in the hostile country about three months, traversing the road between Klamath and Clear lakes, furnishing each train with a sufficient escort over the most dangerous part of the road until all had passed through safely. We saw the Indians daily watching our movements, but they generally kept a respectful distance from the road, and I am glad to say did not get another opportunity to slake their thirst with the blood of any of that portion of the emigration that passed through their country during our term of service.
We had only light and occasional skirmishes with the Indians after we relieved the train at “Bloody Point,” until the morning we left the Indian country for home, when we had a smart engagement, in which we killed about forty of them, impressing upon the minds of the balance, no doubt, the opinion that we had avenged the wrongs their tribes had committed towards the whites, at least during that season. In this affair we had two men, Poland and Saubanch, severely wounded.
We returned to Yreka, bringing our wounded on litters, rudely constructed, and were there discharged on the 29th day of November, having been in active service just three months. The State of California has long since recognized and provided for this service, so that I have no claim whatever on this score, nor have I any claim or claims, or interest in any claim or claims growing out of any volunteer service subsequently rendered, either in northern California or southern Oregon, or on any of the immigrant routes leading to this coast.
I served in the Rogue River war of 1853, but that service has been paid by the United States.
From my own personal knowledge of the treacherous character of the Modoc and other Indians in their vicinity, and their hostile disposition towards the whites, I freely affirm that a military force has been actually necessary in their region of country for the protection of life and property whenever an immigration from the eastward has passed through it. There is at the present time, I believe, a sort of pledge of honor given by the Modocs that they will neither kill nor molest any more whites; but unless they are carefully and judiciously dealt with, and a competent agent sent among them and located there who can command their confidence and respect, I can have no faith that a peaceful relationship between them and the whites can long exist.
What is true, too, of the Modocs, in this respect is also true of the Pitt Rivers and the Pi-utes.
I make this statement at the solicitation of parties who hold just claims growing out of the service rendered under Captain Jesse Walker, of the Oregon volunteers in 1854, on the southern Oregon immigrant road.
W. T. KERSHAW.
State of California,
County of Siskiyou,
Be it remembered, that on this twenty-first day of November, A. D., one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, personally appeared before me, the undersigned, William T. Kershaw, to me personally known to be the person who subscribed the foregoing statement, and to me known to be the person he therein represents himself to be, and made oath that such “statement” is true, according to his best knowledge and understanding. I further certify that I have had a personal acquaintance with the said W. T. Kershaw for several years, and believe him to be a reliable and credible person.
In testimony whereof, I have hereto subscribed my name officially, and impressed the seal of the county court of the county aforesaid, at my office, in Yreka City, the day and year first above written.
F. A. ROGERS,
Clerk County Court, Siskiyou County, California.