settle with
the Indians, and relieve the men he ( Hall ) had contracted with to aid him in keeping the peace; the settlers above having in the meantime returned and forted themselves at the place of a Mr. Roland, after leaving their families at Coos bay for safety.
Captain Pack wood, while waiting for Wright s appear ance, remained at Fort Roland to watch the Indians, and became convinced, although they pretended to be friendly, they they were, if not in league with, at least very much excited by the visits to them of the hostile Indians from the Rogue-river camp. Pending Wright s arrival, Pack- wood ordered the Indians off the reservation to be arrested, two of them, Elk and Long John, to be treated as crimi nals if attempting to escape, and shot. The whole band were notified of the order, and that those who peaceably obeyed would be treated as friends. John, however, man aged to escape, and when the express returned from Port Orford it brought only the news that Wright was absent down the coast, and that a company of volunteers was gone up to the big bend of Rogue river, about twenty-five miles from Fort Roland, to watch the Indians. This dearth of news left the local agent without instructions, and Packwood released the prisoners he had taken, advis ing all the band to go on the reserve and remain quiet.
On the twenty-second of November sixteen men from Coos bay joined the Coquille guards at Fort Kitchen. On the same day the local agent, Hall, was relieved by William Chance, who accepted the services of the guards and the sixteen recruits on the same conditions as those agreed to by his predecessor, certifying on his honor that he believed the public tranquility required the measures adopted. The instructions issued to Packwood after the flight of Long John directed him to treat all Indians, in future, without a pass, as enemies, those belonging to chief Washington s band having commenced hostilities by burn ing the house of a Mr. Hoffman, robbing the house of J. J. Hill of four hundred dollars worth of provisions, rob-
