border of the lava-fields. The trail thence was over and among rocks of every conceivable size, from a pebble to a cathedral. The opportunity afforded for concealment, and the danger of intrusion, in such a region was obvious.
At Van Bremer's farm, distant twelve miles from the stronghold on the west, was Perry's command, while Jackson remained at Crawleys, where Green had his headquarters. As fast as transportation could be procured, the material of war was being concentrated at this point. General Canby, on receiving information of the affair of the 29th, at once despatched General E. C. Mason with a battalion of the 21st infantry, comprising parts of C and B companies, numbering sixty-four men, to join Wheaton's forces. A special train on the 3d of December conveyed Mason, Captain George H. Burton, and lieutenants V. M. C. Silva, W. H. Boyle, and H. De W. Moore to Roseburg, then the terminus of the Oregon and California railroad.[1] The remainder of the march, to Jacksonville and over the mountains through rain and snow, occupied two weeks, making it the middle of December before the infantry reached Crawley's. It was not until about the same time that Wheaton reached Green's headquarters, where he found the ammunition nearly exhausted by distribution among the settlers, necessitating the sending of Bernard to Camp Bidwell, ninety miles, with wagons, for a supply.
The governors of both California and Oregon had been called upon by the people of their respective states to furnish aid. Governor Booth of California responded by sending to the frontier arms out of date, and ammunition too large for the guns;[2] Governor Grover forwarded a better equipment. The Wash-
- ↑ Boyle's Personal Observations on the Conduct of the Modoc War, a manuscript of 46 pages, has been of great service to me in enabling me to give a connected account of that remarkable campaign. Boyle was post quartermaster. He relates that the talk of the officers at Vancouver was that when Green goes after those Modocs he will clean them out sooner than a man could say Jack Robinson, and that he thought so himself.
- ↑ Yreka Despatches, in Oregonian, Dec. 21, 1872; S. F. Alta, Dec. 13, 1872.
