not tell. Similar scenes were being enacted in other parts of the field. As soon as it was dusk those of the wounded who could move began crawling over the rocks toward camp.
Out of sixty-five enlisted men, twenty-two were killed and sixteen wounded, a loss of over three fifths of the force; of the five commissioned officers, not one escaped, though Harris lived a few days after being mortally wounded; Surgeon Semig recovered with the loss of a leg; making the total loss of twenty-seven killed and seventeen wounded, besides a citizen shot while going to the relief of the wounded. "Where were the Warm Spring scouts?" asked the horrified critics of this day's work. They were in the rear and to the left of Thomas, and after the attack, could not get nearer because the soldiers would mistake them for the Modocs, not being in uniform.[1]
According to some witnesses, help was very tardily rendered after the attack on Thomas command became known,[2] which it soon was. Although the stragglers began to come in about half-past one o'clock, it was not until night that a rescuing force was ready to go to Thomas' relief. When they did move, there were three detachments of cavalry under captains Trimble and Cresson, and two others under Jackson and Bernard, with two companies of artillery under Throckmorton and Miller. In two lines they moved out over the lava-beds, soon lost to sight in the gloom of night and tempest, a severe storm having come on at the close of a fine day. A large fire was built on a high point, which gave but little guidance on account
- ↑ Boyle's Conduct of the Modoc War, MS., 41–2; Corr. S. F. Chronicle, in Portland Oregonian, May 6, 1873; S. F. Call, April 30, 1873; S. F. Alta, April 30, 1873; Sac. Record-Union, April 30, 1873; S. F. Post, April 29, 1873; S. F. Bulletin, April 29, 1873; Annual Report of Maj.-Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, 1873, p. 5–6; Or. Deutsch Zeitung, May 3, 1873; S. F. Elevator, May 3, 1873.
- ↑ Boyle says that the firing, which began about noon, could be distinctly heard at camp. Cabaniss testified the same. The correspondent of the S. F. Chronicle said that no firing was heard, but that he could see through his glass, from the signal-station, the soldiers running wildly about and crawling over the rocks, evidently panic-stricken. Col Green, he says, went immediately to their assistance; but this was false.
