Charles Hobart, July 13, 1865

SIR:

I have the honor to report that the expedition consisting of forty-four enlisted men of Companies A, B, and D, First Oregon Cavalry, under my command, left this post on the morning of July 2, 1865. About 11 a. m. we came upon the trail of the stock stolen from Jordan and Reynolds Creeks and followed it to the Malheur River, arriving there on the 7th. The trail was very hard to follow and we experienced great difficulty ın following it. It went in a very circuitous direction and every method had been used by the Indians to blind it. On the day of arriving at the Malheur the scouts in advance incautiously exposed themselves and were seen by a party of three Indians who were gathering berries. They fled to the brush, leaving their horses. On the arrival of the command every effort was made to find them, so that they would be unable to transmit intelligence of our presence to the main body of the Indians, but they concealed themselves so eftectually that it was impossible to do so. The train was camped and the command, with the exception of the camp guard, was pushed rapidly forward on the Indian trail, hoping to reach the camp of the Indians and surprise them. On our way up the river three mounted Indians were seen and chased by the advance and their horses captured, the Indians escaping to the brush. We kept on the trail till late in the afternoon, riding most of the time ata trot or a gallop, passing several recent camps, until the trail became blind, the stock appearing to have been scattered in all directions. The command was then divided into several parties and the country within a circuit of several miles thoroughly scouted, but without attaining our object. We returned to camp after dark. The next day small parties went out, but could find no traces of the Indian camp. Our camp was on a little flat situated where a small creek joins the Malheur, bounded by the Malheur on the front and left, the creek on the right, and a high precipitous mountain in the rear. On the opposite side the mountains rosein broken ridges directly from the river. This was the only camp in several miles, there being no water in the mountains and the bunch grass being high up on the divides.

About an hour and a half before daylight the picket guard reported Indians near camp. The stock was driven in, the men called to arms, the horses ordered saddled, and the howitzer got into position. While this was being done the Indians, finding themselves detected, opened a heavy fire on the camp from all sides, but heaviest from a bench on the mountain in rear of the camp. A charge of canister was immediately thrown among them and they fell back. It was then reported that ten horses and a number of mules had broken from the men and ran in the direction of the mountain in the rear. A party under Sergeant Wallace and Corporal Walker, of Company B, were instantly sent to charge the hill and recover the stock, the Indians in the rear having fell back, shouting as they did so to the party opposite us. In front they commenced a rapid fire, by which Private Jones of Company D, First Oregon Cavalry, was wounded in the arm, and prepared to make an attack on the camp, but a few discharges of spherical case and canister caused them to retreat over the mountain. The stock having by this time returned to camp, re-enforcements were pushed forward to the party of Sergeant Wallace, which was still in pursuit of the Indians.

The Indians were pursued five or six miles, a running fight being kept up all the time till they managed to escape down a steep, rocky cañon, leaving in our hands the body of one Indian whom they were unable to take off, his arms and ammunition, and nine horses. Three other dead Indians were carried off by them, together with their wounded; how many in number I could not say, the country being so cut up with cañons breaking off from the main ridge that an Indian could elude pursuit by going into them. The horses captured were covered with blood, and I think quite a number of Indians must have been wounded, as the fire of our men was quick and well directed. During the pursuit Corporal Walker and Private Phillips, of Company B, separated from the main body in chase and, the Indians coming out the cañon behind, turned and fought their way back through the Indians. Private Phillips was seriously wounded. Corporal Walker turned back and killed an Indian that was just going to knock Phillips off his horse. The Indians did not pursue them farther. By this time others had come up and continued the pursuit till the Indians separated and escaped into the cañons. The number of Indians cannot be correctly estimated. The mounted Indians numbered about seventy. The Indians on foot kept on the high points and in the heads of the rocky cañons and must have been in large numbers. I think white men must have been among them, for they told us in good English to “come on, you sons of bitches, we can whip you anywhere.” They had considerable soldiers’ clothing among them and appear to have plenty of arms and ammunition. I am of the opinion that some of the Boisé Indians were with them, as the gun captured is one of those that were stored in the quartermaster’s storehouse at Fort Boisé. The place where we had the engagement is about twenty-five miles in a southeast line from Pilot Rock, a high mountain forty miles south of Canyon City, near which the roads from Canyon City to Boisé and California separate. I think that there is a large body of Indians in that section of country and that they have made that part their base of operations. Returning from the Malheur River, we arrived at this post to-day. In conclusion, I would speak in the highest terms of the bravery and judgment shown by Sergeant Wallace and Corporal Walker, which aided greatly in the successful issue of the day. Our loss is 2 horses and 1 mule. The horses got away during the engagement and we were unable to find them afterward. The mule was severely wounded and unable to travel and was shot by my order. I an, sir,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,