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WHEN we left the Utah village, we travelled a long day's journey, and camped on the
Grand River, thirty miles from the last camp; my pony behaved admirably well on the road,
and I would not have parted with him on any account.
While at supper, the guard on the look-out gave the alarm that mounted Indians were
approaching, the word was given to arm and prepare to receive them.
About fifty or sixty mounted Utah Indians, all armed with rifles, and bows and arrows,
displaying their powder horns and cartouche boxes most conspicuously, their horses full of
mettle, and gaily caparisoned, came galloping and tearing into camp.
They had also come to be compensated for the horse we had paid for the night before;
they insisted that the horse did not belong to the woman, but to one of the men then
present, and threatened, if we did not pay them great deal of red cloth, blankets,
vermilion, knives, and gunpowder, they would fall upon us and massacre the whole party.
On these occasions, Col. Fremont never showed himself, which caused the Indians to have
considerable more respect for the "Great Captain," as they usually called him;
nor did he ever communicate directly with them, which gave him time to deliberate, and
lent a mysterious importance to his messages. Very much alarmed, I entered Col. Fremont's
lodge, and told him their errand and their threats. He at once expressed his determination
not to submit to such imposition, and at the same time, laughed at their threats; I could
not comprehend his calmness. I deemed our position most alarming, surrounded as we were by
armed savages, and I evidently betrayed my alarm in my countenance. Col. Fremont without
apparently noticing my nervous state, remarked that he knew the Indian character
perfectly, and he did not hesitate to state, that there was not sufficient powder to load
a single rifle in the possession of the whole tribe of Utahs. "If," continued
he, "they had any ammunition, they would have surrounded and massacred us, and stolen
what they now demand, and are parleying for."
I at once saw that it was a most sensible deduction, and gathered fresh courage. The
general aspect of the enemy was at once changed, and I listened to his directions with a
different frame of mind than when I first entered.
He tore a leaf from his journal, and handing it to me, said: here take this, and place
it against a tree, and at A distance near enough to hit it every time, discharge Your
Colt's Navy six shooters, fire at intervals of from ten to fifteen seconds-and call the
attention of the Indians to the fact, that it is not necessary for white men to load their
arms.
I did so; after the first shot, they pointed to their own rifles, as much as to say
they could do the same, (if they had happened to have the powder), I, without lowering my
arm, fired a second shot, this startled them.
I discharged it a third time—their curiosity and amazement were increased: the
fourth time, I placed the pistol in the hands of the chief and told him to discharge it,
which he did, hitting the paper and making another impression of the bullet.
The fifth and sixth times two other Indians discharged it, and the whole six barrels
being now fired it was time to replace it in my belt.
I had another one already loaded, which I dexterously substituted, and scared them into
an acknowledgment that they were all at our mercy, and we could kill them as fast as we
liked, if we were so disposed.
After this exhibition, they forgot their first demand, and proposed to exchange some of
their horses for blankets, etc.
We effected a trade for three or four apparently sound, strong animals;
"Moses," one of the Delaware chiefs, also traded for one, but in a few days they
all proved lame and utterly useless as roadsters, and we had to kill them for food.
The Indians with the consent of Col. Fremont, remained in camp all night; they had
ridden thirty miles that day, and were tired. On this occasion, eleven men, fully armed,
were on guard at one time.
The Indians who no doubt waited in camp to run our horses off during the night, were
much disappointed in not having an opportunity. They quietly departed the next morning,
while our whole camp listened to the energetic exclamation of Col. Fremont, that the
"price of safety is eternal vigilance."
The crossing of the Grand River, the eastern fork of the Colorado, was attended with
much difficulty and more danger. The weather was excessively cold, the ice on the margin
of either side of the river was over eighteen inches thick; the force of the stream always
kept the passage in the centre open; the distance between the ice, was at our crossing,
about two hundred yards. I supposed the current in the river to run at the rate of six
miles an hour. The animals could scarcely keep their footing on the ice, although the men
had been engaged for half an hour in strewing it with sand. The river was about six feet
deep, making it necessary to swim our animals across; the greatest difficulty was in
persuading them to make the abrupt leap from the ice to the roaring gulph, and there was
much danger from drowning in attempting to get on the sharp ice on the other side, the
water being beyond the depth of the animals, nothing but their heads were above water,
consequently the greater portion of their riders' bodies were also immersed in the
freezing current.
To arrive at a given point, affording the most facilities for getting upon the ice, it
was necessary to swim your horse in a different direction to allow for the powerful
current. I think I must have been in the water, at least a quarter of an hour. The awful
plunge from the ice into the water, I never shall have the ambition to try again; the
weight of my body on the horse, naturally made him go under head and all; I held on as
fast as a cabin boy to a main-stay in a gale of wind. If I had lost my balance it is most
probable I should have been drowned. I was nearly drowned as it was, and my clothes froze
stiff upon me when I came out of it. Some of the Delawares crossed first and built a large
fire on the other side, at which we all dried our clothes standing in them.
It is most singular, that with all the exposure that I was subjected to on this
journey, I never took the slightest cold, either in my head or on my chest; I do not
recollect ever sneezing. While at home, I ever was most susceptible to cold.
The whole party crossed without any accident; Col. Fremont was the first of our party
to leap his horse into the angry flood, inspiring his men, by his fearless example to
follow.
"Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with an immense army; streams of blood followed
in his path through the countries he subdued, to his arrival at the Eternal City, where he
was declared dictator and consul."
On a former expedition, Col. Fremont crossed the Grand River with a handful of men; but
no desolation followed in his path. With the flag of his country in one hand and the
genius of Liberty resting on his brow, he penetrated through an enemy's country,
converting all hearts as he journeyed, conquering a country of greater extent than
Caesar's whole empire, until be arrived at San Francisco, where he became military
commandant and governor in chief of California, by the simple will of the people.
Fremont's name and deeds, will become as imperishable as Caesar's.
At last we are drawn to the necessity of killing our brave horses for food. The
sacrifice of my own pony that had carried me so bravely in my first buffalo hunt, was
made; he had been running loose for a week unable to bear even a bundle of blankets. It
was a solemn event with me, and rendered more so by the impressive scene which followed.
Col. Fremont came out to us, and after referring to the dreadful necessities to which
we were reduced, said "a detachment of men whom he had sent for succor on a former
expedition, had been guilty of eating one of their own number." He expressed his
abhorrence of the act, and proposed that we should not under any circumstances whatever,
kill our companions to prey upon them. "If we are to die, let us die together like
men." He then threatened to shoot the first man that made or hinted at such a
proposition.
It was a solemn and impressive sight to see a body of white men Indians, and Mexicans,
on a snowy mountain, at night, some with bare head and clasped hands entering into this
solemn compact. I never until that moment realized the awful situation in which I, one of
the actors in this scene, was placed.
I remembered the words of the sacred Psalmist, (Psalm cviii. 4-7) and felt perfectly
assured of my final deliverance.—"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary
way: They found no city to dwell in.
"Hungry and thirsty their souls fainted within them. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
"And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of
habitation.
"Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men."
It was a clear, cold night, on the Eagle Tail River, after a long fast, and a dreary
walk, our men had returned supperless to sleep on their snowy bed, and with no prospect of
anything to eat in the morning, to refresh them for another day's tramp. It was a standing
rule in camp that a rifle discharged between the set of watch at night until daylight, was
a signal that Indians were approaching, and this rule had been strictly observed, as a
safeguard to the party. I have seen our camp on Salt Creek surrounded with
wolves—they even came within its precincts and stole our buffalo meat, but our
Delawares would never allow an arm to be discharged. On this occasion, Mr. Fuller was on
guard, and it was a few days before he gave out. We had been twenty-four hours without a
meal, and as may be supposed, he was as hungry as the rest of us; while patrolling up and
down the river on the banks of which we were encamped, his keen eye discovered a beaver
swimming across the stream; he watched it with rifle to his shoulder, and as it landed, he
fired and killed it.
The sudden discharge of a rifle during a still night, under overhanging mountains, and
in the valley of the river where we expected to find Indians, made a tremendous explosion.
The sound reverberated along the rocks, and was re-echoed by the valley. Instantly the
whole camp was on duty. Col. Fremont who had been making astronomical observations, had
but a few moments previously retired to rest. He rushed out of his lodge, completely
armed, the party assembled around it and all were filled with the utmost anxiety and
alarm. We did not know the number or character of the enemy, but we were all prepared to
do battle to the death. In a few moments, one of the Delawares approached camp dragging
after him an immense beaver, which he said Mr. Fuller had killed for breakfast. The sight
of something to eat, instead of something to fight, created quite a revolution of feeling;
and taking into consideration the extremity, which caused Mr. Fuller to break through the
rule, Col. Fremont passed it off quietly enough. Poor Fuller did not realize the excited
condition of the camp, until he was relieved from duty. Our beaver for breakfast, when
Fuller told Col. Fremont so anxious and delighted at seeing the beaver entirely forgot the
rule of the camp.
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