As the expedition approached the Indian country the usual methods were instituted for the discover of Indian signs and evidences of Indian habitation, but no discoveries of this character were made until the 17th of May at one of the crossing of Crooked River, four or five miles below the forks of the river. This led to the action on the morning of May 19, in which Second Lieutenant S. Watson and Privates Bennett Kennedy and James Harkinson, Company B, First Oregon Cavalry, were killed, and Corporal Dougherty and Privates Weeks, Freeman, Level and Henline, same company and regiment, wounded. One of our Indian scouts was killed, Stock Whitley, chief of the Warm Springs Indians, mortally wounded, and a citizen of Salem, Oreg., named Barker, severely wounded. When Po-li-ni's camp was discovered by our Indian scouts on the 17th of May it was thought to be a small squad of marauders who had made a temporary camp at the place then occupied for the purpose of carrying on their thieving operations. Such was the opinion of the scouts themselves, who reported that a close examination of the camp had been made. For the purpose of breaking up this camp and chastising the Indians I sent out, under command of First Lieutenant John M. McCall, First Oregon Cavalry, a detachment composed of two commissioned officers, thirty-nine enlisted men, and twenty-one friendly Indians, with orders to make a night march and surprise the hostile camp at daylight on the morning of the 18th. On making the attack Lieutenant McCall found the Indian camp not only far superior in numbers than had been reported, but well prepared for defense. Three hundred yards above their camp was a semicircular ledge of rocks that had been turned into a fortification with a good deal of labor and skill. The upper side of the ledge was protected by a low wall hastily thrown up along its entire length, and the lower side was thoroughly and effectually barricaded with the large bowlers and loose rocks broken from the face of the cliff by the action of the elements. The place was large enough to contain with ease sixty or seventy men, nearly inaccessible on account of the extremely rugged character of the surrounding country, and could be attacked except by direct assault. The movement of the troops was sufficiently sudden to surprise the Indian camp, but not to prevent them from taking shelter in this ledge of rocks, when Lieutenant Watson's platoon was received with a fire that repulsed the attack and forced the assailants to fall back to cover, leaving their gallant leader and 2 of his men killed and 5 wounded upon the ground. The original plan of attack was to surround and capture the hostile camp. With this purpose in view the troops were divided into two parties, to march by different routes and attack opposite sides of the camp, white the party of friendly Indians were to attack midway between the two. The escape of the Indians from their lodges somewhat disconcerted the plans and precipitated the fight with one portion of the attacking forces and caused a repulse before the remaining fraction were within supporting distance. On the arrival of Lieutenant McCall with the remaining platoon it was determined after an examination of the place to secure the wounded, place them in safety, draw off the troops, and send for assistance. The messenger was started at 6 a. m. a-enforcements arrived on the ground at 9 a. m., to find the fortifications abandoned and the Indians dispersed into the mountains. The losses of the Indians amounted to 3 killed, and judging from evidences on the ground, 5 or 6 wounded. These they succeeded in carrying away. Our own wounded were brought away from immediately under the fire of the intrenched savages and carried to a spring nearly a mile distant. Our dead were not recovered until after the

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