It is not in evidence who was victor, but there is the record. The major dispatched a messenger for reinforcements, who run the gauntlet of Indian bullets, and barely escaped.
From Indian lips I learn that in the first battle of which I have spoken, Captain Jack did not fire a shot himself, though he directed the fight.
On the occasion of the messenger being sent off by Maj. Jackson, Captain Jack, who was secreted in the sage brush, ran after him and fired one or two shots.
Let us look now to the Modocs with Captain Jack. They did not go on the warpath, but hastened to gather up their women and horses, and retired to the Lava Bed.
Scarface Charley remained behind, for a purpose
that can scarcely be credited. Those who doubt any real genuine manhood among Indians may wonder when I declare that he remained to warn white men of the danger threatening them. In two instances he saw white men, who were his personal friends, going, as he knew, into certain death. In both instances he laid hold of the bridle-reins of the riders’ horses and turned them around, and, pointing to the road whence they came, bade them “ride for life.”
They lost no time in heeding the warning given, and also in notifying the settlers en route of the existence of open hostilities.
By this means John A. Fairchild was notified of the dangers that surrounded him and his family.
Mr. Fairchild’s name has become intimately connected with the Modoc war; indeed, he played some of the thrilling parts of this tragic drama. He is a man of forty years of age, a native of Mississippi; went West when a boy, and engaged in mining. In the course of time he became a large stock-raiser, and went, ten years ago, with his herds of cattle and horses, into the Modoc country.
He soon learned a lesson that our Government has not, viz., that it is cheaper to feed Indians than to fight them. Soon after his arrival he arranged a treaty with the Modocs, paying them a small compensation for the use of the country for stock uses. During the time, he has made the personal acquaintance of nearly every Indian of Captain Jack’s band.