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THE DESERET WEEKLY435around them. George McBride, who was the only white mao on horseback, ventured out some distance ahead of his companions, and was killed at the commencement; and Brother Quigley, one of the herders, and Fountain Welch, were wounded at the same time. One ball passed through Brother Corleas* bat, another cut off the knot of his neck-tie and a third grazed his left ear. Elder Cor less has always described it to the miraculous interposition of the Almighty that the brethren were not all killed.President Smith, in his private journal* gives the following account of thissad aflfafr:“Thursday, February 25th, 13-58. As I was returning from tbo field to the fort I Baw a large party of Indians riding at full speed toward the point w7hero our herd was grazing. Quick as possible I unharnessed my horses, and, moun'ing one of them, proceeded, in company with Ezra Barnard, who was also mounted, toward the herd. After goinp* about a mile we dtscovorod that the Indians had got possession of all our stock, and that they were driving back the brethren who had gone in pursuit ahead of us. As soon as the Indians saw Us, six of their warriors took after us, when we changed our course toward the other brethren, but seeing that wo could not gain the point where they were, we turned toward the fort, and as wo rode down the bench, the Indiana, who pursued us, fired upon us, ouo of the bullets passing through my suspenders and lodged in my horses right jaw, a little below the joint. The lic?rse jumped, whereby my left stirrup broke, and I, losing my balance, was thrown ofT tho horse* In the fall I lost iny pistol. Fortunately Brother Barnard caught my horse, but before I could reach him, a ball passed through the rim of my hat near my right ear, atid while I was in the act of mounting, another ball passed through the upper part of my right arm, a little below the elbow, as the Indians continued shooting all the time. We reached the fort without further difficulty, buL in running in I had to hold my hand over Ibe wound of my animal to prevent him from bleeding to death.“Soon after we got in, the brethren who had gone out on foot ‘also returned with Brother Welch, whom the Indians had shot in tho small of the hack, the balllodging against the back bone. Ho bad also been struck twice on the head with a gunj and after taking his gun and ammunition and stripping him of his shirt the savages left him for dead.l,The Indians who had chased us to the fort now joined their companions who were driving off our herd, and I sent out ten men to hunt for tbo missing herdsmen. While they were gone Brother 0. Boso,onoof the herders, came in unhurt. The ten men returned a little before sunset with the dead body of Geo. McBride, who had been shot from his horse and stripped of everything except his socks, pants and garments. He was also scalped. The ball that killed him had entered hie body under the Aeft arm and came out under his right arm. The ton men also found Brother Andrew Quigley, who was shot in too shoulder, the bull lodging against tbo collar bono. He had been struck several blows on the head and left by the savages for dead, but after they had gone, lie came to and subsequently recovered.“There were five of tho brethren down where the other fort stood, after hay, and the Indians meeting them there immediately opened fire upon them, and drove them from their teams, killing James Milter and wounding JL. W. SbuHJlJFand Oliver Robinson.“One ball passed through Brother ShurtlifTs right'arm below the elbow andthen through Oliver Robinson’s right hand. Janies Miller was shot ih rough in the same manner as Geo. McBride; ho ran a few stops atid fell dead; the Indians stripped him of everything.41 All the brethren came 1n that night except James Miller, whose dead body was found the next morning by ten men I had dispatched for that purpose.1’The following day (Feb. 26th) the remains of Geo. McBride and James Miller were burled by their companions. The other brethren who were wounded subsequently recovered.On Saturday the 27th, some of the brethren made preparations to cache their wheat, as they were desirous of returning to Utah, but at a meeting held on the Sunday (the 28th) Preat-'tent Smith asked the missionaries if they were satisfied that they had filled their mission, and would they return without word from President Young? The reply being in the negative, a vote to send an express to Salt Lake City p-evailel, and that.sjmeevening, after dark, Ezra Barnard and Baldwin , Watts started on this dangerous expedition.On the 1st of March the brethren went to*work repairing the fort and building bastions with the timber which had be^n hauled from the lower fort. This labor was continued for several days and the brethren also threshed their oats, worked on the ruill-race3 started to m ike a cannon, etc.On the 8fch some Indians brought back twenty -eight head of the stoleu stock an 1 pretended to be very friend-ty The following day they brought buck seven cows and a yearling.On the 2l)th the mail and several brethren arrived from Salt Lake City, bringing the news that 150 men were cooling to help the missionaries away. On the 22nd this company, in command of Colon el Andrew Cunning-ham, arrived, and on the 24th the colonel and President Smith, with sixty other men, visited the camp of the Indians, who delivered to President Smith three cows and calves and six ponies in payment for cattle they had killed.On the 28th ten men started from the fort for Salt Lake City with the mail and messages for President Young, stating the condition of the camp, as it was feared at the headquarters of the Church in Salt Lake City,that all the brethren of the mission had been murdered hy the Indians.On the 27th the ox teams,with a portion of the missionaries and such effects as they could take with them, started for Utah, and on the 28th Fort Llmhlwas entirely vacated hy the departure of the remaining brethren, who left with horse teams, together with their friends who had come to help them away. President Smith gave the friendly Indiana about six hundred bushelsof wheat and left about a thousand bushels with them to trade for horses.The last company, after traveling foirteen miles, overtook the ox teams, which had stopped on account of H Harmon** wife, who was confined and delivered of a fine girj. Without further accident the company reached 8nabe River on the 3rd of April, and, continuing the journey, arrived in the settlements in Utah safe and well. But the tenmen who had left with the mall on the 28th, in charge of Elder B. F. Cummings, were suddenly and furiously fired upou by a party of Indians in ambush, while traveling up Bannock Creek, on the 31st of March, 1858. On this occasion Baitey Lake, one of the party, was killed by the Indians, who also robbed the company of eleven horses. The rest of the brethren reached the settlements in Utah a few days later.Thus ended the famous Salmon River mission which proved to be one of the most dangerous missions ever performed among the Indians in the North; and no attempt has since been made* to establish any settlement of the Saints on Salmon River; most of the lands cultivated by tlie missionaries are now included in the LemhiIndian Reservation,Different theories have been ad* vanoeil as to the cause of this sudden and unexpected Indian outbreak, but the most correct one Ifl perhaps based upon the fact that the U. S. soldiers,under Generftl’A. 8, Johnston (who were encamped in the mountains near Fort Bridger, In the winter of 1857 58)were influencing the Indians at that time to commit all manner of depredations Upon the “Mormons.” It woe even asserted by parties who ought to know that the officers of the army were offering the I ndians a certain amount for every “Mormon” scalp they could secure. At any rate, it was generally believed in these early days that the Salmon River outbreak was due to the influence of the soldiers-Hubert H. Bancroft, in bis history of Idaho, page 403, says:. “The Ncz Percea beoamo jealous of the Mormon set Hers, knowing that the government was opposed to the Mormon occupation of Utah, and fearing lest they should be driven out to overrun the Flathead country* if they were permitted to retain a footing there.”The whole Salmon River region remained in undisturbed possession of the aborigines until 1806, when mining discoveries opened up the country, and Salmon City, a mining town was founded in the spring of 1887, at the point wher$ Lemhi River empties into the Salmon, about twenty miles northwest of where Fort Limhi stood-A county called Lemhi, which in 1880 hid a population of 2,230, was created by the Idaho legislature, Jan, 9, 1869. Were there any Saints in this region of country now7, they would geographically belong to the Bannock Stake of Zion.THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.At a meeting of the Board of^ Education held March 19, Vice-President Nelson presided. The members present were Messrs, Young, Armstrong, Snow, Colbath, Pyper and Pike.CONCERNING THOTELBCTION.The following letter from Farley L. Williams, the Board’s attorney * in response fco a communication from thecommittee on finance, was read and filed: ’Gentlemen.—Replying to your inquiry conveyed by letters of Mr, Moreionj ol March 10, I have been unable to' give the requisite attention to your inquiries fully In detail, and my absence from th j city
Newspaper Details
Salt Lake City Deseret Weekly
Salt Lake City, Utah, US
Sat, Mar 28, 1891
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Kent F.
25 May 2025
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