to follow them, I sent the two best men I had to bear the message to the Colonel.  They made the trip in two nights, riding at night and lying over in the daytime.  The next day after the Colonel received the dispatch his scouts discovered the same band of Indians, and Col.  Elliott sent one company of soldiers out at once after them.  The soldiers overhauled them at Clover Valley, which was about forty miles south of the emigrant trail, and attacked the redskins, but they were too much for the soldiers.  In the engagement the loss to the command was sixteen men killed, and I never knew just how many were wounded or how many Indians were killed.  The soldiers had to retreat.  All I ever learned from this battle I learned from the dispatch bearers, as they stayed at Col.  Elliott’s quarters until after the soldiers had returned from the engagement.

From this on I kept scouts out south of the trail continually.

One evening one of the scouts came in and reported having seen a little band of Indians some twelve or fifteen miles south of the trail.  The other three scouts that were out with him remained to watch the Indians while he came to report.  The scout was not able to tell just the number, as they were some distance away.  The other three scouts secreted their horses, crawled to the top of the highest hill near by and lay there in the sagebrush and with glasses watched the Indians, who were traveling almost in the direction where the scouts lay, bearing a little south, so that the scouts did not have to change their hiding place.  I mounted my horse for the first time since I had been laid up, and in company with five other scouts, including the one who had brought the message to me, started to investigate the matter.

We rode to where the other three scouts had been left, and they were awaiting our arrival.  They had lain on the hill and watched the Indians go into camp and then returned to where the dispatch bearer had left them.

After holding a council for about five minutes we all mounted and rode as near the Indians as we considered safe, and dismounted.  Taking another scout who had been watching them, I crawled as near as we dared to their camp to try to ascertain their number.  We decided that there were about fifty.  It was perilous to get very close for the reason that the Indians had a number of dogs, and when we would get too near the dogs would begin to bark, and three or four Indians would raise up and look about and every Indian in the band would listen.  When we returned to where we had left the other scouts they were all prepared for an attack, but I told them there were too many for us to tackle alone.  Besides, they were Utes, the worst Indians in the whole country to fight.