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Show 354 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF to prote'ct our lodges, and we at le11gth succeeded in beating them off, although they drove away over twelve hundred head of our horses with them, without any possibility of our wresting them from them, at least at that time. We lost thirteen warriors killed, twelve of whom were scalped, and about thirty wounded. It is a wonder we did not suffer a loss three times more severe. But the Black Feet are not steady warriors; they become too much excited in action, and lose many opportunities of inflicting mischief. If bluster would defeat a foe, their battles would be a succession of victories. Had we in the least m~strusted an attack, bybeing in readiness we could have repulsed them without the least effort. But they caught us totally unprepared ; there was not a man at his ·post until they were about to fall upon us. The enemy lost fortyeight scalps in the encounter, besides a number of dead and wounded they carried away with them without our being able to lay hands upon them. They had also over one hundred horses shot under them. We suffered a severe loss in the death of the veteran brave Red Child, the hero of a hundred fights, who was killed and scalped at his lodge door. His wife, who was by, struck the Indian who scalped him with a club, but she did not strike him hard enough to disable him. The loss of the old brave was severely felt by the whole nation. The crying and mourning which ensued pained me more than the loss of our horses. After spending the night in mourning, we moved on to the other division, to carry the woful tidings of our reverse. When we rejoined them there was a general #me of crying. I took a great share of the blame to myself, as it was upon my proposition that the village had been divided and the disaster sustained. I sug- JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 355 gested it with a view to facilitate business, never dreaming of an attack by such an overwhelming force. When the excitement had subsided, I determined to wash their faces or perish in the attempt. I ordered every one that could work to engage in the erection of a fort in the timber, sufficiently large to hold all our 'lodges, laying out the work myself, and seeing it well under way. I directed them, when they had finished the construction, to 1nove their lodges into it, and renlain there till my return, for, thus protected, they could beat off ten times their number. I the~ took nearly seven hundred of our best warriors, and started for the Black Feet, resolved upon Tevenge, and careless how many I fell in with. A small party had recently come in with two scalps, which they had obtained near the head of Lewis's Fork, Columbia River. They reported a large village of eight hundred lodges, from which numerous warparties had departed, as they had crossed their trails in coming home. They knew the direct road to the village, how it was situated, and all about it, which was of great service to me. I therefore took thmn with me, and employed them as scouts. Every warrior was well provided for hard service; each man had a riding-horse, and led his war-horse by his ·side. On the seventh day we came in vie-\v of their village, but we deferred our attack till the next day. The enemy had chosen a very good position; they were encamped on a large bend of the river, at that time shallow and fordable every where. I detached fifty of my warriors for a feint, while I stole round with the main body to the high ground, taking care to keep out of sight of the enemy. Having gained my position, I signaled to the light division to feign an attack, while |
