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Show INDIAN DEPREDATIONS 207 the desert, owing to weakness of both horses and men ; of the latter there were several whose mouths and tongues were so sore, that they could scarcely CAPTAIN A. P. DEWEY WAS ORDERED TO ESTABLISH A POST IN THISTLE VALLEY. A lew days later, Jun:> the 21st, Captain Al-boi t P. iJewey of Colonel Kimoall'^ eomm& rd was ordered to establish a post in Thistle Valley in the north end of Sanpete county a point that was con-sidered the key to any probable attack from that di-rection. His command consisted of twenty- two cav-alry and thirty- five infantry, the latter under Cap-tain Jesse West, who started from Moroni on the 21st of June. On the evening of the 23rd of June the In-dians gave indications of their presence in the vic-inity of the camp in Thistle Valley, and extra pre-cautions were taken to guard against a surprise. Hyrum Murphy of Captain Dewey's company states that when the company first went to Thistle Valley, they were camped by the wagon road, near the Warm Springs ; but feed being better and more convenient elsewhere, the camp was moved up east about a mile and a half to a more exposed location ; and during the night of the 23rd of June an object resembling in the dark, a small bear crawling round camp, occasionally howling like a coyote, came close by a bed in which slept two boys. The guard saw and shot at it, when it ran away. It was afterwards be-lieved to be an Indian trying to locate the horses, and ascertain the condition of the camp. |
