Transcript

Bishop Preston put me in charge of the teams to come back. There I waited for awhile until a company of Latter Day Saints was organized to come to the valley. Brother Atwood, a returning missionary was in charge of this company. We traveled together and had not much trouble until we got west of Laramie. At that time we were five hundred miles from any settlement. We camped one noon about twenty miles west of Laramie in Cottonwood Hollow. Below the road in this hollow there was a thicket of brush and timber and a spring was down in this thicket.

I took the mules that I was in charge of down to the spring to water them. As they had about finished drinking the cattle from the train began to come to the spring. And just at that time somebody hollered "Indians" and one of my teamsters was there with a bucket of water. I road up to him and told him the Indians were coming. He dropped his bucket and ran for camp. At that moment the Indians commenced whooping their war whoop to stampede the cattle and get them away from me. As they did so I commenced the same and ran rapidly back and forth between the cattle and got them on the dead run up the hollow towards camp. At that six Indians came into the herd and tried to turn them away from camp I had on two navy revolvers and as the Indians came into the herd I drew one of them and commenced shooting at the Indians. By the time I had emptied this revolver I had driven the Indians out of the herd. They got one of my mules into the bush ahead of them but it broke back and came into the herd again and I got every animal into the corral not one being lost.

As I got them in some one holloed to me that the Indians were coming down the hollow from above the road. I rode around and took [look] up the hollow towards two Indians. I got within almost pistol shot of them before they seemed to see me. And as they saw me coming they turned and rode down another hollow out of sight. I saw them no more.

The only one that come to meet me just as I about got the cattle to the corral was Miles Romney, brother of Bishop George Romney. As he met me I handed him my empty pistol and told him to load it as quickly as he could. There was a man back the road that had been walking behind the Indians that I drove out of the herd. They surrounded him and he broke through between their horses and ran for camp. As he did so I saw them shooting with arrows. One arrow with an iron spike went into his cheek bone and the spike clinched. In trying to pull it out the arrow was pulled off of the spike. He ran into camp and Miles Romney and Whimberg [Anders Wilhelm Winberg], both returning missionaries, got a pair of horse shoe pinchers and tried to pull it out. They couldn't do it. After I got things qui[e]ted down they came to me and wanted to know if I would go into the corral and pull the spike out of the man's face. I told them I would go. So I went and laid an ox yoke on the ground and had the man sit down on the yoke. Then I said to Miles Romney and Brother Whimberg, "You both take him by the head and hold him solid for I am going to pull." I got hold of the spike with the pinchers and pulled with all the force I had. The spike came out and the man rose to his feet and took me by the hand and thanked me for pulling out the arrow. They anointed him with oil and administered to him and it wasn't long before he was well.

We hitched our teams up and drove off onto the Platte River and camped for the night. I lay under the wagon on the ground all night with both of my pistols on and did not get much rest. We drove on after that and had no further trouble.

After a few days I spoke about taking the mule teams and going on ahead as I could travel faster than the ox teams. But Brother Atwood said, "If you mountain boys leave us and the Indians come upon us we would not stand much show of getting away from them.["]

There was another missionary returning home, I think his name was [John] Swenson. He was shot through the fleshy part of his arm and some of the immigrants were also wounded, but there were none killed.

There was a woman who was quite stubborn when asked to get out and walk over the sand hills. She would get mad and sometimes start back [on] the road. At this time she had acted in that way and had said a number of times that she wished the Indians would get her. She was back [on] the road and the Indians did get her and carried her off. I learned some years afterwards that she jumped off the horses that they had her on into the Platte River and was drowned.

From that time on we had no further trouble with the Indians.

If those Indians had got our animals away from us, being there with men, women and children we would have perished. For we could not have moved having no way to carry our provisions and bedding. So I consider that if ever the Lord performed a miracle it was at that time because me being alone without the help of the Lord I could not have saved the animals from being taken. We arrived home all-right with all that were with us and no further harm done.