J. B. Adams.

    There was no hesitation in the action of Gov. Pitkin.  Aware for weeks that such an outbreak was liable to occur at any moment, his course had, it might be said, been anticipated, and he sent the following dispatch to the Secretary of War, at Washington:

Geo. W. McCrary, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.:
    Dispatches just received from Laramie City and Rawlins inform me that White River Utes attacked Col. Thornburg's command twenty-five miles from Agency.  Col. Thornburg was killed, and all his officers but one killed or wounded, besides many of his men and most of the horses.  Dispatches state that the whole command is imperiled.
    The State of Colorado will furnish you, immediately, all the men you require to settle permanently this Indian trouble.
    I have sent couriers to warn settlers.



    It is a difficult matter to describe the excitement which followed the spreading of the tidings over the city.  Denver discusses event and calamity, ordinarily, with serenity and coolness; but the news of the ambush and hte danger which awaited the whites in and about the Agency at White River startled the entire community, and expressions of sadness would be swept from the face by those of anger and determination.  The Governor's office was besieged during the afternoon and evening, not by the idly curious, but by strong men -- sturdy old pioneers nad hot-blooded young men, who offered their services to the State in defense of her people and in exterminating the savage horde.  At least fifty volunteers made bold to see the Governor, while everywhere on the streets men gathered together, and pledged themselves to join any volunteer movement to protect the frontier and drive the Utes from Colorado soil or into it.

    Meanwhile, the Governor had been taking immediate steps for the protection of settlers on the Indian frontier, first, by sending out couriers to warn them of their probably danger, and, finally, by calling the militia of the State to hold themselves in readiness for service at the shortest prossible notice.  For convenience, the frontier was divided into three military districts -- the norwest under command of Gen. W. A. Hamill, of Georgetown; the center in charge of Gen. J. C. Wilson, of Leadville, and the southwest, or San Juan country, to be commanded by Capt. George J. Richards, of Lake City.  Dispatche were sent to each of these gentlemen, instructing them to notify all exposed setlements of the outbreak, and to organize companies of minute-men for defense in case of Indian attack.

    These instructions were carried out without loss of time, and very effecyually.  It happened, however, that the Indians made no demonstrations against the settlers, and the only effect of all this "military activity" was to awaken a sense of insecurity which could not be allayed for some weeks.  There was a frantic demand for arms and ammunition, which Gov. Pitkin was unable to supply, the State being almost destitue of military supplies.

    Meanwhile, an almost feverish anxiety prevailed as to the probably course of the Southern or Uncompahgre Utes, under Ouray and Ignacio.  Would they join their White River brethren and fight, or would Ouray, the known friend of the whites, succceed in keeping them quiet and peaceful?  As the telegraph line in that direction was only extended to Del Norte, at that time, it was not until Sunday morning, Octobe 5, that news cme from that quarter, and then it was inthe shape of the following startling dispatch:



Geo F. W. Pitkin, Denver:
    Indian Chief Ouray has notified the whites to protect themselves; that he is poerless, and can afford no protection.  Capt. Richards, of the Lake City Guards, has gone to Indian Creek to seize the ammunition destined for the Agency, now en route.  George M. Darley has just reached here from Ouray City.  He left there this morning.  It is reported that Ignacio is on the war-path in the South.  The town of Ourayis under arms.  The country is all on fire.  We will do all we can, but wants arms.  We must hae protection of some kind.  Answer.
    Of course, such a statement, sined by the most respectable citizens of lake City, would not fail to produce a decided sensation, and the Executive office was more throughly aroused that morning than when the first news of the outbreak came in.  Immediate steps were taken to forward arms and ammunition to Lake City and Ouray, and the regular train for the South having left Denver, a special train was sent out, carrying Gen. D. J. Cook, of the State Militia, and a quantity of arms and ammunition.  Other dispatches and personal intellegence received later seemed to confirm the impression that trouble was imminent in the San Jaun country.  It was stated that Ignacio and his band were on the war-path in La Plata County, and grave fears were ntertained for the safety of the exposed settlers on that frontier, though regular troops were being mobved in that direction under command of Gen. Hatch.

    All these fears were happily groundless.  Gen. Cook reached Lake City in due time, and found the scare already subsiding, Chief Ouray having asserted his control over the tribe, and Ignacio, instead of being on the war-path, was disposed to treat the matter lightly, having no partciular love for the White River Utes.  Before it was definitely known that no danger need be apprehended from that source, Gov. Pitkin, in answer to a telegram from Silverton, sent the celebrated dispatch which has since caused so much comment and controversy in the press of Colorado and the East, and, to the end that the message in question may be fully understood and not misquoted, the entire corresponce is given below.  Mr. A. W. Hudson, who signs the first dispatch, is a leading lawyer and a most reputable citizen of the town of Silverton.



To Gov. F. W. Pitkin:
    Your dispatch received at Animas City.  Bands of Indians out setting firet on the line beteen La Plata and San Juan.  They say they will burn the entire country over. Chief Ouray, from the Uncompahgre band, has sent out a courier warning settlers that his young men are on the war-path, and that he cannot control them.  The Indians setting out thee fires, being off their reservation, cannot the people of these two counties drive them back?  We don't ant to wait till they have killed a few families, and if they understand we are prepared, there may be no outbreak.

 
   The following answer was returned:


A. W. Hudson, Silverton:
    Indians off their reservation, seeking to destroy your settlements by fire, are game to be hunted and destroyed like wild beasts.  Send this word to the settlements.  Gen. Dave Cook is at Lake City in command of State forces.  Gen Hatch rushing in regulars to San Juan.
    Gov. Pitkin's dispatch has been misquoted and misinterpreted as maning that the Indians should be hunted as wild beastm under any and all circumstances, and he has been censured for the alleged inhumanity of the executive order.  Those who read the whole correspondence will see that the order was entirely proper under the circumstances, and as it was originally transmitted.  Instead of referring to Indians in general, is related only to marauders off their reservation seeking the destruction of white settlements by fire, and if such Indians ought not to be hunted like wild beasts, they certainly deserve no better fate.

    Meanwhile, although Gen. Merritt, with a large force, had been sent promptly to the rrlief of the remnant of Thornbur's command, no tidings had been receivd form that direction, ceither from the Agency or the Indians.  It was lmost certain that the Agency people were killed, and it seemed natural to epect as incursion of hostile saages upon some portion of the Indian border.  Just where the blow would fall, no one could possibly foresee, and each mining-camp in the mountains felt itself in instant danger of attack.  It was a trying time.  Although, in point of fact, the hostiles were engaged in wathcing the movement of the regular soldiers, and made no advance in the direction of the white settlement, it could not be known that such was the case, and the general alarm could not be condemned or causeless.  The couriers and scouts did not bring in any news of Indians, but rumors were thick and fast, and no sooner was the scare over than another broke out.  Of these successive sensations, however, it is useless to write in detail at this late day.  Suffice it to say that, by prompt action and a judicisous distribution of arms and ammunition along the border, Gov. Pitkin was presently enabled to satisfy the peope that they had little to fear from the Utes, and soon public sentiment set in the opposite direction.  Instead of fearing the Indians would come, the miners and prospectors leaned back on their guns and prayed for Indians to come and be shot.  When news of the Agency massacre was received, the indignation of the citizens of Colordo was so great that it was with much difficultie and minute-men from making an advance upon the reservation and the hostile Indians.  The Governor foresaw, however, that such an advance would be the death-signal of the captive women and children fro the agency who were in the hands of the hostiles, and humanity prompted an effort to secure their release before any steps ere taken toward punishing the assasssins and murderers.

    The release of the captives could only be effected through Ouray, who was known to be heartily in favor of their surrender as soon as possible.  The chief had already sent Indian runners from his camp to that of the hostiles, commanding the latter to cease fighting.  A young man named Joseph Brady, an attache of the Uncompahgre Agency, had accompanied Ouray's runners, and had gone with a flag of truce into Gen. Merritt's camp to notify him of Ouray's order.  Brady was not permitted to see the captives, but carried back assurances that they were alive and well.

    Ouray having expressed a willingness to send another party out to bring in the women and children, Gen. Charles Adams, special agent of the Post-Office Department for Colorado, and a former Agent both at Los Pinos and at White River, as detailed by the Interior Department to accompany the Indians and bring in the prisoners.  a detailed account of this thrilling expedition will be found in a subsequent chapter.