badly in my hard buffalo chase on Saturday & I now
was feeling its effects at the same time the hunters
started. Another company was formed to go & explore out
the rout & see if we could get grass for our horses as the
Indians had been burning it up for several days. We went
into the bluffs & seperated into two Parties 10 in each
& we travled some 10 miles back & & forth over the hills
& saw no game except antelope & wolvesNo I felt so
unwell I concluded to go back to camp. A Lyman &
3 others were with me. we set down upon the edge
of the bluff in sight of the camp to rest ourselves & we
saw a company of 20 horsman approaching ^us^ from the
camp in haste bearing a red flag when they got within
half a mile of us we trailed our arms & went down
to meet them. they informed us that the party that
went up the river had come upon an encampment
of about 400 Indian warriors. A party of about 100
had followed them down a ravene to cut off their
retreat probably with the Intention of rob[b]ing them
of their horses & clothing & would take life if they could
not do it with out & this company of horsman
had come to us to call in the hunters to camp so
we went in the hunters in coming in with the
horsman came across a herd of buffalo & brought
into camp 3 calf, & 4 antelope they kept out a good
guard during the night & we had no disturbance the
cannon was fired twice early in the morning to let
the Indians know we were awake. I had a vary
severe night with my side was in much pain we
had some ^a great^ dew & frost during the night. 12
~ Tuesday
4th Thermometer stands at 33° this morning I feel
some better than I did last night we started on
our journey this morning 5 waggons a breast which made
5 roads this was to be in readiness in case of an attack from
the Indians we travled 3 miles & saw some waggons on the
opposite side of the river. going down the Platt soon one of the
men waded the Platt & came to us, to see who we were. He info-
rmed us they were traders from fort Laramee he had been
there 3 years had not tasted bread for 2 years, was 16 days from
Laramee the grass was green & good on the south side to that
fort but burnt of on the North side He waided the Platt to
come to us a mile across it & did not go but little above his
knees He would take letters to us to Sarpee who lived near winter Quarters so the campe stoped & wrote 52 letters to
our familys I was ahead of the company with O Pratt taking
observations & did not know untill the time was nearly up
I then in great haste scribbled a few lines to my wife An epistle
was written to the Church &c. Three Brethren accompanied the
Frenchman accross the Platt to the other men was 9 in all
had not seen an Indian since they left Laramee, stated their
was a ferry at the fort &c agreed to take our letters safe
we drove on 3 miles more & bated our teams untill the Brethren
returned they made a report to the camp of what was
said to them a Council of the whole camp was then called
to deside whether we would cross the Platt or continue up
badly in my hard buffalo chase on Saturday & I now
was feeling its effects at the same time the hunters
started. Another company was formed to go & explore out
the rout & see if we could get grass for our horses as the
Indians had been burning it up for several days. We went
into the bluffs & seperated into two Parties 10 in each
& we travled some 10 miles back & & forth over the hills
& saw no game except antelope & wolves I felt so
unwell I concluded to go back to camp. A Lyman &
3 others were with me. we set down upon the edge
of the bluff in sight of the camp to rest ourselves & we
saw a company of 20 horsman approaching us from the
camp in haste bearing a red flag when they got within
half a mile of us we trailed our arms & went down
to meet them. they informed us that the party that
went up the river had come upon an encampment
of about 400 Indian warriors. A party of about 100
had followed them down a ravene to cut off their
retreat probably with the Intention of robbing them
of their horses & clothing & would take life if they could
not do it with out & this company of horsman
had come to us to call in the hunters to camp so
we went in the hunters in coming in with the
horsman came across a herd of buffalo & brought
into camp 3 calf, & 4 antelope they kept out a good
guard during the night & we had no disturbance the
cannon was fired twice early in the morning to let
the Indians know we were awake. I had a vary
severe night with my side was in much pain we
had a great dew & frost during the night. 12
~ Tuesday
4th Thermometer stands at 33° this morning I feel
some better than I did last night we started on
our journey this morning 5 waggons a breast which made
5 roads this was to be in readiness in case of an attack from
the Indians we travled 3 miles & saw some waggons on the
opposite side of the river. going down the Platt soon one of the
men waded the Platt & came to us, to see who we were. He informed us they were traders from fort Laramee he had been
there 3 years had not tasted bread for 2 years, was 16 days from
Laramee the grass was green & good on the south side to that
fort but burnt of on the North side He waided the Platt to
come to us a mile across it & did not go but little above his
knees He would take letters to us to Sarpee who lived near
winter Quarters so the camp stoped & wrote 52 letters to
our familys I was ahead of the company with O Pratt taking
observations & did not know untill the time was nearly up
I then in great haste scribbled a few lines to my wife An epistle
was written to the Church &c. Three Brethren accompanied the
Frenchman accross the Platt to the other men was 9 in all
had not seen an Indian since they left Laramee, stated their
was a ferry at the fort &c agreed to take our letters safe
we drove on 3 miles more & bated our teams untill the Brethren
returned they made a report to the camp of what was
said to them a Council of the whole camp was then called
to deside whether we would cross the Platt or continue up
"Journal (January 1, 1847 – December 31, 1853)," May 4, 1847, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed March 28, 2024, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/mZ9R