of soldiers to replace those who fell in battle, while, when their warriors were killed, they could not immediately place others in their moccasins.  When a warrior was killed, they were compelled to wait until their children grew up.  He added, that the “Great Father” loved his red children, and through him, whose servant he was, he wished to give them annuities and otherwise aid them in living at peace.  These Indians, on learning that Kit Carson was their agent, expressed great pleasure, and, at his earnest solicitation, came forward and professed friendship.  So little reliance, however, was to be placed in this tribe, that Kit Carson doubted their sincerity; although he exacted every pledge which he thought would in the least tend to bind them to their promises, he feared they would not prove true.  Having finished his business, Kit bent his way to Santa Fe; but, he had not more than reached there before he heard that the Jiccarillas had already become tired of the restraints which he had placed upon them, and had broken out in open defiance of the authorities.  From this time onward, so thick and fast did their wicked crimes increase, that coercive measures became necessary to put them down.  This finally resulted, in as sanguinary a battle being fought between a small band of soldiers and this tribe, as was ever recorded.  A rapid sketch of it must suffice to illustrate to the reader what kind of a fight this was, and what plucky fellows these Apaches are.  Lieutenant J.W.  Davidson, with a command of sixty men belonging to F and I companies of the 1st Regiment of United States dragoons, was ordered out to seek and act against these red men.  Both the soldiers and their officers were renowned for their bravery and experience in Indian mode of warfare; hence, more than ordinary deeds were expected to be performed by them.  The result will show that they did not disappoint any reasonable expectation.  Lieutenant Davidson marched to the “Embuda Mountains” (which range lies between fifteen and twenty miles southwest of Taos), as he had been informed by good authority that the Indians were to be found there.

On reaching the mountains he soon came upon the savages and found them fully prepared to meet him.  They had selected their ground with great skill.  The site which they had chosen was upon a high elevation, and at the first glance, to get at them, appeared to be an impossibility on account of the roughness of the country.  If the Indians had hunted over the whole of the Rocky Mountains they could not have hit upon a place that offered them so many advantages for the use to which they intended to put it; but, as the red men had, by great labor, reached the tops of the crags, therefore, the soldiers resolved not to be outdone, even if they had to be the assaulting party.