The surprised soldiers recoiled and fell into confusion; and they were for the second time saved from disaster by the gallantry of Colonel Hammond, who with voice and action rallied them, endeavoring to keep them firm while a detachment was sent to clamber up the rocks and outflank the Indians.

At the same time Lieutenant Hampton got twenty men together, out of the rout, and ran forward, calling out: "Loaded guns advance, empty guns fall down and load." Being joined by some thirty men more he pushed desperately upwards.

The Indians fled from the shock; and the army thus owed its safety solely to two gallant officers.

Of the whites seventeen were killed and twenty-nine wounded;[65] they took fourteen scalps.[66] Although the distance was but twenty odd miles, it took Williamson five days of incredible toil before he reached the valley towns.

The troops showed the utmost patience, clearing a path for the pack-train along the sheer mountain sides and through the dense, untrodden forests in the valleys.