I was Jesse Fancher.

My father was Captain Fancher).
"Lie down!" I could hear him.

"Get behind the wagon wheels and burrow in the sand! Family men, get the women and children out of the wagons! Hold your fire! No more shooting! Hold your fire and be ready for the rush when it comes! Single men, join Laban at the right, Cochrane at the left, and me in the centre! Don't stand up! Crawl for it!" But no rush came.

For a quarter of an hour the heavy and irregular firing continued.

Our damage had come in the first moments of surprise when a number of the early-rising men were caught exposed in the light of the campfires they were building.