USA > Idaho > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 3
USA > Oregon > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 3
USA > Washington > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 3
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Such was the state of affairs when suddenly,
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On the Pacific Coast.
Nov. 29th, 1847, Dr. Whitman and wife, Mr. Rogers, an assistant missionary, and six others, chiefly immigrants, were massacred by the Cayuses, at Walla Walla, and a short time afterwards other five. Dr. Whitman was en- gaged in reading, when an Indian, to divert his attention, solicited some medicine. An- other then came behind him and struck him on the head with a tomahawk, and a second blow rendered him lifeless. Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Rogers fled up-stairs, where she received a wound in the breast. By the earnest request of the Indians, and on promise of protection, they came down, but were quickly shot. Mrs. Whitman died immediately, her last words being, "Tell my mother for me that I died at my post." The last prayer she is known to have offered was after she was first shot, when she prayed for her adopted children, now again to be left orphans, and for her aged father and mother in the States, that they might be sus- tained under the shock which the news of her fate must occasion. Mr. Rogers lingered for a long time, the last words he was heard to say being, "Lord Jesus, come quickly."*
* Marcus Whitman, M.D., was born Sept. 4, 1802, at Rush- ville, N. Y., and was married, February, 1836, to Narcissa Prentiss, daughter of Hon. Stephen Prentiss. She was born at Prattsburg, New York, March 14, 1808.
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History of Indian Missions
A few whites escaped, but the others, mostly immigrants, forty-seven in number, were taken captive, and held as such by the Indians, until they were ransomed through the efforts of P. S. Ogden, a Chief Factor and Associate Super- intendent of the Hudson's Bay Company, about a month later. At the time of the massacre he was at Vancouver, but on hearing of it he proceeded immediately to Walla Walla, where, by judicious management, he succeeded in se- curing the release of the captives. Fifty blank- ets and a large amount of other property were paid to the Cayuses for them. It has been said without dispute that there was probably not another man who could have succeeded in this work as he did.
Mr. Spalding, at the time of the massacre, was at the Umatilla, about forty miles distant, and did not learn of it until he was within about three miles of the mission station, when he met a Catholic priest, who informed him, whereupon he turned and fled, by a circuit- ous route, towards his own station. He was pursued by an Indian who intended to kill him; but by traveling over night, and hiding in the day time, he managed to escape, though at one time the Indian was within a few yards of him. The second night his horse left him and he had to travel on foot. His boots so hurt his feet
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that he had to cast them off, and he had no food except such as he could find on the way. Thus he traveled near 120 miles, and it was not till the seventh night he reached home, in great physical suffering, much to the relief of his wife, who supposed he had been killed. He found his premises had been plundered by hostile Nez Perces, but his wife protected by friendly chiefs of the same tribe.
When Mr. Ogden rescued the captives, he also sent word to the Nez Perces to deliver up Mr. Spalding and the other whites at that place. They immediately did so, and con- ducted them to Fort Walla Walla (now Wal- lula), receiving therefor twelve blankets and other property. The party of ransomed cap- tives, numbering sixty, were then taken to Oregon City, the capital of the territory, where they arrived January 12th, 1848, and were for- mally delivered to the governor, receiving a salute from three guns, and a hearty welcome from the citizens.
Oregon volunteers, under Colonel C. Gilliam, proceeded from the Willamette valley as rap- idly as possible to chastise the Indians; a battle was fought near the Umatilla River, in which the Indians were routed, and the volunteers marched to Walla Walla and beyond Snake River, but failed to secure the murderers.
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Messrs. Walker and Eells remained at their station until March, 1848, when rumors of danger, of which there had been more or less all winter, became so startling that they ac- cepted an offer made by Chief Factor Lewes, to remove to Fort Colville, about seventy miles further north. After the volunteers had done all they were able to do with the Cayuses, the question arose, shall those two mission families be left among the Spokanes ? Col. Lee addressed his regiment in regard to it, and requested an expression of their opinion. No verbal response was made, but sixty of them offered to go and escort the families to the Willamette valley. They immediately went north, were met by the families near their sta- tion, which was abandoned June 3d, and on the twenty-second of the same month all reached Oregon City, except Mr. Eells, who, in company with a portion of the volunteers, crossed the Cascade Mountains with the ani- mals and arrived two days later.
Col. H. A. G. Lee, as military commander, then declared the country east of the Cascades closed to all missionaries, owing to his inabil- ity to protect them, and all hope of resuming the missions was abandoned, except the one among the Spokanes. Messrs. Eells and Walker did not formally sever their connection with
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On the Pacific Coast.
the Board until 1853, but after waiting until that time, it seemed unwise to begin again, although the Spokane Indians regretted their departure, and in 1851 a large party of them traveled 450 miles to Oregon City, to request the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to furnish them with teachers.
The Mission Board offered Mr. Eells a posi- tion in the mission at the Sandwich Islands, but he preferred to remain in Oregon. January 7th, 1851, Mrs. Spalding died, owing, as her husband believed, to exposure and hardships connected with the massacre.
Gen. Joseph Lane was in 1848 appointed governor of Oregon, where he arrived in 1849. He immediately proceeded to secure the mur- derers of Dr. Whitman and associates. With the help of a United States regiment, and the Hudson's Bay Company, especially Dr. John McLaughlin, he succeeded in having five of the murderers surrendered, who, in May, 1850, were tried at Oregon City, found guilty and hung.
The causes of this massacre have been widely discussed. Probably the immediate cause was that the immigrants brought the measles and other diseases into the country, which the In- dians caught, and which, greatly aggravated by their imprudence, carried off a large number of them. Some pretended that Dr. Whitman was giving them poison, while others expressed
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their unabated confidence in him. To test the case it is said that three persons who were sick were selected, and he was asked to give them some medicine. Having done so, it is also said they all died, and that this so incensed the Indians that they began the work of death immediately. There are many, too, who be- lieve that the real cause, though a little more remote, was that the Indians were instigated to these acts by the Roman Catholics, who had established a mission near by. Among such persons are H. H. Spalding, J. S. Griffin, W. H. Gray, and C. Eells.
Mrs. F. F. Victor, too, in her River of the West (chapter 36) says: "Certain it is that they (the Roman Catholic priests) preserved a neutral position, when to be neutral was to seem, if not to be, devoid of human sympa- thies. . It was quite natural that the Protestants should wonder at the immunity from danger which the priests enjoyed, and that, not clearly seeing the reason, they should suspect them of collusion with the Indians. It was natural, too, that the sufferers from the massacre should look for some expression of sympathy from any and all denominations of Christians, and that, not receiving it, they should have doubts of the motives which prompted such reserve."
The following questions in regard to certain
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On the Pacific Coast.
facts may at least be asked, and although there have been attempts made by the Catholics to answer them, yet until they are answered more satisfactorily than hitherto, the wonders and doubts hinted at by Mrs. Victor will still exist among a large class of unprejudiced Protestants.
Why was it that Bishop Brouillet baptized some of the children of the murderers, on the field of carnage, and with perfect safety, before the victims were even buried ? Why did Mr. McBean, a Catholic, then in charge of Fort Walla Walla, refuse admittance to Mr. Hall, who had escaped from the massacre and reached that fort on foot, and order him to put across the Columbia River, afoot and alone, without food, thus to make the journey to the Dalles, 125 miles distant ? He either perished or was killed by the Indians, as he was never heard of after- wards. Why did he shortly afterwards refuse admittance to Mr. Osborne, another refugee from the massacre, until he said "I will die at your doors unless you allow me to come in"? Why did he, when he wrote to Governor Ogden at Fort Vancouver, informing him of the sad event, fail to write to Mr. Hinman, then in charge of the newly bought mission station at the Dalles ? On the other hand, why did he strictly charge the messenger as he should pass through the Dalles not to say anything about it, although he wrote Governor Ogden that the
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History of Indian Missions
Indians reported that a party was starting, or about to start, for the purpose of cutting off the whites at the Dalles. Mr. Hinman left the station and his family unprotected, and went down the Columbia River to Vancouver with the messsenger, and did not learn of the mas- sacre until he was part way down the river. In contrast with this, Mr. Ogden hastened quickly to rescue the captives, and Mr. Lewes, of Fort Colville, welcomed Messrs. Walker and Eells to his fort, when he believed there was danger. Both of these gentlemen were in the employ of the same Hudson's Bay Company. Why did the Roman Catholic priest at the Umatilla re- fuse any assistance or words of comfort to Miss Bewley, one of the captives, who had been taken to his station and given to an Indian chief as his wife, although she pleaded with the priest night after night, that he would use his influence to prevent her being taken each night to the lodge of the Indian? These questions, arising out of the facts on which they are based, demand answers. But enough. Thus closed both missions : one, it might be said, died a natural death, and the other was killed. At first sight they seemed to be a failure, but a longer view of the arc of the cycle of God's providence re- veals a different result. Seed was sown which has produced fruit for other Indians and whites, as we shall see.
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On the Pacific Coast.
CHAPTER II.
LATER MISSIONS-NEZ PERCES-CAYUSES-SPO- KANES-YAKAMAS.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."-Eccl. II: I.
EXPERIENCE proves that time is required to change the Indian. In 1835 missionaries first began work among the Sioux, but no great success attended their labors until about 1862-3. This is due to three causes: I, the native de- pravity and ignorance of the Indians; 2, the influence of a certain class of low whites who are generally on the frontier; and 3, the unwise and unjust dealings of government. Experi- ence also shows that continued labor among them is successful; and as a rule the oldest missions are by far the most successful, and the success seems to increase in proportion to the time occupied, not in an arithmetical, but in a geometrical progression; not by addition of numbers, but by multiplication of them.
Those who favor the christianization of the Indians rather than their extermination, and those who favor their civilization, with chris-
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History of Indian Missions
tianity as the centre and root of it, in prefer- ence to their civilization by labor, with chris- tianity and the Bible to come afterwards, if at all, are sometimes said to be only eastern hu- manitarians, who know but little, if anything, about Indians. It is not true. There are very few, if any, who favor the christian modes more than the missionaries; and there are very few, if any, who come more closely in contact with the Indians, or see a darker or more dis- couraging side to the work of christianizing them, than these same men.
In 1835 the missionaries went among the Sioux. In 1862 they saw many of those Sioux among whom they had labored rise and engage in one of the most terrible massacres, probably, that America has ever witnessed. Were they discouraged ? No. They believed the Bible too firmly. They went to those Sioux in their prisons the next winter, where they preached to them, and in a few weeks were rewarded by seeing about three hundred hopefully converted, and witness a profession which some honored during their lives and many of them have hon- ored until the present time.
The same has been true on the Pacific coast. In 1836 Mr. Spalding and wife began work among the Nez Perces. In November, 1839, Joseph and Timothy were admitted to the
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On the Pacific Coast.
church. Timothy ever afterwards honored his profession, but in 1847 Joseph was one of the leaders of those who pillaged the house and de- stroyed the mission premises. Were they dis- couraged ? No; they waited patiently for the doors to re-open, so as again to enter their field, and eleven years afterwards Mr. Spalding returned, and had the joy of baptizing sev- eral hundred of them before his death, in 1874. The old men do not tire now of talking of his instruction.
In 1838 Rev. E. Walker and C. Eells went among the Spokane Indians. In 1847 Mrs. Eells wrote: "I think that the long dreary winters, together with the thought that they do not attain the object for which they were sent," namely, the conversion of the Indians, " have much to do in impairing the general health, and greatly depressing the spirits." In 1848, when the mission was broken up, al- though the Indians were very kind, yet not one of them gave sufficient evidence of conversion to be received into the church. They might have been discouraged, but they were not. In 1875 Mr. Eells sat with 54 of them around the Lord's Table, and said that if one-quarter or even one- eighth of the more than 200 who had been bap- tized were real christians, he was more than repaid for all his labors, and he advised a
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young missionary not to be discouraged, be- cause he believed that christian work among the Indians was fully as successful as among the whites, if not more so.
Dr. Whitman commenced labor among the Cayuses in 1838. He received very few into the church during his life, and alas, one of them was an actor in the horrible scene of his mas- sacre. Another Indian, who held one of the captives as his wife, was careful to have morn- ing and evening prayer, and to read a portion of Scripture. Yet Dr. Whitman's companions were ready, as soon as Providence opened the way, to resume work among the Indians, and old Is-tik-us, a Cayuse chief, as long as he lived, lived as a christian.
In 1838 Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and D. Lee established the mission at the Dalles. After a time there was a great revival and a thousand Indians were supposed to be converted. Some time after a doubt was expressed in regard to their conversion, and the opinion given that it was only an outward change in order to obtain presents. Mr. Perkins thought not, and named one whom he believed to be soundly converted. But soon Mr. Lee, his companion, came in and said: "What kind of a proposition do you think - made me ?" naming the In- dian just referred to. "He says he will pray a
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On the Pacific Coast.
whole year if I will give him a shirt and a capote" (a loose coat). In 1847 the mission was sold, and the next year some of the Indi- ans joined the Cayuses in the war against the whites. But according to the report of the Methodist Board of Missions for 1857, one of the Klikitat Indians kept a Testament given to him by Mr. Perkins, as of great value, and occasionally preached to the other Indians. In 1870, Billy Chinook and John Mission had not forgotten the instruction which they had received at the Dalles, and acknowledged the vows then taken, and were taking a leading part in the progress of their tribe towards christianity. The seed then sown is now seen growing and ripening under Captain John Smith at the Warm Springs Agency.
The first period of American intercourse with the Indians in a christian way closed in 1848, as related in the previous chapter, and was wholly disconnected from the Government, but the second period has a large connection with it. It really began in 1842, when Dr. E. White was appointed the first Indian Sub-Agent, but little was done with the Indians until 1855. After the Cayuse war in 1848, owing to the sparseness of the population in the country, especially east of the Cascade Mountains, the Government of Oregon felt too weak to protect citizens in that
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History of Indian Missions
part of the country, and by official proclama- tion it was closed to white settlers. In 1855, Governor I. I. Stevens and others, under au- thority from our Government, made treaties with the greater portion of the tribes in Ore- gon and Washington, and they were assigned to the various reservations. But the work was scarcely finished before the Yakama war oc- curred. At the close of this, the tribes went on to their reservations, and by 1859 the treat- ies began to be fulfilled on the part of Govern- ment. Up till this time, however, the officials connected with the Indian department were mostly politicians, appointed as a reward for political services, and not on account of their fitness for the office, their honesty, or christian- ity, or with much view to benefit the Indians. This method continued until 1871, with the ex- ception of about a year in 1870, when the mil- itary had charge.
When General Grant became President, he was so well satisfied with the failure of this policy to benefit the Indians, that he deter- mined to adopt another, which has been called the Peace policy. This began the third period. The plan was to assign different agencies to the missionary societies of the various religious bod- ies, with the request that they would nominate Agents, who should be honest, faithful, capable
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On the Pacific Coast.
christian men. While it was not the inten- tion of the Government to perform missionary labor, it was hoped that suitable men would be secured for the positions, and also that the missionary societies would see that the Gov- ernment was willing to encourage christian work among the Indians. These various tribes will now be considered.
Nez Perces and Cayuses. After Mr. Spalding left the Nez Perces, there was no white man to teach them for many years; yet frequent accounts came from immigrants who passed through the country, Indian agents, and tra- ders residing there, and General Joel Palmer and others who attended the council at Walla Walla in 1855, when the treaty was made. All reports agreed that two or three lodges of the Cayuses, numbering about 45 persons, and about one-third of the 3,000 Nez Perces, had kept up regular family and public worship. They sang from the Nez Perce Hymn Book, and read in their own language the gospel ac- cording to Matthew, which had been furnished them by Mr. Spalding before the mission closed. Many of them showed surprising evidences of piety, especially Timothy, who was their reg- ular and faithful preacher during all those years; and many of them kept up their knowl- edge of reading and writing so well, that they
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History of Indian Missions
took notes at the council, and made copies of the treaties and speeches, eight years after the mission closed. The Nez Perces and Protest- ant portion of the Cayuses were the chief agents in securing a peaceful council and the treaty. At that time they also expressed a strong desire that religious teachers should again be sent among them.
Then followed the Yakama war in 1855-6, in which these Indians remained faithful to the whites, after which the Nez Perces went to their reservation and the Cayuses and others to the Umatilla reservation.
No further Protestant work was ever under- taken among the now extinct Cayuses, who, as a tribe, were never very numerous ; though they were wealthy, and, owing to this and their character, were powerful. Old Is-tik-us, one of their chiefs, as long as he lived, is said to have rung his bell on the Sabbath and called his band together to worship God. Says the Hon. J. W. Nesmith of him: He was "the only Indian I ever saw that I thought had any conception of and practiced the christian religion."
In 1859, by military proclamation, the coun- try east of the Cascade Mountains was opened for white settlements. Soon after Rev. H. H. Spalding, who had for twelve years been anx- iously waiting and watching for an opportunity
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On the Pacific Coast.
to return to his work, went back to the Nez Perces. He did so with the advice of the Con- gregational Association and by the resolution of the Presbytery of Oregon.
In regard to this event, Mr. J. W. Anderson, Indian Agent for that tribe at that time, wrote as follows : " Although Mr. Spalding had been absent from the tribe many years, yet they re- tained all the forms of worship which had been . taught them. Many of them have prayers night and morning in their lodges. Not hav- ing any suitable school-house, I permitted Mr. Spalding to open his school in my office shortly after his arrival, and from that time till he was compelled to discontinue the school from se- vere sickness, the school was crowded, not only with children, but with old men and wo- men, some of whom were compelled to use glasses to assist the sight. Some of the old men would remain until bed-time engaged in transcribing into their language portions of Scripture translated by Mr. Spalding."
Hon. Alexander Smith, Judge of the first judicial district of Idaho, also wrote an inter- esting account of services held by Mr. Spalding at Lewiston, which was published in the San Francisco Pacific, February 6th, 1864. He said: " On Sunday last I had the pleasure of attend- ing church at this place, conducted in Nez
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History of Indian Missions
Perce by Rev. H. H. Spalding. The Gov- ernor, federal and county officers, and citizens of Lewiston were mostly present. The scene was deeply solemn and interesting; the breath- less silence, the earnest, devout attention of that great congregation (even the small chil- dren) to the words of their much loved pastor; the spirit, the sweet melody of their singing; the readiness with which they turned to hymns and chapters, and read with Mr. Spalding the lessons from their Testaments which Mr. Spald- ing had translated and printed twenty years before; the earnest, pathetic voice of the native christians whom Mr. Spalding called upon to pray-all, all deeply and solemnly impressed that large congregation of white spectators, even to tears. It were better a thousand times over, if Government would do away with its policy that is so insufficiently carried out, and only lend its aid to a few such men as Mr. Spalding, whose whole heart is in the business, who has but one desire, to civilize and chris- tianize the Indians."
But governmental policy and officers, the In- dian ring, and others, did not long allow Mr. Spalding to remain on the reservation. Some of the time he was on the outskirts, some of the time in the Walla Walla region, and some- times elsewhere; yet all of the time he was
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On the Pacific Coast.
aiming to do one thing, notwithstanding the opposition of those who so often defeated him. It was not, however, until he went in person to Washington, in the winter of 1870-71, that he obtained an order freely to return to his field. He re-entered it in the fall of 1871, and for three years he worked with unabating zeal, and during this time he was allowed to gather in the harvest.
When the agencies were assigned to the va- rious religious bodies in 1871, this one was transferred with cordiality by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Presbyterian Board, which sent some other workers into the field, so that Mr. Spald- ing was not alone. Rev. H. T. Cowley and wife went there in August, 1871, and remain- ed till July, 1872; and Rev. R. N. Fee and wife aided in the work for a time, as did also native christians from the Yakama reservation. Some years previous to 1871, a band of these Yakama Indians had visited the Nez Perces, with their native preacher. Thomas Pearne and a number of the Nez Perces had professed conversion; young Timothy, a son of old Tim- othy, being among the number. A letter writ- ten by Mr. Spalding in 1872, gives an account of another visit of these Yakama Indians to their Nez Perces brethren. He says: "The
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History of Indian Missions
delegation of christians from Brother Wilbur's native church at Simcoe consisted of the head chief, every way a gentleman, an eloquent speaker, and most earnestly devoted to his Master's work; Rev. George Waters . . . . and thirteen others who were all earnest in the noble work which they had undertaken. The object of their work and mission was purely religious, and their arrival was most timely. I met them at Halapawawi, in the western part of the nation, and at once commenced a series of meetings, which continued for twenty-one days, changing to three different places, one hundred miles apart. Probably one hundred Nez Perces accompanied us from Halapawawi and Lapwai to Kamiah, and probably a hun- dred more returned with us from Kamiah. Two boys from the school walked seventy-five miles, so hungering were they for the word of God. Many mothers carried their infants strung to their saddles, and a young child behind. I never saw anything like it among us white- skins. Brother Waters did most of the preach- ing, speaking every day, often three times a day. Two days we were on our feet seven hours each day, with but fifteen minutes inter- mission."
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