USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 14
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 14
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
$ Gibbs says that Kamiakin had avoided meeting Bolon since the treaty. but that Skloom, his brother, had told Bolon that a war council had been held in the Grand Rond Valley, and that he, Skloom, had spoken against war: and that Lawyer also informed Bolon of this council. Bolon must have hoped to influence Kamiakin. Swan's N. W. Coast, 426.
110
INDIAN WARS.
the time required, Nathan Olney, agent at The Dalles, sent out an Indian spy, who returned with the information that Bolon had been murdered while returning to The Dalles, by the order of Kamiakin, and by the hand of his nephew, a son of Owhi, his half-brother, and a chief of the Umatillas, who shot him in the back while pretending to escort him on his home- ward journey, cut his throat, killed his horse, and burned both bodies, together with whatever property was attached to either.
All this Kamiakin confessed to the Des Chutes chief, who acted as spy, saying that he was deter- mined on war, which he was prepared to carry on, if necessary, for five years;4 that no Americans should come into his country; that all the tribes were invited to join him, and that all who refused would be held to be foes, who would be treated in the same manner as Americans-the adults killed, and the children en- slaved. The report of the spy was confirmed by a letter from Brouillette, who wrote to Olney that war had been the chief topic among the Yakimas since their return from the council." It was now quite cer- tain that an Indian war, more or less general, was at hand.
Without any authoritative promulgation, the rumor of the threatened coalition spread, and about the 20th of September returning miners brought the report that certain citizens had been killed in passing through the Yakima country. As soon as it became certainly
"This boast was not an idle one. Gibbs says that the Yakimas had laid in large stores of powder, and that Qualchin, the son of Owhi, had pur- chased 300 pounds at The Dalles some time before the war commenced. He further says that Kamiakin did not intend to begin the war so soon, but meant to wait until the Columbia should be frozen, so that no succor could reach the people at The Dalles and elsewhere. Swan's N. W. Coast, 427-8.
6 Letter of O. Humason in Or. Statesman, Oct. 6, 1855; Armstrong's Or., 108; Dowell's Scrap-Book, 89, 96, 100; Parrish's Or. Anecdotes, MS., 80; Gray's Ilist. Or., 93; Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 56, 60; Falmer's rept to com. of Ind. aff., in U. S. Il. Ex. Doc., 93, pp. 55-61, 34th cong. Ist sess., Ind. Aff., vol. 34; letter of Supt Palmer, in Or. Statesman, Oct. 13, 1855; U. S. II. Ex. Doc., 1, p. 335, 512-15, vol. i., part i., 34th cong. Ist sess .; Ibid., p. 73-80, vol. i., part ii .; Stevens' Speech on War Claims, 6, 16.
111
RAINES AND HALLER.
known,6 Acting Governor Mason made a requisition upon forts Vancouver and Steilacoom for troops to protect travellers by that route, and also intimated to the commanding officers that, as Governor Stevens expected to be in the Spokane country in September, under the circumstances a detachment of soldiers might be of assistance to him.
Meanwhile Major Raines, who regarded Kamiakin and Peupeumoxmox as the chiefs most to be dreaded, ordered eighty-four men under Haller from Fort Dalles to pass into the Yakima country and cooperate with a force sent from Steilacoom. Haller set forth on the 3d of October. His route lay over a gradual elevation for ten miles north of the Columbia to the summit of the bald range of hills constituting the Klikitat Mountains. Beyond these was the Kliki- tat Valley, fifteen miles in width, north of which stretched the timbercd range of the Simcoe Mountains, beyond which again was the Simcoe Valley, on the northern boundary of which, about sixty miles from The Dalles, was the home of Kamiakin and the Ahtanahm mission, the objective point of the expedi- tion.
It was not until the third day, and when the troops were descending a long hill to a stream skirted with dense thickets of small trees, that any Indians were seen. At this point, about three o'clock in the after- noon, the Indians attacked,7 being concealed in the thick undergrowth mentioned. There was a sharp en- gagement lasting until nightfall, when the Yakimas withdrew, leaving Haller with eight killed and
" The first person known to be killed by the Yakimas was Henry Mattice of Olympia. One of the Eatons, the first settlers east of Tumwater, was also killed, and other citizens of Puget Sound, to the number of about 20, among whom were Fanjoy, Walker, and Jemison of Seattle.
7 Cram, in his Top. Mem., 90, says that Haller attacked the Indians with- out authority frem his commanding officer, quoting from Raines' official address to the Yakimas to prove it, which runs as follows: 'I sent this hand- ful of soldiers into your country to inquire into the facts of the murder of Indian agent Bolon; it was not expected that they should fight you.' Haller, in his report, says he was attacked, and Raines' reproof of the Yakimas shows that he was. No other version was ever given until Cram undertook to vindicate the course of Gen. Wool.
112
INDIAN WARS.
wounded men. That night the troops lay upon their arms. In the morning the attack was renewed, the Indians endeavoring to surround Haller as he moved to a bold eminence at the distance of a mile. Here the troops fought all day without water and with little food. It was not until after dark that a messenger was de- spatched to The Dalles to apprise Raines of the situ- ation of the command and obtain reinforcements.
The cavalry horses and pack-animals, being by this time in a suffering state, were allowed to go free at night to find water and grass, except those necessary to transport the wounded and the ammunition. To- ward evening of the third day the troops moved down to the river for water, and not meeting with any resistance, Haller determined to fall back toward The Dalles with his wounded. The howitzer was spiked and buried, and such of the baggage and pro- visions as could not be transported was burned. The command was organized in two divisions, the advance under Haller to take care of the wounded, and the rear under Captain Russell to act as guard. In the dark- ness the guide led the advance off the trail, on discov- ering which Haller ordered fires to be lighted in some fir trees to signal to the rear his position, at the same time revealing it to the Indians, who, as soon as day- light came, swarmed around him on every side, fol- lowing and harassing the command for ten miles. On getting into the open country a stand was made, and Haller's division fought during the remainder of the day, resuming the march at night, Russell failing to discover his whereabouts. When twenty-five miles from The Dalles Haller was met by Lieutenant Day of the 3d artillery with forty-five men, who, finding the troops in retreat, proceeded to the border of the Yakima country merely to keep up a show of activity on the part of the army. Lieutenant W. A. Slaughter with fifty men had crossed the Cascades by the Nachess pass, with the design of reënforcing Haller, but finding a large number of Indians in the field, and hearing that
113
RAISING TROOPS.
Haller was defeated, prudently fell back to the west side of the mountains.
Such were the main incidents of Haller's Yakima campaign, in which five men were killed, seventeen wounded, and a large amount of government property destroyed, abandoned, and captured.8 The number of Indians killed was unknown, but thought to be about forty.
Preparations for war were now made in earnest, both by the military and the citizens, though not without the usual attendant bickerings. A proclama- ation was issued, calling for one company to be en- rolled in Clarke county, at Vancouver, and one in Thurston county, at Olympia, to consist of eighty- seven men, rank and file, with orders to report to the commanding officers of Steilacoom and Vancouver, and as far as possible to provide their own arms and equipments. The estimated number of hostile Ind- ians in the field was 1,500. Application for arms was made by Mason through Tilton, the lately arrived surveyor-general, to Sterrett and Pease, commanders respectively of the sloop of war Decatur and the revenue-cutter Jefferson Davis, then in the Sound, and the request granted.
There was organized at Olympia the Puget Sound Mounted Volunteers, Company B, with Gilmore Hays as captain, James S. Hurd Ist lieutenant, William Martin 2d lieutenant, Joseph Gibson, Henry D. Cock, Thomas Prather, and Joseph White sergeants; Joseph S. Taylor, Whitfield Kirtley, T. Wheelock, and John Scott corporals-who reported themselves to Captain Maloney, in command of Fort Steilacoom, on the 20th, and on the 21st marched under his command for White River to reënforce Slaughter, quartermaster at Steila- coom, who had gone through the Nachess pass into the
8 A herd of cattle being driven out for the troops was captured. Two young men, Ives and Ferguson, escaped by flight and stratagem, suffering terribly from wounds and famine, one of them being two weeks in getting to The Dalles.
HIST. WASH .- 8
114
INDIAN WARS.
hostile country with forty men, and had fallen back to the upper prairies, but who awaited the organization of an army of invasion to return to the Yakima country.
After due proclamation, Mason issued a commis- sion to Charles H. Eaton to organize a company of rangers, to consist of thirty privates and a comple- ment of officers.º The company was immediately raised, and took the field on the 23d to act as a guard upon the settlements, and to watch the passes through the mountains. On the 22d a proclamation was issued calling for four companies, to be enrolled at Vancouver, Cathlamet, Olympia, and Seattle, and to hold themselves, after organizing and electing their officers, in reserve for any emergency which might arise. James Tilton was appointed adjutant-general of the volunteer forces of the territory, and Major Raines, who was about to take the field against the Yakimas, brigadier-general of the same during the continuance of the war. Company A of the Mounted Volunteers organized in Clarke county was com- manded by William Strong, and though numbering first, was not fully organized until after Company B had been accepted and mustered into the service of the United States. Special Indian agent B. F. Shaw, who took the place of Bolon, was instructed by Mason to raise a company and go and meet and escort back Governor Stevens. Several companies were raised in Oregon, as I have elsewhere related, J. W. Nesmith being placed in command, with orders to proceed to the seat of war and cooperate with Raines.
On the 30th of October Raines marched for the Yakima country, having been reënforced by 128 regu- lars and 112 volunteers from Washington, including Strong's company of 63 and Robert Newell's company
" The rangers were officered by C. H. Eaton, captain; James McAllister, James Tullis, A. M. Poe, lieutenants; John Harold, Charles E. Weed, W. W. Miller, S. Phillips, sergeants; S. D. Rheinhart, Thomas Bracken, S. Hodgdon, James Hughes, corporals. Olympia Pioneer and Dem., Oct. 26, 1853.
115
NESMITH'S CAMPAIGN.
of 35 men, making a force of about 700. On the 4th of November Nesmith, with four companies of Oregon volunteers, overtook Raines' command, proceeding with it to the Simcoe Valley, where they arrived on the 7th. Little happened worth relating. There was a skirmish on the 8th, in which the Oregon vol- unteers joined with the regulars in fighting the Indians, who, now that equal numbers were opposed to them, were less bold. When it came to pursuit, they had fresh horses and could always escape.10 They were followed and driven up the Yakima, to a gap through which flows that stream, and where the heights had been well fortified, upon which they took their stand; but on being charged upon by the regu- lars, under Haller and Captain Augur, fled down the opposite side of the mountain, leaving it in possession of the troops,11 who returned to camp. The Indians showing themselves again on the 10th, Major Arm- strong of the volunteers, with the company of Captain Hayden and part of another under Lieutenant Hanna, passed through the defile and attempted to surround them and cut off their retreat; but owing to a mis- understanding, the charge was made at the wrong point, and the Indians escaped through the gap, scat- tering among the rocks and trees. On the 10th all the forces now in the Yakima country moved on toward the Ahtanahm mission, skirmishing by the way and capturing some of the enemy's horses, but find- ing the country about the mission and the mission itself quite deserted. After a few more unimportant movements Nesmith proceeded to Walla Walla, to
10 Lieut Philip Sheridan, escorting Lieut R. S. Williamson of the topo- graphical engineers, who happened to be at Vancouver, was present with a detatchment of dragoons. Rept of Major-General Raines to Adjt-General Thomas, in military archives at Vancouver. I will here remark, that every facility has been afforded me by the military department of Oregon for seeing and copying documents and reports. Special courtesy has been shown by generals Clark, Jeff. C. Davis, and O. O. Howard, and their staff-officers, for which I here make my grateful acknowledgments.
11 In crossing the Yakima River two soldiers were drowned; and in a skirmish which the volunteers under Captain Cornelius had with the Indians, George Holmes of Clackamas county and Stephen Waymire of Polk county were wounded. Letter of Marion Co. Volunteer, in Or. Statesman, Nov. 24, 1855.
116
INDIAN WARS.
hold that valley against hostile tribes, while Raines, leaving his force to build a block-house on the south- ern border of the Yakima country, reported in person to General Wool, who had just arrived at Vancouver with a number of officers, fifty dragoons, 4,000 stand of arms, and a large amount of ammunition. Wool ordered the troops in Oregon to be massed at The Dalles to await his plan of operations, which, so far as divulged, was to establish a post at the Walla Walla to keep in check the other tribes while prosecuting war against the Yakimas. An inspection of the troops and horses, however, revealed the fact that many of the soldiers were without sufficient clothing, and that few of their animals were fit for service. The quartermaster was then directed to procure means of transportation from the people of the Wil- lamette, but owing to the heavy drain made upon them in furnishing the volunteer force, wagons and horses were not to be had, and they were ordered from Benicia, California, and boats and forage from San Francisco. Before these could arrive the Columbia was frozen over, and communication with the upper country completely severed; but not before Major Fitzgerald with fifty dragoons from Fort Lane had arrived at The Dalles,12 and Keyes' artillery company had been sent to Fort Steilacoom to remain in garri- son until the return of milder weather.
The ice remained in the lower Columbia but three weeks, and on the 11th of January, 1856, the mail- steamer brought despatches informing Wool of Indian disturbances in California and southern Oregon, which demanded his immediate return to San Francisco. While passing down the river he met Colonel George Wright, with eight companies of the 9th infantry regi- ment, to whom he assigned the command of the Colum- bia River district ; and at sea he also met Lieutenant- Colonel Silas Casey, with two companies of the same
12 At the moment of Haller's defeat Fitzgerald had been ordered to the Yakima country, but owing to troubles in southern Oregon, of which at the time Raines was not informed, was unable to obey the order at once.
117
MILITARY QUARRELS.
regiment, whom he assigned to the command of the Puget Sound district.
Colonel Wright was directed to establish his head- quarters at The Dalles, where all the troops intended to operate in the upper country would be concentrated; and as soon as the ice was out of the river, and the season would permit, to establish a post in the neigh- borhood of Fort Walla Walla, and another at the fishery on the Yakima River, near the crossing of the road from Walla Walla to Fort Steilacoom ; and also an intermediate post between the latter and Fort Dalles, the object of the latter two posts being to pre- vent the Indians taking fish in the Yakima or any of its tributaries, or the tributaries of the Columbia. The oc- cupation of the country between the Walla Walla and Snake rivers, and on the south side of the Columbia, it was believed, would soon bring the savages to terms.
During this visit, as indeed on some other occasions both before and after, Wool did not deport himself as became a man occupying an important position. He censured everybody, not omitting Raines and Haller, but was particularly severe upon territorial officers and volunteers. He ordered disbanded the company raised by order of Mason to go to the relief of Governor Stevens returning from the Blackfoot country,13 although Raines put forth every argument to induce him to send it forward. This conduct of Wool was bitterly resented by Stevens, who quoted the expressions used by Wool in his report to the de- partments at Washington, and in a letter to the gen- eral himself.14 The effect of Wool's course was to raise an impassable barrier between the regular and
13 Letter of Nesmith to Curry, Nov. 30, 1855, in Evans' Military Organ- ization, 84; Dalles corr., Or. Statesman, Nov. 10, 1855.
1+ Sen. Ex. Doc., 66, 45, 34th cong. Ist sess., Ind. aff. 34. Official van- ity and jealousy are said hy James G. Swan to have been at the bottom of Wool's hostility to Stevens. According to Swan, Wool and Stevens met at the Rasette House in San Francisco in 1854, when Wool related an incident of the battle of Buena Vista, taking all the glory upon himself. Stevens reminded him that Taylor was chief in command and Wool second. The rebuke displeased Wool, who revenged himself when he found an opportu- nity. Letter in Olympia Transcript, May 9, 1868.
118
INDIAN WARS.
volunteer officers, and to leave the conduct of the war practically in the hands of the latter.
Meanwhile affairs on the Sound were not altogether quiet. From the rendezvous at Nathan Eaton's house, on the 24th of October, 1855, went nineteen rangers under Captain Charles Eaton to find Leschi, a Yakima-Nisqually chief, who was reported disaf- fected; but the chief was not at home. Encamping at the house of Charles Baden, Eaton divided his company and examined the country, sending Quarter- master Miller 15 to Fort Steilacoom for supplies. While reconnoitring, Lieutenant McAllister and M. Connell,16 of Connell's prairie, were killed, and the party took refuge in a log-house, where they defended themselves till succor came.
Elsewhere a more decisive blow was struck. As early as the 1st of October Porter had been driven from his claim at the head of White River Valley, and soon afterward all the farmers left their claims and fled to Seattle with their families, where a block-house was erected. Soon after the sloop of war Decatur anchored in front of Seattle, the commander offering his services to assist and defend the people in case of an occasion arriving; Acting-governor Mason, who had made a tour of White Valley without meeting any signs of a hostile demonstration, endeavoring to reassure the settlers, they thereupon returning to gather their crops, of which they stood much in need.
The Indians, who were cognizant of all these move- ments, preserved a deceitful quiet until Maloney and Hays had left the valley for the Yakima country, be- lieving that they were doomed to destruction, while the
15 \V. W. Miller was a native of Ky, but had spent his youth in Mo. and Ill., and came to Wash. in 1852, where he resided in Olympia to Jan. 24, 1876, when he died, at the age of 54. He was appointed surveyor of customs by the president, and quartermaster-general by Gov. Mason. In later years he was twice mayor of Olympia, and was known as a successful man in busi- ness. He married a daughter of Judge McFadden.
16 Connell was a discharged soldier, but a man of good reputation, and had been employed as mail carrier between Olympia and Steilacoom. Olympia Pioneer and Dem., Nov. 9, 1855.
119
WHITE RIVER MASSACRE.
inhabitants left behind were to become an easy prey. On the morning of the 28th, Sunday, they fell upon the farming settlements, killing three families of the immigration of 1854, H. H. Jones and wife, George E. King and wife, W. H. Brannan, wife and child, Simon Cooper, and a man whose name was unknown. An attack was made upon Cox's place, and Joseph Lake wounded, but not seriously. Cox, with his wife and Lake, fled and escaped, alarming the family of Moses Kirkland, who also escaped, these being all the settlers who had returned to their homes. The attack occurred at eight o'clock in the morning, and about the same hour in the evening the fugitives arrived at Seattle, twenty-five miles distant. On the following morning a friendly Indian brought to the same place three children of Mr Jones, who had been spared, and on the same day C. C. Hewitt, with a company of volunteers, started for the scene of the massacre to bury the dead, and if possible, reseue some living.
That the settlers of the Puyallup below the cross- ing did not share the fate of those on White River was owing to the warning of Kitsap the elder,17 who, giving the alarm, enabled them to escape in the night, even while their enemies prowled about waiting for the dawn to begin their work of slaughter. From the Nachess River Captain Maloney sent despatches to Governor Mason by volunteers William Tidd and John Bradley, who were accompanied by A. B. Moses, M. P. Burns, George Bright, Joseph Miles, and A. B. Rabbeson. They were attacked at several points on the route, Moses18 and Miles19 losing their lives, and the others suffering great hardships.
17 Kitsap county was named after this Indian.
18 A. Benton Moses was born in Charleston, S. C. He enlisted as a volun- teer in the Mexican war, serving under Scott and Taylor, being promoted to the rank of lient. He served under Lt-col Weller at Monterey and Marin, and afterward as aide-de-camp to Gen. Childs. After the Mexican war he came to Cal., and went on an expedition against the southern Cal. Indians; and subsequently was deputy to Col Jack Hays, sheriff of S. F., until his brother was appointed collector of the district of Puget Sound, when he ac- companied him to Washington.
19 Joseph Miles held the rank of lieut-col of the Thurston co. militia, and
120
INDIAN WARS.
In the interim, Captain Maloney, still in ignorance of these events, set out with his command to return to Steilacoom, whence, if desired, he could proceed by the way of The Dalles to the Yakima Valley. On reaching Connell's prairie, November 2d, he found the house in ashes, and discovered, a mile away from it, the body of Lieutenant McAllister. On the morning of the 3d fifty regulars under Slaughter, with fifty vol- unteers under Hays, having ascertained the where- abouts of the main body, pursued them to the crossing of White River, where, being concealed, they had the first fire, killing a soldier at the start. The troops were unable to cross, but kept up a steady firing across the river for six hours, during which thirty or more Indians were killed and a number wounded. One soldier was slightly wounded, besides which no loss was sustained by the troops, regular or volunteer.
Maloney remained at Camp Connell, keeping the troops moving, for some days. On the 6th Slaughter with fifty of Hays' volunteers was attacked at the crossing of the Puyallup, and had three men mortally wounded,2ª and three less severely.
The officer left in command of Fort Steilacoom when Maloney took the field was Lieutenant John Nugen. Upon receiving intelligence of the massacre on White River, he made a call upon the citizens of Pierce county to raise a company of forty volunteers, who immediately responded, a company under Cap- tain W. H. Wallace reporting for service the last of October.
By the middle of November the whole country between Olympia and the Cowlitz was deserted, the
justice of the peace of Olympia. At the time of his death he had a contract for erecting the capitol at that place. He was a good citizen and useful man. Evans, in Olympia Pioneer and Dem., Nov. 9, 1855.
20 T'he shot that killed John Edgar passed through his lungs, and severely wounded Addison Perham of Pierce co. The third was a soldier named Kellett. Three others, Andrew Burge, Corporal Mogek, and one of the regu- lars, were also wounded severely. Rept Lieut John Nugen, in Wash. Mess. Gov., 1857, 188.
121
SPECIAL AGENTS.
inhabitants, except the volunteers, comprising half the able-bodied men in the territory, having shut themselves up in block-houses, and taken refuge in the towns defended by home-guards.21
Special Indian agent Simmons published a notice on the 12th of November, that all the friendly Indians within the limits of Puget Sound district should ren- dezvous at the head of North Bay, Steilacoom, Gig Harbor, Nisqually, Vashon Island, Seattle, Port Orchard, Penn Cove, and Oak Harbor; J. B. Webber being appointed to look after all the encampments above Vashon Island; D. S. Maynard to look after those at Seattle and Port Orchard; R. C. Fay and N. D. Hill to take in charge those on Whidbey Island, as special agents. H. H. Tobin and E. C. Fitzhugh were also appointed special agents. The white inhab- itants were notified that it might become necessary to concentrate the several bands at a few points, and were requested to report any suspicious movements on the part of the Indians to the agents. By this means it was hoped to separate the friendly from the hostile Indians to a great extent, and to weaken the influence of the latter. At this critical juncture, also, Governor Douglas, of Vancouver Island, sent to Nis-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.