History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 57

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880

USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 57
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 57
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 57

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).

On the second morning after this battle, Howard came up with a picked escort, and Mason with the remainder of the cavalry arrived late on the 12th. On the 13th Howard took up the pursuit again with the addition to his battalion of fifty of Gibbon's com- mand. Proceeding southward he was met by the report of eight men killed near the head of Horse prairie the previous night, and 200 horses captured.14

tempting opportunity to increase their stock from the herds of the fugitive Ncz l'ercés. The U. S. officers complained of this in their reports, without discriminating between this class and American-born citizens.

13 Of the killed, 6 were volunteers, viz .: L. C. Elliott, John Armstrong, David Morrow, Alvin Lockwood, Campbell Mitchell, H. S. Bostwick. Wounded volunteers: Myron Lockwood, Otto Syford, Jacob Baker, and William Ryan. Gibbon's rept, in Sec. War Rept, 1877-8, 72.

1} This may refer to the same attack by the Nez Percés mentioned in Shoup's Idaho Territory, MS., 12-13, which says that Joseph's people met a large train coming over the mountains from Bannack City to Lemhi, and

511

THE CHASE CONTINUED.

But on the 15th he received a message from Colonel George L. Shoup, of the Idaho volunteers, informing him that the Indians had recrossed the mountains into Idaho, and surrounded the temporary fortifica- tions at Junction, in Lemhi Valley, containing only forty citizens. Shoup with sixty volunteers had reconnoitred their camp west of Junction, finding them too strong to attack, and called for help. Before Howard could decide to send assistance, another courier informed him that Joseph had made a sudden movement toward the east, leaving the fortified settlers of Lemhi unharmed. Other couriers from the stage company intercepted him on the 16th, and reported the Indians on the road beyond Dry Creek station, in Montana, interrupting travel, and cutting off telegraphic communication, although a guard had been set upon every pass known to the commander of the pursuing army. It was not until the 18th that their camp was discovered near that place.

The following day was Sunday, and Howard, who had religious scruples, went into camp early in the afternoon, about cigliteen miles from the encampment of the Nez Perces. The opportunity was a good one for Joseph, who commenced a movement on his own rear a little before sunset, cautiously approach- ing Howard's camp, and sending a few skilled horse- thieves into it, undertook to divert the attention of the troops by a sudden advance on the pickets, while they stampeded the pack-animals. At daylight three companies started in pursuit, and a skirmish ensued, which by continuance became a battle, the remainder of the force joining in. The result was one man killed, six wounded, and the loss of the pack-train, which was not recovered. Thus the chase was kept up as far as Henry Lake, where Howard awaited supplies, and rested his men and horses.

attacking them, drove them into the stoekade in Lemhi Valley. They also captured and destroyed 8 wagons, loaded with goods for Shoup & Co. and Frederick Phillips, killing five men and the teams.

512

INDIAN WARS.

As for Joseph, he and his people seemed made all of endurance. They passed on into Wyoming and the national park by the way of the Madison branch of the Missouri. In the lower geyser basin they captured a party of tourists, resting but a short time near Yellowstone Lake. Although a large number of troops were put into the field, namely, six companies of the 7th cavalry under Colonel Sturgis, five of the fifth cavalry under Major Hart, and ten other cavalry companies under Colonel Merritt, to scout in every direction, Joseph again evaded them, and crossed the Yellowstone at the mouth of Clark Fork, September 10th, leaving both Sturgis and Howard in the rear. Sturgis, being reënforced and sent in fast pursuit, over- took the Indians below Clark Fork, and skirmishing with them, killed and wounded several, and captured a large number of horses. Nevertheless, they again escaped, crossing the Musselshell and Missouri Rivers, the latter at Cow Island, the low-water steamboat landing for Fort Benton, where they burned the ware- houses and stores, and skirmished with a detachment of the 7th infantry engaged in improving the river near Cow Island. On the 23d of September they moved north again toward the British possessions.

When Howard found that the Nez Percés had es- caped from Sturgis and himself at Clark Fork, he sent word to Colonel Miles, stationed at the month of Tongue River, who immediately organized a force to intercept them. This command left Tongue River barracks on the 18th, reaching the Missouri at the mouth of the Musselshell on the 23d, learning the direction taken by the fugitives on the 25th, and coming up with their camp on Snake Creek, near the north end of Bear Paw Mountains, on the 29th. An attack was made the next morning by three several battalions, the Indians taking refuge, as usual, in the mountain defiles. 15

15 Besides Miles' own regiment of the 5th infantry, he had a battalion of the 7th cavalry under Captain Hale, and another of the 2d cavalry under Captain Tyler, detailed to his command. Sec. War Rept, 1877-8, 74.

513

JOSEPH SURRENDERS.

The first charge cut off from camp all the horses, which were captured, and half the warriors. In the second charge, on the rifle-pits, Captain Hale and Lieutenant Biddle were killed. As soon as the infan- try came up, the camp was entirely surrounded, but as it was evident the fortifications could not be taken without heavy loss, Miles contented himself with keeping the enemy under fire until he should surren- der. For four days and nights the Indians and the troops kept their positions. A white flag was several times displayed in the Nez Percé camp, but when required to lay down their arms they refused. At length, on the 5th of October, after three and a half months of war, meanwhile being ten weeks hunted from place to place, the Nez Percés were forced to surrender, and General Howard, who had arrived just in time to be present at the ceremony, directed Joseph to give up his arms to Colonel Miles. In the last action Joseph had lost his brother Onicut, a young brave resembling himself in military talent, Looking- glass, another prominent chief, and two head-men, besides twenty-five warriors killed and forty-six wounded. Miles lost, beside the two officers named, twenty-one killed and forty-four wounded. The num- ber of persons killed outside of battle by Joseph's people was about fifty; volunteers killed in war, thir- teen; officers and men of the regular army, 105. The wounded were not less than 120.

To capture 300 warriors, encumbered with their families and stock, required at various times the ser- vices of between thirty and forty companies of United States troops, supplemented by volunteers and Indian scouts. The distance marched by Howard's army from Kamiah to Bear Paw Mountains was over 1,500 miles, a march the severity of which has rarely been equalled, as its length on the war-path has never been surpassed.

The fame of Joseph became wide-spread by reason of this enormous outlay of money and effort in his HIST. WASH .- 33

514

INDIAN WARS.

capture, and from the military skill displayed in avoid- ing it for such a length of time. It only shows that war may be maintained as well by the barbarian as by the civilized man, the best arms and the greatest numbers deciding the contest. When the Nez Percés surrendered, they were promised permission to return to Idaho, and were given in charge of Colonel Miles, to be kept until spring, it then being too late to make the journey. But General Sheridan, in whose de- partment they were, ordered them to Fort Leaven- worth, and afterward to the Indian Territory, near the Ponca agency, where they subsequently lived quietly and enjoyed health and comfort. That this was a judicious course to pursue under the circum- stances, the behavior of a part of White Bird's band, who fled to the British possessions after surrendering, and returned to Idaho the following summer, satis- factorily demonstrated.16

Scarcely was the Nez Perce war over, and Joseph's people banished, before the territory was again agi-

16 The number of Ncz Perces, exclusive of Joseph's followers, still off the reservation in 1878, was 500. The progress of the Nez Percés who remained on the reservation was rather assisted than retarded by the separation from their fellowship of the non-treaty Indians. Four of the young men from Kamiah were examined by the presbytery of Oregon in 1877, and licensed to preach and teach among their tribe. The membership of the Kamiah and Lapwai churches in 1879 was over 300. They were presided over by one white minister, and one Nez Perce minister named Robert Williams, and con- tributed of their own means toward the support of their teachers. That a good deal of their christianity was vanity, was shown on the 4th of July, 1879, which day was celebrated by the Kamiah division of the tribe. As the pro- cession formed to march from camp to the place selected for the exercises, those wearing blankets and adhering to nboriginal customs were excluded by the chief and head-men with a contemptuous 'no Indians allowed.' Such is the inexorable law of progress-no Indians allowed. In 1880 there were nearly 4,000 acres under cultivation by 170 Nez Perce farmers. Of the 1,200 who lived on the reserve, nearly 900 wore citizens' dress. In educational matters they were less forward. Notwithstanding the grant by treaty of $6,000 annually for educational purposes, for thirteen years, and notwith- standing missionary efforts, the number who could read in 1880 was 110. The number of children of school age on the reservation was 250, about one fifth of whom attended school. On the 1st of July, 1880, the Stevens treaty expired by limitation, and with it chieftainships and annuities were abolished. In most cases chieftainship had been a source of jealousy to the Indians and danger to the white people, as in the instances of Joseph, White Bird, and others; but the influence of Lawyer and his successor was probably worth much more than the salary he received, in preserving the peace. When it finally passed away, it was no longer needed for that purpose.

515

SHOSHONE AFFAIRS.

tated by the threatening attitude of the Shoshone and allied tribes. The origin of the outbreak was their dissatisfaction as wards of the government. For a few years after their subjugation by generals Crook and Conner the people of Idaho enjoyed a period of freedom from alarms, but in 1871 there was a general restlessness among the tribes of southern Idaho, from the eastern to the western boundary, that boded no good.17

In 1867, while the Shoshone war was yet in progress, Governor Ballard, in his capacity of ex-officio super- intendent of Indian affairs, made an informal treaty with the Bannack branch of the Shoshone nation in the eastern part of Idaho, by which they agreed to go upon the Fort Hall reservation before the 1st of June, 1868, provided the land should be set apart for- ever to them, and that they should be taught hus- bandry, mechanics, and given schools for their chil- dren. The Boisé and Bruneau Shoshones were also gathered under an agent and fed through the winter. In 1868 all these Indians were located on the reserva- tion at Fort Hall, some of them straying back to their former homes. A formal treaty was this year made with the Bannacks, by which 1,568,000 acres were set apart for their use and that of kindred tribes. But the ardor with which some of these Indians set to work to learn farming was quenched by the results of the first year's effort, the grasshoppers destroying a large portion of their crop, in addition to which the government was, as so often happened, behind with its annuities. By the terms of the treaty the Indians were permitted to go to the buffalo-grounds, and to dig camas on Big Camas prairie, a part of which was agreed to be set aside for their use whenever they should desire it.18 Affairs progressed favorably until

17 The language of Norkok, a Shoshone chief, to the agent at the Bannack and Shoshone agency in IS69, on being refused annuity goods off the reserva- tion, was that he supposed the only way to obtain presents was 'to steal a few horses and kill a few white men.' Ind. Aff. Rept, 1869, 275.

18 Reversion of Indian Treaties, 1873, p. 931, in Sec. War Rept, 1878-9, ii. 151.

516

INDIAN WARS.

the death of the principal chief, Tygee, in 1871, when the Indians began to present a hostile front. In 1872 an Indian from the Fort Hall reservation at- tempted to shoot a farmer at work making hay on the South Boisé River. He was seized, but finally liber- ated by the white man who took him, rather than in- cur the danger of bringing on a conflict with the tribe. Several similar affairs happened during the summer, and some murders were committed. In 1873 the government ordered the special commission before re- ferred to, of which Shanks was chairman, to investi- gate causes of trouble in the district of Idaho. These commissioners made a modification of the former treaty with the Bannacks and Shoshones, by which they re- linquished their right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States without a written permit from the agent. But no reference was made in the amend- ments to Camas prairie privileges. Once at Camas prairie, the Indians proceeded under their different chiefs, in detachments, to the Weiser Valley, now being occupied by settlers, where they were met by the Umatillas from Oregon, and where they held a grand fair, horse-races, and exchange of property in the ancient manner. When thus assembled, they numbered, with the Umatillas, about 2,000, and the settlers felt unsafe from their proximity. The super- intendency having been taken away from the gov- ernor, there was no appeal within the territory, except to the agent at Fort Hall, who justified the giving of passes on account of the meagreness of the commis- sary department at the agency.

Further trouble was caused in 1874 by an order from the Indian department for the removal of about a thousand Indians-among whom was a band known as the Sheep Eaters, who, five years previous, had been settled in the Lemhi Valley under an agent-to the Fort Hall reservation, these Indians refusing to be removed. In the following year the order was withdrawn, and a reservation set apart for them con-

517

BANNACKS AND PIUTES.

taining 100 square miles. In this year, also, an ad- dition was made to the Malheur reservation in Oregon, which was still further enlarged, with new boundaries, in 1876.

But meantime the Modoc war and Joseph's atti- tude concerning the Wallowa Valley had their effect in disturbing the minds of the Indians, particularly those of the Oregon Shoshones and the Piutes asso- ciated with them. Three or four years of deceitful quiet followed the banishment of the Modocs. When the Nez Percé outbreak occurred, great alarm was felt by the white inhabitants lest the Shoshones and Piutes should join in the revolt. Winnemucca, chief of the Piutes, appeared on the Owyhee with all his warriors; but finding the people watchful, and the military active, they remained quiescent, and Joseph was permitted to do his own fighting. Yet the wide- spread consternation which this one band was able to create, and the injury it succeeded in inflicting, en- couraged the Indians-many of whom were believers in the Smohallah doctrine of the conquest of the country by the red men-to think that a more com- bined attack would be successful.

In the summer and autumn of 1877 the Bannacks on the Fort Hall reservation became so turbulent as to require a considerable military force at the agency.

When spring came there was not enough food to keep them all on the reservation,19 would they have stayed; and being off, in May they commenced shoot- ing white people on Camas prairie, to which, under the treaty, they laid claim equally with the United States. As the settlers kept swine, the camas root was destroyed by them in a wholesale manner very irritating to the Indians.

19 It should be explained that the scarcity of food was partly occasioned by the Nez Perce war, which prevented the Indians from hunting as usual. Of this the Bannacks were as well aware as their agent. Congress appropri- ated $14,000 for their subsistence in 1877, but the deficiency mentioned and the greater number on the reservation caused a partial famine.

518

INDIAN WARS.

Their first demonstration, after threatening for some time, was to fire upon two herders, wounding them severely. They next captured King Hill stage- station, destroying property and driving off the horses, the men in charge barely escaping. About the same time they appeared on Jordan Creek, demanding arms and ammunition, and captured two freight- wagons near Glen's ferry on Snake River, driving off

Middle Boise

113

Gold Mines

LEDGES

OAINS

Fork

South

Lime

ALITTLE

CAMAS

Frauklin

LEDGES/

BIG CAMMAS PRAIRIE

Mines

RICT

VOLCANO

River

Salt Lake Road

Cr.

up Cr.

Snake

River

114

113

CAMAS PRAIRIE AND VOLCANO DISTRICT.

100 horses, cutting loose the ferry-boat, and destroy- ing several farm-houses from which the families had fled. The settlers of this region fortified themselves at Payne's ferry, and formed a volunteer company. All over the territory again, as in the preceding sum- mer, business was prostrated, farms were deserted, and citizens under arms.

Again it required time to concentrate troops and find where to strike the Indians. Their movement seemed to be from Fort Hall west along Snake River to the Owyhce. The leader of the hostile Bannacks was Buffalo Horn, one of the Bannack scouts em-

Wood

V OL

LOW

HILLS

HIGH DIVIDE

Silver

VOLCANO MTS.

Cottonwood

Feather R

Boise

ROCKY BAR

519

MORE FIGHTING.

ployed in the Nez Perce war, but who was said to have deserted Howard at Henry Lake because he would not be advised by him, and push on to Joseph's camp, which he insisted could be taken at that time. Evidently he had a taste for fighting which was not satisfied with Howard's tacties. The chiefs of the Piutes, Winnemucca and Natchez, maintained an ap- pearance of friendship, while Eagan and Oits led the Indians of south-western Oregon and northern Ne- vada, Piutes and Malheurs, in their murderous raids. The Umatilla Indians were divided, many of them joining the war-making bands, and others volunteer- ing to fight with the troops. There seemed imminent danger that the uprising would become general, from Utah and Nevada to British Columbia.

The first actual conflict between armed parties was on the 8th of June, when a company of thirty-five volunteers, under J. B. Harper of Silver City, en- countered sixty Bannacks seven miles east of South Mountain in Owyhee county. The volunteers were compelled to retreat, with four white men and two Indian scouts killed, one man wounded, and one miss- ing.20 On the 11th the stage was attacked between Camp MeDermitt and Owyhee, the driver killed, mail destroyed, and some arms and ammunition in- tended for citizens captured. The Indians on the Malheur reservation in Oregon had left the agency about one week previous, after destroying a large amount of property, going in the direction of Boisé. On the 15th Howard, who was near Cedar Mountain in Oregon, announced the main body of the enemy, 600 strong, to be congregated in the valley between Cedar and Steen mountains, and that he was about to move upon them21 with sixteen companies of cavalry,

20 See Silver City Avalanche, June 22, 1878. One of the killed was O. H. Purdy, one of the discoverers of the Owyhee mines. He insisted, against more cautious counsels, that it was the duty of the company to go to thic as- sistance of the people of Jordan Valley, which was threatened. By doing so he lost his life, but diverted the Indians from their purpose for the time. Buffalo Horn was supposed to have been killed by Purdy in this skirmish.

21 The companies in the field were those of Sandford, Bendire, Sumner, and

520

INDIAN WARS.

infantry, and artillery. This movement was com- menced on the 23d, the advance, under Bernard, sur- prising himself and the Indians by running into their rear near Camp Curry the next morning at nine o'clock. The cavalry, four companies, charged the Indians, who rallied and forced Bernard to send for assistance. Not much loss numerically was sustained on either side, the Bannacks, however, losing their leader, Buffalo Horn, which was to them in moral force equivalent to a partial defeat. Before Howard came up, on the 25th, the Indians had disappeared, and left their course to be conjectured by the general. He believed that they would proceed north by Silver Creek and the south branch of John Day River, then up Granite Creek to Bridge Creek, to join the dis- contented Cayuses and other Indians in that vicinity, when they would make a demonstration still farther north. To provide for this, he sent Colonel Grover to Walla Walla to take command of five companies of cavalry, numbering 240 men, to intercept them, while he remained in their rear with 480 with whom to follow.

Being thus driven, the Indians moved rapidly north. On the 29th they poured into the valley of the south branch of John Day River, surrounding a little com- pany of fifteen home-guards, killing one and wounding several. Wherever they went they pillaged and de- stroyed. Cattle were butchered by the hundreds and left to rot; valuable horses were killed or maimed, and whole herds of sheep mutilated and left to die. The appeals for military aid from beleaguered outly- ing settlements were as vain as they were piteous. Soldiers could not be spared for guard duty while em- ployed in driving the Indians upon the citizens. Ap- peals to the governor of Oregon were equally fruitless,

Carr, under Col Grover, ordered to concentrate at Kinney's ferry, near old Fort Boisé; Bernard's and Whipple's, en route from Bruneau River, MeGregor, and Bemus to join Bernard; Stewart's column, consisting of two companies of artillery and five of infantry, at Rhinehart's ferry on Malheur River; Eg- bert's reserve of five companies at Camp Lyon, to be reënforced by Cochran with one company of infantry. Sec. War Rept, 1878-9, 152.

521

THE UMATILLA ALLIES.

as he was not permitted to call for volunteers, and was without arms to distribute to the unarmed set- tlers, or citizen companies.

On the 2d of July the loyal Umatillas, under their agent, Connoyer, met the enemy 400 strong, fighting them all day, killing thirty, with a loss of only two. This prevented a raid, but alarmed the thousand or more of helpless women and children gathered at Pen- dleton, and a petition for troops was sent to Walla

1220

PULL

Columbia

Henrietta

INDIAN

HEEL

LES

GES.

CHE-Hood

Jeli's Day

EWARM GERING

BAKER CITY

INDIAN REST

120

Camp Folk

mp .!

Cam ) Loyal

Camp

Comp Dahlgren

Colfax

CANYON CITY

Crooks

MALHEUR TUVEN

amp Heil

Ferry

INDIAN

ferson-

Fort Harhey

FK.

RESERVATION

South

Camp Wrigh

Harney Lalle

Klan

Camp Lyond

Lake

Fort Klamath

Qwyhei

PRESERVATION

Old Camp Alvord

Spragud K

Old Cam'p C.R.Smith

Klamath! Lake " Tada

Camp Warner

Old Camp

Warner

LAKE THE

STEEN'

119

EASTERN OREOON.

Walla, where General Wheaton had a small force. Wheaton had been advised of the probable approach to the Columbia River of the raiders, and not yet having been joined by Grover, had moved his whole available force of fifty-four men to Wallula, where

Grande llonde B.

Wallawa

Cowder

Lincoln

Campalaury

h Chutes

Camp Currye

Lal;

Ft.

522

INDIAN WARS.

they were to take a steamboat and patrol the river to observe if any Indians were crossing. But on receiving the call for help from Pendleton, he directed this company to proceed to that place.

All at once calls came from everywhere along the line of settlements, from Des Chutes to the head waters of John Day, showing hostile Indians all along between these points. At Bake Oven, fifty miles from The Dalles, on the 2d of July, they captured a wagon laden with arms and ammunition for the state militia, burned a house, killed one man, and wounded two others. At the same date they were fighting in the vicinity of Canon City and raiding at other points. On the 5th of July Wheaton managed to get possession of a steamer, which he manned with ten ordnance soldiers and ten others, under Captain Kress, who, furnished with a howitzer and Gatling gun, started to patrol the Columbia in the vicinity of Wallula.

On the 6th General Howard was near Granite City, fifty miles south of Pendleton. Half-way between him and that place, at Willow Springs, a company of citizens was attacked, and Cap- tain Sperry and nearly all his command killed or wounded. Hearing how the war was going, if war it could be called which was only a raid feebly resisted, governors Chadwick and Ferry hastened to Pendle- ton to confer with Howard. A large number of families were sent down the river to The Dalles on a special steamer. A few arms obtained at Vancouver were distributed at that place, and medical service rendered to the sick, of whom there were many, owing to the crowded condition of the town and the mental strain. The Portland militia companies tendered arms and services. The former were accepted, and a consignment of guns made to Governor Brayman of Idaho, arrested at Umatilla by permission, and fur- nished to the people in that vicinity. Governor Ferry also lent the guns belonging to Washington for use by the citizens of Oregon.

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.

History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 57

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: San Francisco : History Co. Number of Pages: 880

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880