USA > Idaho > The history of Idaho > Part 21
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against them as he thought would be most effective. General How- ard, like most God-fearing men, is not noted for fast marches, but when he takes a stand he is very hard to drive away. What he thinks is right he stands by. It is said that in this battle Chief Joseph showed great bravery and rare generalship, but at the end of one and a half days' hard fighting he was forced to run away from his chosen battle ground with all his following. He could no longer stand the slow but sure destruction of his savage warriors by the cool management of the old veteran, General Howard, who seemed to be at home in the engagement. When General Howard's troops took possession of the Indian battle ground, which they had been forced to abandon in a hurry, many of their lodges were still standing, filled with their effects, such as blankets, buffalo robes, flour, jerked beef, and plunder of all descriptions, while fires were burning and food cooking thereon.
There were about 400 men under General Howard in this engage- ment, and were suposed to be more than 300 Indian warriors, be- sides many young Indian women, who always render the warriors valuable assistance in time of battle. The casualties of this battle, as nearly as known, were as follows: The Indians had twenty-three killed, about forty wounded, some of whom died, and about forty prisoners taken. Also a number of horses killed. The loss to the General's command was thirteen killed and twenty-two wounded. This may seem like a small loss for such a long fight, but when it is understood that the Indians were down in a deep, rough, rocky canyon, and were mostly concealed or sheltered behind rocks, or breastworks, it will be readily seen by any person who has ever had any experience in fighting Indians how difficult it was for our troops to pick them off, or how dangerous it would have been to have undertaken to make a charge on their stronghold. Speaking in the light of experience, we think that General Howard and the men under him in this battle all did well, and deserve great credit for their skill and bravery.
The Indians made their way over the rough country, swimming the Clearwater River, and hit the trail for the buffalo country east of the Rocky Mountains. Their movements clearly showed that they realized they were badly defeated and did not want any more engagements with General Howard. The General could not follow up his victory that evening for several reasons. It was then late in the afternoon. The route which the Indians had taken was not a practicable route over which pack trains and heavy arms might be taken. It was rugged and rough and there was no way to cross the Clearwater River on their trail except by swimming. Besides this, by the time they could have packed their baggage and supplies it
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would have been night, and they might have been ambushed travel- ing in the dark, or if they had left their camp and supplies in the hands of a few while the main force went in pursuit, the Indians might have doubled back and captured the whole camp outfit, for these wily Indians knew every foot of the country and could skip over and through rough places almost equal to a mountain goat, and no white man could compete with them in this business.
The Indians were pursued by General Howard across the moun- tains into Montana, where other U. S. troops fell in and pursued them also. They committed some depredations on their route. They were finally captured by General Miles at Bear Paw Mountain, Miles having made a quick move and captured their horses before they knew of his presence. This was on October 4, 1877. General Howard came up with a small detachment of troops the same day. General Miles had taken Joseph completely by surprise; the In- dians hid as best they could, but seeing they could neither win in a fight against General Miles, nor get away from him, the next day, October 5th, they surrendered to General Miles, after being chased for more than 1,000 miles by General Howard. By order of Gen- eral Sheridan they were taken to Indian Territory, where they were kept for several years, and where many of them died. The rem- nant left, with Joseph, was finally brought back to Idaho, and Joseph with a small band was put on the Colville Reservation, in the State of Washington, where a few years ago Joseph died.
We realize that this is already a long and tedious chapter for the reader, although we have omitted all of the incidents in General Howard's long march when following Joseph from the Clearwater in Idaho to Bear Paw Mountain in Montana. There was another act that took place in the southern part of Idaho that was so nearly connected with this Indian war of 1877 that it seems to us we should make some mention of it. It will be remembered that after Joseph's and White Bird's bands had committed the murders on the east side of the Salmon River they crossed back over to the west side, and it was thought by some that they intended to come down south into Washington County at a place called Council Valley, well up on the Weiser River, where the Indians had been in the habit of meeting once a year, holding councils, trading, etc. A message was sent from the north on June 18th to the people at the town of Weiser and also to Governor Brayman at Boise to be on the lookout for the Indians. About the same time word was brought to Boise that quite a number of the Bannock male Indians that belonged on the Fort Hall Reservation, situated more than two hundred miles east of Boise, were camped only about thirty miles east of Boise, all well armed and well mounted. These reports reached the Governor on
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June 19th. He immediately issued his proclamation calling for volunteers. This was late in the afternoon. The writer was at that time out ten miles from Boise. He was sent for and got to Boise about 9 P. M. The men were all out and ready to do whatever was thought best. A mass meeting was held and a company of volunteers was organized that night to go to the Weiser country. Reub Robbins was elected captain. We had some little trouble with the Governor, he being by law Commander-in-Chief and custodian of the arms (which had been furnished the Territory by the United States). He had the arms stored at Fort Boise, and positively re- fused to let us have any unless we should walk to Fort Boise and enlist under Major Collins of the U. S. army. This we positively refused to do. But when His Excellency was notified that if he did not give us an order for arms, and that quickly, that neither he nor the fifteen men at Fort Boise would prevent us from taking the arms that the U. S. Government had furnished for the people to use for protection on such occasions as the present, he realized what the demand meant, and gave the order for the arms. Drays were at once employed to haul the arms and ammunition down, and the writer and two other men proceeded to open the boxes containing the guns and ammunition, and to distribute them to Captain Rob- bins' company, which consisted of nearly one hundred men. Cap- tain Robbins, with a little more than half of his company, were outfitted with necessary supplies by the business men of Boise, and packed up and started that evening for Council Valley. Second Lieutenant John S. Gray went with a detachment of men to patrol up and down Snake River, to ascertain if any Indians should at- tempt to come from the south. Another small party, consisting of Milton Kelly, I. N. Coston, Obe Corder and a few others, were sent east to interview the Bannock Indian warriors (referred to be- fore), who were camped about thirty miles from Boise. This party was instructed to have the Indians, or at least their chief and prominent men, come into Boise and have a talk with the Governor and the people. We must say that when the arms were brought down from the fort, the Governor got in and worked like a Turk helping to distribute them to the volunteers. He seemed to under- stand the business and rendered all the assistance he could in help- ing to get the volunteers ready. In the meantime we were enlisted to go with Captain Robbins, but the Governor as commander-in- chief notified us that he had detailed and commissioned me to remain at Boise for a while to distribute arms, collect and distribute sup- plies, and to go where any emergency might arise. We put in all that night getting arms and ammunition into the stage office to be sent out early the next morning to Boise Basin, Silver City, Jordan
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Valley, Payette, Weiser and on Overland road. The people were very much alarmed all over the country, fearing a general outbreak of the Indians in the different parts of Idaho and adjoining states and territories. Indeed, the reports that came from every place where Indians were located were of an alarming nature. The next day, June 21st, Milton Kelly and party arrived about noon with thirty or forty of the Bannock Indians, all big, fine-looking fellows. They attracted the attention of all as they marched along Main street in double file on horseback, with Messrs. Kelly and Corder in front and the other volunteers in the rear, all in perfect order. They alighted near the Governor's office, the chief and a few of the head men were presented to the Governor and a few prominent citizens in the Governor's office, mutual greetings were extended by all, and a long peace talk was had, which resulted in a mutual verbal understanding that the people of Boise were to furnish pasture for their horses that night, and provisions for them for supper and breakfast next morning and then give them a few hun- dred pounds of flour, a few hundred pounds of meat, a reasonable amount of sugar, coffee and tea, some tobacco, etc., the next morn- ing, and they would then pack up and go and take all their men back to their reservation at Ross Fork, then in Oneida County, now Bannock County. As this was one of the many duties His Excel- lency had imposed on me, we had to get a lively move on. Fortun- ately we had a pasture with suitable camp ground and soon had them and their horses located, while our assistants procured the necessary rations for their supper and breakfast. Then the rustle came for supplies for them to pack away next morning. At that time we were engaged in the butcher business with our old friend G. W. Guess, so we pulled out the required amount of bacon and beef from our market to fill that part of the agreement, and every merchant responded without a murmur with a liberal amount of flour, sugar, coffee, etc., until we had enough to fill the agreement, notwithstanding they had all contributed liberally only a day or two before to supply the volunteers who had gone out. They were a generous and noble people, and believed strongly in protection, and were willing to help pay for it. Early the next morning, with the assistance of a few of our good boys, we gathered up all these con- tributions and checked up to see if they filled the agreement. Ev- erything was satisfactory, we helped them to pack up, and then tried to impress on them, first that we had kept and fulfilled our part of the agreement, and second, that they must not fail to fulfill their part of the agreement. They seemed to realize the importance of fulfilling their part, so we bade them a good-bye, wishing them a speedy and safe journey to the r home on the Fort Hall Reserva-
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tion. They went and kept their part of the agreement for that year, 1877, but in 1878 they gave us trouble, of which we will speak later cn.
A few days after Captain Robbins left for the Weiser country Colonel Green of the U. S. Army came into Boise by stage for the purpose of taking command of some three or four companies of U. S. cavalry troops which were expected and did come to Boise in a few days from Harney, McDermott and other places. It took some time for them to get ready to start north to the seat of war. They had a good deal of fixing to do, supplies and transportation to pro- cure. Colonel Green sent Major Collins with a small company of infantry to Council Valley soon after his arrival, but he and his company of cavalry did not get started from Boise until about the 18th of July. Several days before this General Howard had sent a messenger from Salmon River to the Weiser, informing the people and volunteers there that the Indians had re-crossed the Salmon River and gone north. There being no necessity for the volunteers to remain longer on the Weiser and Snake Rivers, both detachments were returned to Boise. During these exciting times the citizens at Placerville in Boise Basin had organized a company of volunteers who held themselves in readiness to go anywhere they were needed for several weeks. The people in Silver City, Jordan Valley, Boise, Payette and Weiser valleys, and in Salmon City were organized, armed and ready for action. All these necessary precautions with- out a doubt prevented the Bannock and Piute Indians from joining Chief Joseph, White Bird and Lookingglass. There is but little doubt in our mind that when these Indians, after making their raid on the northeast side of the Salmon River, crossed back, they ex- pected to meet the Bannock and Piute Indians and return to the Wallowa country and there fight for what they believed to be their own home. Failing to get this reinforcement, they turned and went north, and when beaten on the Clearwater by General Howard their only course was to surrender or to strike out across the mountains for the buffalo country. They chose the latter rather than surren- der, believing, doubtless, that Howard would not follow them far, but in that belief they were sadly mistaken.
Captain Robbins went north and joined General Howard's com- mand as chief of scouts at Clearwater, and went with the General's command on the long, laborious and dangerous journey of 1,000 miles, from the Clearwater River in Idaho to the Bear Paw Mountain, where Chief Joseph and his band of hostile Indians were captured. General Howard says that Captain Robbins ren- dered very valuable services on that long, tiresome and danger-
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ous trip. We knew Captain Robbins well, and for untiring en- ergy, good judgment and bravery upon such occasions he has no superior.
We have omited all of the many important incidents of General Howard's long pursuit of these Indians; we have not yet stated whom we thought to blame for the bringing on of this war; we are satisfied that many innocent, good citizens were murdered and a large amount of property taken and destroyed, belonging to innocent citizens; the United States Army lost many soldiers, and the Government incurred an extra or additional expense of a few hundred thousand dollars, and some person or persons must be to blame for it. We will not say who, but we do say that the citi- zens of Idaho who suffered death and heavy loss of property were innocent. We leave to the reader to fix the responsibility.
In summing up the cost of this war of 1877 with Chief Joseph and his allied forces, amounting to not to exceed three hundred warriors, encumbered with their women and children, stock and camp equipage, we find that a campaign was conducted from June 15th to October 5th, 1877, with from twenty to thirty companies of United States troops, a number of citizens and Indian scouts, and several companies of volunteers a part of the time. There was a loss of good citizens murdered, not in battle, numbering about thirty, and wounded, not in battle, twenty. Of the volunteers there were about thirteen killed in battle and twenty wounded. Per- haps twenty citizens lost houses, barns and stores plundered and burnt, amounting to fifty or more, and several hundred head of stock, horses and cattle, were taken by the Indians. As nearly as we can learn the loss to the United States Army was, officers and men killed in battle, one hundred; wounded, one hundred and ten. The extra expense the Government necessarily had to incur in prosecuting this war we have no means of knowing, but we think it must have run up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In closing this the least we can say is that there does not ap- pear to have been any preparation made before hand to enforce the order of the Indian Department of our Government to remove the Indians at the time fixed upon for their rmoval. Hence the innocent had to suffer for the neglect of those whose duty it was to superintend their safe and peaceful removal onto the reservation if it was right they should be removed. If wrong, they should not have been ordered to remove.
CHAPTER XLIV.
BANNOCK INDIAN WAR IN 1878
Another of those murderous and devastating Indian Wars had now come to Idaho, and, worst of all, like most of the Indian Wars we have had, the innocent often had to suffer through the neglect of others. This was certainly the case during the Ban- nock Indian War of 1878.
On July 27, 1867, the Congress of the United States passed an act authorizing the President to appoint seven commissioners to go west and try and, if possible, negotiate treaties with all the hostile and nontreaty Indians, and to make agreements with them to settle upon such reservations as they might agree upon and for the Indians to keep at peace with the whites. One hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars was appropriated in this act to defray the expenses of these commissioners, and it was pro- vided in the act that the Secretary of War should furnish them necessary protection. The act also appropriated three hundred thousand dollars to enable the Secretary of the Interior to locate and settle all such Indians as were willing to make their homes on those reservations. The act or law referred to can be found on page 17, Vo. IX, of the Fortieth Session of Congress. The names of the commissioners appointed were N. G. Taylor, Lieut. General Sherman, United States Army, William S. Harney, John B. Sanborn, S. F. Tappen, C. C. Augur, Brevet Major General United States Army, Alfred H. Terry. These commissioners were engaged in the work assigned to them in making treaties and set- ting apart reservations for Indians in the Western States and Ter- ritories a part of the year 1867 and most of the year 1868.
Included among many other treaties made by these commis- sioners with the various tribes of Indians was a treaty made with the Bannock Indians, and, at the same time and embodied in the same agreement, a treaty was made with the Shoshone Indians. The Shoshone Indians' reservation was located in Wyoming, and the reservation for the Bannock Indians was located in Idaho Territory. This treaty can be found on pages 673-678, Vol. XV, Fortieth Session Laws and Treaties of Congress. My reason for referring to this treaty is: first, that it has been said by some that this reservation was set aside at a much earlier date for the Sho- shone and Bannock Indians. This is not correct, for the reserva- tion of the Shoshones was located in Wyoming. Second, this treaty
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says the Bannocks were to have "reasonable portions of the Port Neuf and Kansas Prairie Country." There can be no doubt that the word "Kansas" should have been written "Camas." Either the interpreter, clerk or the type-setter made the mistake. These Indians always understood they were entitled to a part of Camas Prairie for that was their place for digging camas. The Gov- ernment officials knew all about this and made no effort to adjust the matter, but opened Camas Prairie for settlement by the whites. Extract from the treaty :
"A treaty of peace was made and entered into with relinquish- ment of certain lands and two reservations were set apart. This treaty was entered into by N. G. Taylor, Lieut. Gen. W. T. Sher- man, William S. Harney, John S. Sanborn, S. F. Tappen, Major Gen. C. C. Augur, and Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, acting com- missioners for the United States, and Wash-A-Kee, Wau-Ny-Pitz, Toop-Se-Po-Wot, Nor-Kok, Taboonshe-Ya, Bazeel, Pan-To-She- Ga, Ninny-Bilse, Indians acting for the Shoshone Indians (east- ern band) and Taggel, Tay-Toba, We-Rat-Ze-Won-A-Gen, Coo- Sha-Gan, Pan-Sook-A-Motse, A-Mite-Etse, Indians acting for the Bannocks. Made, concluded and signed by the parties above and dated Fort Bridger, Territory of Utah, July 3rd, 1868. Ratified by the United States Senate Feb. 16th, 1869, proclaimed by Pres- ident Andrew Johnson, Feb. 24th, 1869."
Article 2 reads as follows: "It is agreed that whenever the Bannocks desire a reservation to be set apart for their use or, whenever the President of the United States shall deem it advisa- ble for them to be put upon a reservation, he shall cause one to be selected for them in their present country, which shall em- brace reasonable portions of the Port-Neuf and Kansas Prairie countries, that, when this reservation is declared, the United States will secure to the Bannocks the same rights and privileges therein and make the same and like expenditures therein for their benefit, except the agency house and residence of agent, in pro- portion to their numbers, as herein provided for the Shoshone reservation.
"The United States further agrees that the following district of country, to-wit: commencing at the mouth of Owl Creek and running due south to the crest of the divide between the Sweet- water and Papoagee River, thence along the crest of said divide to the summit of Wind River Mountains to the longitude of the North Fork of Wind River, thence due north to the mouth of said North Fork and up its channel to a point twenty miles above its mouth, thence in a straight line to the head waters of Owl Creek and along the middle of the channel of Owl Creek to place of
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beginning, shall be and the same is set apart for the absolute and undisturbed occupation of the Shoshone Indians herein named and for such other friendly tribes and individual Indians, as from time to time may be willing, with the consent of the United States to admit amongst them. The United States now solemnly agrees that no persons except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers and agents and employees of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian Reserva- tions in discharge of duties enjoined by law shall ever be per- mitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article for the use of said Indians. Henceforth they will and do hereby relinquish all title, claims or rights in and to any portion of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid."
Article V provides that the President may have this reservation surveyed.
Article IV reads as follows: "The Indians herein named agree, when the Agency House and other buildings shall be constructed on their reservation named, they will make said reservation their permanent home and will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States, so long as game may be found thereon and so long as peace exists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts."
Article II reads as follows: "No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of any force or validity as against the said In- dians unless executed and signed by at least a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same. No ces- sion by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such man- ner as to deprive without his consent any individual member of the tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article VI of this treaty."
Soon after this treaty was made, the Bannock Indians went to the Port-Neuf and Camas Prairie countries. In fact, they had been making these places their principal home for many years. The treaty was ratified Feb. 16, 1869. The Governor of Idaho was ordered by the authorities at Washington to have the pro- posed Indian Reservation surveyed. Just how specific his orders were as to locality we do not know, but the presumption is that the reservation was to be surveyed in accordance with the agree- ment in the treaty, which "was to embrace reasonable portions of the Port Neuf and Kansas Prairie country." It appears, or at least it was the common talk at the time, that the Governor of His-15
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Idaho went out with the surveyor to the Port Neuf country, looked around a little and then with a wave of his hand said, "Boys, survey out a good sized reservation around here for these In- dians." He then left and returned to Boise. Nothing was said or done about the Kansas or Camas Prairie that was to be included. The surveyor was paid by the mile for the work, and, having no restrictions placed on him as to the size, the survey was run so as to make as many miles as possible. In this way, the reservation was made to include twice as much country as was necessary, and much more than the Indians expected or wanted. But Indians are like the majority of white men, if you intentionally give them more than is coming to them on one account, they can see no rea- son why they should not receive the full amount on any other ac- count. So these Bannock Indians were willing to accept what was surveyed for them as their portion of the Port Neuf country, but they still contended for a resaonable portion of the Camas Prairie country. They were allowed by the Indian Agent to go to Camas Prairie whenever they pleased to dig camas, hunt and fish.
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