History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 26

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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The next summer disaffection broke out afresh, owing to the evil counsels of Baptiste Dorion, a half breed son of Pierre Dorion who had been interpreter for Hunt's party of the Astor expedition in 1811. This man was interpreter for the Hudson's Bay Company, and upon his own responsibility informed some of the Indians about Fort Walla Walla that the Americans were coming up in the summer to take their lands. This story spread among the tribes along the base of the Blue mountains and created great excitement. The young warriors wanted to go to the Willamette and exterminate the Americans, but were held in check by the older ones. Peo-peo-mux-mux, chief of the Walla Wallas, visited Vancouver to ascertain the truth of Dorion's statements, and was informed by Dr. Mclaughlin that he did not believe the Americans entertained any such idea; but if they did he could rest assured that the Hudson's Bay Company would not aid them in a war of that kind against the Indians. The return of the Walla Walla chief quieted the excitement to a certain extent, yet a feeling of appre- hension still remained, and the missionaries sent for Dr. White to make another official visit to the tribes. He started in the latter part of April, accompanied by Rev. Gus- tavus Hines, George W. LeBreton, one Indian boy and a Kanaka. Several French Canadians were to have accompanied them, but were advised by Dr. Mclaughlin to remain at home and "let the Americans take care of themselves."

The result of this visit was to restore the spirit of security, and to insure tranquil- ity for a time at least. The Cayuses adopted the Nez Perce laws and elected for head chief Five Crows, who had embraced the Protestant faith and was favorably disposed towards the Americans. The action of Dr. McLaughlin has been severely censured and has served as an argument to prove that the Hudson's Bay Company was stirring up the Indians to drive the Americans from the country. That is certainly putting a strained construction on it, as will be admitted when it is understood that the Ameri- can settlers had but a few days before unanimously signed a memorial to congress, in which Dr. Mclaughlin was severely censured. Father Demers arrived from the interior at this time and informed him that : " The Indians are only incensed against the Boston people; that they have nothing against the French and King George peo- ple ; they are not mad at them, but are determined that the Boston people shall not have their lands and take away their liberties." Is it at all unnatural that, learning that his people were in no danger and smarting under the unjust charges of the Amer- icans, he should have said, " Let the Americans take care of themselves ?"

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There was trouble in the Willamette valley in 1844 which served to still more embitter the Indians against the Americans. There was a sub-chief of the Molallas named Cockstock, a man of independent nature and belligerent disposition. He had a few followers who partook somewhat of his spirit, and they were generally the prime movers in such hostile acts as the natives of the Willamette indulged in. He was rebellious of restraint, and not friendly to the encroachment of the white settlers. A relative of his having mistreated Mr. Perkins at The Dalles mission, was sentenced by the Wasco tribe to be punished according to Dr. White's laws. The sub-chief was enraged at the whipping his kinsman had received, and set out to revenge the insult upon the Indian agent. Reaching the agent's Willamette home during his ab- sence, he proceeded to break every window pane in the house. He was pursued, but not caught, and became an object of terror to the Doctor. All depredations committed in the country were charged to this chief, and it finally resulted in the offer by Dr. White of one hundred dollars reward for the arrest of the formidable Indian. Learn- ing that he was being accused of acts committed by others, the chief visited Oregon City March 4, accompanied by four of his band, with the avowed purpose of having a talk with the whites for the purpose of exculpating himself. He entered the town, staid for about an hour, and then crossed the river to visit an Indian village to procure an Indian interpreter. He then recrossed the Willamette, when several men under- took to arrest him and a desperate fight ensued. Cockstock was killed, and his fol- lowers, after fighting valiantly until the odds became too great, made good their escape. On the other side George W. LeBreton was killed by Cockstock, and Mr. Rogers, who was working quietly near by, was wounded in the arm by a poisoned arrow, which caused his death. It has been asserted that the Molalla chief attacked the town, but it requires too much credulity to believe that five Indians would in broad daylight attack a town containing ten times their number. The whole affair is chargeable to the rash conduct of a few men who were eager to gain the paltry reward offered by Dr. White, one of whom paid for his cupidity with his life. Fearing that trouble might follow, the executive committee of the provisional government issued a procla- mation for the organization of a military company. A company was organized on the tenth of March by citizens who assembled at Champoeg. Nineteen names were en- rolled, T. D. Keizer being elected captain and J. L. Morrison and Mr. Carson lieu- tenants. Their services were not required.

In May, 1844, Rev. George Gary arrived by sea to supersede Jason Lee in charge of the Methodist missions, the latter being already on his way East. The mission property was immediately sold and the missionary work, which had amounted to little so far as accomplishments were concerned for several years, was discontinued, except at The Dalles. While the Methodists were thus withdrawing from the field, the Cath- olics were largely increasing their force. Among other arrivals for that purpose were six sisters of the order of Notre Dame, who came to found a convent in the Willam- ette. As Father Blanchet expresses it: " The schemes of the Protestant ministers had been fought and nearly annihilated, especially Nesqualy, Vancouver, Cascades, Clackamas, and Willamette falls, so that a visitor came in 1844 and disbanded the whole Methodist mission, and sold its property." The Methodists being disposed of the next thing in order was to get rid of the Congregationalists, whose missions were

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at least holding their own, and one of them, that of Mr. Spalding, at Lapwai, making considerable progress in civilizing the Nez Perces.

The most successful missionaries among the aborigines of America have been the Catholics. The extent of their operations and success of their efforts in this field, are but partially known to either the Protestant or Catholic world ; and the secret of their success lies in the zeal and judgment with which their religion is impressed upon the uncultivated understanding by ceremonies and symbols. All Indians believe in im- mortality, in the power and influence of both good and evil spirits upon the family of man. The strongest hold that can be obtained upon that race is to bind them with cords of belief and fear to an unseen power, let that power be what it may. Their superstitious natures lead them to attribute their good or ill fortune largely to super- natural influences, and to enter the door to their understanding of spiritual matters it is necessary to keep that door ajar for such purpose. Unless the white man's God is a greater medicine than the Indian's, they want none of him. Unless he can save them more effectually now and hereafter than the one they have always worshiped, they would prefer the old God to the new one. They believe that the Great Spirit helps them to slay their enemies, directs the fish to their snares and the wild game to their hunting grounds. If he fails so to do, it is because he is angry with them and must be propitiated. A God that leaves an Indian hungry and a scalp on the head of his offending enemy, would be void of interest or attraction. The Catholic missionary teaches the credulous Indian that the white man's God not only takes heed of the hair that falls from the head of his chosen, but provides for him; and, being the God not only of peace, but of battle, makes his arms invincible in waging just war against his enemies. No stronger inducement can be given to a savage for adopting any religious faith than that of being able by that means to protect himself against his foes, to fill his stomach, and to go after death to the happy hunting grounds, where there are no enemies and no fasting. The Catholic missionary not only understands all this and teaches as stated, but he deals out to them religion in homeopathic doses. Through the sense of sight, the priest makes an impression upon the brain by ceremonies and the attractive symbols of his faith. He follows more closely than the Protestant in the line of what the Indian expects to see as typical of a mysterious something unseen. It being nearer to his conception and what he has been accustomed to, he more readily believes and adopts it. Using these levers, the missionary moves the Indian by tribes into the Catholic church. After gaining an ascendancy the priest makes a judicious use of his influence to eradicate the evil practices of his neophytes, without destroying his chance for accomplishing any good by asking too great a change suddenly. By such systematic methods as this, the Catholic power had been so increased by 1847 that there were eight missions and twenty-six priests, sixteen churches and chapels, three institutions of learning, 5,000 Indian converts and 1,500 Catholic settlers, chiefly Canadians.

On the contrary the Protestant missions were making comparatively little head- way. At each station there were a few who seemed to be in full accord with them, but the great majority of the tribe were but slightly affected by their preaching. At Waiilatpu things had been going wrong for some time. From the time Whitman first went among them there was a small portion of the Cayuses who were opposed to him

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and his work. At the head of this faction was Tam-su-ky, an influential chief who lived on Walla Walla river a few miles from the mission. Five Crows, the head chief, resided on the Umatilla forty miles away. It was this element which made the trouble in 1842 and burned the Doctor's mill. When Whitman returned with the great train of emigrants in 1843, these Indians pointed to it as an evidence that his missionary pretentions were but a cloak for a design upon their liberties, that he was bringing Americans here who would take away their lands. In them Baptiste Dorion found willing associates in spreading his stories about the sinister designs of the Americans. This feeling of hostility spread from year to year, especially among the Cayuses, through whose country the immigrants all passed, and who were thus better able than the other tribes to see what great numbers were coming and what a hearty welcome they all received from Dr. Whitman and his associates. As far back as 1845, a Delaware Indian, called Tom Hill, had been living with the Nez Perce tribe. He had told them how American missionaries had visited his people, first to teach religion, and then the Americans had taken their lands ; and he warned them to drive Mr. Spalding away, unless they would invite a similar misfortune. This Indian visited Whitman's mission and repeated to the Cayuses his story of the ruin to his tribe that had followed the advent of American missionaries to live among them. In the latter part of 1847, an- other Indian came among the Cayuses, who had been taken from west of the Cascades to the States, when a boy, where he grew to manhood among the Americans. His name was Joe Lewis, and he bent all the powers of his subtle nature to the task of creating hatred of the missionaries and Americans among the Indians at Waiilatpu. He reaffirmed the statements of Dorion and Tom Hill, and said it was the American plan of operations to first send missionaries, then a few settlers every year until they had taken all the land and made the Indians slaves. It was then that Tam-su-ky and his followers were triumphant and could boast of their superior wisdom in opposing the mission from the first. The tribe was divided into three classes, a few faithful fol- lowers of the Doctor and his God, a few bitterly opposed to the mission, and the great majority of the tribe indifferent but gradually acquiring a feeling of hostility. There were many, also, who desired to exchange to the Catholic religion, of which they heard favorable reports from other tribes. The long black gowns and imposing ceremonies had captured them. Whitman perceived the gathering storm but thought it could be averted. Thomas Mckay warned him that it was unsafe to live longer with the Cay- uses, and the Doctor offered to sell the property to him, an offer which Mckay agreed to accept if he could dispose of his claim on the Willamette. With this in view Whitman went to The Dalles in the fall of 1847, and purchased the disused Methodist mission there, and leaving his nephew, P. B. Whitman, in charge he returned to Waiilatpu to spend the winter, preparatory to moving away in the spring.

This was the condition of affairs at Waiilatpu when the Catholics decided to take advantage of the desire of a number of the Cayuses to embrace their faith and estab- lish a mission among them. On the fifth of September, 1847, Father A. M. A. Blanchet reached Walla Walla with three associate priests, and the fort became their headquarters for a number of weeks while they were seeking a suitable place for a permanent location. Whitman found them there upon his return from The Dalles, and quite a stormy interview ensued, though it must be confessed that the storming was chiefly

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done by the Doctor ; and no wonder. He had just made arrangements to abandon all he had accomplished by eleven years of self-denial and labor, and here he found those to whom he attributed his misfortunes ready to take his place even before he had left it. He did not hesitate to tell them his opinion of their conduct, and the complaisant manner in which they received his complaint aggravated him the more.

Immigrants from the States in the fall of that year brought with them the dysen- tery and measles, which soon became epidemic among the Cayuses. Many Indians died in spite of the remedies administered by the Doctor. Joe Lewis made good use of his opportunity. He told the Indians that Whitman intended to kill them all; that for this purpose he had sent home for poison two years before, but they had not for- warded a good kind ; that this year the immigrants had brought him some good poison and he was now using it to kill off the Cayuses; that when they were all dead the Americans would come and take their lands. He even went so far as to declare that he overheard a conversation between Mr. Spalding and Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, in which the former complained because the Doctor was not killing them fast enough, and then the trio began to count up the wealth they would acquire when the Indians were all dis- posed of. This received much credence among the tribe, especially since they knew of a somewhat similar case a few years before, when an American purposely spread small- pox among the Blackfeet and killed hundreds of that tribe. Without knowing the perfidious conduct of Joe Lewis, who was employed about the mission, Dr. Whitman perceived the signs of danger, and asked Thomas Mckay to spend the winter with him, as that gentleman's influence with the natives was great; but Mr. Mckay was un- able to comply.

On the twenty-seventh of November, two days before the massacre, the Catholics established their mission on the Umatilla, forty miles from Waiilatpu and near the home of Five Crows, the head chief. Joe Lewis had assured the Cayuses that the priest had told him Dr. Whitman was giving them poison, which does not seem to be sustained by reason or probability. In 1882 the writer had a long interview with three of these Indians, ones who were still adherents of the faith taught them by Whit- man, and since they have suffered much persecution at the hands of the Catholics in charge of the mission, were not inclined to tell untruths in their belief. They unani- mously agreed that they never heard the priest say anything about Dr. Whitman giving them poison ; that Joe Lewis told them that, and said he learned it from the priest ; that it was generally believed the priest had said so, but afterwards in investi- gating the matter among themselves they could find no one to whom the priest said anything of the kind, and that it all came through Joe Lewis. One thing the Roman missionary did say, and this helped to confirm the Indians in their belief that he had also said the other, and that was that Dr. Whitman was a bad man, and if they be- lieved what he told them they would all go to hell, for he was telling them lies. Even such a statement as that, to unreasoning and passionate savages, was almost enough, in case they believed it true, to have caused the bloody scene which followed, even had not the poison theory been so industriously circulated by the scheming Lewis.

The followers of Tam-su-ky determined to prove the poison theory. The wife of that chief was sick, and they agreed among themselves that they would get some med-

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icine from the Doctor and give it to her; if she recovered, good, if not, then they would kill the missionaries. They did so, and the woman died.

Waiilatpu was centrally located, since the Cayuses occupied the country from . Umatilla river to the Tukannon. Every Sunday large numbers gathered at the mission, some of them to actually participate in the services, and others because of the crowd they knew would be assembled. On week days, however, it was seldom that a dozen could be found there at a time. For this reason Tam-su-ky and his followers chose a week day for their deed, a time when they thought none of the Whitman Indians would be present to interfere. They were careful to conceal their design from the Christian Indians and from the head chief, Five Crows, for fear he would prevent its execution. About fifty Indians assembled at the mission on the twenty-ninth of Novem- ber, 1847, being chiefly the relatives and friends of Tam-su-ky. Of these only five participated in the bloody work, the others simply looking on and preventing the in- terference of any outsiders and especially of the one or two Whitman Indians who happened to be present. The horrible details of the massacre it is needless to relate. Mr. Spalding has given them with a minuteness that is strongly suggestive of an origin in the imagination, yet his narrative is probably in the main as correct as could possi- bly be gathered from the incoherent stories of frightened women and children. It is only when he carries the melodramatic too far, and when he is endeavoring to make it appear that the massacre was perpetrated at the instigation of Father Brouillet and sanctioned by the Hudson's Bay Company, that his statements become unreliable. His picture is much overdrawn, though Heaven knows that in some particulars, and especially in the after treatment of the female prisoners, even those of tender age, the pen utterly fails to depict the horrors of the scene. He uses such expressions as " mul- titudes of Indians," " cutting down their victims everywhere," " the roar of guns," the " crash of war clubs and tomahawks," "shock like terrific peals of thunder," in refer- ring to the discharge of a few guns, "crash of the clubs and the knives ;" and yet when the whole is summed up but thirteen were killed in all, nine that day, two the next and two eight days later. He is equally reckless in his language when making charges against Father Brouillet, whom he accuses of coming up from the Umatilla the day after the massacre and "baptizing the murderers." The facts are that he came upon an invitation given him by the missionary several days before, only learn- ing of the horrible tragedy upon his arrival ; and the " murderers " whom he baptized were three sick children, two of whom died immediately after the ceremony. He also accuses him of pretending to find the poison and burying it so that it could have no more influence. The Whitman Indians stated unanimously that Joe Lewis did this and not the priest. The only interference the priest dared to make at all was when he successfully interposed to save Spalding's life.

The bloody excesses into which religious zealots were led in times past suggest the possibility of the truth of these charges, yet they are entirely unsupported by evidence, and common charity should demand convincing proof to sustain such an accusation. Though the Catholics are cleared of the charge of directly instigating the massacre by telling the Indians that Dr. Whitman was poisoning them so that he might secure their lands for his friends, yet they cannot escape the moral responsibility of the deed. In the first place they went among the Cayuses for the purpose of driving Whitman

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away and obtaining control of the tribe. To accomplish this they told the Indians that Dr. Whitman was a bad man, was telling them lies, and if they believed him they would all go to hell. Father Brouillet ought by that time to have become sufficiently acquainted with the Indian character to know that such assertions, if they were credited, were calculated to bring on just such a tragedy as was enacted. Whether he knew this and acted with that end in view, or whether he expected to simply win the relig- ious trust of the Cayuses away from Whitman, will remain a secret forever. The mas- sacre was the result of four separate causes-the dislike of Americans, the ravages of the epidemic, the poison intrigue of Joe Lewis, and the priest's denunciations of Dr. Whitman-and Father Brouillet can never shake off the moral responsibility for one of the most potent of these causes. The victims of this conflict of creeds were: Dr. Marcus Whitman, Mrs. Narcissa Whitman, John Sager, Francis Sager, Crockett Bewley, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Kimball, Mr. Sales, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Sanders, James Young, Jr., Mr. Hoffman, and Isaac Gillen.

Immediately after the massacre Joe Lewis told the Cayuses that now they must fight, for the Americans would surely come to punish them. He advised them to send him and two others to Salt Lake with a band of horses, to purchase ammunition from the Mormons. He started with a select band of animals and two young braves, and a few days later one of the braves returned with the intelligence that Joe Lewis had killed the other one and decamped with the horses; and this was the last the Cayuses saw of that scheming villain.

Intelligence of the massacre reached Fort Vancouver by special messenger from William McBean, in charge of Fort Walla Walla. The messenger did not warn the people at The Dalles of their danger, but went directly to the fort and delivered his message to James Douglas, then the chief factor at Vancouver. When questioned about his conduct he said he was obeying instructions received from McBean. This and the conduct of McBean at Fort Walla Walla in displaying an unwillingness to receive and protect fugitives from Waiilatpu, have been cited as conclusive evidence that the Hudson's Bay Company connived at the massacre; but nothing in the conduct of other officers of the company sustains such an opinion, while much is to the contrary, and it simply shows that McBean was a narrow-minded man who, knowing the general feeling of the Indians in that region against the Americans, was afraid he would com- promise the company by defending them. He had not soul enough to rise to the emergency.

Mr. Douglas sent a message to Governor Abernethy, advising him of what had taken place; and without waiting to see what steps the Americans would take, Peter Skeen Ogden, an old and influential factor of the company, departed from Vancouver with an armed force for the scene of the tragedy, advising the people at The Dalles of their danger as he passed. He reached Walla Walla on the nineteenth of December. The next day the Cayuses held a council and decided that if the Americans would call everything square and would make a treaty of peace, they would deliver up the pris- oners. Three days later the chiefs came to Walla Walla and held a council with Mr: Ogden, who offered to ransom the captives and assured the Indians that they would regret it if they provoked the Americans to war, and that the company was much dis- pleased with their conduct. The conference resulted in the surrender of forty-seven

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prisoners upon the payment of a small quantity of tobacco, clothing, guns and am- munition. On the first of January fifty Nez Perces arrived with Mr. Spalding and ten others from Lapwai, receiving a similar payment from Mr. Ogden, and on the second the whole party started down the Columbia. Two hours later fifty Cayuse warriors dashed up to the fort to demand the surrender of Mr. Spalding, as they had just learned that a company of Americans had arrived at The Dalles to make war upon them. On the tenth of January they all reached Oregon City, and great was the joy of the people. For his humane conduct and prompt action Peter Skeen Ogden should always occupy a warm place in the hearts of Americans; yet there are those who ungratefully accuse him of attempting to arm the Cayuses against the Americans, simply because a few guns and a little ammunition formed a portion of the ransom paid to deliver these helpless women from a captivity that was worse than death.

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 26

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: