USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 68
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9 The bill which passed authorized him to proceed with all despatch by the way of California to Washington City, and lay before the executive of the United States such official communications as he should be charged with. It also required him to take an oath faithfully to perform his duties to the best of his abilities; leaving him to be compensated by the government of the United States; and authorized him to borrow, if he could, on the faith of the Oregon government, $500 for his expenses, while he was made to give bonds to the governor in the amount of $1,000, for the faithful execution of his trust. Or. Spectator, Jan. 6, 1848. This was making the office of special messenger an onerous one; and so the legislature must have perceived, for another act was passed appropriating $500 in addition to the first appropria-
677
APPEAL TO CONGRESS.
from his knowledge of the mountains and plains to be traversed, and the expedients of travel through a wilderness country, as well as by his undoubted pa- triotism and personal courage, was peculiarly fitted for an expedition of so much peril and responsibility.10
The memorial of the legislature thus despatched was a pathetic iteration of the many prayers for pro- tection which had hitherto passed unanswered except in empty promises. "Having called upon the gov- ernment of the United States so often in vain," it said, "we have almost despaired of receiving its pro- tection." "We have the right to expect your aid, and you are in duty bound to extend it. For though we are separated from our native land by a range of mountains whose lofty altitudes are mantled in eternal snows; although three thousand miles, nearly two thirds of which is a howling wild, lie between us and the federal capital-yet our hearts are unalienated from the land of our birth. Our love for the free and noble institutions under which it was our fortune to be born and nurtured remains unabated. In short, we are Americans still, residing in a country over which the government of the United States has the sole and acknowledged right of sovereignty, and under such circumstances we have the right to claim the benefit of its laws and protection."
But the prayer of the legislature was not for pro- tection alone. The authors of the memorial took occasion to say that in the matter of the offices to be created when the territory should be established, they would be gratified to have the government patronage
tion, 'for the purpose of facilitating the departure' of the messenger. Or, Laws, 1843-9, 9, 11; Polynesian, iv. 206.
1º There was, besides these necessary qualifications in the man selected, the western sentiment to be gratified, which, it will be remembered, was opposed to Governor Abernethy's action in secretly despatching his own selected agent to Washington a few months previous. When the act had been signed constituting Meek the messenger of the Oregon legislative assem- bly, Nesmith produced his resolutions, before mentioned, against the appoint- ment of J. Quinn Thornton to any office in the territory, which being printed in the Spectator were conveyed to Washington with other matter in charge of the messenger.
678
RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.
bestowed upon those who were then citizens of Oregon. But since there were many of equal merit among them, and a selection would be invidious, under the peculiar difficulties of their situation, they judged it would be better to fill the offices of governor and judges with men of the best talent and most approved integrity without regard to their present place of residence; which was the legislative way of saying that they would submit to have all the chief places given to men who were strangers to them, rather than that Thornton should be returned as a United States dis- trict judge, or Abernethy appointed governor. "The accompanying documents," said the memorial, "will afford additional information concerning some of the subjects of which we have spoken." And in con- clusion, Meek was commended to congress for com- pensation for his services in conveying this petition to the government.11
The act constituting Meek a messenger contem- plated a route by the way of California, in order to carry despatches to Governor Mason and the com- mander of the United States squadron in the Pacific, Governor Abernethy having written letters which were waiting to be conveyed, asking for a man-of-war to be sent immediately to the Columbia River, and making a requisition on the California executive for arms.12 But Meek decided that he could not then cross the mountains into California, and pass over the sierra out of California later in the winter, and proposed to accompany the army to Walla Walla, and proceed thence eastward through the South Pass, a determination annoying to the governor.13 But Meek knew too much about mountains to undertake the route marked out for him, and persisted in his inten
11 Or. Spectator, Dec. 25, 1847; Cong. Globe, 1847-8, App., 684-5. 12 Or. Archives, MS., 113.
13 In a private letter to Major Lee, which found its way into the Oregon Archives, MS., 10, Abernethy says: 'Meek has altogether disappointed the expectations of this community, for it was fully expected of him he would have been in California by this time.'
679
APPLEGATE'S EXPEDITION.
tion of going to Fort Hall, on learning which the governor sent a commissioner to Jesse Applegate re- questing him to go to California, or if he could not leave home, to employ some suitable person to carry the despatches to Governor Mason. It was late in January before this request reached Applegate, who immediately organized a company of sixteen men, and about the 1st of February set out upon the mission.14
But notwithstanding the determined character of the men who led the expedition, and the urgent nature of their duties, they were compelled to return. An extraordinary depth of snow on the mountains be- tween Rogue River and Klamath Lake prevented crossing with horses. To have abandoned the horses, attempting to carry their blankets and provisions for the journey, would have been discomfiture or death to most of them. So at the end of one day's painful march on snow-shoes improvised of willow sticks, which sunk into the seven feet of soft snow several inches at every step, and often pitched their wearers headlong, the undertaking was relinquished, and the company returned regretfully to the Willamette Val- ley,15 after four weeks of toil and hardship.16 The letters to Governor Mason with which Mr Applegate was charged were, on the 11th of March, placed on
14 Applegate's company consisted, besides himself, of his former associates in laying out the southern route, Levi and John Scott, Solomon Tetherow, Thomas and Walter Monteith, Daniel Waldo, John Minto, Campbell, Smith, Hibbler, Dice, Owens, Lemon, Robinson, and James Fields.
15 In a private letter of Applegate is an interesting account of this day's struggles in the snow, too long to insert here. See Or. Spectator, Feb. 10, 1848; John Minto, in Salem Mercury, Nov. 23, 1877; Ashland Tidings, Dec. 7, 1877. Solomon Tetherow, to whom Applegate refers as his faithful and valued friend and helper on this occasion, was of the immigration of 1845, as else- where mentioned. He was a native of East Tennessee, born in 1800. He resided for some time in Alabama and Missouri, and married, at the age of 21, Miss Ibba Baker. He accompanied General Ashley on his expe- dition to the head waters of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. He sub- sequently ran a keel-boat on the Missouri to Council Bluffs, then a trading post of the American Fur Company, and was pilot of the first steamboat on the upper Mississippi. He afterward migrated to Texas, but finding that a sickly country, returned to Missouri, and finally went to Oregon, where he settled on the Creole River, where the town of Dallas later stood, removing afterward to the Luckiamute in Polk County, where he died in February 1879. Portland Oregonian, March 1, 1879.
16 Or. Spectator, March 9, 1848.
680
RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.
board the brig Henry, by which means they finally reached California.17 By the same conveyance letters were despatched to the American consul of the Sand- wich Islands, imploring any assistance he might be able to render.
The act of the legislature requiring the governor to issue his proclamation for raising a regiment of five hundred men was not at first regarded by the executive as a wise one, both on account of the diffi- culty of raising the means to put them in the field, and of the effect upon the savages, who might be led, by hearing of extensive preparations for war, to a com- bination against the settlers. Instead, therefore, of calling for five hundred men, he called for one hundred. This difference of opinion led the legislature to re- move the responsibility from the executive and to assume it themselves, by a resolution passed the 25th of December, at which time no further news had been received from the upper country, or from Major Lee's company at the Dalles.18 The governor having at last issued the proclamation required, trusting to the patriotism of the citizens of the country for the sup- port of the army 19 in the field, the office of adjutant- general was created, A. L. Lovejoy being elected to that position. An act was also passed establishing the pay of privates and non-commissioned officers who furnished their own horses and equipments at one dollar and a half a day A penalty of not more than two hundred dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars
17 Abernethy's letters are to be found in a manuscript volume of the Ore- gon Archives, not contained in Grover's collection, which I have had copied from the originals in the state-honse at Salem. See Or. Arch., MS., 112-13, 134.
16 Or. Spectator, Dec. 25, 1847. I find a letter in the Or. Archires, MS., 100, written by Nesmith Dec. 27th, to Major Lee, in which he says: 'But little has as yet been accomplished owing to the imbecility of the exceutive. The proclamation which was authorized for raising 500 men immediately after your departure has been delayed until the 25th. . . I know it has been difficult to obtalis means, yet the governor has had sufficient at his disposal to have procured you reinforcements and provisions, both of which would probably have been acceptable to you before this.'
19 Grover's Or. Archives, 247, 249.
681
THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
was fixed for each sale or gift of munitions of war to the natives. This act brought the legislature in conflict with the fur-traders at Vancouver, who were in the habit of paying for the assistance of the na- tives in passing the portages at the Dalles and the Cascades with powder and ball, and who thought it a hardship to these people, and one fraught with danger, to refuse them their accustomed compensa- tion. 20
In truth, the situation of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany at this juncture was anything but enviable. They were located in a country which by the recent treaty had become foreign, and whose people, more numerous than themselves, were prejudiced against them ; yet whose laws they were under a compact to obey. The Americans had involved themselves with the natives, and whether intentionally or not, the con- sequences must be the same. While the company were honestly doing what they judged best for the peace and safety of the country, they were subjected to the ever-recurring suspicion that they were in some way to blame for whatever evil befell the people they endeavored to serve.
In the midst of the anxiety and suspense which harassed all minds during the absence of Ogden in the Cayuse country, a report was spread that Gilliam, indignant at the refusal of the company to furnish $100,000 worth of supplies on the credit of a govern- ment which could not afford to pay a salary to its own executive, had determined to take Vancouver by force of arms, and help his regiment to what they required from its stores, tendering a draft on the Uniled States treasury in payment. On the credit of this rumor, Douglas placed some guns in the bastions, and made other preparations for defence, at the same time writ- ing to Abernethy for an explanation, trusting that his letter would " satisfactorily account for any unusual
20 Correspondence in Or. Spectator, Feb. 10 and 16, 1848; Or. Laws, 1843-9, 12, 48.
682
RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.
precautions observed in the present arrangements of this establishment." Upon this hint Abernethy has- tened to reply that Gilliam entertained no such pur- pose, and he trusted nothing would occur to cause distrust. No one knew better than Abernethy what a fatal error it would prove on the part of the Amer- icans to fall out with the fur company, to whom all the savages were friendly ; and while it may be doubted whether Abernethy did not equivocate in his reply to Douglas, there can be no doubt of the sincerity of his wish to retain the cooperation of the company to as great an extent as possible; 21 and fortunately the im- pending wrath of the irrepressible Gilliam was averted.
No sooner had the governor issued his second proc- lamation than about two hundred and thirty men responded and were organized into companies, the company at the Dalles being numbered 1st in the regiment of Oregon mounted riflemen.22
21 That Gilliam made some such threats seems quite certain. Pettygrove says that Gilliam proceeded to Vancouver and called for supplies, giving Douglas until 9 o'clock next morning to comply or refuse, and that Douglas complied. Oregon, MS., 8, 9. The same story is met with in other places, and added to the correspondence of Douglas and Abernethy, confirms the rumor if not the fact.
22 The second company was officered as follows: Lawrence Hall, cap- tain; H. D. O'Bryant, Ist lieutenant; John Engart, 2d lieutenant; William Sheldon, orderly sergeant; William Stokes, Peter S. Engart, Thos R. Cor- nelius, and Sherry Ross, duty sergeants; Gilbert Mondon, color-bearer. Names of privates: A. Engart, Thos Fleming, D. C. Smith, W. R. Noland, Jos. W. Scott, G. W. Smith, A. Kinsey, John N. Donnie, A. C. Brown, F. H. Ramsey, S. A. Holcomb, A. Stewart, Wm Milbern, A. Kennedy, Oliver Lowden, H. N. Stephens, P. G. Northup, W. W. Walters, J. Q. Zachary, Sam. Y. Cook, J. J. Garrish, Thos Kinsey, J. S. Scoggin, Noah Jobe, D. Shumake, J. N. Green, J. Elliot, W. Williams, John Holgate, R. Yarborough, Robert Walker, J. Butler, I. W. Smith, J. W. Lingenfelter, J. H. Lienberger, A. Lienberger, Sam. Gethard, Jno. Lousingnot, A. Wil- liams, D. Harper, S. C. Cummings, S. Ferguson, Marshall Martin.
The officers of the third company were: John W. Owen, captain; Na- thaniel Bowman, Ist lieutenant; Thomas Shaw, 2d lieutenant; J. C. Robison, orderly sergeant; Benj. J. Burch, J. H. Blankenship, James M. Morris, and Robert Smith, duty sergeants. Names of privates: George W. Adams, Wil- liam Athey, John Baptiste, Manley Curry, Jesse Clayton, John Dinsmore, Nathan English, John Fiester, Jesse Gay, Lester Hulan, Stephen Jenkins, J. Larkin, Joshua McDonald, Thomas Pollock, J. H. Smith, S. P. Thornton, William Wilson, Benjamin Allen, Ira Bowman, Currier, George Chapel, William Doke, Linnet, T. Dufield, Squire Elembough, Henry Fuller, D. H. Hartley, Fleming R. Hill, James Keller, D. M. McCumber, E. McDonald,
683
AN ARMY ORGANIZED.
Before the army was ready to proceed to the Indian country the legislature had appointed Joel Palmer superintendent of Indian affairs, and had also appointed a commission, consisting of Palmer, Major Lee, and Robert Newell, to visit the Nez Percés, and other tribes in the interior, for the purpose of preventing, if possible, their coalition with the Cayuses. Mean time news began to be received from Major Lee and his force at the Dalles.23 They had reached that place on Christmas night, after being detained ten days by adverse gales at Wind Mountain. 24 Major Lee found Hinman and family,25 on their way to the Willamette
Edward Robinson, Chris. Stemermon, Joseph Wilbert, T. R. Zumwalt, Charles Zummord.
The officers of the fourth company were: H. J. G. Maxon, captain; G. N. Gilbert, Ist lieutenant; Wm. P. Hughes, 2d lieutenant; Wm. R. John- son, orderly sergeant; O. S. Thomas, T. M. Buckner, Daniel Stewart, and Joseph R. Ralston, duty sergeants. Names of privates: Andrew J. Adams, John Beattie, Charles Blair, John R. Coatney, Reuben Crowder, John W. Crowel, Manly Danforth, Harvey Evans, Albert H. Fish, John Feat, Andrew Gribble, Wm. Hawkins, Rufus Johnson, John W. Jackson, J. H. Loughlin, Davis Lator, John Miller, John Patterson, Richard Pollard, Wm. Robison, Asa Stone, Thos. Allphin, Wm. Bunton, Henry Blacker, Wm. Chapman, Samuel Chase, Sam. Cornelius, James Dickson, S. D. Earl, Joseph Earl, D. O. Garland, Richmond Hays, Goalman Hubbard, Isaiah M. Johns, S. B. Knox, James H. Lewis, Horace Martin, John McCoy, James Officer, Henry Pellet, Wm. Russell, John Striethoff, A. M. Baxster, D. D. Burroughs, Samuel Clark, John M. Cantrel, Asi Cantrel, Albert G. Davis, S. D. Durbin, Samuel Fields, Rezin D. Foster, Isaac M. Foster, Horace Hart, Wmn. Hock, Wm. A. Jack, Elias Kearney, James Killingworth, Isaac Morgan, N. G. McDonnell, Madison McCully, Frederick Paul, Wm. M. Smith, H. M. Smith, Jason Wheeler, John Vaughn, Reuben Striethof, Wm. Vaughn, Wm. Shirley.
The officers of the fifth company were: Philip F. Thompson, captain; James A. Brown, Ist lieutenant; Joseph M. Garrison, 2d lieutenant; George E. Frazer, orderly sergeant; A. Garrison, A. S. Welton, Jacob Greer, and D. D. Dostins, duty sergeants. Names of privates: Martin P. Brown, Wil- liam A. Culberson, Harrison Davis, James Electrels, William Eads, Alvin K. Fox, William J. Garrison, William Hailey, John A. Johnson, J. D. Richard- son, Martin Wright, William Smith, E. T. Stone, John Thompson, H. C. Johnson, Joseph Kenney, Henry Kearney, Jacob Leabo, Daniel Matheny, William McKay, John Orchard, John B. Rowland, John Copenhagen, Reuben Crowder, Bird Davis, John Eldridge, John Faron, C. B. Gray, Robert Har- mon, James O. Henderson, Green Rowland, William Rogers, Thomas Wilson, William D. Stillwell, William Shepard, Alfred Jobe, T. J. Jackson, Jesse Cadwallader, Andrew Layson, J. C. Matheny, Adam Matheny, Charles P. . Matt, James Packwood, Clark Rogers. Or. Spectator, Jan. 20, 1848; Id., April 6, 1848; Albany State Rights Democrat, Nov. 2, 1877.
23 Much of the information regarding this period has been drawn from the correspondence, published and unpublished, found in the Oregon Spectator of Jan. 6, 1848, and Oregon Archives, MS., 97, 101, 103. 24 Ross' Nar., MS., 9.
25 Perrin Whitman and Saffarans were also of the party. The former, on first seeing the volunteers, took them for Indians, became alarmed and fled
.
684
RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.
Valley, the Indians having shown a desire to open hostilities by driving off some of their horses. On meeting Lee, however, who had only a few of his men with him, the boats being scattered by the wind, Hin- man determined to turn back and endeavor to save the mission property. Leaving his family to proceed to the Cascades, and there await his return, he accom- panied Lee to the Dalles, where they arrived the 21st of December, and whence Lee's first report to the governor was dated the 26th.
Lee found the natives there friendly, Seletza, the head chief, whose men had been killing the mission cattle, declaring that his people should pay for the property destroyed.26 The mission buildings were undisturbed, though the property belonging to emi- grants, left at Barlow's Gate on the Barlow road, having arrived too late to cross the mountains, had been carried off. A little of it was brought in, but no confidence was entertained that the natives intended to do anything more than to divert suspicion. In the mean while they circulated reports of a combination and general council of the Nez Percés and Cayuses, and their determination to cut off the missionaries in the Nez Perce and Spokane country, as well as to murder all the captives then in their hands. Lee himself sent these reports to the governor, but quali- fied by the information of their origin.27 Such was the uncertain and excited condition of the public mind
into the woods, making his way to the cabins on the portage, which a party had been sent to erect. Mortified at his error, he remained there for some time. The accounts he sent to Oregon City, by parties engaged in the trans- portation of supplies to this depot, represented that the Indians had driven off all the stock belonging to the mission, and had probably destroyed the buildings; a report which greatly disturbed the governor, who in his letters to Lee inquired anxiously concerning the safety of the mission property, and says it was this report which led him to meet the house in secret session, and determined him upon calling out 500 men.
26 'Seletza professes friendship,' writes Lee, 'but I shall keep an eye on him.' Saffarans in a letter to Lee, dated at the Dalles Jan. 30th, says: 'I deem it necessary at this crisis to warn you against placing too much confi- dence in the fidelity and friendship of Homas,' another chief. The general feeling was one of distrust of all savages.
27 Crawford's Nar., MS., 116
685
OGDEN'S EFFORTS.
when the governor's proclamation calling for five hun- dred men was issued, ordering them to rendezvous at Portland on the 8th of January, and to proceed on horseback. In order that their supplies might meet them, a party was sent to build a flat-boat above the Cascades, and to transport the provisions and am- munition over the portage and across the river; the route lying by the mouth of the Sandy across the Columbia to Vancouver, east by the cattle trail to a point above the Cascades, and across the river again to the south side, whence the trail led to the Dalles. Abernethy wrote Lee January 1st, that if there was a prospect of a general war, he thought of building a block-house at the Cascades, and keeping a force there.28 He also wrote that provisions had begun to come in from the country, and Commissary-general Palmer was doing all he could to hasten them.29 The impossibility of knowing what was going on in the Indian country, or what was likely to be required, augmented his cares and anxieties.
28 This was the first intimation ever given of the value of that point for defensive purposes; or for any other, though it had been passed by thousands since 1842.
29 There have been recently rescued from dust and oblivion some of the documents which show the manner of furnishing the first army of Oregon. Yamhill County sent the following: Andrew Hembree, 600 lbs. pork, and 20 bushels of wheat; Eli Perkins, 1 horse, 2 lbs. powder, 2 boxes caps, 5 lbs. lead; Wm. J. Martin, 1 horse loaded with provisions; Benj. Stewart, 2 boxes caps, 2 lbs. lead, 1 blanket; John Baker, 1 horse; Thos. McBride, $5 cash; James Ramsey, 3 lbs. powder, 8 lbs. lead; Samuel Tustin, $5 cash, 5 lbs. lead, 2 lbs. powder; Joel J. Hembree, 1 horse, 200 1bs. pork, 20 bushels wheat; James McGinnis, $3 in orders; James Johnson, $7.75 on Abernethy, 4 lbs. lead; T. J. Hubbard, 1 rifle, 1 pistol; Hiram Cooper, 1 rifle, I musket, 60 rounds ammunition; A. A. Skinner, 1 blanket, 1 1b. powder; James Fen- ton, 3 pair shoes; J. M. Cooper, 2 boxes caps, 2 guns; James Green, 2 boxes caps, 2 lbs. lead; C. Wood, 1 rifle; J. Rowland, 1 outfit; W. T. Newby, 1 horse; Carney Goodridge, 5 bushels wheat, 100 1bs. pork; John Manning, 1 pair shoes; John Richardson, 1 Spanish saddle-tree; Solomon Allen, 6 bars lead; Felix Scott, 1 gray horse; O. Riley, 1 rifle, 3 boxes caps, 100 1bs. flour; M. Burton, 1 pair pants; Richard Miller, 1 horse, six boxes caps; Amos Har- vey, 1 gun; James Burton, 1 sack and stirrups. Salem Mercury, in Albany State Rights Democrat, Oct. 12, 1877. Says Abernethy to Lee, 'We are now getting lots of pork, and some wheat.' Or. Archives, MS., 103. Thomas Cox, who had brought a stock of goods across the plains the previous sumn- mer, had a considerable quantity of ammunition which was manufactured by himself in Illinois, and which he now freely furnished to the volunteers with- out charge. Or. Literary Vilette, April 1879.
686
RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.
At the moment when Gilliam was ready to move toward the Dalles with an advanced company of fifty men, Ogden arrived from Walla Walla with the sur- vivors of the massacre. The letter announcing to the governor the happy result of his expedition was dated at Vancouver the 8th of January, and was as follows:
"SIR: Mr Ogden has this moment arrived with three boats from Walla Walla, and I rejoice to say he has brought down all the women and children from Waii- latpu, Mr and Mrs Spalding, and Mr Stanley, the artist. Messrs Walker and Eells were safe and well; they were not considered to be in danger. The re- ports of the later murders committed at Waiilatpu are all absolutely without foundation, not a life having been lost there since the day of Dr Whitman's death. Mr Ogden will visit the Falls on Monday and give you every information in his power respecting the Indians in the interior. The Cayuses, Walla Wallas, Nez Percés, and Yakimas are said to have entered into an alliance for mutual defence.
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