USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 71
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These peace measures were not regarded with favor- able eyes by the army, who were anxious to avenge the killing of Packwood and Jackson, but the Indians were allowed to depart unmolested. Before leaving, Sue presented Captain Mckay a fine horse from the principal Des Chutes chief, Welaptulekt, who also sent word to Gilliam that he would bring in all the property left in his charge by immigrants, and all that had been stolen by his people, and return it to the colonel at the Dalles, if that would make them friends, to which Gilliam replied that such a course would be entirely satisfactory.13
On the morning of the 24th, about daylight, a mes- senger arrived from the Catholic missionaries among the Yakimas, to inform the commissioners that this people had decided to follow their advice, and would remain at peace, desiring that the governor of Oregon be informed of their decision at the earliest moment possible, as if they feared to trust to the friendship of the military. But no message had yet come from the
13 Report of commissioners, in Or. Spectator, April 6, 1848.
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
missionaries among the Cayuses, to whom a letter had been sent14 on the 20th.
About ten o'clock on the morning of the 24th, while the army was on the march, the commissioners being in advance with a flag, two Cayuse spies were discovered, and about noon a large force came in sight making signs of hostility ; and when the commissioners advanced they were warned to keep off. They then returned to the volunteers, and the natives began closing in on all sides to the number of four hundred, about one hundred being unarmed spectators and women. Their first overt act was the shooting of a dog belonging to one of the men. Then the battle began.
It was a brave sight, the gayly dressed warriors mounted on their painted coursers galloping over the field, and the hills decorated with motionless human bronzes. The vanity of a native is his most dis- tinguishing trait. These three hundred Cayuses had told each other, and believed it themselves, that they should have an easy conquest of the Americans. " We will beat the Americans to death with clubs, and then proceed to the Willamette and take the women, and all their property," said these boastful braves,15, who had yet the art of war to learn. They had an advantage in the ground chosen, and in their general acquaintance with the country, and had they been as great warriors as they imagined, must easily have beaten the invaders.
But the volunteers behaved well, considering it
14 This apparent neglect is explained by Brouillet in Authentic Account, 69, where he says that the Cayuses had been told that the missionaries would remain among them as long as they were at peace, but would retire as soon as war should be declared; and that on the 19th of Feb. the Cayuses had gone to meet the Americans, whereupon the priests removed to Fort Walla Walla on the 20th. Brouillet also says that Ogden promised the Cayuses to endeavor to prevent a war, and that he would send an express to Walla Walla to ap- prise them of the result; but that no such express came before the first engage- ment, and that the Indians suspected Ogden of betraying them. 'Had Ogden's letter arrived in time,' says Brouillet, 'it would probably have prevented the engagement, and induced the Cayuses to accept peace upon the terms offered by the government.'
15 C. Mckay, in Or. Spectator, March 23, 1848.
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FIGHTING EN ROUTE.
was their purpose to kill as many as possible. Yet in Indian battles, except where there is a surprise and a massacre, few are killed, for the Indian fights front behind a tree, and his white antagonist usually adopts the same tactics. Gilliam's troops extended their lines until they embraced in an almost complete circle the wagons and cattle, advancing and fighting, using every caution to avoid an ambush. The cannon was twice discharged, but owing to the scattered positions of the enemy, proved of little use, and the rifle became the sole dependence. The army continued to march and fight until sunset, when the natives with- drew and the volunteers encamped beside the road without wood or water, having had at last a chance to do something besides waiting and quarrelling among themselves or complaining of their commander. The loss on the side of the Americans was five wounded, one dangerously ; while the Cayuses had eight killed, including a chief called Great Eagle and a medicine- man, and one severely wounded-the popular chief Five Crows, whose arm was shattered by a ball from the rifle of Lieutenant Charles Mckay of the French company. Newell, in remarking upon events of the day, says that the murderers were eager for battle, and that it was easy to distinguish between them and those who had no personal interest in the fight, and would have avoided it if possible.16 Divided among themselves, and in consternation at the outcome of the battle, the fighting next day was cautious and ineffectual.
For two days the men were without water, and with little to eat, harassed continually by the enemy keep- ing on a parallel line of march. Some of the Cayuses approached near enough to intimate their desire to hold a council with the commissioners, but they were told that no interruption could be allowed the move- ments of the army until water was found. On the night of the 25th the volunteers encamped on the
16 Memoranda, MS., 8.
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
west bank of the Umatilla River, of which the enemy in the beginning had boastfully said the Americans should never drink; and notwithstanding the overtures for a council, some of the horses were stolen during the night.
Crossing the Umatilla on the 26th, Gilliam marched to within three miles of the Cayuse camp, where he remained until the forenoon of the 27th. While moving, and in camp, the Indians swarmed all along the hills, the main body showing a determination to continue hostilities. From those who approached the volunteer camp the commissioners learned that their messenger to the Nez Percés had been robbed and sent back by the Cayuses, and they immediately despatched another.
The correspondence of the Cayuse war is one of its peculiar features. Governor Abernethy had pre- pared a communication to be presented to the Nez Percés and other tribes to prevent a coalition with the Cayuses. In it he had begun with their first intercourse with white people, reminding them that they had invited and encouraged them to reside in their country and that their white friends had earnestly labored to do them good, but had been rewarded with death. Many Americans, he said, had passed through their country to the Willamette, at first without molestation. but latterly had been robbed and assaulted. The Cayuses had accused Whitman of poisoning them, when they could see that the white people as well as the Indians died of a disease sent by the Creator. The hearts of the white people bled because of what had been done at Waiilatpu. It could not be passed by The murderers and ravishers must be given up to be punished, and peace would then be restored; but all who sheltered or assisted the criminals would be accounted equally guilty, and be subject to the wrath of the great white race, compared with which they, the tribes of Oregon, were but a handful. Should
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THE NEIGHBORING TRIBES.
they not take his advice and give up the guilty Cayuses, the Great Chief of the Americans would send his war-chiefs, and they would all be punished until they were glad to capitulate. He warned them that he had sent the news of the massacre to California, and asked for war ships to be stationed in the Columbia, and that other means would be used for their chas- tisement should they not conclude to accept peace on his terms; but that should they consent he would promise to protect them.
A letter was also prepared by Spalding, addressed to the Nez Percés, counselling them to remain at peace.17 It was anticipated, when these communica- tions were prepared, that the commissioners would be able first of all to hold a council with the Nez Percés, friendly Cayuses, and Walla Wallas; but the vacillating course of the governor in authorizing Gilliam to advance on Waiilatpu should he think best, when he knew that every instinct of the com- mander was for fighting, had defeated that expecta- tion; hence the preparation of other letters to be forwarded, as before mentioned, from John Day River on the 20th.
Spalding's letter, and one addressed by Gilliam to Vicar-general Brouillet requesting him to furnish the facts concerning the part he had taken in the events
17 Spalding's letter is a curiosity, and of value as a specimen of the literary style of the Nez Perce school, rather than for its importance to the history of the country. It was written in Roman letters as follows: 'Willamette, Feb. 3, 1848 -Nez Percé Chiefs: My Friends, Ellis, Kancoot, James, Yuainimalkin, Luke, Jacob, Pucatash, Yamohmohnim, Yumtamilkin :- quick, meet them; with these flags meet them. From us, from the Americans, five go to meet you: Mr Palmer, Dr Newell, Mr Mckay, Mr Lee, and Mr Gilliam. These meet you, with good hearts they meet you. They bear a message from the great chief, they bear it; therefore they call you to meet them. Keep quiet ye young men; do not go over to the Cayuses. Wait till these speak closely with you. The good are not to be punished; only the bad are to be punished. The Nez Percés, the Americans are one, therefore do you not depart from us. Very many Americans are going to seek the bad Cayuses, and the bad only. There will soon be large ships from California; therefore they offer to you a proposal of peace. They send you tobacco, therefore meet them without delay. My youngest child is sick, therefore I cannot meet you. When he is well, I will see you, by the blessing of God. Ever make yourselves good hearts. By the blessing of God, may we see each other. H. H. SPALDING.' Or. Archives., MS., 120.
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
preceding and succeeding the massacre 18-a precaution which did him honor, considering the feeling with which the volunteers had been inspired concerning the priest-were enclosed in a packet addressed to McBean at Fort Walla Walla, and intrusted to a native named Elijah, who professed to be a Nez Percé, and who had accompanied the volunteers from Oregon City. Elijah, however, unfortunately or de- signedly, fell in with the Cayuses before reaching Walla Walla, and had taken from him, by Tauitau, his packet and the presents of a flag and some tobacco which the commissioners had sent to the Nez Percés. But Tauitau, not daring to keep the packet, which was addressed to McBean, sent it to the fort, though he intercepted and destroyed the answer.19
The letter of the commissioners to McBean was an explanation of the presence of an army in the country, and an assurance that it was not with the purpose of bringing on a general war, but to secure the punish- ment of the Cayuse murderers, and if possible to pre- vent the other tribes from joining with them. “We do not expect you," they said, "to take part in the matter so as to implicate you, but if possible to facili- tate our movements to restore tranquillity ;" and he was asked to apprise them of the disposition of the Nez Percés, Walla Wallas, and other Indians. There were some additional items of news, with an expres- sion of anxiety lest the Catholic mission and the fort itself should be in danger, and the offer of a detach- ment to guard the latter if necessary.20 The answer, as I have said, was destroyed by Tauitau, and the commissioners remained in doubt. In the mean time, it happened that Timothy and Red Wolf, two Nez Percé chiefs, arrived at the fort simultaneously with Tauitau's messenger, and to them the letter of Spald- ing was given to be conveyed at once as addressed ;
18 Brouillet's reply is the basis of his Authentic Account, which see at pages 48-56, 91.
19 Report of the commissioners, in Or. Spectator, April 6, 1848.
20 Or. Archives., MS., 125-8.
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THE ARMY AT WALLA WALLA.
so that excepting the failure of McBean's answer to reach its destination, no serious interruption of the correspondence occurred. This was the position of affairs when the army reached the Umatilla.
On the 27th the regiment moved to the Columbia, the savages having all disappeared during the night; which movement signified determined war. To those who had asked for a council during the encampment on the Umatilla, it had been answered that they must come to Waiilatpu where the Nez Percés were ex- pected, though in truth nothing was yet known of the disposition of the Nez Percés, which want of informa- tion was the principal reason for deferring the meet- ing with this portion of the Cayuses.
On the evening of the 28th camp was made near Fort Walla Walla. Colonel Gilliam, with Palmer and Newell, spent the night within its walls, taking council with McBean, whose despatches from Van- couver, having reached him at the same time, might be supposed to express the sentiments entertained at headquarters. It was his opinion that with good management a war could be avoided.21 That the company should so desire was to be expected. Never- theless two kegs of powder were obtained, to be used if necessary.
Gilliam had an opportunity while at the fort of discussing the question of complicity with the Catholic priests, and appeared to have been satisfied, as nothing further was said in that quarter of the charges against them.22 He moved six miles up the Walla Walla
21 Newell's Memoranda, MS., 10.
22 There was a letter written by B. Jennings from Fort Lee, more often called Fort Wascopam in the correspondence of the volunteers, stating that Seletza, the Dalles chief, alleged that the priests at Walla Walla had made shields for the Cayuses, from which circumstance the Cayuses flattered them- selves they were invulnerable, and intended marching through the country of the Sklos, who are probably a branch of the Yakimas, from the name of one of the Yakima chiefs, Skloom, to punish them for their neutrality, and thence down the north side of the Columbia to the Willamette settlements. The letter was dated February 28th, and addressed to A. E. Wait. The same writer mentioned that, as acting quartermaster, he was daily importuned for ammu-
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
River on the 29th, and encamped near the camp of Peupeumoxmox, who made professions of friendship for the Americans, and sold them some beef cattle. During the night there was an alarm of Indians, but none could be discovered until on the afternoon of the next day's march the smoke of their fires could be discerned in the direction of Waiilatpu.
On the 2d of March the volunteers encamped near the mission, when Gilliam took two companies and visited the scene of the massacre, finding that the houses had been burned, and all the property carried off or destroyed. Wagons and everything movable had been cast into the fire, and nothing remained but a heap of adobes, broken china, glass, pottery, and warped iron, while books, letters, and many lighter articles were scattered about23 the enclosure, and the orchard trees were hacked or cut down. Horror was added to desolation, for strewn over the ground were the mutilated remains of the victims of the massacre, which had been disinterred by wolves.24
This spectacle evidently hardened the heart of the impulsive commander against peace commissions, and he returned in an impatient mood to camp, after re-
nition, the friendly natives pretending to be afraid of the Cayuses; and if refused, they then wanted a pass to go to Vancouver, in all probability to purchase powder and ball, from which circumstances he feared their intentions were not good. There were no means of ascertaining the truth of an Indian report, which had always to be received with caution. See Or. Archives, MS., 132.
23 Among the letters were some which showed that Whitman had been aware of his danger. Joel Palmer, in Brouillet's Authentic Account, 21.
24 A tress of Mrs Whitman's hair is preserved among the relics in the Ore- gon archives at Salem. Newell's Memoranda, MS., 11; Victor's River of the West, 433. There is also in the state archives a tomahawk said to have been the one used by Tamahas in killing Whitman. When Tamahas was about to be executed, it is said he gave the hatchet to Stock Whitley, a chief of the Des Chutes, whose family presented it to Donald McKay, who in turn gave it to William Logan, Indian agent at Warm Springs in 1864. It was exhibited by Logan at a sanitary fair during the civil war, and finally presented to the state. It is not probable, however, that Tamahas would give a keepsake to a Des Chutes chief when the tribe had refused to assist the guilty Cayuses. Another and more probable story is that Tamahas used a hatchet obtained by Tiloukaikt of the Gros Ventres in 1833, and that he presented it to Five Crows a few years afterward. This fact, if established, would go to show that Five Crows was fully apprised of the intention of the Walla Walla Cayuses. See Portland Oregonian, March 9, 1865.
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MEEK'S PARTY.
solving to make his headquarters among the ruins, to which place he removed on the 3d. This settled, a detachment of a hundred was sent to escort Meek's party of seven to the foot of the Blue Mountains, whence they were to make their way, protected by their Hudson's Bay cap and capote, and their own strength and sagacity; to the frontier of the United States.25 Three months had elapsed since the tragedy of Waiilatpu, and as yet they had not been able to send the intelligence beyond the silver-rimmed moun- tain ranges which cut off the Oregon colony from the inhabited world. In how great a degree the present attempt was successful will be related in a future chapter.26
Amidst rumors that the Nez Percés were on their way to join the Cayuses, and the assurances of Stic- cas that, while pretending friendship himself, his people were expecting war, the peace commissioners made efforts to hold a preliminary council with such of the Cayuses as professed to be friendly, they being almost altogether of the poorer and less influential class. But the commander frowned on 'peace talk,' and expended his energies on a fortress constructed of the adobes of the demolished mission buildings which was named Fort Waters for the lieutenant-colonel.27 While many of the officers were willing to leave the commissioners free to accomplish what they could, Gilliam opposed his opinion and authority to this unmilitary sentiment, and threatened to march to battle on the morning of the 6th, the very day on which the Nez Percés, two hun-
25 Meek was accompanied from Waiilatpu only by his old comrade of mountain days, G. W. Ebberts, and by John Owens, Nathaniel Bowman, James Steel, Samuel Miller, Jacob Leabo, Dennis Buris, David Young. Brown's Miscellany, MS., 22. The party being too small to be safe, Gilliam ordered an escort to take them beyond the Cayuse country.
26 From a letter of Abernethy's I gather that he had some hope that Meek might meet the Oregon regiment, so much talked about in congress, near Fort Hall, if peace should have been concluded with Mexico. Or. Archives, MS., 108-9.
27 Newell says: 'Colonel Gilliam left the council in a huff, and declared he had come to fight, and fight he would.' Memoranda, MS., 12.
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
dred and fifty strong, under Craig and Gervais, had appointed to meet them in council at Waiilatpu. No unity and little discipline existed in the army, because, as Newell said, some men had joined it from motives of patriotism, others for popularity, a certain portion for plunder, and the course taken by the commander was not one to consolidate factions. Gilliam did not, however, attempt to lead the volunteers against the Cayuses before the council, as he had threatened. The Nez Percés arrived about noon on the 6th, and were received by the army with cheers. On the 7th the council opened with the usual ceremony of smoking the calumet of peace. The letter of Governor Aber- nethy was then given to the chiefs, who broke the seal with much care, but being unable to read it, the contents were delivered through an interpreter, while they listened with close attention. Ellis, the head chief of the Nez Percés, being absent, the first speech in reply was made by Joseph, next in authority, a half- brother of Five Crows, on the mother's side, and like Five Crows a professed Protestant, but who, on hear- ing of the Cayuse outbreak, had been the first to withdraw his countenance from the missionaries and to join in the plunder of their houses. Said Joseph : "Now I show my heart. When I left my home I took the book (the gospels in the Nez Perce language) in my hand, and brought it with me. It is my light. I heard the Americans were coming to kill me; still I held my book before me, and came on. I have heard the words of your chief. I speak for all the Cayuses present, and all my people. I do not want my children engaged in this war, although my brother is wounded. You speak of the murderers. I shall not meddle with them. I bow my head. This much I speak."
Jacob, the chief, who was wont to practise upon the superstitions of the people to advance his personal popularity, as elsewhere mentioned, said: "It is the law of this country that the murderer shall die. That
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SPEECHES OF THE CHIEFS.
law I keep in my heart, because I believe it is the law of God-the first law." He also had heard, on the way, that the Americans were coming to kill all his brethren, but he was not turned back by the report, and was thankful for the good letter of the governor.
Then spoke James, the Catholic Nez Percé, and expressed his pleasure that Spalding had escaped, and his conviction that all the chiefs present desired peace. Red Wolf declared that when he heard of the mas- sacre he went to Waiilatpu to discover the truth con- cerning the conspiracy, and had been told by Tauitau that not all the chiefs were guilty, but that the young men had committed the murders. Without sleeping he returned and reported to Spalding what chiefs were engaged in killing the Americans, and Spalding had said : " I go to the Willamette and will say, 'The Nez Percés have saved my life,' and I will go to the Wil- lamette and save yours;" since which time they had all been waiting to hear from the governor.
Timothy was more reserved. He said: " You hear these chiefs, they speak for all. I am as one in the air; I do not meddle with these things; the chiefs speak, we are all of the same mind," Richard, who accompanied Whitman to the States in 1835, was thankful that the governor had spoken so kindly. His people would not go to war. They had been taught by their old chief, Cut-nose, to take no bad advice, but to cling to the good. Ellis was in the buffalo country ; but he was sure that his counsel would be for peace.
Kentuck, who had escorted Parker through the Salmon River country when he came to explore for mission stations, followed with an address. He said he had been much with the Americans and French, and that none of them could say anything disparaging of his character. He had fought with the Americans against the Blackfoot. He had been with Frémont in California the previous summer, not for pay, but from friendship toward the Americans.28 It had been
28 In reality to avenge Elijah's death.
-
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
said that he was with the Cayuses and concerned in the murders, but such was not the fact. His people had never shed the blood of Americans; and he was glad to learn that they only demanded the guilty for punishment.29
Camaspelo, the only Cayuse chief who was present, acknowledged that his people had two hearts, and that Tamsucky had consulted him on the subject of the massacre before it was committed. He had refused to have anything to do with it, but had pointed to his sick child, and answered that his heart was there, and not bent on murder; but nevertheless Tamsucky had gone back to the other chiefs and told them that Camas- pelo consented. Camaspelo might have said further that at that very time Whitman had ridden forty miles to visit his sick child, and yet the chief had not warned him of danger. But the commissioners were more intent on peace than on an examination of Indian evidence. They were satisfied to be told that some of the Cayuses would not attempt to screen the mur- derers, let their motives for neutrality be what they might.
Superintendent Palmer then addressed the council. He praised the Nez Percés for their reasonableness, and took occasion to give them a motive for continuing friendly by saying that the Cayuses by their conduct had forfeited their lands. At the same time he de- clared that the land was not wanted by Americans, who asked nothing more than that the road should be kept open for their countrymen to pass through to the Willamette Valley, which, he added, must be done. For this purpose a fort would be built, and a force stationed at Waiilatpu. For the Cayuses to oppose this demand would be futile. If they were wise they would assist in discovering the criminals in order that the innocent might be no longer involved in the trou- bles that threatened. The Nez Percés were advised to return to their home and their planting; and as an
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