USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 74
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744
THE CAYUSE WAR.
of them to the Indians; and explained that what had been seized was the annual supply of the four mis- sions of Okanagan, Cœur d'Alêne, Pend d'Oreille, and Flathead River. In answer to a remark of Lee, that much excitement and bad feeling against the Catholics existed, Accolti replied that he believed it, but that Lee must know that it was undeserved, and that the prejudices grew out of unjust suspicions and a grov- elling jealousy.63
This answer, which contained some truth, was not altogether just to the Protestants, the more intelli- gent of whom were able to discriminate between fact and prejudice; nor was it calculated to soften the sec- tarian feeling, which culminated in December in a petition to the legisla ire to expel the Catholics from the country, which w 3 refused. The quarrel ended by permitting them t retain possession of their other missions, but denying them the Umatilla country, to which for a period of nany years they did not return.
All the fighting an marching of the Cayuse war was executed by the colonists without aid from any source. The first intelligence which reached the out- side world of the massacre at Waiilatpu was received at the Sandwich Islands in February by the English bark Janet, Dring, master, which conveyed a letter from
69 Or. Archives, MS., 156-60. Father Accolti was born at Bari, in the kingdom of Naples, in 1806. Educated at Rome, he became a member of the Society of Jesus, June 1, 1832. Having determined to devote his life to mis- sionary work, he came to this coast in 1844, going direct from France to Oregon by way of Cape Horn, in the ship L'Indefatigable. His missionary labors in Oregon continued till 1831, during which time he had charge of the mission of St Xavier and St Paul on the north side of the Columbia River. In 1851 he came to San Francisco, when he continued his missionary labors at Santa Clara and San Francisco. In 1853 he was sent to Rome, to obtain priests for missionary duty on this coast, and with those who were selected he returned in 1855. Soon after leaving Rome he was made pastor of Santa Clara College, which position he held for 10 years. From Santa Clara he was transferred to San Francisco, where he was engaged in missionary duties up to the time of his death, Nov. 7, 1878. Father Accolti was a man of learning and distinguished for his earnest piety. S. F. Evening Bulletin, Nov. 9, 1878. Rev. P. Veyret, another of the Jesuits who came out in L'Étoile du Matin, from Brest, France, was born at Lyons in 1812, and became a member of the faculty of Santa Clara College, where he died Dec. 19, 1879. San José Pioneer, Dec. 20, 1879.
745
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
Douglas to S. N. Castle of Honolulu; but no men- tion of help is made in the Hawaiian journals. The brig Henry, which left the Columbia River about the middle of March, did not reach San Francisco until the 12th of April, whence she sailed for Mazatlan with gov- ernment stores required by the troops in Mexico. In the mean time the United States transport Anita, S. E. Woodworth commanding, with the military com- mander of the northern district of California, Major J. A. Hardie, on board, paid a visit to the Columbia River for the purpose of raising recruits for the army in Mexico,70 an errand which proved fruitless for obvious reasons.71
So slow were the means of communication that the letters of Governor Abernethy were not received until June,72 nor were the munitions of war asked for sent to the Columbia River until the return of the Henry on the 9th of August, when the volunteers were dis- banded.73 So far as the conduct of the war was con- cerned, the delay was rather fortunate than otherwise. Had there been ample means at hand when the fight- ing spirit was at its height, a general and bloody con- flict would have been the result. Both volunteers and Indians being short of ammunition, caution on each side became a necessity, and averted the spilling of much blood.
The United States Indian agent for Oregon, Charles E. Pickett, who was in California when the first in-
70 S. F. Californian, March 1, 1848; Murray's Nar., MS., 210; Polynesian, v. 2.
11 The Anita arrived in the Columbia March 16th, 15 days from San Fran- cisco. She departed April 22d and arrived at San Francisco April 27th. Or. Spectator, March 23 and May 4, 1848; Honolulu Friend, July 1848.
72 I cannot account for this delay except by supposing that the Henry proceeded directly to Mazatlan, without touching at Monterey. She was 9 days in San Francisco Bay, and it seems unaccountable that in such an emer- gency the despatches should not have been forwarded at once.
73 Major Hardie forwarded 100 rifles, with 25,000 rifle-cartridges, and 200 pounds of rifle-powder; 2 6-pounder iron guns and carriages, and ammunition for the same. Lieutenant E. O. C. Ord of the Third Artillery forwarded one 6-pounder brass gun, with 210 strapped shot (fixed), 70 canister shot, 28 spherical shot, and other artillery service; 500 muskets with their fixtures and 50,000 ball, with a large amount of ammunition. The invoices were dated June 27th and July 10th respectively. Or. Spectator, Sept. 7, 1848.
746
THE CAYUSE WAR.
telligence of the warlike events in his district reached that country, made application on his own account to Governor Mason to be furnished with the means of re- lieving Oregon; but Mason declined to assume the responsibility, or to allow Pickett to do so, saying that the governor of Oregon only would be likely to have his acts sanctioned by congress,74 and Pickett was so far satisfied that his services could be of no avail that he remained in California permanently.
During the progress of the Cayuse war the colony in the Willamette was in a state of expectancy and alarm very trying to those who lived on the outskirts of the settlements, especially to the scattered families on the east side of the valley toward the Cascade Mountains, where it was easy to imagine danger ap- proaching them from the direction of the passes into eastern Oregon. Nor were the Indians in the Willa- mette unaffected by the example of the Cayuses, but tauntingly remarked that all the brave white men had gone to fight, the weak and spiritless ones only remaining at home, and that consequently they, the Molalles, and others, were set at liberty to conduct themselves as they pleased. To test their position, several outrages were committed, one of a serious character,75 and companies of home guards were or- ganized76 in the most exposed settlements, ready to march at a moment's notice or whenever an alarm was given. But the only occasion when anything like a general engagement took place was during a visit of the Klamaths to the Molalles, a large encampment
74 S. F. Californian, May 17, 1848.
75 An Indian named Chilos, who had for 6 years been domesticated with the settlers, ravished a young girl in the absence of the family, and fled. He was pursued and killed. Or. American, Aug. 16, 1848; Or. Spectator, June 1, 1848. Elijah Bristow was attacked, but repulsed the savages without firing on them. Bristow's Rencounters, MS., 3-7.
76 R. C. Geer was captain of a company in the Waldo Hills; Allen Davy of a company in the Santiam; Richard Miller between Abiqua and Butte creeks in the northern part of Champoeg Co .; and Samuel Parker of a com- pany near Salem. R. C. Geer, in Salem Or. Statesman, in San José Pioneer, Sept. 1, 1877.
747
AFFAIRS ON THE WILLAMETTE.
being lodged on the head of Abiqua Creek where it debouches from the Cascade Mountains. The Kla- maths and Molalles began by robbing the cabins erected on land-claims at some distance from each other; and growing bolder, entered the houses of fam- ilies, ordering the women to cook for them; or killing their beef-cattle. As these acts usually preceded a massacre, the settlers became more and more uneasy.
At length, one afternoon in the early spring, a large party from the encampment above mentioned sur- rounded the residence of Richard Miller, a prominent man in Champoeg County, making insolent demands and uttering the soul-harrowing warwhoop, at the same time endeavoring to cut off the passage of a neighbor of Miller's who was seeking refuge at his house. It happened that Knox, from whom Knox's Butte in Linn County was named, was riding within sight of Miller's, with the first United States mail that was carried up the Willamette Valley; he took in the meaning of the demonstration at a glance, and quickened his horse's gait to a run, leaving informa- tion at every house on the road. Others mounted and rode, spreading the story, and by morning sixty men and lads were gathered at Miller's, the Indians having in the mean time retired with threats.77 An organization was immediately effected, Daniel Waldo being elected colonel, and the volunteers, horse and foot, set out for the Indian encampment; the mounted men crossing the Abiqua and proceeding up the north side under Colonel Waldo and Captain Davy, while Captain Geer marched on foot up the south side.78
As soon as the Indians discovered the approach of
77 One account says 150 men were gathered at the house of J. Warnock in the same neighborhood, and that the Indians had declared they would cut the throats of Miller's, Warnock's, and Patterson's families. Id.
78 The names mentioned in the account above quoted from are William Parker, James Harpole, Wilburn King, James Brown, S. D. Maxon, L. A. Bird, Israel Shaw, Robert Shaw, King Hibbard, William Brisbane, Win- chester, Port Gilliam, William Howell, Thomas Howell, George Howell, William Hendricks, Leander Davis, Len. Goff, G. W. Hunt, James Williams, J. Warnock, J. W. Schrun, Thomas Schrun, Elias Cox, Cyrus Smith, T. B. Allen, Henry Schrun, and Jacob Caplinger; probably the most prominent men.
748
THE CAYUSE WAR.
the mounted force they began crossing to the south side of the Abiqua, as had been anticipated, and came upon the footmen concealed in a thicket awaiting them. An exchange of arrows and rifle-balls took place, when the natives hastily retreated up the creek with the loss of two of their number. Upon consulta- tion it was decided that as the day was well spent, those who had families should return, and the rest of the men and lads should encamp at the nearest farm- house to be ready to move in the morning, when the pursuit was begun, a part of the absentees having returned.
The savages were overtaken on the trail to Klamath, their rear being guarded by a few good marksmen, whose arrows flew about their pursuers, hitting one man in the breast, but without penetrating his body. The riflemen soon picked off these, and drove the rest before them to a spot where high cliffs intercepted their passage on the side of the stream they were travelling, and the current was too swift to permit them to cross. Here they were driven to bay, and compelled to fight, but they could do little to defend themselves against the fire of the white men's deadly rifles, by which seven warriors were killed and two women wounded.
When the volunteers came close enough to ascertain the results of the battle, it began to dawn upon them that they might have committed a sad blunder, the more disgraceful because one of the seven dead warriors proved to be a woman, with a strung bow in her hands, who had been killed by the same shot which pierced a male victim. In short, it was discovered that the real marauders had escaped or were never present, and that the Indians attacked were their wives, children, and a few guards left with the camp. The weather being cold and wet, with a drizzling snow, the white men built a large fire in the edge of the forest, and carrying the wounded women to a comfortable shelter, left them for their relatives to succor, and returned home. They
749
SUB-INDIAN AGENTS.
never boasted of their valor at the battle of the Abi- qua;7 but the lesson inflicted preserved that part of the Willamette Valley from any further threatening demonstrations during the Cayuse war.
On account of the feeling of insecurity occasioned by the conduct of the Klamaths and Molalles, Felix Scott was appointed sub-agent of Indian affairs for south-western Oregon by Superintendent Lee on the 10th of April; and at the same time informed that it was desirable for him to raise an independent company of rangers for the defence of the southern frontier, the governor being ready to commission the officers whenever elected. At the same time it was not con- cealed that there was no money, and no appropriation made for paying either sub-agent or military com- panies.80 But according to the views of such men as the Scotts and others, this was a good reason for accepting a commission. When money is plenty men seek offices; when money is not to be had, the offices seek men, of the better sort. .
On the 12th of May Scott reported to Lee that as he proceeded up the valley he found the inhabitants much excited in consequence of the bad behavior of the Indians, and their continued robberies. Some offenders had been flogged; but that not putting an end to their thieving practices, a resolution had been passed, and a copy sent to the governor, declaring that in future robberies would be punished with death. The killing of the Klamaths at the Abiqua was referred to by the Molalles, with whom they were
79 It has been a matter of dispute that such a battle was ever fought as the engagement on the Abiqua; and, according to Minto, this blunder was the reason of the silence. Those who were not concerned in it laughed at those who were for 'killing squaws; ' and it was tacitly agreed to say nothing about it. The matter almost passed out of recollection, when it was revived and discussed in 1877, and the facts brought out. It shows that the early Oregon settlers did not wantonly kill Indians and boast of it, as they were accused of doing at a later period. Minto's Early Days, MS., 41-6; J. Henry Brown and H. L. McNary, in Willamette Farmer, Mar. 24, 1877; Brown's Or. Miscel., MS., 57-8.
& Lee's letter to Captain Scott is in the Or. Archives, MS., 168-9.
750
THE CAYUSE WAR.
intermarried, as a cause for their continued depreda- tions. A company of six men, under the leadership of John Saxton, who had started from California with a hundred horses, had lost sixty-five of them by the natives after reaching the Klamath River, and had been fired on all day by the Rogue River Indians, 81 with whom it was believed that Molalles were in league. At all events, not more than fifty could be found in the Willamette, and their fleeing before him to the Umpqua was regarded as a sign of guilt.
Another report dated June 21st, addressed to Ad- jutant-general Lovejoy, states that he had proceeded with his company of independent rangers as far as the Santiam River when he was met by complaints of the thieving practices of the Indians, and had divided his force, taking six men with him, and leaving eight with Lieutenant English, one party to take a course which it was intended should drive the savages to their trail over the Cascade Mountains, and the other to inter- cept them in their passage. Finding themselves hard pressed and becoming alarmed, they escaped by leav- ing their plunder and a couple of horses, probably in- tended as indemnity for past thefts; and being satis- fied with this, Captain Scott gave up the pursuit.
On the 7th of July Scott was ordered to proceed to south-eastern Oregon to escort the immigration by the southern route, and was authorized to officiate in his capacity as Indian agent among any tribes on the way. "I have reason," says Lee, "to believe the Cay- uses will be along both roads. Impress on the immi- grants their danger." 82 With a company of only nineteen men he performed this important duty, 83
81 Or. Spectator, May 4, 1848.
82 Or. Archives, MS., 169-71.
83 Felix Scott was a native of Monongahela Co., Va. He was at one time lieut .- gov. of Mo., after which he came to California from St Charles Co. of that state, and resided for some time with Captain Sutter at Fort Sutter. In 1846 he removed to Oregon, where he soon became known for his high charac- ter. He resided in Yamhill Co. until 1849, when he settled permanently in Lane Co., and contributed much to its development. In 1863, wishing to drive a large herd of cattle to the mines of eastern Oregon, and also to trans-
751
ARRIVAL OF IMMIGRANTS.
while the volunteers from Fort Waters discharged a similer obligation on the Snake River route. The Indians along both roads behaved in a quiet and friendly manner to the immigration of this year, which amounted to about seven hundred persons, according to some authorities; but computing in the usual manner, of five persons to every wagon, there would have been more than twice that number. They arrived in better health and condition than any pre- vious body. 85
port other provisions by wagon, he opened a road across the Cascade Moun- tains by the way of Mckenzie Fork of the Willamette, thus realizing the idea which led to the misfortunes of a large part of the immigration of 1845. Over this road he drove 700 cattle and 8 heavy wagons at the first attempt. Being improved subsequently, it became a good pass between the head of the Willamette Valley and eastern Oregon. In 1857 Captain Scott returned to the States to bring out some valuable blood stock. Returning in 1858 by the southern route, he was murdered by the Indians near Goose Lake, while temporarily separated from the company with two other men, who were also murdered. All the stock and money belonging to Scott were taken. He was about 70 years of age at the time of his death. His sons, settled in Lane Co., were Felix, jun., Rodney, Harrison, and Marion. Felix, jun., died in Arizona in Nov. 1879. Eugene Press, in Or. Statesman, Jan. 25, 1859; Drew, in Report Com. Ind. Aff., 1863, 58.
8+ S. F. Californian, Nov. 184S.
85 I find the following names of men who arrived in 1848: Thomas Adams, W. F. Adams, W. L. Adams, William Armpriest, T. W. Avery, W. W. Bristow, E. L. Bristow, Rev. Wilson Blain, William Brunson, Dr D. S. Baker, Andrew Bowers, Isaac Belknap, George Belknap, C. Belknap, H. Belknap, B. B. Branson, G. J. Basket, Andrew Baner, W. Bethers, William Burns, Ball, Jesse W. Belknap, George H. Brown, Benjamin Cleaver, David Chap- man, Peter D. Cline, Jesse Chapman, Adam Cooper, J. A. Cloninger, Coffey, Daniel Cushman, Seth Catlin, Jacob Conser, Thomas Clark, John S. Crooks, Rinehart Cripe, Benjamin Cripe, Christian Clyne, Reuben Dickens, L. Davis, John Davis, John Dennis, Anderson De Haven, James Davidson, James Emery, C. Emerick, Solomon Emerick, Thomas Gates, E. Garther, Levi Grant, Burrel B. Griffin, Griffin, Griffin, William Greenwood, P. Gearhart, George Graham, Daniel Hathaway, Robert Houston, Richard Hutchison, Abitha Hawley, Andrew Hagey, Martin Hagey, P. Hagey, Henry Henninger, Nathaniel Ham- lin, P. Hibbert, H. N. V. Holmes, Hooker, A. B. Holcomb. John L. Hicklin, J. M. Hendricks, Frank Harty, S. Hanna, George Irvin, William M. King, Orrin Kellogg, Joseph Kellogg, G. Kittredge, Clinton Kelley, David Linen- berger, Lyman Latourette, John J. Lindsay, William Lindsay, Lindsay, Edgar Lindsay, J. Lewis, Joseph D. Lee, Nicholas Lee, Jacob Miller, Christian Miller, John McGee, Isaac Miller, John Miller, Henry Moody, John Moore, B. Moore, Simon Markham, E. L. Massey, Harden McAllister, Isaac Newton, Norris, M. Neff, Isaac Owens, Rev. Jos. E. Parrott, Ira Patterson, Reuben Pigg, David Priestly, William Porter, Stephen Porter, John Purvine, Farley Pierce, A. Prussel, Jesse Parrish, Riley Root, James Robinson, J. G. Ramsey, Horace Rice, Pliny Richison, Caleb Richey, A. H. Roberts, John E. Rick- nell, John Stipp, Fendall Sutherlin, Rev. John W. Starr, Buford Smith, M. Shelley, Christopher Shuck, H. Straight, James Shields, David Stone, Nathaniel Stone, Daniel Trulinger, John Trulinger, Nathan Trulinger, Gabriel Trulinger, Watt Tucker, Robert H. Thompson, James Valentine, Isaac Wyatt,
752
THE CAYUSE WAR.
Thomas Wyatt, Elias D. Wilcox, Nathaniel Wilcox, Leonard Williams, Willis Williams, Isaac Winkle, Samuel Welch, W. B. Walker, W. M. Walker, A. S. Watt, T. D. Winchester.
Ahio S. Watt was born in Knox Co., Ohio, Jan. 15, 1824; went to Mo. in 1838, and to Oregon in 1848. He was married in 1850 to Mary E. Elder, and settled in Yamhill Co. He was a member of the senate in 1S78; has been clerk of the court, surveyor, and farmer, and a useful and honorable citizen.
E. L. Massey, well known in Oregon, at the breaking-out of the mining excitement of 1861 removed to Walla Walla, where he was justice of the peace. In 1867 while travelling in Idaho he had his feet frozen, from the effects of which he died in August of that year. Walla Walla Statesman, Aug. 30, 1867.
Burrel B. Griffin settled in Linn Co., where he discovered in 1851 a mountain of bluish gray marl near the junction of Crabtree and Thomas forks of the Santiam. The stone was easily worked, and hardened on exposure to the air, and came to be much used in place of brick for hearth- stones and chimney-pieces. In 1852 Mr Griffin removed to the Rogue River Valley, where he discovered in 1875 valuable ores of cinnabar and antimony near Jacksonville. Oregonian, Sept. 25, 1875.
George A. Barnes, a native of Lockport, Monroe Co., New York, first emigrated to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and from there to Oregon in 1848. He went to the gold mines in California, after which he settled on Puget Sound, with the history of which he has since been identified.
David Stone, who was captain of the company with which Barnes travelled, settled in the Cowlitz Valley, a few miles north of the Columbia.
Thomas W. Avery emigrated to Oregon with his parents at the age of 15, and in 1849 went to the gold mines in California, from which he returned in 1857, when he settled in Douglas Co. Working as a carpenter and teaching in a country school, he continued to reside in the Umpqua Valley until 1862, when he went to Salem to study law in the office of Bonham and Curl. He was elected to the Democratic state convention in 1864, and commenced the practice of law in Umatilla County, and was in the legislature in 1866. In connection with J. C. Dow he established the Columbia Press, the first news- paper at Umatilla. He died of consumption in Salem in the autumn of 1867. Salem Capital Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1867.
Mrs Susan Sturges, born in Ill., May 14, 1839, married Andrew Sturges in Oregon in 1855, and died at Vancouver, in Washington Ter., April 28, 1876, her husband and 6 children surviving. Portland Advocate, May 11, 1876.
Mrs Jacob Conser, born in Richmond Co., Ohio, July 31, 1822, removed with her parents to Ill., where she was married Feb. 28, 1839, and emigrated to Oregon with her husband in 1848. She died at Walla Walla while on a visit to a sister residing there, April 18, 1879. San Jose Pioneer, May 10, 1879.
Nathaniel Hamlin, an immigrant of 1848, died in June 1866. Seattle Weekly, June 18, 1866.
Rev. Clinton Kelley was born in Pulaski Co., Ky., June 15, 1808. He joined the Methodist church at the age of 19, and devoted his life to preaching. Before he was 20 he married Mary Baston, who died in 1837, leaving him 5 children. He married in the following year Jane Burns, who also died, leaving one child. He then married Maria Crane, by whom he had 9 children. Being opposed to the institution of slavery, he determined to emigrate to a country where his numerous family could be educated to become useful citi- zens, and chose Oregon for his home, where he was widely known as 'Father Kelley,' and as a never-tiring advocate of temperance. He died at his resi- dence near East Portland, June 19, 1875, leaving an honorable memory. Oregonian, June 26, 1875; Or. City Enterprise, June 25, 1875; Portland Tem- perance Star, June 25, 1875; Salem States:nan, June 26, 1875.
W. W. Bristow, son of Elijah Bristow, who emigrated in 1846 with his brother, E. L. Bristow, and other members of the family, followed his father in 1848, and all settled in Lane County, then the southern part of Linn. Mr
753
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Bristow was one of the foremost citizens of that part of the country; was a member of the first state senate, and of the state constitutional convention, and active in securing the location of the state university at Eugene City. In his family he was as gentle as he was enterprising in affairs of public interest. He died at Eugene City, Dec. 10, 1874. Eugene City Guard, Dec. 1874; Roseburg Plaindealer, Dec. 12, 1874.
J. M. Hendricks, brother-in-law of W. W. and E. L. Bristow, also settled at Pleasant Hill in Lane County, where he died in the spring of 1878. His son, T. G. Hendricks, was a prominent merchant of Eugene City. San José Pioneer, April 6, 1878.
Nicholas Lee was born in Pike Co., Ohio, February 11, 1818. On coming to Oregon he settled in Polk Co., near Dallas. He engaged in merchandising in 1862, but retired to give place to his son, Joseph D. Lee, in 1876. His death occurred July 11, 1879, at the farm where he settled in 1848. Dallas Itemizer, July 18, 1879.
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