USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 46
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IN the summer of 1857 General Wool, who was so much at variance with the civil authorities on the Pacific coast, was removed from this department, and the command given to General Newman S. Clarke. The reader will remember that Colonel George Wright had been left by Wool in command at Vancouver in the spring of 1856. Not long after, on account of the hostilities of those tribes which had taken part in the Walla Walla treaties of 1855, Wright was re- moved to The Dalles, and Colonel Thomas Morris took command at Vancouver. In the mean time two new posts were established north of the Columbia, one in the Yakima country, and another in the Walla Walla Valley; and for a period of two years Wright, embarrassed by the policy of the commanding gener- als, outnumbered and outwitted by the Indians, was engaged in a futile endeavor to subdue without fight- ing them. The Indians being emboldened by the ap- parent weakness of the army, in the spring of 1858 the troops under Colonel Steptoe, while marching to
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MILITARY DEPARTMENT.
Colville, were attacked by a large force of Spokanes and Cœur d'Alenes, and sustained a heavy loss. Awakened by this demonstration of the hostile pur- poses of the confederate tribes, Clarke prepared to in- flict condign punishment, and in September of that year Wright marched a large force through their country, slaying and destroying as he went. This chastisement brought the treaty tribes into a state of humility. In the mean time E. R. Geary had been appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in Oregon and Washington, and in the spring of 1859, congress having ratified the treaties of 1855, he made arrange- ments with them for their permanent settlement on their reservations, four in number, namely: Simcoe, Warm Spring, Umatilla, and Lapwai; but unfortu- nately for the credit of the government with the Ind- ians, no appropriation was made by congress for carry- ing out its engagements until the following year; nor was any encouragement given toward treating with other tribes in the eastern portion of the state.
By an order of the secretary of war of September 13, 1858, the department of the Pacific was sub- divided into the departments of California and Ore- gon, the latter under the command of General W. S. Harney, with headquarters at Vancouver. This change was hailed with delight by the Oregonians, not only because it gave them a military department of their own, but because Harney's reputation as an Indian-fighter was great, and they hoped through him to put a speedy termination to the wars which had continuously existed for a period of five years, imped- ing land surveys and mining, and preventing the set- tlement of the country east of the mountains. Har- ney arrived at Vancouver on the 29th of October, and two days later he issued an order opening the Walla Walla Valley, closed against settlement ever since 1855, to the occupation of white inhabitants.
By this order Harney's popularity was assured. A joint resolution was adopted by the legislature con-
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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.
gratulating the people, and asking the general to ex- tend his protection to the immigration, and establish a garrison at or near Fort Boisé.1 A considerable military force having been massed in the Oregon department for the conquest of the rebellious tribes,2 Harney had, when he took command, found employ- ment for them in explorations of the country. The military department in 1858 built a steamboat to run between The Dalles and Fort Walla Walla,3 and about two thousand settlers took claims in the Walla Walla and Umatilla valleys during this summer. The bos- tilities which had heretofore prevented this progress being now at an end, there remained only the Snake,' Klamath, and Modoc tribes to be either conquered or conciliated. Little discipline had been administered in this quarter, except by the three expeditions pre- viously mentioned of Wright, Walker, and Haller.
Harney, though more in sympathy with the peo- ple than his predecessors, was yet like them inclined to discredit the power or the will of the wild tribes
1 Clarke and Wright's Campaign, 85; Or. Laws, 1858-9, app. iii .; Or. Statesman, Feb. 8, 1859.
2 Besides the companies stationed to guard the Indian reservations in Ore- gon in 1857, there were 3 companies of the 9th inf. at The Dalles, one of the 4th inf. at Vancouver, one of the 3d art. at the Cascades, 3 of the 9th inf. at Fort Simcoe in the Yakima country, and at Fort Walla Walla 2 com- panies of inf., one of dragoons, and one of art. U. S. H. Ex. Doc. 2, vol. ii. pt ii. 78, 35th cong. Ist sess. In the autumn of 1858 three companics of art. from S. F., one from Fort Umpqua, now attached to the department of Cal., and an inf. co. from Fort Jones were sent into the Indian country east of the Cascade Mountains. Kip's Army Life, 16-18; Sac. Union, Aug. 23, 1858.
3 This steamer was owned by R. R. Thompson and L. Coe, and was named the Colonel Wright. Harney mentions in a letter to the adjutant-general dated April 25, 1859, that a steamboat line had been established between The Dalles and Walla Walla, and that in June when the water of the Col- umbia and Snake rivers should be high, the steamer should run to the mouth of the Tucannon, on the latter river. U. S. Mess. and Docs., 1859-60, 93, 36th cong. Ist sess .; S. F. Bulletin, April 28, May 13 and 30, and Sept. 13, 1859. It is worthy of remark that the first steamer to ascend the Missouri to Fort Benton made her initial trip this year. This was the Chippewa. Id., Sept. 17, 1859; Or. Argus, Sept. 3, 1859.
4 I use the term Snake in its popular sense and for convenience. The sev- eral bands of this tribe, the Bannacks, and the wandering Pah Utes were all classed as Snakes by the people who reported their acts, and as it is impossi- ble for me to separate them, the reader will understand that by Snakes is meant in general the predatory bands from the region of the Snake and Owyhee rivers.
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WALLEN'S EXPLORATIONS.
to inflict serious injury. Yet not to neglect his duty in keeping up an appearance of protecting miners, im- migrants, and others, and at the same time to carry forward some plans of exploration which I have al- ready hinted at,5 toward the end of April he ordered into the field two companies of dragoons and infantry mounted, under Captain D. H. Wallen, to make a reconnoissance of a road from The Dalles to Salt Lake City, connecting with the old immigrant route through the South Pass, and to ascertain whether such a road could not be constructed up the John Day River, thence over to the head waters of the Malheur, and down that stream to Snake River.6 Wallen pro- ceeded as directed and along the south side of Snake River to the crossing of the Oregon and California roads at Raft River, meeting on his march with none of the predatory bands, which, eluding him, took advan- tage of being in his rear to make a descent upon the Warm Spring reservation and drive off the stock be-
5 Harney was much interested in laying out military roads, and in his re- ports to the general-in-chief called the attention of the war department to the necessity for such roads in this portion of the United States territory. Among other roads proposed was one through the south pass to the head of Salmon River, down that stream to the Snake River, and thence to Fort Walla Walla, which was never opened owing to the roughness of the country. F. W. Lander made an improvement in the road from the south pass to the parting of the Oregon and California routes which enabled most of the immigration to arrive at the Columbia several weeks earlier than usual. The new route was called the Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake wagon road, aud appears to have been partially opened in 1858, or across the Wachita moun- tains. Appended to Lander's report is a long list of names of persons en route for California and Oregon who passed over it in 1858 and 1859. A party left Fairbault, Minnesota, in July 1838, and travelled by the Saskatchewan route, wintering in the mountains with the snow in many places twenty feet deep. They experienced great hardships, but arrived at The Dalles May I, 1859, in good health. Their names were J. L. Houck, J. W. Jones, J. E. Smith, E. Hind, William Amesbury, J. Emehiser, J. Schaeffer, J. Palmer, J. R. Sandford. Olympia Herald, May 27, 1859.
6 Wallen crossed the Des Chutes at the mouth of Warm Spring River, proceeded thence to the head of Crooked River, 160 miles, finding a good natural road with grass and water. He detached Lieutenant Bonnycastle with part of his command to explore the country east of the route followed by himself, who travelled no farther than Harney Lake Valley, to which he probably gave this name in honor of the commanding general, from which point he turned north to the head waters of John Day River and followed it down, and back to The Dalles, on about the preseut line of the road to Canyon City. Harney reported that Bonnycastle brought a train of 17 ox-wagons from Harney Valley to The Dalles in 12 days without accident. U. S. Mess. and Docs, 1859-60, 113; U. S. Sen. Doc., 34, ix. 51, 36th cong. Ist sess.
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longing to the treaty Indians.7 A. P. Dennison, the agent, applied to Harney for a force to guard the res- ervation, but the general, instead of sending troops, ordered forty rifles with ammunition to be furnished, and Dennison resorted to organizing a company among the reservation Indians, and placing it under the com- mand of Thomas L. Fitch, physician to the reserva- tion, who marched up John Day River in the hope of recovering a hundred and fifty head of horses and cattle which had been stolen. His company killed the men belonging to two lodges, took the women and children prisoners, and recaptured a few horses, which had the effect to secure a short-lived immunity only. In August the Snakes made another raid upon the reservation, avenging the slaughter of their people by killing a dozen or more Indian women and children and threatening to burn the agency build- ings, the white residents fleeing for their lives to The Dalles. The agent, who was at that place, hastened to the scene of attack with a company of friendly Indians, but not before sixteen thousand dollars' worth of property had been stolen or destroyed.8 It was only then that a small detachment of soldiers was sent to guard the reservation and induce the terrified Ind- ians as well as white people to return; and a dragoon company was ordered to make a reconnoissance along the base of the Blue Mountains, to recover if possi- ble the property carried off, returning, however, emp- ty-handed; and it was not without reason that the old complaint of the Indian department was reiter- ated, that the military department would not trouble itself with the Indians unless it were given exclusive control.
7 Though Wallen met with no hostile savages in his march to Camp Floyd, he found no less than three commands in the field from that post pursuing Ind- ians who had attacked the immigration on the California road. He mentions the names of a few persons killed in 1859, S. F. Shephard, W. F. Shephard, W. C. Riggs, and C. Rains. Olympia Herald, Sept. 16, 1859. E. C. Hall and Mr and Mrs Wright are mentioned as having been attacked. Hall was killed and the others wounded.
8 Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859, 389. Indemnity was claimed for the losses of pri- vate persons and the Indians.
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IMMIGRATION.
From a combination of eauses, the chief of which was the agitation of the question of slavery, the immi- gration of 1859 was larger than any which had pre- eeded it for a number of years.3 Owing to the care taken by Captain Wallen to insure the safe passage of the trains, all escaped attack except one company, which against his advice turned off the main route to try that up the Malheur, and which was driven back with a loss of one man severely wounded, and four wagons abandoned. 10 Major Reynolds of the 3d artillery from Camp Floyd for Vancouver, with one hundred men and eight field-pieees, escorted the advance of the immigration, and Wallen remained to bring up the rear, sending sixty dragoons four days' travel back along the road to succor some belated and famishing people.11
In the spring of 1860 General Harney ordered two expeditions into the country traversed by predatory Snakes, not with the purpose of fighting them, as Wallen's march through their country had been uninterrupted, but to continue the exploration of a road to Salt Lake from Harney Lake, where Wallen's exploration in that direction had ceased; and also to explore from Crooked River westward to the head waters of the Willamette River, and into the valley by the middle immigrant route first opened by authority of the legislature in 1853. .
This joint expedition was under the command of Major E. Steen, who was to take the westward march
" Horace Greeley estimated that 30,000 people and 100,000 cattle were en route to California. This estimate was not too large, and instead of all go- ing to California about one third went to Oregon, many of them settling in Walla Walla Valley-at least 800. About 20 families settled in the Yakima Valley, 30 families on the Clickitat, and others in every direction. Some settled in the Grande Ronde and sonth of the Columbia, but not so many as in the following years. Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 30, 1859; Or. Argus, Oct. 15, 1859.
10 Dalles Journal, in Or. Argus, Sept. 24, 1859; Portland Oregonian, Oct. 15, 1859.
11 Sec letter in Olympia P. S. Herald, Sept. 16, 1859. Colonel Wright sent forward from Fort Walla Walla to meet the later trains which were des- titute of provisions 250 sacks of flour, 50 barrels of pork, and other necessaries. Or. Statesman, Sept. 6, 1859.
HIST. OR., VOL. II. 30
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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.
from Crooked River, while Captain A. J. Smith was to proceed southward and eastward to the City of Roeks. About six weeks after Smith and Steen had set out from The Dalles, news was received that the hostile bands, so far from hiding from the sight of two dragoon companies, had attacked Smith after his parting with Steen, when he was within twenty miles of the Owyhee; and that he had been no more than able to protect the government property in his charge. It being unsafe to divide his command to explore in advance of the train, he was compelled to retreat to Harney Lake Valley and send an express after Steen, who turned back and rejoined him on the head waters of Crooked River.12 Accompanying, or rather over- taking, Steen's expedition on Crooked River was a party of four white men and five Indians escorting Superintendent Geary and G. H. Abbott, agent at Warm Springs, upon a search after some chiefs with whom they could confer regarding a treaty, or at least a cessation of hostilities. Without the prestige of numbers, presents, or display of any kind, Geary was pushing his way into the heart of a hostile wilderness, under the shadow of the military wing which, so far from being extended for his protection, completely ignored his presence.13
During Geary's stay at Steen's camp, on the 15th of July two refugees from a party of prospectors which had been attacked by the Indians came in and reported the wounding of one man, the loss of seventy horses, and the scattering of their company,
12 Rept of Captain Smith, in U. S. Sen. Doc., i. 119, 36th cong. 2d sess .; Sac. Union, July 20, 1860; S. F. Alta, July 13, 1860.
13 In the reports of military and Indian departments there is found a mutual concealment of facts, no mention being made by Steen of the presence of the head of the Indian department of Oregon and Washington at his camp, in his communication to his superiors; nor did Geary in his report confess that he had been disdainfully treated hy the few savages to whom he had an opportunity of offering the friendship of the United States government, as well as by the army. To his interpreter they replied that powder and ball were the only gifts that they desired or would accept from white men. Int. Aff. Rept, 1860, 174-5; Dalles Mountaineer, in Or. Statesman, July 10, 1860; Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, July 20, 1860.
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STEEN'S EXPEDITION.
which had fled into Harney Lake Valley after being attacked a second time. This incident, with the gen- eral hopelessness of his errand, caused Geary to re- turn to The Dalles, while an express was sent for- ward to warn Smith, then two days on his march toward the City of Rocks. Steen also moved his camp to Harney Lake to be within communicating distance in case Smith should be attacked, and he spent two days looking for Indians without finding any. A few days later Smith was attacked, as above related.
In the mean time Harney had been summoned to Washington city on business reputed to be connected with the war debt of Oregon and Washington territo- ries, and Colonel Wright was placed in command of the department of Oregon. On hearing of the interrup- tion of the explorations, Wright at once ordered three companies of artillery under Major George P. Andrews to march to the assistance of the explorers, while a squadron of dragoons under Major Grier was directed to move along the road toward Fort Boisé to guard the immigrant road, and be within com- manding distance of Steen, who it was supposed would also be upon the road in a few weeks.
When Steen had been reenforced by the artillery companies, he marched on the 4th of August toward a range of snow mountains east of Harney Lake, ex- tending for some distance southward, near which he believed the Indians would be found, taking with him a hundred dragoons and sixty-five artillerymen. The remainder of the command under Major Andrews moved eastward to a camp near the Owyhce to await orders. Major Grier being on the road to Boise with his dragoons, looking out for the immigration, Steen hoped to catch the Indians and drive them upon one or the other of these divisions. Attached to Steen's division was a small company of scouts from the Warm Spring reservation, who on the fourth day
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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.
discovered signs of the enemy on the north slope of a high butte, which now bears the name of Steen Mountain, and on the morning of the 8th a small party of Indians was surprised and fled to the very top of this butte to the region of perpetual snow, hotly pursued by the troops. Arrived at the sum- mit, the descent on the south side down which the Indians plunged, looked impassable; but, with more zeal than caution, Steen pursued, taking his whole command, dragoons and artillery, down a descent of six thousand feet, through a narrow and dangerous canon, with the loss of but one mule. The country about the mountain was then thoroughly recon- noitred for three days, during which the scouts brought in three Indian men and a few women and children as prisoners.
On the 16th the command returned to camp, after which Smith made a forced march of a hundred miles on a supposed trail without coming upon the enemy. Steen then determined to abandon the road survey and return to The Dalles. Dividing the troops into three columns twenty miles apart, they were marched to the Columbia River without encountering any Indians on either route. Early in September the companies were distributed to their several posts.14 Yet the troops were not more than well settled in garrisons before the Snakes made a descent on the Warm Spring reservation, and drove off all the stock they had not before secured. When there was nothing left to steal, twenty dragoons under Lieutenant Gregg were quartered at the reservation to be ready to repel any further attacks.15
Colonel Wright reported to headquarters, Septem- ber 20th, that the "routes of immigration were ren- dered perfectly safe " by the operations of troops during
14 U. S. Sen. Doc. 1, vol. ii. 131, 36th cong. 2d sess .; Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 14, 1860.
15 Ind. Aff. Rept, 1860, 176; 1861, 156; Puget Sound Herald, Oct. 26, 1860.
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MASSACRE ON SNAKE RIVER.
the summer; that nothing more needed to be done or could be done, with regard to the Shoshones, before spring, when the superintendent would essay a treaty at Salmon River, which would serve every purpose; 16 but urged the construction of a fort at Boisé, which had already been directed by the secretary of war, delayed, however, for reasons connected with the threatening aspect of affairs in the southern states. Major Grier's command, which had taken the road to Boisé to look after the immigration, returned to Walla Walla in Sep- tember.
The troops were no sooner comfortably garrisoned than the local Indian agent at the Umatilla, Byron N. Davis, notified the commander at Fort Walla Walla that a massacre had taken place three weeks previous on Snake River, between Salmon Falls and Fort Boisé, wherein about fifty persons had been killed, or scattered over the wilderness to perish by starvation. Davis also reported that he had imme- diately despatched two men with a horse-load of pro- visions to hasten forward to meet any possible surviv- ors; and at the same time a loaded wagon drawn by oxen, this being the best that he could do with the means at his command. As soon as the disaster be- came known to the military authorities, Captain Dent with one hundred mounted men was ordered to pro- ceed rapidly along the road and afford such assistance as was required by the sufferers, and if possible to punish the Indians. At the same time it was thought that the report brought in by the three known sur- vivors might be exaggerated.17
The story of the ill-fated party is one of the most terrible of the many terrible experiences of travellers across the Snake River plains. On the 13th of Sep- tember, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning, a train of eight wagons and fifty-four persons was
16 U. S. Sen. Doc. 1, vol. ii. p. 136, 1860-61, 36th cong. 2d sess.
17 Report of Colonel Wright, in U. S. Sen. Doc. 1, vol. ii. p. 141, 1860-1, 36th cong. 2d sess.
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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.
attacked by Indians about one hundred in number. An escort of twenty-two dragoons had travelled with this company six days west of Fort Hall, where Colo- nel Howe was stationed with several companies of troops for the purpose of protecting the immigration to California and Oregon. Thinking the California road more dangerous, and aware that there were or had been troops from the Oregon department in the neighborhood of Boisé, Colonel Howe deemed further escort unnecessary, and the train proceeded for two weeks before meeting with any hostile Indians.
On the morning named they appeared in force, sur- rounding the train, yelling like demons, as the emi- grants thought with the design of stampeding their cattle, which they accordingly quickly corralled, at the same time preparing to defend themselves. See- ing this, the savages made signs of friendship, and of being hungry, by which means they obtained leave to approach near enough to receive presents of food. They then allowed the emigrants to pass on, but when the wagons had gained a high point which ex- posed them to attack, a fire was opened on the train with rifles and arrows from the cover of the artemisia. Again the company halted and secured their cattle. But before this was accomplished three men were shot down. A battle now took place, which lasted the remainder of the day, and in which several Ind- ians were seen to fall. The firing of the savages was badly directed, and did little harm except to annoy the horses and cattle, already irritable for want of food and water. All night the Indians fired random shots, and on the morning of the second day recom- menced the battle, which continued until the second night, another man being killed. Toward sunset the company agreed upon leaving four of their wagons for booty to the Indians, hoping in this way to divert their attention long enough to escape with the other four. They accordingly started on with half the train, leaving half behind. But the savages paid no
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SUFFERINGS OF THE IMMIGRANTS.
heed to the abandoned property, following and attack- ing the emigrants with fresh activity. The men labored to hasten their cattle, but in spite of all their efforts the hungry creatures would stop to snatch a mouthful of food. With the company were four young men, discharged soldiers from Fort Hall, well armed with rifles and revolvers belonging to the com- pany, and mounted on good horses, who were to ride in advance to keep the way open. Instead of doing their duty, they fled with the horses and arms. 18 Two other men, brothers named Reith, succeeded in reach- ing Umatilla the 2d of October, by whose report, as well as the story of the other surviving fugitives, the massaere became known.
Finding it impossible to drive the famished cattle, and seeing that in a short time they must fall vietims to the savages, the ill-fated emigrants determined to abandon the remainder of the loaded wagons and the cattle, and if possible save their lives. The moment, however, that they were away from the protection of the wagons, two persons, John Myers and Susan Utter, were shot dead. Mr Utter, father of the young woman, then made signs of peace, but was shot while proposing a treaty. Mrs Utter refused to quit her dead husband, and with three of her children, a boy and two girls, was soon despatched by the savages.
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