USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 50
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27 Drew's report was published in 1865, in the Jacksonville Sentinel, from January 28 to March 11, 1865, and also in a pamphlet of 32 pages, printed at Jacksonville. It is chiefly a topographical reconnoissance, and as such is instructive and interesting, but contains few incidents of a military char- acter in relation to the Indians; in fact, these appear to have been purposely left out. But taking the explorations of Drew, which were made at some distance north of the southern immigraut road, in connection with those of Drake and Curry, it will be seen that a great amount of valuable work of a character usually performed by expensive government exploring expeditions was performed by the 1st Oregon cavalry in this and the following year. See Drew's Owyhee Reconnaissance, 1-32.
2. This occurred June 23d near Silver Lake, 85 miles north of Fort Klam- ath. The train consisted of 7 wagons and 15 men, several of whom were ac- companied by their families. The Indians took 7 of their oxen and 3,500 pounds of flour. John Richardson was leader of the company. Three mnen were wounded.
504
MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS.
company fell back forty miles to a company in the rear, and sent word to Fort Klamath, after which they retreated to Sprague River, and an ambulance having been sent to take the wounded to the fort, the immigrants all determined to travel under Drew's protection to the Owyhee, and thence to the John Day.
Their course was up Sprague River to its head waters, across the Goose Lake Mountains into Drew Valley, thence into Goose Lake Valley, around the head of the lake to a point twenty-one miles down its east side to an intersection with the immigrant road from the States near Lassen Pass, where a number of trains joined the expedition. Passing eastward from this point, Drew's route led into Fan- dango Valley,23 a glade a mile and a half west from the summit of the old immigrant pass, and thence over the summit of Warner Range into Surprise Valley,30 passing across it and around the north end of Cowhead Lake, eastward over successive ranges of rocky ridges down a canon into Warner Valley, and around the south side of Warner Mountain,31 where he narrowly eseaped attack by the redoubta- ble chief Panina, who was deterred only by seeing the howitzer in the train. 32 Proceeding south-east over a
29 So named from a dance being held there to celebrate the meeting of friends from California and the States. In the midst of their merriment they were attacked, and war's alarms quickly interrupted their festivities. Drew's Reconnaissance, 9.
30 Drew says this and not the valley beyond it should have been called Warner Valley, the party under Capt. Lyons, which searched for Warner's remains, finding his bones in Surprise Valley, a few miles sonth of the immi- grant road. Id., 10.
31 Drew made a reconnoissance of this butte, which he declared for mili- tary purposes to be unequalled, and as such it was held by the Snake Ind- ians. A summit on a general level, with an area of more than 100 square miles, diversified with miniature mountains, grassy valleys, lakes and streams of pure water, groves of aspen, willow, and mountain mahogany, and gar- deus of service-berries, made it a complete haven of refuge, where its pos- sessors could repel any foc. The approach from the valley was exceed- ingly abrupt, being in many places a solid wall. On its north side it rose directly from the waters of Warner Lake, which rendered it unassailable from that direction. Its easiest approach was from the sonth, by a series of benches; but an examination of the country at its base discovered the fact that the approach nsed by the Indians was on the north.
32 Panina afterward accurately described the order of march, and the order
505
DREW'S EXPLORATIONS.
sterile country to Puebla Valley, the expedition turned northward to Camp Alvord, having lost so much time in escort duty that the original design of exploring about the head waters of the Owyhee could not be carried out. The last wagons reached Drew's camp, two miles east of Alvord, on the 31st of Au- gust, and from this point, with a detachment of nine- teen men, Drew proceeded to Jordan Creek Valley and Fort Boisé, escorting the immigration to these points, and returning to camp September 22d, where he found an order requiring his immediate return to Fort Klamath, to be present with his command at a council to be held the following month with the Klamaths, Modocs, and Panina's band of Snake Ind- ians. On his return march Drew avoided going around the south-eastern point of the Warner Moun- tains, finding a pass through them which shortened his route nearly seventy miles, the road being nearly straight between Steen and Warner Mountains, and thence westward across the ridge into Goose Lake Valley, with a saving in distance of another forty miles. On rejoining his former trail he found it travelled by the immigration to Rogue River Valley, which passed down Sprague River and by the Fort Klamath road to Jacksonville. A line of communi- cation was opened from that place to Owyhee and Boisé, which was deemed well worth the labor and cost of the expedition, the old immigrant route be- ing shortened between two and three hundred miles. The military gain was the discovery of the haunt of Panina and his band at Warner Mountain, and the discovery of the necessity for a post in Goose Lake Valley.33
Congress having at length made an appropriation of $20,000 for the purpose of making a treaty with
of encamping, picketing, and guarding, with all the details of an advance through an enemy's country, showing that nothing escaped his observation, and that what was worth copying he could easily learn.
33 Hay's Scraps, iii. 121-2.
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MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS.
the Indian tribes in this part of Oregon, Superintend- ent Huntington, after a preliminary conference in Au- gust, appointed a general council for the 9th of Octo- ber. The council came off and lasted until the 15th, on which day Drew reached the council ground at the ford of Sprague River, glad to find his services had not been required, and not sorry to have had nothing to do with the treaty there made: not because the treaty was not a good and just one, but from a fear that the government would fail to keep it.34
34 The treaty was made between Huntington of Oregon, A. E. Wiley, sup. of Cal., by his deputy, agent Logan of Warm Spring reservation, and the Klamaths, Modocs, and Yahooskin band of Snakes. The military preseut were a detachment of Washington infantry under Lieut. Halloran, W. C. Mckay with 5 Indian scouts, Captain Kelly and Lieutenant Underwood with a detachment of company C. The Indians on the ground numbered 1070, of whom 700 were Klamaths, over 300 Modocs, and 20 Snakes, but more than 1,500 were represented. Huntington estimated that there were not more than 2,000 Indians in the country treated for, though Drew and E. Steele of California made a much higher estimate. Ind. Ajf. Rept, 1865, 102. Special Agent Lindsey Applegate aud Mckay acted as counsellors and interpreters for the Indians. There was no difficulty in making a treaty with the Klamaths. The Modocs and Snakes were more reluctant, but signed the treaty, which they perfectly understood. It ceded all right to a tract of coun- try extending from the 44th parallel on the north to the ridge which divides the Pit and McLeod rivers on the south, and from the Cascade Mountains on the west to the Goose Lake Mountains on the east. There was reserved a tract beginning on the eastern shore of Upper Klamath Lake at Point of Rocks, twelve miles below Williamson River, thence following up the eastern shore to the mouth of Wood River to a point one mile north of the bridge at Fort Klamath; thence due cast to the ridge which divides Klamath marsh from Upper Klamath Lake; thence along said ridge to a point due east of the north end of Klamath marsh; thence due east, passing the north end of Kla- math inarsh to the summit of the mountain, the extremity of which forms the Point of Rocks, and along said ridge to the place of beginning. This tract contained, besides much country that was considered unfit for settlement, the Klamath marsh, which afforded a great food supply in roots and seeds, a large extent of fine grazing land, with enongh arable land to make farms for all the Indians, and access to the fishery on Williamson River and the great or Upper Klamath Lake. The Klamath reservation, as did every Indian res- ervation, if that on the Oregon coast was excepted, contained some of the choicest country and most agreeable scenery in the state. White persons, ex- cept government officers and employés, were by the terms of the treaty for- bidden to reside upon the reservation, while the Indians were equally bound to live upon it; the right of way for public roads only being pledged. The U. S. agreed to pay $8,000 per annum for five years, beginning when the treaty should be ratified; $5,000 for the next five years, and $3,000 for the following five years; these sums to be expended, under the direction of the president, for the benefit of the Indians. The U. S. further agreed to pay $35,000 for such articles as should be furnished to the Indians at the time of signing the treaty, and for their subsistence, clothing, and teams to begin farming for the first year. As soon as practicable after the ratification of the treaty, mills, shops, and a school-house were to be built. For fifteen years a superintendent of farming, a farmer, blacksmith. wagon-maker, sawyer, and
507
HUNTINGTON'S TREATY.
Overtures had been made to Panina, but unsuccess- fully. He had been invited to the council, but pre- ferred enjoying his freedom. But an unexpected reverse was awaiting the chief. After Superintend- ent Huntington had distributed the presents provided for the occasion of the treaty, and deposited at the fort 16,000 pounds of flour to be issued to such of the Indians as chose to remain there during the winter, he set out on his return to The Dalles, as he had come, by the route along the eastern base of the Cascade Mountains. Quite unexpectedly, when in the neighborhood of the head waters of Des Chutes, he came upon two Snakes, who endeavored to escape, but being intercepted, were found to belong to Panina's band. The escort immediately encamped and sent out scouts in search of the camp of the chief, which was found after several hours, on one of the tribu- taries of the river, containing, however, only three men, three women, and two children, who were cap- tured and brought to camp, one of the women being Panina's wife. Before the superintendent could turn to advantage this fortunate capture, which he hoped might bring him into direct communication with Panina, the Indians made a simultaneous attempt to seize the guns of their captors, when they were fired upon, and three killed, two escaping though wounded. One of these died a few hours afterward, but one reached Panina's camp, and recovered. By this means the chief learned of the loss of four of his warriors and the captivity of his wife, who was taken with the other women and children to Vancouver to be held as hostages.
carpenter were to be furnished, and two teachers for twenty-two years. The U. S. might cause the land to be surveyed in allotments, which might be secured to the families of the holders. The annuities of the tribe could not be taken for the debts of individuals. The U. S. might at any future time locate other Indians on the reservation, the parties to the treaty to lose no rights thereby. On the part of the Indians, they pledged themselves not to drink intoxicating liquors on pain of forfeiting their annuities; and to obey the laws of the U. S .; the treaty to be binding when ratified.
The first settler in the Klamath country was George Nourse, who took up in August 1863 the land where Linkville stands. He was notary public and registrar of the Linkton land district. Jacksonville Sentinel, March 8, 1873.
508
MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS.
Not long after this event Panina presented himself at Fort Klamath, having received a message sent him from the council ground, that he would be permitted to come and go unharmed, and wished Captain Kelly of Fort Klamath to assure the superintendent that he was tired of war, and would willingly make peace could he be protected.35 To this offer of submission, answer was returned that the superintendent would visit him the following summer with a view to mak- ing a treaty. This closed operations against the Indians of southern Oregon for the year, and afforded a prospect of permanent peace, so far as the country adjacent to the Rogue River Valley was concerned, a portion of which had been subject to invasions from the Klamath country. Even the Umpqua Valley had not been quite free from occasional mysterious visitations, from which henceforward it was to be delivered.
With the close of the campaigns of the First Ore- gon Cavalry for 1864, the term of actual service of the original six companies expired. They had per- formed hard service, though not of the kind they would have chosen. Small was the pay, and trifling the reward of glory. It was known as the 'puritan regiment,' from habits of temperance and morality, and was largely composed of the sons of well-to-do farmers. Out of fifty-one desertions occurring in three years, but three were from this class, the rest being recruits from the floating population of the country. No regiment in the regular army had stood the same tests so heroically.
When the legislature met in 1864 a bounty act was passed to encourage future, not to reward past, volun- teering. It gave to every soldier who should enlist for three years or during the war, as part of the state's
35 A treaty was made with Panina in the following year, but badly observed by him, as the history of the Snake wars will show.
509
NEW ENLISTMENTS.
quota under the laws of congress, $150 in addition to other bounties and pay already provided for, to be paid in three instalments, at the beginning and end of the first year, and at the end of the term of service either to him, or in case of his demise, to his heirs. For the purpose of raising a fund for this use, a tax was levied of one mill on the dollar upon all the tax- able property of the state.36 At the same time, how- ever, an act was passed appropriating $100,000 as a fund out of which to pay five dollars a month addi- tional compensation to the volunteers already in the service.37
On the day the first bill was signed Governor Gibbs issued a proclamation that a requisition had been made by the department commander for a regiment of infantry in addition to the volunteers then in the service of the United States, who were "to aid in the enforcement of the laws, suppress insurrection and in- vasion, and to chastise hostile Indians " in the mili- tary district of Oregon. Ten companies were called for, to be known as the 1st Infantry Oregon Volun- teers, each company to consist of eighty-two privates maximum or sixty-four minimum, besides a full corps of regimental and staff officers. The governor in his proclamation made an earnest appeal to county offi- cers to avoid a draft by vigorously prosecuting the business of procuring volunteers. Lieutenants' com- missions were immediately issued to men in the sev- eral counties as recruiting officers,83 conditional upon their raising their companies within a prescribed time, when they would be promoted to the rank of captain.39
$6 Or. Laws, 1866, 98-110.
87 Id., 104-8; Rhinehart's Oregon Cavalry, MS., 15.
38 A. J. Borland, Grant county; E. Palmer, Yamhill; Charles Lafollet, Polk; J. M. Gale, Clatsop; W. J. Shipley, Benton; W. S. Powell, Multno- mah; C. P. Crandall, Marion; F. O. Mccown, Clackamas; T. Humphreys, Jackson, were commissioned 2d lieutenants.
3º Polk county raised $1,200 extra bounty rather than fail, and completed her enlistment, first of all. Josephine county raised $2,500, and Clackamas offered similar inducements. Portland Oregonian, Nov. 30, 1864, Feb. 14, 1865.
510
MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS.
Six companies were formed within the limit, and two more before the first of April 1865.40
Early in January 1865 General McDowell made a re- quisition for a second regiment of cavalry, the existing organization to be kept up and to retain its name of 1st Oregon cavalry, but to be filled up to twelve com- panies. In making his proclamation Governor Gibbs reminded those liable to perform military duty of the bounties provided by the state and the general gov- ernment which would furnish horses to the new regi- ment. But the response was not enthusiastic. About this time the district was extended to include the southern and south-eastern portions of the state, here- tofore attached to California, while the Boisé and Owyhee region was made a subdistrict of Oregon, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Drake. These arrangements left the military affairs of Oregon en- tirely in the hands of her own citizens, under the general command of General McDowell, and thus they remained through the summer. On the 14th of July Colonel Maury retired, and Colonel B. Curry took the command of the district.
In the summer of 1864 General Wright, though retaining command of the district of California, was relieved of the command of the department of the Pacific by General McDowell, who in the month of August paid a visit of inspection to the dis- trict of Oregon, going first to Puget Sound, where fortifications were being erected at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, and thence to Vancouver on the revenue cutter Shubrick, Captain Scammon. On the 13th of September he inspected the defensive works under construction at the mouth of the Columbia,
40 The following were the lieutenants in the regiment: William J. Ship- ley, Cyrus H. Walker, Thomas H. Reynolds, Samuel F. Kerns, John B. Dimick, Darius B. Randall, William M. Rand, William Grant, Harrison B. Oatman, Byron Barlow, William R. Dunbar, John W. Cullen, Charles B. Roland, Charles H. Hill, Joseph M. Gale, James A. Balch, Peter P. Gates, Daniel W. Applegate, Charles N. Chapman, Albert Applegate, Richard Fox (vice Balch). Report Adjt Gen. Or., 1866, pp. 217-221.
511
FORTIFICATIONS.
which were begun the previous year. For this pur- pose congress had in 1861-2 appropriated $100,000 to be expended at the mouth of the Columbia, and with such rapidity had the work been pushed forward that the fortifications on Point Adams, on the south- ern side of the entrance to the river, were about com- pleted at the time of McDowell's visit. With the approval of the war department, Captain George El- liot of the engineering corps named this fort in honor of General I. J. Stevens, who fell at the battle of Chantilly, September 1, 1862.41
Immediately on the completion of this fort corre- sponding earthworks were erected on the north side of the entrance to the river on the high point known as Cape Disappointment, but recognized by the depart- ment as Cape Hancock. Both of these fortifications were completed before the conclusion of the civil war, which hastened their construction, and were garri- soned in the autumn of 1865.42 In 1874, by order of the war department and at the suggestion of Assist- ant adjutant-general H. Clay Wood, the military post at Cape Hancock was named Fort Canby, in honor of Major-general Edward R. S. Canby, who perished by assassination during the Modoc war of 1872-3, and the official name of the cape was ordered to be used by the army.
41 Fort Stevens was constructed of solid earthworks, just inside the en- trance, and was made one of the strongest and best armed fortifications on the Pacific coast. It was a nonagon in shape, and surrounded by a ditch thirty feet in width, which was again surrounded by earthworks, protecting the walls of the fort and the earthworks supporting the ordnance. Or. Argus, June 5 and 29, 1863; Ibid., Aug. 18, 1863; Victor's Or., 40-1; Surgeon Gen. Circ., 8, 484-7.
42 On Cape Disappointment was a light-house of the first class, rising from the highest point. Extending along the crest of the cape on the river side were three powerful batteries mounted on solid walls of earth. Under the shel- ter of the cape, around the shore of Baker Bay, were the garrison buildings and officers' quarters. It was and is at present one of the prettiest places on the Columbia, though rather inaccessible in stormy weather. Surgeon Gen. Circular, 8, 461; Victor's Or., 36-8; Overland Monthly, viii. 73-4; Steel's Rifle Regt, MS., 5; Portland Oregonian, April 4, 1864, Oct. 19, 1865; S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 25, 1864; Or. Pioneer Hist. Soc., 7-8.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
1866-1868.
COMPANIES AND CAMPS-STEELE'S MEASURES-HALLECK HEADSTRONG- BATTLE OF THE OWYHEE-INDIAN RAIDS-SUFFERINGS OF THE SETTLERS AND TRANSPORTATION MEN- MOVEMENTS OF TROOPS-ATTITUDE OF Gov- ERNOR WOODS-FREE FIGHTING-ENLISTMENT OF INDIANS TO FIGHT INDIANS-MILITARY REORGANIZATION-AMONG THE LAVA-BEDS-CROOK IN COMMAND-EXTERMINATION OR CONFINEMENT AND DEATH IN RESER- VATIONS.
IN the spring of 1865 the troops were early called upon to take the field in Oregon and Idaho, the roads between The Dalles and Boisé, between Boisé and Salt Lake, between Owyhee and Chico, and Owyhee and Humboldt in California, being unsafe by reason of Indian raids. A hundred men were sent in April to guard The Dalles and Boisé road, which, owing to its length, 450 miles, they could not do. In May, com- pany B, Oregon volunteers, Captain Palmer, moved from The Dalles to escort a supply-train to Boisé. Soon after arriving, Lieutenant J. W. Cullen was dircted to take twenty men and proceed 150 miles far- ther to Camp Reed, on the Salmon Falls Creek, where he was to remain and guard the stage and immigrant road. Captain Palmer was ordered to establish a sum- mer camp on Big Camas prairie, which he called Camp Wallace. From this point Lieutenant C. H. Walker was sent with twenty-two enlisted men to the Three Buttes, 110 miles east of Camp Wallace, to look out for the immigration. Leaving most of his command at Three Buttes, Walker proceeded to Gibson's ferry,
( 512 )
513
CAMP LANDER.
above Fort Hall, where he found a great number of wagons crossing, and no unfriendly Indians. On re- ceiving orders, however, he removed his company to the ferry, where he remained until September 19th, after which he proceeded to Fort Hall to prepare winter
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quarters, Palmer's company being ordered to occupy that post. The old fort was found a heap of ruins; but out of the adobes and some abandoned buildings of the overland stage company, a shelter was erected at the junction of the Salt Lake, Virginia City, and Boisé roads, which station was named Camp Lander. This HIST. OR., VOL. II. 33
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514
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
post and Camp Reed were maintained during the win- ter by the Oregon infantry, the latter having only tents for shelter, and being exposed to severe hardships.1 In May detachments of Oregon cavalry were ordered from The Dalles, under lieutenants Charles Hobart and James L. Curry, to clear the road to Canon City, and thence to Boisé, from which post Major Drake ordered Curry to proceed to Rock Creek, on Snake River, to escort the mails, the Indians having driven off all the stock of the overland stage company from several of the stations.
Lieutenant Hobart proceeded to Jordan Creek, where he established a post called Camp Lyon, after General Lyon, who fell during the war of the rebellion, at Willow Creek in Missouri. Soon after, being in pursuit of some Indians who had again driven off stock on Reynolds Creek, he was himself attacked while in camp on the Malheur, having the horses of his command stampeded; but in a fight of four hours, dur- ing which he had two men wounded, he recovered his own, took a part of the enemy's horses, and killed and wounded several Indians.2 Captain L. L. Williams, of company H, Oregon infantry, who was employed guarding the Canon City road, was ordered from camp Watson in September, to proceed on an expedition to Selvie River, Lieutenant Bowen of the cavalry be- ing sent to join him with twenty-five soldiers. Before Bowen's arrival, Williams' company performed some of the best fighting of the season under the great- est difficulties; being on foot, and compelled to march a long distance surrounded by Indians mounted and afoot, but of whom they killed fifteen, with a loss of one man killed and two wounded.8 Williams re- mained in the Harney Valley through the winter, establishing Camp Wright.
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