USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 51
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1 Lieut Walker here referred to is a son of Rev. Elkanah Walker, a mission- ary of 1835.
2 Boisé City Statesman, July 13 and 18, 1865. Hobart was afterward a cap- tain in the regular army. Albany States Right& Democrat, July 2, 1875.
$ Report of Lt Williams in Rept Adjt Gen. Or. 1866, 82-98. L. L. Will- iams was one of the Port Orford party which suffered so severely in 1851.
515
CURRY AND SPRAGUE.
In addition to the Oregon troops, Captain L. S. Scott, of the 4th California volunteer infantry, was employed guarding the road to Chico, being stationed in Paradise Valley through the summer, but ordered to Silver Creek in September, where he established Camp Curry.
Colonel Curry had succeeded to the command of the distriet of the Columbia on the death of General Wright, while en route to Vancouver to assume the command, by the foundering of the steamship Brother Jonathan. In order to obviate the inconvenience of long and unwieldly transportation trains, and in order also to carry on a winter campaign, which he believed would be most effectual, as the Indians would then be found in the valleys, Curry distributed the troops in the following camps: Camp Polk on the Des Chutes River, Camp Curry on Silver Creek, Camp Wright on Selvie River, camps Logan and Colfax on the Canon City and Boisé road, Camp Alvord in Alvord Valley, Camp Lyon on Jordan Creek, Idaho, Camp Reed near Salmon Falls, and Camp Lander at old Fort Hall, Idaho. But with all these posts the country continued to suffer with little abatement the scourge of frequent Indian raids.
Early in October Captain F. B. Sprague, of the 1st Oregon infantry, was ordered to examine the route between Camp Alvord and Fort Klamath, with a view to opening communication with the latter. Escorted by eleven cavalrymen, Sprague set out on the 10th, tak- ing the route by Warner Lake over which Drew had made a reconnoissance in 1865, arriving at Fort Klam- ath on the 17th without having seen any Indians. But having come from Fort Klamath a month previ- ous, and seen a large trail crossing his route, going south, and not finding that any fresh trail indicated the return of the Indians, he came to the conclusion that they were still south of the Drew road, between it and Surprise Valley, where Camp Bidwell was located.
On making this report to Major Rheinhart, in com-
516
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
mand at Klamath, he was ordered to return to Camp Alvord by the way of Surprise Valley and arrange co- operative measures with the commander of the post there. But when he arrived at Camp Bidwell on the 28th, Captain Starr, of the second California volunteer cavalry, in command, was already under orders to re- pair with his company, except twenty-five men, to Fort
120
FL.
Wind
Columbia
Henrietta
INDIAN
"THE DALLES
RES.
Mt. Hood
R
John Day
Powder
INDIAN RES,
old Camp Watson
Camp Lugar
CANYON CITY
Chutets
Crooked
-
MALHEUR FUIVER
Lvi
Camp Henderson
ANDIAN
Malheur
Fort Harney
Camp Currye
RESERVATION
Camp Wright
Owyhee R
Klamath
Summe
NELMATH ARptAN Fort Klamath
Ink
RESERVATION
Old Camp Alvord
R
que R
Klamath Take "
Camp Warner
Old Camp
N'S
Old Camp C.F.Smith,
Warner
119 %
EASTERN OREGON, CAMPS AND FORTS.
Crook, before the mountains became impassable with snow. He decided, however, to send ten men, under Lieutenant Backus, with Sprague's escort, to prove the supposed location of the main body of the Indians. On the third day, going north, having arrived at Warner's Creek, which enters the east side of the lake seven miles south of the crossing of the Drew road,
Grande Ronde R.
Wallasca
Cr
TWARM SPRING
BAKER CITY:
Camp Polk Camp Maury
Camp Dahlgren
Camp Colfax
Ferry
South Fk
Harney Lake
Camp Lyon
Owyhe
517
DISBANDMENT OF VOLUNTEERS.
without falling in with any Indians, Backus turned back to Camp Bidwell, and Sprague proceeded.
No sooner had this occurred than signs of the enemy began to appear, who were encountered, 125 strong, about two miles south from the road. While the troops were passing an open space between the lake and the steep side of a mountain they were attacked by the savages hidden in trenches made by land-slides, and be- hind rocks. Sprague, being surprised, and unable either to climb the mountain or swim the lake, halted to take in the situation. The attacking parties were in the front and rear, but he observed that those in the rear were armed with bows and arrows, while those in front had among them about twenty-five rifles. The former were leaving their hiding-places to drive him upon the lat- ter. Observing this, he made a sudden charge to the rear, escaping unharmed and returning to Camp Bid- well.
Captain Starr then determined to hold his company at that post, and cooperate with Camp Alvord against those Indians. But when Sprague arrived there by another route he found the cavalry half dismounted by a recent raid of these ubiquitous thieves, and the other half absent in pursuit;4 thus a good opportunity of beginning a winter campaign was lost. But an im- portant discovery had been made of the principal rendezvous of the Oregon Snake Indians-a knowledge which the regular army turned to account when they succeeded the volunteer service.
In October, before Curry had thoroughly tested his plan of a winter campaign, orders were received to muster out the volunteers, and with them he retired from the service. He was succeeded in the command of the department by Lieutenant-colonel Drake, who in turn was mustered out in December. Little by little the whole volunteer force was disbanded, until in June 1866 there remained in the service only com-
+ James Alderson of Jacksonville, a good man, who was on guard, was killed in this raid. Portland Oregonian, Dec. 4, 1865.
518
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
pany B, 1st Oregon cavalry, and company I, 1st Oregon infantry. All the various camps in Oregon were abandoned except Camp Watson, against the removal of which the merchants of The Dalles protested,5 and Camp Alvord, which was removed to a little different location and called Camp C. F. Smith. Camp Lyon and Fort Boisé were allowed to remain, but forts Lapwai and Walla Walla were abandoned. These changes were made preparatory to the arrival of several companies of regular troops, and the opening of a new campaign under a new department commander.
The first arrival in the Indian country of troops from the east was about the last of October 1865, when two companies of the 14th infantry were stationed at Fort Boisé, with Captain Walker in command, when the volunteers at that post proceeded to Vancouver to be mustered out. No other changes occurred in this part of the field until spring, the United States and Oregon troops being fully employed in pursuing the omnipresent Snakes.6 Toward the middle of February 1866, a large amount of property having been stolen, Captain Walker made an expedition with thirty-nine men to the mouth of the Owyhee, and into Oregon, between the Owyhee and Malheur rivers, com- ing upon a party of twenty-one Indians in a cañon, and opening fire. A vigorous resistance was made before the savages would relinquish their booty, which they did only when they were all dead but three, who escaped in the darkness of coming night. Walker lost one man killed and one wounded.
On the 24th of February Major-general F. Steele
5 Dalles Mountaineer, April 20, 1866.
6 A man named Clark was shot, near the mouth of the Owyhee, while en- camped with other wagoners, in Nov .; 34 horses were stolen from near Boisé ferry on Snake River in Dec. ; and the pack-mules at Camp Alvord were stolen. Captain Sprague recovered these latter. Feb. 13th the rancho of Andrew Hall, 15 miles from Ruby City, was attacked, Hall killed, 50 head of horses driven off, and the premises set on fire. Boise Statesman, Feb. 17, 1866; Id., March 4, 1866. Ada County raised a company o.' volunteers to pursue these Indians, but they were not overtaken. Ind. Af. Rept, 1866, 187-8; Austin Reese River Reveille, March 13, 1866.
519
CAMPS AND COMMANDERS.
took command of the department of the Columbia. There were in the department at that time, besides the volunteer force which amounted numerically to 553 infantry and 319 cavalry, one battalion of the 14th United States infantry, numbering 793 men, and three companies of artillery, occupying fortified works at the mouth of the Columbia and on San Juan Island. These troops, exclusive of the artillery, were scattered in small detachments over a large extent of country, as we already know.
On the 2d of March the post of Fort Boise, with its dependencies, camps Lyon, Alvord, Reed, and Lan- der, was erected into a full military district, under the command of Major L. H. Marshall, who arrived at district headquarters about the 20th, and immediately made a requisition upon Steele for three more com- panies. In April Colonel J. B. Sinclair of the 14th infantry took the command at Camp Curry, which he abandoned and proceeded to Boisé. Fort Boisé received about this time a company of the same regi- ment, under Captain Hinton, withdrawn from Cape Hancock, at the mouth of the Columbia, and another, under Lieutenant-colonel J. J. Coppinger, withdrawn from The Dalles.
Camp Watson received two companies of cavalry, under the command of Colonel E. M. Baker. Camp C. F. Smith received a cavalry company under Cap- tain David Perry, who marched into Oregon from the south by the Chico route; and Camp Lyon received another under Captain James C. Hunt, who entered Oregon by the Humboldt route. At Camp Lyon also was a company of the 14th infantry under Captain P.
Collins, and one of the 1st Oregon infantry under Captain Sprague. From this it will be seen that most of the troops were massed in the Boise military dis- trict, only Baker's two companies being stationed where they could guard the road between The Dalles and Boisé, which was so infested that the express company refused to carry treasure over it, half a dozen
520
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
successful raids having been made on the line of the road before the first of May.
Although Steele's first action was to cause the abandonment of most of the camps already established, as I have noticed, as early as March 20th, he wrote to General Halleck, commanding the division of the Pacific, that the Indians had commenced depredations, with such signs of continued hostilities in the southern portions of Oregon and Idaho that he should recom- mend the establishment of two posts during the sum- mer, from which to operate against them the follow- ing winter, one at or near Camp Wright, and another in Goose Lake Valley, from which several roads diverged leading to other valleys frequented by hostile Snakes, Utes, Pit Rivers, Modocs, and Klamaths.
On the 28th of March Major Marshall led an ex- pedition to the Bruneau River, 110 miles, finding only the unarmed young and old of the Snake tribe, to the number of 150. On returning about the middle of April he ordered Captain Collins, with a detachment of Company B and ten men from the 14th infantry, to proceed to Squaw Creek, a small stream entering Snake River a few miles below the mouth of Rey- nolds Creek, and search the cañon thoroughly, not only for Indian foes, but for white men who were said to be in league with them, and who, if found, were to be hanged without further ceremony. Being unsuccessful, Collins was sent to scout on Burnt River and Clark Creek.
On the 11th of May Marshall again left the fort with Colonel Coppinger and eighty-four men, to scout on the head-waters of the Owyhee. He found a large force of Indians at the Three Forks of the Owyhee, strongly posted between the South and Mid- dle forks. The river being impassable at this place, he moved down eight miles, where he crossed his men by means of a raft. As they were about to advance up the bluff, they were fired on by Indians concealed behind rocks. A battle now occurred which
521
MARSHALL'S DEFEAT.
lasted four hours, in which seven of the savages were killed and a greater number wounded; but the Indians being in secure possession of the rocks could not be dislodged, and Marshall was forced to retreat across the river, losing his raft, a howitzer, some provisions, and some ammunition which was thrown in the river. His loss in killed was one non-commissioned officer.7 His rout, notwithstanding, was complete, and to ac- count for the defeat he reported the number of Indians engaged at 500, an extraordinary force to be in any one camp.
And thus the war went on, from bad to worse.8 On the 19th of May a large company of Chinamen, to whom the Idaho mines had recently been opened, were attacked at Battle Creek, where Jordan and others were killed, and fifty or sixty slaughtered, the frightened and helpless celestials offering no resistance, but trying to make the savages understand that they were non-combatants and begging for mercy.9 Pepoon hastened to the spot, but found only dead bodies strewn
7 A detachment of the Oregon cavalry accompanied Marshall on this ex- pedition, and blamed him severely for inhumanity. A man named Phillips, an Oregonian, was lassoed and drawn up the cliff in which the Indians were lodged, to be tortured and mutilated. Lieut Silas Pepoon of the Oregon cavalry wished to go to his rescue, but was forbidden. He also left 4 men on the opposite bank of the river, who were cut off by the swamping of the raft. The volunteer commanders would never have abandoned their men without an effort for their rescue. See U. S. Mess. and Docs, 1866-7, 501, 39th cong. 2d sess.
8 During the night of the 4th of May sixty animals were stolen from packers on Reynolds Creek, eight miles from Ruby City. None of the trains were recovered. The loss and damage was estimated at $10,000. Dalles Moun- taineer, May 18, 1866. About the 25th of May, Beard and Miller, teamsters from Chico, on their way to the Idaho mines, lost 421 cattle out of a herd of 460, driven off by the Indians. About the 20th of June, twenty horses were stolen from War Eagle Mountain, above Ruby City. On the 12th of June, C. C. Gassett was murdered on his farm near Ruby City, and 100 head of stock driven off. Early in July, James Perry, of Michigan, was murdered by the Indians, his arms and legs chopped off, and his body pinned to the ground, along with a man named Green, treated in the same manner.
9 Travellers over the road reported over 100 unburied bodies of Chinamen. The number killed has been variously reported at from 50 to 150. One boy escaped of the whole train. He represented his countrymen as protesting, 'Me bellee good Chinaman ! Me no fightee !' But the scalps of the Chinamen seemed specially inviting to the savages. Butler's Life and Times, MS., 11- 12. Their remains were afterward gathered and buried in one grave. Starr's Idaho, MS., 2; U. S. Sec. Int. Rept, 1867-8, 97, 40th cong. 2d sess .; Owyhee Index, May 26, 1866; Owyhee News, June 1866.
522
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
along the road for six miles. This slaughter was fol- lowed by a raid on the horses and cattle near Boon- ville, in which the Indians secured over sixty head. As they used both horses and horned stock for food, the conclusion was that they were a numerous people or valiant eaters.
Repeated raids in the region of the Owyhee, with which the military force seemed unable to cope, led to the organization, about the last of June, of a volun- teer company of between thirty and forty men, under Captain I. Jennings, an officer who had served in the civil war. On the 2d of July they came upon the Indians on Boulder Creek, and engaged them, but soon found themselves surrounded, the savages being in superior force. Upon discovering their situation, the volunteers intrenched themselves, and sent a mes- senger to Camp Lyon; but the Indians were gone before help came. The loss of the volunteers was one man killed and two wounded." The Indian loss was reported to be thirty-five.
The commander of the district of Boise did not escape criticism, having established a camp on the Bruneau River where there were no hostile Indians, and, it was said, shirked fighting where they were.11 But during the month of August he scouted through the Goose Creek Mountains, killing thirty Indians, after which he marched in the direction of the forks of the Owyhee, where he had a successful battle, and retrieved the losses and failure of the spring campaign by hanging thirty-five captured savages to the limbs of trees.12 He proceeded from there to Steen Moun-
10 Thomas B. Cason, killed; Aaron Winters and Charles Webster wounded. Cason had built up around him a stone fortification, from which he shot in the 2 days 15 Indians, and was shot at last in his little fortress. Sec. Int. Rept, 1867-8, iii., 40th cong. 2d sess., pt 2, 97; Boise Statesman, July 7 and 10, 1866: Sac. Union, July 28, 1868.
11 Boisé Statesman, July 20, 1866. Marshall designed erecting a permanent post on the Bruneau, and had expended several thousand dollars, when or- ders came from headquarters to suspend operations. A one-company camp was permitted to remain during the year.
12 Yreka Union, Oct. 20, 1866; Hayes' Scraps, v., Indians, 228.
523
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
tain, Camp Warner, Warner Lake, where he arrived on the 1st of October.
In the mean time the stage-lines and transportation companies, as well as the stock-raisers, on the route between The Dalles and Canon City, and between Cañon City and Boisé, were scarcely less annoyed and injured than those in the more southern districts.13 Colonel Baker employed his troops in scouring the country, and following marauding bands when their depredations were known to him, which could not often be the case, owing to the extent of country over which the depredations extended. On the 4th of July Lieutenant R. F. Bernard, with thirty-four cavalry- men, left Camp Watson in pursuit of Indians who
13 In May the Indians drove off a herd of horses from the Warm Spring reservation, and murdered a settler on John Day liver named John Witner. In June they attacked a settler on Snake River, near the Weiser, and on the main travelled road, driving off the pack-animals of a train encamped there. In August they robbed a farm on Burnt River of $300 worth of property, while the men were mowing grass a mile away; stole 54 mules and 18 beef- cattle from Camp Watson; and attacked the house of N. J. Clark, on the road, which they burned, with his stables, 50 tons of hay, and 1,000 bushels of grain, and stole all his farm stock, the family barely escaping with their lives. Eight miles from Clark's they took a team belonging to Frank Thomp- son. About the same time they murdered Samuel Leonard, a miner at Mormon Basin. A little later they surprised a mining camp near Canon City, killing Matthew Wilson, and severely wounding David Graham. No aid could be obtained from Camp Watson, the troops being absent in pursuit of the govern- ment property taken from that post. In Sept. they took horses from a place on Clark Creek, from Burnt River, and the ferry at the mouth of Powder River. They pursued and fired on the expressman from Mormon Basin; and attacked the stage between The Dalles and Canon City, when there were but two persons on board, Wheeler, one of the proprietors, and H. C. Paige, express agent. Wheeler was shot in the face, but showed great nerve, mounting one ot the horses with the assistance of Paige, who cut them loose and mounted one himself. The men defended themselves and escaped, leaving the mail and ex- press matter in the hands of the Indians, who poured the gold-dust out on the ground, most of it being afterward recovered. The money, horses, and other property were carried off. In October eleven horses were stolen from a party of prospectors on Rock Creek, Snake River. In Nov. the Indians again visited Field's farm, and stole three beef-cattle. They were pursued by the troops, who surprised and killed several of them, destroying their camp, and capturing a few horses. On the 20th a party of hunters, encamped on Canon Creek, a few miles from Canon City, were attacked, and J. Kester killed. The Indians came within one mile of Canon City, and prepared to attack a house, but being discovered, fled. Early in December they stole a pack-train from near the Canon City road. They were pursued by a detachment of twenty men from Baker's command, under Sergeant Conner, and the train recovered, with a loss to the Indians of fourteen men killed and five women captured. Sec. Int. Rept, 1867-8, pt 2, 95-100; Dulles Mountaineer, Dec. 14, 1866.
524
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
had been committing depredations on the Cañon City road, and marched south to the head-waters of Crooked River, thence to Selvie River and Harney Lake, passing around it to the west and south, and continuing south to Steen Mountain; thence north-east around Malheur Lake, and on to the head-waters of Malheur River, where, on the middle branch, for the first time in this long march, signs of Indians were discovered.
Encamping in a secure situation, scouts were sent out, who captured two. Lieutenant Bernard himself, with fifteen men, searched for a day in the vicinity without finding any of the savages. On the 17th he detached a party of nineteen men, under Sergeant Conner, to look for them, who on the 18th, about eight o'clock in the morning, on Rattlesnake Creek, discovered a large camp, which he at once attacked, killing thirteen and wounding many more. The Ind- ians fled, leaving a few horses and mules, but taking most of their property. The loss on the side of the troops was Corporal William B. Lord. The detach- ment returned to camp on the evening of the 18th, where they found a company of forty-seven citizens from Auburn in Powder River Valley in search of the same band.
With this addition to his force, Bernard, on the 19th, renewed the pursuit, and found the Indians encamped in a deep cañon with perpendicular walls of rock, about a mile beyond their former camp, which place they had further fortified, but which on discover- ing that they were pursued they abandoned, leaving all their provisions and camp equipage behind, and escap- ing with only their horses and arms. Leaving the citi- zens to guard the pack-train, Bernard, with thirty men, followed the flying enemy for sixty miles over a broken and timbered country, passing the footmen, who scat- tered and hid in the rocks, and encamping on Selvie River. During the night the footmen came together, and passing near camp, turned off into some low hills covered with broken rocks and juniper trees.
525
HALLECK'S POLICY.
Upon being pursued, they again scattered like quail, and only two women and children were captured. The following day the train was sent for, and the citi- zens notified that they could accomplish nothing by coming farther. Bernard continued to follow the trail of the mounted Indians for another day, when he returned to Camp Watson, having travelled 630 miles in twenty-six days. He spoke of a report often before eirculated that there were white men among the Malheur band of Shoshones, the troops having heard the English language distinctly spoken during the battle of the 18th. He estimated the num- ber of Indians, men, women, and children, at 300, and the fighting men at eighty. The loss of all their pro- visions and other property, it was thought, would dis- able them.14
In August Lieutenant-colonel R. F. Beirne, of the 14th infantry, from Camp Watson, marched from The Dalles along the Cañon City road to Boisé, scouting the country along his route. On arriving at Fort Boisé, he was ordered to scout the Burnt River region, where the Indians were more troublesome, if that were possible, than ever before. The same was true of the Powder River district and Canon City; and the inhabitants complained that the troops drove the Indians upon the settlements. To this charge Steele replied that this could not always be avoided. But the people of the north-eastern part of Oregon asserted, whether justly or not, that Halleck favored California, by using the main strength of the troops in his divis- ion to protect the route from Chico to the Idaho mines, so that the California merchants should be able to monopolize the trade of the mines, while the Oregon merchants were left to suffer on the road from the Columbia River to the mines of Idaho, or to protect themselves as they best could. The stage company suffered equally with packers and merchants.
Finally Halleck visited south-eastern Oregon; and 14 Alta California, Ang. 22, 1866; Mess. and Docs, Abridy. 1866-7, 501.
526
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
going to Fort Boisé by the well-protected Chico route, and thence to the Columbia River, travelling with an escort, and at a time when the Indians were most quiet, being engaged in gathering seeds and roots for food, he saw nothing to excite apprehension.
The legislature, which met in September, and the new governor, George L. Woods, were urged to take some action, which was done.15 After some discussion, a joint resolution was passed, October 7th, that if the general government did not within thirty days from that date send troops to the protection of eastern Oregon the governor was requested to call out a suffi- cient number of volunteers to afford the necessary aid to citizens of that part of the state.
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