USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 54
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36 Rept Sec. War, 1867-8, i. 79; Oregonian, Dec. 23, 1867.
17 Steele was born in Delhi, N. Y., graduated at West Point in 1843, and received a commission as 2d lieut in the 2d reg. U. S. inf. He served under Scott in Mexico, and was brevetted Ist lieut, then captain, for gallant conduct at the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec; and was present at the taking of the city of Mexico. After the Mexican war he was stationed in Cal., on duty as adj. to Gen. Riley. At the outbreak of the rebellion he was ordered to Missouri, where he was soon promoted to the rank of major in the 11th U. S. inf. For gallant services at Wilson's Creek, he was made a brig. gen. of. volunteers; and for subsequent services brevetted maj. gen. On leaving Ore- gon he was granted an extended leave of absence, from which he anticipated much pleasure, but died suddenly of apoplexy, in S. F.
548
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
was assumed by General L. H. Rosseau, who, how- ever, made no essential changes in the department. Arrangements were continued in each distriet for a winter campaign of great activity.38 The military journals contain frequent entries of skirmishes, with a few Indians killed, and more taken prisoners; with acknowledgments of some losses to the army in each. Crook, whose district was in the most elevated por- tion of the country traversed, kept some portion of the troops continually in the field, marching from ten to twenty miles a day over unbroken fields of snow from one to two feet in depth. In February he was on Dunder and Blitzen Creek,39 south of Malheur Lake, where he fought the Indians, killing and cap- turing fourteen. While returning to Warner, a few nights later, the savages crept up to his camp, and killed twenty-three horses and mules by shooting arrows into them and cutting their throats. Crook proceeded toward camp Warner, but sent back a de- tachment to discover whether any had returned to feast on the horse-flesh. Only two were found so en- gaged, who were killed. Another battle was fought with the Indians, in the neighborhood of Steen Moun- tain, on the 14th of April, when several were killed.
The troops at Camp Harney made a reconnoissance of the Malheur country in May, which resulted in surprising ten lodges on the north fork of that river near Castle Rock, or as it was sometimes called, Mal- heur Castle, and capturing a number of the enemy, among whom was a notorious subchief known as E. E. Gantt, who professed a great desire to live there- after in peace, and offered to send couriers to bring in his warriors and the head chief, Wewawewa, who, he declared, was as weary of conflict as himself.40 On
38 See general order No. 5 district of Owyhee, in Oregonian, Nov. 1867.
39 So named by Curry's troops, who crossed it in a thunder-storm in 1864. Rept Adjt-Gen. Or., 1866, 41.
40 Gantt had reasons for his humility. He had been engaged in several raids during this spring, driving off the stock from Mormon basin between Burnt and Malheur rivers, and capturing two trains of wagons. At length the farmers organized a company, and in concert with the troops from Camp
549
HALLECK'S ORDERS.
this promise he was released, his family, and in all about sixty prisoners, with their property, and the stock plundered from the settlers remaining in the hands of the troops. A messenger was sent to inter- cept General Crook, who, having been temporarily assigned to the command of the department of the Columbia, was on his way to the north.
The Indians had sustained some reverses in Idaho, among which was the killing of thirty-four who had attacked the Boise stage in May, killing the driver and wounding several other persons. Many prisoners had also been taken during the winter, and some had voluntarily surrendered. Rosseau had issued an order in February that all the Indians taken in the district of Owyhee should be sent under guard to Vancouver, and those taken in the district of the lakes should be sent to Eugene City, via Fort Klamath, to be deliv- ered to the superintendent of Indian affairs. Those at Boisé took advantage of a severe storm, when the guards were less vigilant than usual, to recover their freedom; but as they only escaped to find themselves given up by their chiefs, it was a matter of less con- sequence.
According to an order of Halleck's, no treaty could be made with the Indians by the officers in his divis- ion without consulting him, and it became necessary for Crook to wait for instructions from San Francisco. He repaired in the mean time to Camp Harney, where
Colfax, inflicted severe chastisement on a portion of this band. Bigfoot, also, on the east side of Snake River, was captured by the farmers' company of the Payette and the troops from Boisé fort, who happened to come upon his camp at the same time, surrounding it, when the Indians surrendered. Oregonian, June 24, 1868. Meanwhile, in the Owyhee district the usual murderous attacks had been going on. In May the Indians again shot and killed the driver of the stage, Robert Dixon, between Boise City and Silver City; and shot and wounded the passengers in another wagon. In March they had murdered a farmer named Jarvis, near Carson's farm. Owyhee Avalanche, March 21, 1868. In June they stole stock and killed a young man named Jonas Belknap, in Mormon basin, who went to recover the horses, cutting his body to pieces, and sticking it full of pointed rods with slices of fat bacon on the ends. Boisé Statesman, June 13, 1868. The party which went to find these Indians was attacked in a canon, and Alex. Sullivan was killed.
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THE SHOSHONE WAR.
the principal chiefs of the hostile bands were assem- bled, and where a council was held on the 30th of June.
"Do you see any fewer soldiers than two years ago?" asked he. "No; more." "Have you as many war- riors?" "No; not half as many." "Very well; that is as I mean to have it until you are all gone."41 The chiefs knew this was no empty threat, and were terri- fied. They sued earnestly for peace, and Crook made his own terms. He did not offer to place them on a reservation, where they would be fed while they idled and plotted mischief. He simply told them he would acknowledge Wewawewa as their chief, who should be responsible for their good conduct. They might return free into their own country, and establish their headquarters near Castle Rock on the Malheur, and so long as they behaved themselves honestly and prop- erly they would not be molested. These terms were eagerly accepted, and the property of their vietims still in their possession was delivered up. 42
Crook had no faith in reservations, yet he felt that to leave the Indians at liberty was courting a danger from the enmity of white men who had personal wrongs to avenge which might provoke a renewal of hostilities. To guard against this, he caused the terms of the treaty to be extensively published, and appealed to the reason and good judgment of the people, re- minding them what it had cost to conquer the peace which he hoped they might now enjoy.43 With regard to the loss of life by fighting Indians in Oregon and Idaho up to this time, it is a matter of surprise that it was so small. The losses by murderous attacks out of battle were far greater. From the first settlement of Oregon to June 1868, the whole number of persons
41 See letter to Gov. Ballard of Idaho, in Oregonian, July 29, 1868; Orer- land Monthly. 1869, 162.
42 Among the relics returned were articles belonging to three deserting soldiers, whose fate was thus ascertained.
13 Mess. and Docs, 1868-9, 380-6; Hayes' Indian Scraps, v. 142; Oregonian, July 13, 1808.
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TREATY OF PEACE.
known to be killed and wounded by Indians was 1,394. Of these only about 90 were killed or wounded in battle. The proportion of killed to wounded was 1,130 to 264, showing how certain was the savage aim. A mighty incubus seemed lifted off the state when peace was declared. General Crook, now in command of the department, was invited to Salem at the sitting of the legislative assembly to receive the thanks of that body.“
The treaty which had been made was with the Malheur and Warner Lake Shoshones only. There were still some straggling bands of Idaho Shoshones who were not brought in until August; and the troops still scouting on the southern border of Oregon con- tinued for some time to find camps of Pah Utes, and also of the Pit River Indians, with whom a council was subsequently held in Round Valley, California. Early in July between seventy and eighty of Winnemucca's people with three subchiefs were captured, and sur- rendered at Camp C. F. Smith, "where," said Crook in one of his reports, "there seems to be a disposition to feed them, contrary to instructions from these headquarters."
The Indians had submitted to force, but it was a tedious task, subjecting them to the Indian depart- ment, which had to be done. Crook had said to them, "You are free as air so long as you keep the peace;" but the Indian superintendent said, "You signed a treaty in 1865 which congress has since ratified, and you must go where you then agreed to go, or forfeit the benefits of the treaty; and we have, besides, the power to use the military against you if you do not." This argument was the last resorted to. The tone of the Indian department was conciliatory; sometimes too much so for the comprehension of savages. They never conceded anything unless forced to do so, and how should they know that the white race practised
44 See Senate Joint Resolution, no. 6, in Or. House Jour., 1868, 85-6; Or. Laws, 1868, 99-100, 102-3; Or. Legis. Docs, 1868; Governor's Message, 4-5.
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THE SHOSHONE WAR.
such magnanimity? Crook cautioned his subordi- nates on this point, telling them to disabuse the minds of the Indians of the notion that the government was favored by their abstinence from war.
Superintendent Huntington, who had talked with Wewawewa about the settlement of his people, was told that the Malheur Indians would consent to go upon the Siletz reservation in western Oregon, but that those about Camp Warner would not, and noth- ing was done toward removing them in 1868. Mean- time Huntington died, and A. B. Meacham was appointed in his place. A small part of the Wolpape and Warner Lake Shoshones consented to go upon the east side of Klamath reservation; but in 1869 most of these Indians were at large, and sufficiently un- friendly to alarm the white inhabitants of that part of the state.
And now the bad effects of the late policy began to appear. When the Shoshones were first conquered they would have gone wherever Crook said they must go. But being so long free, they refused to be placed on any reservation. Other tribes, imitating their ex- ample, were restless and dissatisfied, even threatening, and affairs assumed so serious an aspect that Crook requested the commander of the division to withdraw no more troops from Oregon, as he felt assured any attempt to forcibly remove the Indians-a measure daily becoming more necessary to the security of the settlements-would precipitate another Indian war, and that the presence of the military was at that time necessary to restrain many roving bands from com- mitting depredations. 45
About the 20th of October Superintendent Mea- cham, assisted by the commanding officer at Camp Harney, held a council with the Indians under We-
45 The facts here stated are taken from the military correspondence in the dept of the Columbia, copied by permission of General Jeff C. Davis, to whose courtesy I have been much indebted. For convenience, I shall hereafter refer to these letters as Military Correspondence, with appropriate date. The above expression of opinion was dated May 8, 1869.
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LATER TROUBLES.
wawewa, which ended by their declining to go upon the Klamath reservation as requested, because Crook, who could have persuaded them to it, declined to do so,46 for the reason that he believed that Meacham had promised more than he would be able to perform.
Early in November Meacham held a council with the Indians assembled at Camp Warner under Otsehoe, a chief who controlled several of the lately hostile bands, and persuaded this chief to go with his fol- lowers upon the Klamath reserve. But the war department gave neither encouragement nor material assistance, although Otsehoe and other Indians about Warner Lake were known to Crook to be amongst the worst of their race, and dangerous to leave at large.47
True to his restless nature, Otsehoe left the reser- vation in the spring of 1870, where his people had been fed through the winter. They deserted in de- tachments, Otsehoe remaining to the last; and when the commissary required the chief to bring them back, he replied that Major Otis desired them to remain at Camp Warner, a statement which was true, at least in part, as Otis himself admitted.48
Otsehoe, however, finally consented to make his home at Camp Yainax, so far as to stay on the reser-
46 ' I did not order them to go with Mr Meacham, for the reason that I have their confidence that I will do or order only what is hest and right, both for themselves and the government.' Military Correspondence, Dec. 7, 1869.
47 'Among these bands,' says Gen. Crook, 'and those near Harney, are some as crafty and bad as any I have ever seen, and if they are retained in the vicinity of their old haunts, and the Indian department manages them as they have other tribes in most cases, they will have trouble with them.' Mil- itary Correspondence, March 4, 1869.
48 ' I do not remember giving any Indians permission to stay here, but I have said that if they came I would not send them back, because they said they could live better here. I shall, however, advise the Indians to go over and see Mr Meacham, in the hope that he will rectify any neglect or wrong that may have been done them.' Otis to Ivan D. Applegate, in Military Cor- respondence, July 18, 1870. Applegate, in reply, says that the Indians were well fed and well treated during the winter, but that crickets had destroyed their growing grain, and Meacham's arrival had been delayed, owing to the tardiness of the Indian department in the east, besides which reasons, suffi- cient to discourage the unstable Indian mind, Archie McIntosh, one of the Boisé Indian scouts, had been making mischief on the reservation, by repre- senting that Otsehoe was wanted with his people at Camp Warner.
554
THE SHOSHONE WAR.
vation during the winter season, but roving abroad in the summer through the region about Warner and Goose lakes. In March 1871, by executive order, a reservation containing 2,275 square miles was set apart, on the north fork of the Malheur River, for the use of the Shoshones. In the autumn of 1873 a portion of them were induced to go upon it, most of whom absented themselves on the return of summer. Gradually, however, and with many drawbacks, the Indian department obtained control of these nomadic peoples, who were brought under those restraints which are the first step toward civilization. 49
With the settlement of the Shoshones upon a res- ervation, the title of the Indians of Oregon to lands within the boundaries of the state was extinguished. The Grand Rond reservation in the Willamette Val- ley was afterward purchased of the Indians and thrown open to settlement. The Malheur reservation was abandoned, the Indians being removed to Washing- ton.50 Propositions have been made to the tribes on the Umatilla reservation to sell their lands, some of the best in the state, but so far with no success, these Indians being strongly opposed to removal. Ten years after the close of the Shoshone war, claim was laid by a chief of the Nez Perces to a valley in north-eastern Oregon, the narrative of which I shall embody in the history of Idaho. Thus swiftly and mercilessly European civilization clears the forests of America of their lords aboriginal, of the people placed there by the almighty for some purpose of his own, swiftly and mercilessly clearing them, whether done by catholic, protestant, or infidel, by Spaniard, Eng- lishman, or Russian, or whether done in the name of Christ, Joe Smith, or the devil.
49 Ind. Aff. Rept, 1873, 320-4; H. Ex. Doc., 99, 43d cong. 2d sess .; Owyhee Avalanche, Oct. 11, 1873.
50 Winnemucca's people refused to remain at the Yakima agency, and made their exodus a few years ago to Nevada, whence they came.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE MODOC WAR.
1864-1873.
LAND OF THE MODOCS-KEINTPOOS, OR CAPTAIN JACK-AGENTS, SUPERIN- TENDENTS, AND TREATIES-KEINTPOOS DECLINES TO GO ON A RESERVA- TION-RAIDS-TROOPS IN PURSUIT-JACK TAKES TO THE LAVA-BEDS- APPOINTMENT OF A PEACE COMMISSIONER-ASSASSINATION OF CANBY, THOMAS, AND SHERWOOD-JACK INVESTED IN HIS STRONGHOLD-HE ESCAPES-CRUSHING DEFEAT OF TROOPS UNDER THOMAS-CAPTAIN JACK PURSUED, CAUGHT, AND EXECUTED.
THE Modoc war, fought almost equally in California and Oregon, is presented in this volume because that tribe belonged to the Oregon superintendency, and for other reasons which will appear as I proceed. From the time that certain of Frémont's men were killed on the shore of Klamath Lake down to 1864, when superintendent Huntington of Oregon entered into a treaty with them and the Klamaths, the Modocs1 had been the implacable enemies of the white race, and were not on much more friendly terms with other tribes of their own race, sustaining a warlike char- acter everywhere. They lived on the border-land be- tween California and Oregon, but chiefly in the latter, the old head chief, Sconchin, having his home on Sprague River, which flows into the upper Klamath Lake, and the subchiefs in different localities.
Keintpoos, a young subchief, had his headquarters
1 Modoc, according to E. Steele of Yreka, is a Shasta word signifying 'stranger,' or 'hostile stranger,' and came into use as a name by white ininers, through hearing the Shastas nse it. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1864, 121. Linsey Ap- plegate, who is familiar with their bistory, has a list of persons killed by them, to the number of 95. Historical Correspondence, MS.
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THE MODOC WAR.
anywhere about Tule Lake, ranging the country from Link River, between the two Klamath lakes, to Yreka, in California. He was called Captain Jack by the white settlers, on account of some military orna- ments which he had added to his ordinary shirt, trou- sers, and cap; was not an unadulterated savage, having lived long enough about mining camps to acquire some of the vices of civilization, and making money by the prostitution of the women of his band more than by honest labor. Some of the boys of this band of Modocs were employed as house-servants in Yreka, by which means they acquired a good understand- ing of the English language, and at the same time failed not to learn whatever of evil practices they observed among their superiors of the white race. During the civil war they heard much about the pro- priety of killing off the white people of the north, and other matters in harmony with their savage instincts; and being unable to comprehend the numerical strength of the American people, conceived the notion that this was a favorable time to make war upon them, while their soldiers were fighting a long way off.
E. Steele, Indian superintendent of California, when he entered upon the duties of his office in 1863, found the Klamaths and Modocs, under their chiefs Lalake and Sconchin, preparing to make war upon southern Oregon and northern California, having already be- gun to perpetrate those thefts and murders which are a sure prelude to a general outbreak. The operations of the 1st Oregon cavalry and the establishment of Fort Klamath to prevent these outrages are known to the reader. In February 1864 the Modocs on the border of Oregon and California, who spent much of their time in Yreka, being alarmed lest punishment should overtake them for conscious crimes, sought the advice of Steele, who, ignoring the fact that they had been allotted to the Oregon superintendency, took the responsibility of making with them a treaty of friend- ship and peace. This agreement was between Steele
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STEELE'S TREATY.
individually and Keintpoos' band of Modocs, and re- quired nothing of them but to refrain from quarrels amongst themselves, and from theft, murder, child- selling, drunkenness, and prostitution in the white settlements. The penalty for breaking their agree- ment was, to be given up to the soldiers. The treaty permitted them to follow any legitimate calling, to charge a fair price for ferrying travellers across streams, and to act as guides, if desired to do so. On the part of the white people, Steele promised protection when they came to the settlements, but advised their ob- taining passes from the officers at Fort Klamath, to which they were informed that they would be required to report themselves for inspection.
This action of Steele's, although prompted by a desire to prevent an outbreak, was severely criticised later. He was aware that congress had granted an appropriation for the purpose of making an official treaty between the superintendent of Oregon, the Modocs, and the Klamaths, and that the latter had been fed during the winter previous at the fort, in an- ticipation of this treaty. For him to come in with an individual engagement was to lay the foundation for trouble with the Modocs, who were entirely satis- fied with a treaty, which left them free to visit the mining camps, and to perpetrate any peccadilloes which they were cunning enough to conceal, while a govern- ment treaty which would restrain them from such privi- leges was not likely to be so well received or kept. Keintpoos did, however, agree to the treaty of Octo- ber 1864, at the council-grounds on Sprague River, whereby the Klamaths and Modocs relinquished to the United States all the territory ranged by them, except a certain large tract lying north of Lost River Valley.
Sconchin, the head chief of all the Modocs, was now an old man. In his fighting days he had given immi- grants and volunteer companies plenty to do to avoid his arrows. It was through his warlike activities
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THE MODOC WAR.
that the rocky pass round the head of Tule Lake came to be called Bloody Point. Yet he had observed the conditions of the treaty faithfully, living with his band at his old home on Sprague River, within the limits of the reservation, and keeping his people quiet. But Keintpoos, or Captain Jack, as I shall henceforth call him, still continued to occupy Lost River Meadows, a favorite grazing-ground, where his band usually wintered their ponies, and to live as before a life com- bining the pleasures of savagery and civilization, keep- ing his agreement neither with Steele nor the United States, two of his followers being arrested in 1867 for distributing ammunition to the hostile Snakes.
This practice, with other infringements of treaty obligations, led the agent in charge of the Klamath reservation in 1868 to solicit military aid from the fort to compel them to go upon the reserve,2 which was not at that time granted.
In 1869 the settlers of Siskiyou county, California, petitioned General Crook, in command of the Oregon department, to remove the Modocs to their reserva- tion, saying that their presence in their midst was detrimental to the interests of the people. Crook replied that he would have done so before but for a report emanating from Fort Klamath that the Indian agent did not feed them.3 After some weeks, how- ever, he, on the demand of Superintendent A. B. Meacham, ordered Lieutenant Goodale, commanding at Fort Klamath, to put Jack and his band upon the reserve if in his belief the Indian department was prepared to care for them properly. Accordingly, in December, Meacham obtained a detachment of troops and repaired to the ford on Lost River, where he had an interview with Jack, informing him of the purpose of the government to exact the observance of the
2 Yreka Journal, Nov. 15, 1867; Woodbridge Messenger, Nov. 23, 1867; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1868, 124.
3 Military Correspondence, Oct. 14, and Dec. 7, 1869; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1869, 155; Portland Oregonian, Aug. 4, 1868.
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MEACHAM AND CAPTAIN JACK.
treaty. Jack hesitated and prevaricated, and during the night fled with a part of his followers to the lava- beds south of Tule Lake, leaving the camp in charge of two subchiefs, George and Riddle. But Meacham remained upon the ground, and after two or three days' correspondence with Jack by means of messell- gers, obtained his consent to come upon the reservation with his people, Jack at the same time confiding his resolve to George not to remain longer than he found it agreeable.4 Meacham established Jack comfortably at Modoc Point, on Klamath Lake, by his own desire, where also Sconchin was temporarily located while improvements were being made upon the lands in- tended for cultivation.
As I have intimated, the military department threw doubts upon the manner in which the Indian depart- ment provided for the wants of the Indians; and to prevent any occasion being given to Jack to violate treaty obligations, Captain O. C. Knapp was com- missioned agent," who was profuse in his allowances to the Modocs in order to cultivate their regard. But all in vain. Early in the spring Jack, pretending to be starved, but in reality longing for the dissipations of Yreka, and designing, by drawing away as many as pos- sible of Sconchin's men, to become a full chief, left the reservation with his band, and returned to Lost River Valley, which was now being settled up by white cattle-raisers. This movement of Jack's caused Mea- cham to accuse Knapp of permitting the Klamaths to annoy and insult the Modocs, thus provoking thein to flight. Meacham was a man with a hobby. He believed that he knew all about the savage race, and how to control it. Like Steele, when he accepted the chieftainship of Jack's band in 1864, he was flat-
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