USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 23
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 23
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 23
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 23
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 23
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The bloody excesses into which religions zealots were led in times past suggest the possibility of the truth of these charges, yet they are entirely unsupported by evidence, and common charity should demand convincing proof to sustain such an accusation. Though the Catholics are cleared of the charge of directly instigating the massacre by telling the Indians that Dr. Whitman was poisoning them so that he might secure their lands for his friends, yet they cannot escape the moral responsibility of the deed. In the first place they went among the Cayuses for the purpose of driving Whitman
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away and obtaining control of the tribe. To accomplish this they told the Indians that Dr. Whitman was a bad man, was telling them lies, and if they believed him they would all go to hell. Father Brouillet ought by that time to have become sufficiently acquainted with the Indian character to know that such assertions, if they were credited, were calculated to bring on just such a tragedy as was enacted. Whether he knew this and acted with that end in view, or whether he expected to simply win the relig- ious trust of the Cayuses away from Whitman, will remain a secret forever. The mas- sacre was the result of four separate causes-the dislike of Americans, the ravages of the epidemic, the poison intrigue of Joe Lewis, and the priest's denunciations of Dr. Whitman-and Father Brouillet can never shake off the moral responsibility for one of the most potent of these canses. The victims of this conflict of creeds were: Dr. Marcus Whitman, Mrs. Narcissa Whitman, John Sager, Francis Sager, Crockett Bewley, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Kimball, Mr. Sales, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Sanders, James Young, Jr., Mr. Hoffman, and Isaac Gillen.
Immediately after the massacre Joe Lewis told the Cayuses that now they must fight, for the Americans would surely come to punish them. He advised them to send him and two others to Salt Lake with a band of horses, to purchase ammunition from the Mormons. He started with a select band of animals and two young braves, and a few days later one of the braves returned with the intelligence that Joe Lewis had killed the other one and decamped with the horses; and this was the last the Cayuses saw of that scheming villain.
Intelligence of the massacre reached Fort Vancouver by special messenger from William McBean, in charge of Fort Walla Walla. The messenger did not warn the people at The Dalles of their danger, but went directly to the fort and delivered his message to James Douglas, then the chief factor at Vancouver. When questioned about his conduct he said he was obeying instructions received from McBean. This and the conduct of MeBean at Fort Walla Walla in displaying an unwillingness to receive and protect fugitives from Waiilatpu, have been cited as conclusive evidence that the Hudson's Bay Company connived at the massacre; but nothing in the conduct of other officers of the company sustains such an opinion, while much is to the contrary, and it simply shows that McBean was a narrow-minded man who, knowing the general feeling of the Indians in that region against the Americans, was afraid he would com- promise the company by defending them. He had not soul enough to rise to the emergency.
Mr. Douglas sent a message to Governor Abernethy, advising him of what had taken place; and without waiting to see what steps the Americans would take, Peter Skeen Ogden, an old and influential factor of the company, departed from Vancouver with an armed force for the scene of the tragedy, advising the people at The Dalles of their danger as he passed. He reached Walla Walla on the nineteenth of December. The next day the Cayuses held a council and decided that if the Americans would call everything square and would make a treaty of peace, they would deliver up the pris- oners. Three days later the chiefs came to Walla Walla and held a council with Mr: Ogden, who offered to ransom the captives and assured the Indians that they would regret it if they provoked the Americans to war, and that the company was much dis- pleased with their conduct. The conference resulted in the surrender of forty-seven
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prisoners upon the payment of a small quantity of tobacco, clothing, guns and am- munition. On the first of January fifty Nez Perces arrived with Mr. Spalding and ten others from Lapwai, receiving a similar payment from Mr. Ogden, and on the second the whole party started down the Columbia. Two hours later fifty Cayuse warriors dashed up to the fort to demand the surrender of Mr. Spalding, as they had just learned that a company of Americans had arrived at The Dalles to make war upon them. On the tenth of January they all reached Oregon City, and great was the joy of the people. For his humane conduct and prompt action Peter Skeen Ogden should always occupy a warm place in the hearts of Americans; yet there are those who ungratefully acense him of attempting to arm the Caynses against the Americans, simply because a few guns and a little ammunition formed a portion of the ransom paid to deliver these helpless women from a captivity that was worse than death.
While Mr. Ogden was absent on his errand of mercy, the American settlers were not idle. On the eighth of December Governor Abernethy informed the legislature of what had been done at Waiilatpu, and by message called for volunteers. That night at a public meeting a company was organized to proceed at once to The Dalles, as an outpost to protect the missionaries there, and to dispute a passage of the Cascade moun- tains with hostile Indians if any attempted carrying war into the Willamette settle- ments. The company was commanded by Henry A. G. Lee, captain, and Joseph Magone and John E. Ross, lieutenants. The legislature pledged the credit of the provisional government to pay the expenses of procuring an outfit for this company, and appointed a committee to visit Vancouver and negotiate for the same from the Hudson's Bay Company, which they did, but were obliged to become personally respon- sible for the amount. December 10, the Oregon Rifles reached Vancouver, received their supplies, and pushed on for The Dalles, where they arrived on the twenty-first of the month. In the meantime the legislature entered with energy upon a series of resolutions and enactments with a view to military organization of magnitude sufficient to chastise the Indians, and the citizens by subscriptions and enlistments seconded cordially the efforts of their provisional government. Many were for pushing forward into the enemy's country at once with a formidable force, but wiser counsels prevailed, and nothing was done likely to prevent the Indians from surrendering their white captives to Mr. Ogden.
On the ninth of December the legislature authorized the equipping of a regiment of 500 men, and in accordance with the act sixteen companies were raised. Cornelius Gilliam was chosen colonel, James Waters, lieutenant-colonel, and H. A. G. Lee, major.
February 23, 1848, Colonel Gilliam reached The Dalles with fifty men. The main body of his regiment arriving at that place, he moved to the Des Chutes river on the twenty-seventh with 130 men, crossed to the east bank, and sent Major Lee up the stream about twenty miles on a reconnoisance, where he found the enemy, engaged them, killed one, lost some of his horses and returned to report progress. On the twenty-ninth Colonel Gilliam moved up the Des Chutes to Meek's crossing at the mouth of the canon in which Major Lee had met the Indians. The next morning on entering the canon a skirmish followed, in which were captured from the hostiles, 40 horses, 4 head of cattle and $300 worth of personal property, all of which was sold by the quartermaster for $1,400. The loss of the Indians in killed and wounded was not
WALLING-LITH-PORTLAND-OR.
RESIDENCE OF MRS. E. GURNEY, TEN MILE, DOUGLAS CO.
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known. There was one white man wounded. The result was a treaty of peace with the Des Chutes Indians. The command pushed immediately forward to the Walla Walla country and reached the mission prior to March 4. On the way to that place a battle occurred at Sand Hollows, on the emigrant road eight miles east of the Well Springs. It commenced on the plain where washes in the sand make natural hiding places for a foe, and lasted until towards night. The volunteer force was arranged with the train in the road protected by Captain Hall's company. The companies of Captains Thompson and Maxon, forming the left flank, were on the north side of the road, and those of Captains English and McKay, as the right flank, were on the south or right of the command. Upon Mckay's company at the extreme right the first demonstration was made. Five Crows, the head chief of the Cayuses, made some pre- tensions to the possession of wizard powers, and declared to his people that no ball from a white man's gun could kill him. Another chief of that tribe named War Eagle or Swallow Ball, made similar professions and stated that he could swallow all the bullets from the guns of the invading army if they were fired at him. The two chiefs prom- ised their people that Gilliam's command should never reach the Umatilla river, and to demonstrate their invulnerability and power as medicine chiefs, they dashed out from concealment, rode down close to the volunteers and shot a little dog that came out to bark at them. Captain McKay, although the order was not to fire, could hold back no longer, and bringing his rifle to bear took deliberate aim and shot War Eagle through the head, killing him instantly. Lieutenant Charles MeKay brought his shot gun down to the hollow of his arm, and firing without sighting it, so severely wounded Five Crows that he gave up the command of his warriors. This was a serious, chilling opening for the Indians, two chiefs gone at the first onset and their medicine proved worthless ; but they continued the battle in a skirmishing way, making dashing attacks and masterly retreats until late in the afternoon. At one time during the engagement, Captain Maxon's company followed the enemy so far that it was surrounded, and a sharp encounter followed, in which a number of volunteers were disabled. In fact, eight of the eleven soldiers wounded that day were of Maxon's company. Two Indians were known to have been killed, but the enemy's loss could not be known as they re- moved all of their wounded and dead, except two.
That night the regiment camped on the battlefield without water, and the Indians built large and numerous fires along the bluffs or high lands some two miles in advance. The next day Colonel Gilliam moved on, and without incident worthy of note, reached Whitman's mission, the third day after the battle. The main body of Indians fell back towards Snake river, and a fruitless attempt followed to induce them to give up the parties who had committed the murders at Waiilatpu. Colonel Gilliam at last de- termined upon making a raid into the Snake river country, and in carrying out this programme, surprised a camp of Cayuses near that stream, among whom were some of the murderers. The captured camp professed friendship, however, and pointed out the horses of Indians on the hills, which they, said belonged to the parties whom the Colonel was anxious to kill or capture, stating that their owners were on the north side of Snake river and beyond reach. So well was their part acted that the officers be- lieved their statements, proceeded to drive off the stock indicated, and started on their return. They soon found that a grievons error had been committed in releasing the 21
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village, whose male population were soon mounted upon war horses, and assailed the volunteers on all sides, foreing them to fight their way as they fell back to the Touchet river. Through the whole day and until evening, yes, into the night after their arri- val at the latter stream, the contest was maintained, a constant, harassing skirmish. The soldiers would drive the Indians back again and again, but as soon as the retreat was resumed, the red skins were upon them once more. Finally, after going into camp on the Touchet, Colonel Gilliam ordered the captured stock turned loose, and when the Indians got possession of it, they returned to Snake river without molesting the command any further. In the struggle on the Touchet, when the retreating soldiers first reached that stream, William Taylor was mortally wounded by an Indian who sprang up in the bushes by the stream and fired with but a few yards between them- Nathan Olney, afterwards Indian agent, seeing the act, rushed upon the savage, snatched from his hand a war club in which was fastened a piece of iron, and dealt him a blow on the head with it with such foree as to cause the iron to split the club, and yet failed to kill him. He then elosed with his antagonist in a hand to hand struggle, and soon ended the contest with a knife. The writer has not been able to learn of any other known casualties in that affair, which ended without having accomplished anything to further the purposes of the campaign.
Colonel Gilliam started from the mission on the twentieth of March, with a small force destined to return from the Dalles with supplies, while he was to continue to the Willamette and report to the governor. While camped at Well Springs he was killed by an accidental discharge of a gun, and his remains were taken to his friends west of the Cascades by Major Lee. This officer soon returned to his regiment with a com- mission as colonel, but finding Lt. Col. Waters had been elected by the regiment to that position in his absence, he resigned and filled a subordinate office for the remainder of his term of enlistment. The attempt by commissioners, who had been sent with the volunteers, as requested by the Indians in their memorial to the Americans, to nego- tiate a peaceful solution of the difficult problem, failed. They wanted the Indians to deliver up for execution all those who had imbued their hands in the blood of our countrymen at Waiilatpu, and it ineluded several chiefs ; they wished the Cayuses to pay all damages to emigrants caused by their being robbed or attacked while passing through the Cayuse country. The Indians wished nothing of the kind. They wanted peace, and to be let alone ; for the Americans to call the account balanced and drop the matter. The failure to agree had resulted in two or three skirmishes, one of them at least a severe test of strength, in which the Indians had received the worst of it, and in the other the volunteers had accomplished nothing that could be counted a success. The Cayuses finding that no compromise could be effected, abandoned their country, and most of them passed east of the mountains. Nothing was left for the volunteers but to leave the country also, which they did, and the Cayuse war had practically ended. Finally, they were given to understand that peace could never exist between them and the Americans until the murderers were delivered up for punishment.
At that time, early in 1850, Tam-su-ky and his supporters, including many relatives who had not in any manner participated in the massaere, were hiding in the mountains at the head of John Day river. The Indians who desired peace went after them, and a fight ensued, ending in the capture of nearly all of the turbulent band.
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Only one, however, of the five who were actually engaged in the bloody work at Waiilatpu (so the Whitman Indians assert) was captured, and he was Ta-ma-has, a bloody-minded villain whom his countrymen called The "Murderer." It was he who commenced the work of death by braining Dr. Whitman with a hatchet. Taking him and four others, several of the older men and chiefs went to Oregon City to deliver them up as hostages. They were at once thrown into prison, condemned, and hung at Oregon City on the third of June, 1850; and even the ones who brought them, in view of this summary proceeding, congratulated themselves upon their safe return. They believed that Ta-ma-has should have been hung, but not the other four, not understanding the theory of accomplices, and so the few survivors of the tribe assert to the present day.
CHAPTER XIX.
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT OF OREGON.
Discouraging News Brought by Immigrants in 1847 -- Letters from President Polk and Senator Benton-J. Quinn Thornton's Mission to Washington Senatorial Struggle over the Oregon Bill-Joe Meeks' Trip Across the Continent -Arrival of Governor Lane-Discovery of Gold-Effect upon Oregon Beaver Money Steps Leading to Creation of Washington Territory -Division of Oregon-First Government of Washing- ton Territory Indian War of 1855-6.
With the immigration of 1847, so large and so encouraging to the struggling set- tlers of Oregon, came the disheartening intelligence that congress had failed utterly to provide for a territorial government for this neglected region, or to extend to it in any way the benefit of the national laws. Four years had the people of Oregon governed themselves, loyal in heart and deed to their native land, and for a year had England by solemn treaty relinquished all her asserted rights, and yet the national legislature denied it the aid and protection of the law. Congress had, during the session of 1846-7, made an appropriation for a mail service ria Panama to Oregon, and two post masters were appointed, one for Astoria and one for Oregon City, also an Indian agent. By one of the new officials, Mr. Shively, James Buchanan, secretary of state, transmitted a letter to the people, expressing the deep regret of President Polk that congress had been so unmindful of their needs and rights. The communication also contained the assurance that the executive would extend to this far off region all the protection with- in his power, including occasional visits of vessels of war and the presence of a regi- ment of dragoons to guard the immigration. Mr. Shively also bore a letter from Thomas H. Benton, that sturdy senator from Missouri, whose voice and pen had un- swervingly championed the cause of Oregon for thirty years. In this letter, datel at Washington City, March, 1847, Mr. Benton says :
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" The house of representatives, as early as the middle of January, had passed the bill to give you a territorial government, and in that bill had sanctioned and legalized your provisional organic act, one of the clauses of which forever prohibited the existence of slavery in Oregon. An amendment from the senate's committee to which this bill was referred, proposed to abrogate that prohibition, and in the delays and vex- ations to which that amendment gave rise, the whole bill was laid upon the table, and lost for the session. *
* * But do not be alarmed or desperate. You will not be outlawed for not admitting slavery. * A home agitation, for election and dis- union purposes, is all that is intended by thrusting this fire brand question into your bill; and, at the next session, when it is thrust in again, we will scourge it out ! and pass your bill as it ought to be. * * 'In conclusion, I have to assure you that the same spirit which has made me the friend of Oregon for thirty years-which led me to denounce the joint occupation treaty the day it was made, and to oppose its revival in 1828, and to labor for its abrogation until it was terminated ; the same spirit which led me to reveal the grand destiny of Oregon in articles written in 1818, and to sup- port every measure for her benefit since-this spirit still animates me, and will continue to do so while I live-which, I hope, will be long enough to see an emporium of Asiatic commerce at the mouth of your river, and a stream of Asiatic trade pouring into the valley of the Mississippi through the channel of Oregon." Would that the grand old statesman could have lived to see his prophecy fulfilled in the new era upon which far off Oregon-now far off no longer-has so propitiously entered.
These letters were both disheartening and cheering. The people felt despondent at being so neglected by the authorities of their loved country, but were cheered by the thought that warm friends were laboring for their welfare far beyond the reach of their grateful voices. Hon. J. Quinn Thornton, supreme judge of the provisional government, had been, during the past year, frequently urged by influential men, to proceed to Washington and labor with congress in behalf of Oregon. In particular had the lamented Dr. Whitman requested him so to do, asserting that only the estab- lishment of a strong territorial government, one that the Indians would recognize as powerful, would " save him and his mission from falling under the murderous hands of savages." Mr. Thornton recognized the importance of such a delegate, and solicited Hon. Peter H. Burnett, subsequently the first governor of California, to undertake the mission, but without success. The news of the state of affairs at Washington brought by Mr. Shively, decided Mr. Thornton, and on the eighteenth of October, 1847, having resigned his judicial office, he departed on his arduous mission, armed with a letter from Governor Abernethy to President Polk. Mr. Thornton was by no means a reg- ularly constituted delegate, since Oregon was not authorized to accredit such an official to congress, but simply went as a private individual, representing in an unofficial man- ner the governor and many of the prominent citizens of Oregon. In fact the legis- lature, deeming its functions infringed upon by this action of the governor, passed resolutions embodying their idea of the harm done the colony by the officiousness of " secret factions."
There was not ready money enough in the treasury to have paid the passage of Mr. Thornton, even had it been at his disposal. A collection was taken up, contri- butions being made partly in coin but chiefly in flour, clothing, and anything that
UPPER DAM.
WALLING- LI H-FURI LAND - OR.
MILL PROPERTY OF GURNEY BROS. TEN MILE, DOUGLAS CO.
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could be of service or was convertible into money. A contract was made with Captain Roland Gelston, of the bark Whitton, to convey Mr. Thornton to Panama, and the vessel sailed at once for San Francisco, and thence to San Juan, on the coast of Lower California. Here the Captain informed his passenger that he must decline to fulfill his contract, as he desired to engage in the coasting trade. From the perplexing dilemma he was extricated by Captain Montgomery, commanding the United States sloop of war, Portsmouth, then lying at anchor in the harbor. This gentleman deemed the mission of Mr. Thornton of sufficient importance to the government to justify him in leaving his station and returning with his vessel to the Atlantic coast. He accordingly tendered the delegate the hospitalities of his cabin, and set sail as soon as preparations could be made for the voyage. The Portsmouth arrived in Boston harbor on the second of May, 1848, and Mr. Thornton at once hastened to Washington to consult with President Polk and Senators Benton and Douglas, those warm champions of Oregon, as to the proper course to pursue. By them he was advised to prepare a memorial to be presented to congress, setting forth the condition and needs of the peo- ple whom he represented. This he did, and the document was presented to the senate by Mr. Benton, and was printed for the use of both branches of congress. Mr. Thorn- ton also drafted a bill for organizing a territorial government, which was introduced and placed upon its passage. This bill contained a clause prohibiting human slavery, and for this reason was as objectionable to the slaveholding force in congress as had been the previous one. Under the lead of Senators Jefferson Davis and John C. Cal- houn, this wing of the national legislature made a vigorous onslaught upon the bill, and fought its progress step by step with unabated determination, resorting to all the legislative tactics known, to so delay its consideration that it could not be finally passed by the hour of noon on the fourteenth of August, the time fixed by joint resolution for the close of that session of congress.
The contest during the last two days of the session was exciting in the extreme, and the feeling intense throughout the Union. The friends of the bill had decided upon a policy of " masterly inactivity," refraining entirely from debate and yielding the floor absolutely to the " filibusters," who were therefore much distressed for means to consume the slowly passing hours. Though silent in speech they were constantly present in force to prevent the opposition from gaining time by an adjournment. The bill was then on its second passage in the senate, for the purpose of concurrence with amendments which had been added by the house. On Saturday morning, August 12, the managers of the bill decided to prevent an adjournment until it had been disposed of, having a sufficient majority to pass it. The story of that memorable contest is thus told by Mr. Thornton, who sat throughout the scene an earnest spectator :
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