USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
30
31
THE CAYUSE WAR.
sum of $4,097.72, and there was $43.70 in the treasury.
Governor Abernethy called for volun- teers on the 8th day of December. 1847. That evening a public meeting was called, and the story of the massacre of Mareus Whitman. his wife and twelve other persons, and the more thrilling fact that the Cayuse Indians held. at that very moment, fifty-seven women and children in captivity, was related. Whether the captives were to be slain, or the women to be debauched and the children placed in slavery, was a stirring problem that made the little colony tremble. H. A. G. Lee, J. W. Nesmith and Samuel K. Bar- low were the speakers on this occasion. With such a theme, it did not require the tongue of an orator to make a stirring speech, and one thousand men, three thousand miles away from other human aid, with not a United States soldier in . all the land, with a possibility of all the Indians, numbering 100,000 warriors, combining against them, was a dark pic- ture to contemplate. Their families must be protected and provided for at home, and the Indians must be met at The Dalles and kept east of the moun- tains.
That night one company was enlisted, with H. A. G. Lee as captain. The next day they were on the move to The Dalles to check the Indians from coming to the valley. In a few days other companies were enlisted, until the Provisional Gov- ernment of Oregon had, all told. 448 vol- unteers in the field, or about one-half of all the men west of the Missouri river were enlisted in this first volunteer com- pany that ever graced the Pacific coast.
The Hudson's Bay Company had been supplying the Indians with guns and ammunition for years, and hence the In- dians were better prepared for a war of extermination against the whites than were the whites prepared to defend themselves against the Indians.
That you may better understand how i.r these pioneers were at that time out "i the world. you have only to note a few ints in addition to those already given. There were no railroads, telegraph or
steamship lines running to Portland, Or- egon, or elsewhere in the Pacific North- west.
There were no stores of ammunition to be found. It required twelve months to comunicate with Washington City. There was no money in the country, and the Provisional government had no cred- it at home or abroad, as it was an organi- atzion independent of the United States government, and there was easily one hundred Indians to every white man.
The Hudson's Bay Company could not, or would not, credit the territory for supplies, and they had substantially all there was west of the Missouri river. 'Hon. A. L. Lovejoy, Gov. Abernethy and Jesse Applegate secured $2,000 or $3,000 worth of supplies by giving their notes for the same to the Hudson's Bay Company. Rev. Wm. Roberts, of the Methodist mission, gave the territory $1.coo. The Presbyterian mission ad- vanced $500, and the merchants of Ore- gon City loaned $1,600. Besides these sums. individuals loaned a few dollars. Wheat was secured by issuing territorial bonds and used as a fund to make pur- chases of other items.
The proclamation of Gov. Abernethy provided that each volunteer should fur- nish his own horse, saddle, bridle, blank- ets. gun and such ammunition as he was able.
Here you have a picture, as best we can give, of the condition of this small colony of loyal Americans as they stood alone, unsupported by the government. and three thousand miles away from civ- ilization, in 1847.
Joe Meek went in the dead of winter overland to Washington for aid. Jesse Applegate and associates started over- land to California to see if help could be found. but after nearly perishing in the Siskiyou mountains, they abandoned the trip. Colonel Meek returned March 2. 1849, after the war was over.
The immediate cause of the first Indian war was the massacre of Dr. Marcus Whitman and others on the 20th day of November. 1847. The fifty-seven cap- tives referred to were ransomed by Peter
32
. OREGON NATIVE SON.
Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay Company, by the payment of fifty-three blankets, fifty shirts, ten guns, ten fath- oms of tobacco, ten handkerchiefs, one hundred bullets, and a quantity of pow- der, and were brought down the Colum- bia river in batteaux, reaching Oregon City January 10th, 1848.
We might narrate here one of the most shocking stories of debauchery and cruelty ever committed by the Indians.
Leaving this, we pass to the army now in the field. Cornelius Gilliam was col- onel; James Waters, lieutenant-colonel; H. A. G. Lee, major; A. L. Lovejoy, adjutant-general, and Joel Palmer, com- missary general.
Several skirmishes were had with the Indians near The Dalles and on the Des Chutes, in which a number of the white men were killed and a great number of Indians. The most noticeable skirmish in this locality was where Major Lee and twenty-one men had a running fight with a number of Indians on the east side of the Des Chutes river. The Indians who escaped reported the presence of these volunters, and at daylight the following day, Major Lee and his twenty-one scouts were attacked by four hundred Indians. Lee, to save his command, re- treated into a canyon, seeking protection under a great bluff, where he could not be reached except from the opposite bank of the Des Chutes* river. Rocks and his horses were used as breastworks. The fight lasted all day. Under cover of night Lee made his escape and reached the main camp at midnight. Lieutenant Stillwell, one of his party, had become separated, and being severely wounded in the left hip, did not reach camp until daylight.
The second day after this engagement, the entire command, which numbered less than 400 men, engaged a large party of Indians. estimated at from 5.000 to 7,000. at Willow Springs. The Indians had built a breastwork of rocks on top of a high ridge. The command succeed- ed, after a desperate fight, in driving
these Indians, away. From this place they moved to "Wells Springs," where. they camped for the night. Here they found the Indians greatly increased in numbers.
As the command took up the march ear- ly the following day, the scouts reported the Indians had formed a line of battle on a ridge a short distance in advance. This is comparatively a level and open country to the east of Wells Springs, and not a hard country to maneuver in. The ridges are not so steep, nor are the valleys so deep but that horsemen gal- loped at will. The Indians were massed on horseback a full half a mile deep and a mile and a half in length on the right . and front. Each one of the ten thous- and or more were yelling as only an In- dian can yell.
Newell and Palmer, Indian Agents, tried to talk with the Indians, and. if pos- sible, make with them a treaty of peace, stipulating only that the parties who were guilty of the massacre of Whitman and others should be delivered up. The commissioners, with their white flag, were a short distance in advance of the command, and, while they were going through their farce of trying to pacify the savage horde, Colonel Gilliam rode up and down his line making a speech to his men. He is reported to have said:
"Boys, there is a fearful odds against us-twenty men to our one-but we can whip them. We have got to do it. If we break, every man in the command will be killed. Stand firm. Take deliberate aim. Don't waste your ammunition. Don't pull the trigger until you are cer- tain of your man."
After Newell and Palmer gave up their efforts to treat with the Indians and went to the rear, two Indians came up close to our line on the right and after shooting a dog rode back to the butte. Tom-tice-Tom-let, the Indian chief, then rode to within forty yards. and shouted to Captain Tom McKay, with whom he was well acquainted, "I will kill you." Mc- Kay said "All right." The Indian jumped from his horse and kneeling down he fired at McKay, missing him,
*The original name of this river was On-wa-wie
33
THE CAYUSE WAR.
he wounded a Mr. Knox in the foot. McKay fired about the same time and killed the Indian chief. The Indians gave a long-drawn-out yell of rage and astonishment and immediately withdrew, Leaving a guard of two or three hun- dred. Tom-tice-Tom-let was their great chief and medicine man, and the Indians thought a bullet could not harm him- hence their astonishment at his death.
Lieutenant Stillwell says: "We had orders from the first not to fire, but let the Indians bring on the battle. In a short time we heard a drum to the right, then another and another. In a few minutes our front and right was alive with those howling devils." They were lead this time by a chief known as Five- Crows. He and Mckay exchanged shots, and Five-Crows was wounded in the arm, a wound which brought about his death soon afterwards.
From this the fight began along the entire line. The Indians massing their forces on our right, the colonel sent the cannon to our relief. The bullets flew around us like hail, but our boys never flinched but loaded and fired like veter- ans. When the cannon was fired, which was loaded with a log chain, you ought to have seen the Indians scatter. This was the first time they had ever heard a cannon, and were always ready to vacate their position to give room for the chain to light.
The Indians attempted to flank us on the left. Captain Maxon, to protect his left, withdrew his force from the right. leaving a gap in our lines. This was soon discovered by the Indians. Three thousand of them formed in'a "V" shape with a chief in the center, came thunder- ing down on us, aiming to enter this gap and break our ranks. Colonel Gilliam, seeing this movement. drove one of our teams pell-mell to the opening. The In- dians, taking this for another cannon, . wheeled to the right. When I saw this well-formed company of demons charg- ing down on us. my heart stood still.
Life never seemed so sweet as it did when I saw they were checked.
Soon after this strategic movement of Colonel Gilliam, in saving us with the mad rush of a lumber wagon, the Indians adopted a hide-and-go-seek game- crawling to the top of the ridge in the grass and figring at us, then crawling back out of sight. For a time we had a duel in this way at long range. Many of our boys at this time were wounded, but not seriously.
Shortly we saw a white flag approach- ing, carried by an Indian who saluted Phil Thompson thus: "Hello, Phil, I knew you as far as I could see you. The Captain said: "Well, I don't know you." "Well," said the Indian, "I would have known you had I met you in hell. Bos- ton man make Indian heap afraid. He take ramrod, stand up straight, look Indian in face. Up, up goes gun, head dog down. Boston man stand look. Spite fire smoke come wait." We had a good laugh while listening to this speech and watching the Indian's movements.
In response to a command to charge, we went with a yell, and drove the In- dians out of the first and second hollows. Our lines were two deep; their's much longer and twenty to thirty deep. See- ing that we were not able to come up to them on horseback, we sent our horses to the rear and tried it on foot. In this way we drove them from one hollow to another until they turned to the right and ascended the buttes on Butte creek. Here we halted to await the arrival of our teams, which reached us about sun- down. Tired, hungry and thirsty, we camped here for the night, without any- thing to eat or water to drink; in fact, we had nothing in the world in our wagons to eat except flour, and we had 110 water to make bread with, or wood to cook it with if we had dared to make a fire. One half of our comrades stood guard while the other half tried to sleep two hours on, two hours off. There were only a few tents, and the majority of those on guard had to walk about to keep from chilling to death.
In the morning we moved on, the commissioners were anxious to have an- other parley with the Indians, but the
34
OREGON NATIVE SON.
.
colonel said: "You can stop here and talk as long as you like, but we will take our men to water, if we have to fight all the way."
The Indians did everything they could that day to bring on a battle, except fir- ing. We reached the Umatilla river in the afternoon, having been nearly two days without food to eat or water to drink.
The Indians camped one or two miles further up the stream. We had some poor cattle which we slaughtered. We cooked our meat without salt and made our bread of cold water straight. We discovered next day that the Indians had slipped away from their camp the night previously. Where they had gone we did not know. After a day's rest, we took up our march for Fort Walla Walla, which we reached on the after- noon of the day following .. Here we dug up a supply of ammunition the Hudson's Bay Company had hidden. There were no provisions, however, to be had.
On March Ist. 1848, we moved up the river and camped a short distance above Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox's village. On March 3rd, moved to the old mission house where Dr. Whitman was massacred, and after gathering up the bodies of those massacred and burying them, we built a stockade, which required some days.
Capt. Garrison's company who were out on a reconnoisance, were out five days without food of any kind, and then, on the sixth day of fasting, they subsist- ed for two days on the entrails of the beeves we had killed at Umatilla.
In a few days our command started out in a northwest direction in search of the Indians, who were discovered cross- ing the Columbia river to the north side. two of whom were killed. We gathered up the loose horses and cattle we found on the range, which had the effect of bringing on an engagement which lasted three days.
It has been estimated that fully twenty thousand Indians were engaged in this fight. The volunteers were out of pro- visions before the conflict began, and
after two days' fighting ran short of am- munition. Every moment of all this time, the warwhoop could be heard of the thousands of wild men as they cir- cled about and charged time after time this little army, day and night. The captured horses were finally abandoned, in hopes of inducing the Indians to with- draw. but it had the opposite effect. The Indians interpreted this action to imply that the whites were defeated. They were greatly encouraged and made more daring dashes. After they had delivered their shots with their bodies swinging to the sides of their horses, they passed out of gunshot to reload. Thus a constant fire was kept up. Only a small portion of the Indian could be seen, as he kept his body sheltered by his horse.
One writer who was present says that when the Indians charged on us the earth would shake as if moved by an earthquake. While wewere in "Two Can- yon," north of Walla Walla the valley was lit up by the constant firing. After getting out into the plain on our retreat to the Touchet, we had many of our men wounded and many of our horses killed. When we came in sight of the Touchet river, the Indians attempted to cut us off from the ford. To prevent this, fifty of our men ran a horse race with about three hundred Indians, to see who would get to the ford first. The Indians drop- ped into the stream below the ford. They secured a position sheltered by brush where they were enabled to do a great deal of damage. Had it not been for the bravery of Major Rinearson, Cap- tain Thompson and a number of others. a great many more of our men would have been killed than were. As it was, they were not driven out until a number of our men were killed, and many wounded, and a great many of the In- dians were left on the field. So many of them were killed at this place that they were discouraged from pursuing the army at this time any further.
This was a great victory for the white man, and the moral effect on the other tribes was good. The guilty Cayuses who had taken part in slaying Whitman.
35
AN INDIAN ST. PATRICK.
and others, left the country for safety. The Walla Walla. Cayuses. Spokanes. Flat Heads, Yakamas and other tribes gained a wholesome respect for the white man that they had never before enter- tained. The Cayuses as a people were financially ruined. Their prestige as a nation was gone, their leaders went into exile.
I have only sketched for you a dim outline of the beginning of the most re- markable warfare that ever white man was engaged in, a warfare that lasted in- . national support. They were absolutely termittently, until 1856. I have not told ignored by the general government-in fact, they have been since, criminally neglected by the United States govern- ment. you how we had to subsist on horse meat straight, and that when we had flour, we had nothing else.
These men laid here a foundation of civil government which is now firmly es- tablished on the North Pacific coast. These were the brave men who crossed a desert and established an empire. They have proved by the valor that while they had courage to take this vast territory west of the Rocky mountains, they also had the bravery, when the uprising came and their right to the possession of the land was questioned. to hold it against all odds.
In the civil war more men were killed in an hour's time, in several engage- ments than were lost by this colony in establishing civil and religious liberty on the Pacific, but the eighteen hundred who perished by the Indians was ten per cent of the entire population then living west of the Missouri river, and, while we have had wars where more men were slaughtered, there never was a war fought against such odds-without mon- ey, with little ammunition and without
It was these men who acquired the title of the Northwest territory from the English, adding four magnificent states to this Union, and after fifty-two years they stand today substantially as the only veterans in the United States without compensation and without pension. These men, from the first until the pres- ent day, have been criminally neglected by the United States government.
T. A. WOOD.
1753296
Chehalem was a famous Indian chief among the Wapatoo, and the Chehalem valley out in Yamhill county was his il-la-hee or land. He was a sort of St. Patrick. At one time, so runs the leg- end, the Chehalem valley was infested with rattlesnakes. They were every- where and very poisonous. They would frequently bite the Indians, thus killing them. Chehalem told the snake king that he must stop this, but no attention being paid to these demands, Chehalem determined to stand it no longer. His people were dying too rapidly; so he called together his medicine men and his warriors. The warriors drove the snakes into their den-a rocky point said to have been on Sam Kinney's donation claim. The medicine men then made medicine by which magic the old chief sealed up the mouth of the den. For a
whole moon he watched that none might escape-he neither ate nor slept during the time. He was strong and vigorous when he began his vigil, but worn and wasted, yet triumphant, when he finish- ed. The rattlers were his prisoners for- ever, and that valley has never seen one of them since.
The first printing company organized on the Pacific coast was formed at Ore- gon City, Oregon. in 1845. It was call- ed the Oregon Printing Association. W. G. T'Vault was president; J. W. Nesmith, vice-president ; John P. Brooks, secretary: George Abernethy. treasurer: Capt. John H. Couch, John E. Long and Dr. Robt. T. Newell, direc- tors. The first code of laws enacted by the Provisional government was printed by this company.
------
LEGEND OF NEHALEM.
South of the Columbia, after passing Clatsop Plains, the mountains come down abruptly to the ocean shore and the way is so rough that no wheel has ever traversed it. An old Indian trail followed the sandy beach when the tide cipitous bluffs that buttress the shore line; thence, travelers follow where winding trails creep over the beetling heights.
The shore line of the Pacific is all abrupt, with occasional indentations where streams from Coast Ranges pour down from their summit fountains to reach the sea, or, occasionally, beautiful - bays are indented, forming sheltered havens where Indian villages nestled of old and white men make their homes today. Homes and civilized industries are now where the scene of this story is laid: the commerce of a great river invades the solitudes and frowning heights, at the river's mouth, bristle with cannon.
The earliest knowledge the Indians had of other races came by prehistoric wrecks that lined the coast. These ex- tended from Vancouver's Island, on the north, to California on the south. There is evidence that Japanese and Chinese voyagers ventured from their home seas to lay the bones of their junks on this forbidding shore; tradition says that some were saved, made homes here and married, leaving almond-eved descend- ants to confirm the legend. Other le- gends tell of armed boats that landed at the base of stern Necarney to convey treasure chests to its upper benches. killing first a victim to bury therewith, to awe the wondering savages so they never would dare unearth the buried treasure.
----
Certain it is that the frowning front of Necarney vet overlooks the sea and throws back the breakers; that under its mighty base the sea-or some of Old Neptune's journeymen-have hewn out
caves, or grottoes,-the same where the natives say, their fathers told of other treasure being hid away. Yes, Necarney is there, and through its ravines the creduluos white man has dug and delved to find the buried treasure the legends
was out; at the full, the waves wash pre- . of Tillamook have borne witness to.
This is not a tale of treasure lost or trove, but of shipwreck long before white men were known here or the Co- lumbia was discovered. To the south of Necarney there is a strip of sandy beach, between the Nehalem river and the sea; and at the very base of the mountain there is a pleasant bay where the legend landed that crew and left vessels bed- ded in the sands. The Nehalem courses seaward, from among the Coast Ranges, for an hundred miles, then, striking the base of Necarney, turns south for three miles parallels the ocean, then enters it and is lost amid the fathomless waters.
The bands south of the Columbia were kindred and this river-bowered in by lofty cottonwoods, ash, alder and maples-was the winter home of the Ne- lıalem band. The Clatsops were not far north, and the Tillamooks lived on a beautiful bay of that name a few miles south. Along the sounding shore fan- tastic rocks stand, waist deep among the breakers, on which wandering gulls still build their nests and . the vagrant sea crab climbs. The predatory seal watches there from convenient ledges for some unwary salmon to enter the river of its birth. When its appetite is sated it may be seen on this same ledge, where of old the native would spear the unwary seal from the vantage of his canoe.
Below Clatsop is Tillamook Head: Its outlying spur-Tillamook-rising from the waves seems to laugh at the im- potent rage of the worst the sou'-west gale can do. Summit crowns summit as the wild coast line moves southward, tin- til, at last, bold Necarney inspires the scene with wierdest front of all! The
36
37
LEGEND OF NEHALEM.
managed to keep between him and wave breaks at its base but the winding path creeps upward, surmounts the cliff, following a terrace eight hundred feet above. From age to age Necarney has been handed down as the scene of many an episode, for tradition has given birth to legendry that lingers. yet in annals of Nehalem. The tribe wintered on that sheltered shore. It was about the winter of 1760 that a sou'west storm raged on this wild coast, tearing the waves to tatters to drench the shore with mingled brine and rainfall. One December night the clamor of the storm was varied by sights and sounds that terrified the na- tives, for no past had ever known the like. Out on the raging waters lights were seen to gleam and wild cries of human voices were heard above the storm, while cannon sounded the alarm.
Among the villagers was a family of three; an Indian of more than average renown. his wife and daughter. Their home was near the ocean, half hid by vines and undergrowth. We call him Nehala. The mother's name was Wena, the daughter was Ona. a girl whose soul was full of all the fancies that mountain, shore and sea could furnish.
An only child she was made much of, more than was usual if families were large. Ona heard the storm, saw the lights and recognized sounds of distress. which so worked on her that she could not sleep. With the first glimpse of dawn she woke her mother to accompany her to the beach. The storm was yet raging; the winds shrieked and almost tore the man- tles of skins they wore from their grasp, and driving rain pelted them fiercely as they pressed on. It was not far and they soon saw that the beach was strewn with all sorts of wreckage, which was left where wave and storm had left them.
They were first comers; as they went on the winds drove the angry sea foam in their faces, as if to warn them to keep away. Looking along the beach Wena exclaimed that she saw a human form amongst the wreckage. Hastening on they came to a bearded man, with bronze face, as dark as their own, lying
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.