An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 12

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146

USA > Washington > Kittitas County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 12
USA > Washington > Yakima County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 12
USA > Washington > Klickitat County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 12

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).

Upon receipt of the important communication embodying this draft, the president asked in advance the advice of the senate, a very unusual, though not an unprecedented procedure. Though the request of the president was dated June 10th, and the consideration of the resolution to accept the British proposal was not begun until June 12th, on June 13th it was "resolved (two-thirds of the senators present consenting), that the president of the United States be, and is hereby, advised to accept the proposal of the British gov- ernment, accompanying his message to the senate, dated June 10, 1846, for a convention to settle the boundaries, etc., between the United States and Great Britain, west of the Rocky or Stony mountains." The advice was, however, "given under the conviction that, by the true construction of the second article of the project, the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company to navigate the Columbia would expire with the

THE OREGON CONTROVERSY.

termination of their present license of trade with the Indians, etc., on the northwest coast of America, on the 30th day of May, 1859."

The wonderful alacrity with which this advice was given and with which five degrees, forty minutes of territory were surrendered to Great Britain, is accounted for by some historians (and no doubt they are correct) by supposing that the "cession" was made in the interests of slavery. The friends of that institution were unwilling to risk a war with Great Britain which would inter- fere with the war with Mexico and the annexa- tion of Texas. Their plan was to acquire as much territory from which slave states could be formed as possible, and they were not overscru- pulous about sacrificing territory which must ultimately develop into free states. But for unfortunate diplomacy, "it is quite probable that British Columbia would be to-day, what many would deem desirable in view of its growing importance, a part of the United States."

Notwithstanding the great sacrifice made by the United States for the sake of peace, it was not long until war clouds were again darkening our national skies. The determining of the line after it reached the Pacific ocean soon became a matter of dispute. Hardly had the ratifications been exchanged when Captain Prevost, for the British government, set up the claim that Rosa- rio was the channel intended in the treaty. The claim was, of course, denied by Mr. Campbell, who was representing the United States in making the survey line. It was contended by him that the Canal de Haro was the channel mentioned in the treaty. Lord Russell, conscious no doubt of the weakness of his case, proposed as a compro- mise President's channel, between Rosario and De Haro straits. The generosity of this proposal is obvious when we remember that San Juan island, the principal bone of contention, would be on the British side of this line. Indeed, Lord Lyons, the British diplomatic representative in the United States, was expressly instructed that no line should be accepted which did not give San Juan to the British. The position of the United States was stated by Secretary of State Lewis Cass, with equal clearness and decisive- ness. Efforts to settle the matter geographically proved unavailing and diplomacy again had to undergo a severe test.

For a number of years the matter remained in abeyance. Then the pioneer resolved to try the plan he had before resorted to in the settle- ment of the main question. He pushed into the country with wife and family. The Hudson's Bay Company's representatives were already there, and the danger of a clash of arms between the subjects of the queen and the citizens of the United States, resident in the disputed terri- tory, soon became imminent. Such a collision would undoubtedly involve the two countries in war.

In the session of the Oregon territorial legis- lature of 1852-3, the archipelago to which San Juan island belongs was organized into a county. Taxes were in due time imposed on Hudson's Bay Company property, and when payment was refused, the sheriff promptly sold sheep enough to satisfy the levy. Recriminations followed as a matter of course and local excitement ran high. General Harney, commander of the department of the Pacific, inaugurated somewhat summary proceedings. He landed over four hundred and fifty troops on the island, and instructed Captain Pickett to protect American citizens there at all cost. English naval forces of considerable power gathered about the island. Their commander protested against military occupancy. Pickett replied that he could not, under his orders, per- mit any joint occupancy .. General Harney, how- ever, had acted without instructions from the seat of government, and the president did not approve his measures officially, though it was plainly evident that the administration was not averse to having the matter forced to an issue.

At this juncture, the noted General Scott was sent to the scene of the difficulty, under instruc- tions to permit joint occupancy until the matter in dispute could be settled. Harney was with- drawn from command entirely. Finally, an agreement was reached between General Scott and the British governor at Vancouver that each party should police the territory with one hun- dred armed men.

Diplomacy was again tried. Great Britain proposed that the question at issue be submitted to arbitration, and she suggested as arbiter the president of the Swiss council or the king of Sweden and Norway or the king of the Nether- lands. The proposition was declined by the United States. For ten years longer the dispute remained unsettled. Eventually, on May 8th, 1871, it was mutually agreed to submit the ques- tion, without appeal, to the arbitrament of Emperor William, of Germany. George Ban- croft, the well-known historian, was chosen to present the case of the United States, and it is said that "his memorial of one hundred and twenty octavo pages is one of the most finished and unanswerable diplomatic arguments ever produced." The British also presented a memo- rial. These were interchanged and replies were prepared by each contestant. The emperor gave the matter careful and deliberate attention, call- ing to his assistance three eminent jurists. His award was as follows: "Most in accordance with the true interpretation of the treaty concluded on the 15th of June, 1846, between the govern- ments of her Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, is the claim of the govern- ment of the United States, that the boundary line between the territories of her Britannic Majesty and the United States should be drawn through the Haro channel. Authenticated by

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

our autograph signature and the impression of the Imperial Great Seal. Given at Berlin, Octo- ber 21, 1872." This brief and unequivocal decree ended forever the vexatious controversy

which for so many years had disturbed friendly feelings and endangered the peace of two great Anglo-Saxon peoples. No shot was fired; no blood was shed; diplomacy had triumphed.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CAYUSE WAR.

Long before the settlement of the Oregon question, signs of another struggle for owner- ship of the country had become distinctly visible. The Indian had begun to perceive what must have been fully apparent to the tutored mind of the more enlightened race, that when the sturdy American began following the course of empire to westward, that harsh, inexorable law of life, the survival of the fittest, would be brought home to the red man. He had begun to feel the approach of his own sad fate and was casting about for the means to avert the coming calamity or, if that could not be, to delay the evil hour as long as possible.

Although no large immigration had entered the Oregon country prior to 1843, that of the preceding year numbering only one hundred and eleven, the few settlers of Oregon had already become apprehensive for the safety of their brethren en route to the west, and Sub-Indian Agent White had sent a message to meet the immigrants of 1843 at Fort Hall, warning them to travel in companies of not less than fifty and to keep close watch upon their property. The reason for the latter injunction became apparent to the travelers in due time, for the Indians, especially those who had become accustomed to white people by reason of their residence near the mission, were not slow to help themselves to clothing, household goods, cattle or horses, when an opportunity was offered. However, the fact that none of the immigrants settled near the mission had a quieting effect upon the Indians of that neighborhood.

In 1844 an Indian named Cockstock, with a small following, made hostile demonstrations in Oregon City. Failing to provoke a quarrel with the white residents, he retired to an Indian village across the river and endeavored to incite its occu- pants to acts of hostility. In this he failed. It appears that formerly Cockstock had visited the home of Dr. White, purposing to kill him for a real or fancied wrong, but, his intended victim

being absent, he had not been able to do greater damage than to break the windows of the sub- agent's house. An unsuccessful attempt had been made to arrest him for this offense, and he was now bent on calling the Americans to account for their audacity in pursuing him with such intent. With an interpreter he returned to the Oregon City side. He was met at the landing by a number of whites, who doubtless meant to arrest him. In the excitement firearms were discharged on both sides and George W. Le Breton, who had served as clerk of the first legislative committee of Oregon, was wounded. The other Indians withdrew to a position on the bluffs above town and began shooting at the whites, who returned their fire with such effect- iveness as soon to dislodge them. In the latter part of the fight two more Americans were wounded, one of whom died, as did also Le Breton, from the effects of poison from the arrow points. The Indian loss was Cockstock killed and one warrior wounded. Aside from this, there was no serious trouble with Indians in the Willa- mette valley during the earlier years, though frequently the Indian agent was called upon to settle disputes caused by the appropriation by Indians of cattle belonging to white men.

Prior to 1842, a number of indignities had been offered to Dr. Whitman at his mission sta- tion at Waiilatpu, near where Walla Walla now is. These he had borne with Christian forbear- ance. During the winter of 1842 he went east. Some of the Indians supposed that he intended to bring enough of his people to punish them for these offenses. He did bring with him in the summer of 1843 nearly nine hundred people. none of whom, however, were equipped for Indian warfare or of a militant spirit. As no offense was offered the Indians and not an acre of their lands was appropriated by these whites, the quiet of the upper country was not disturbed. But the mission was thereafter practically a fail- ure as far as its primary purpose was concerned,

THE CAYUSE WAR.

as was also that of Rev. H. H. Spalding in the Nez Perce country.

After the return of Whitman, an event hap- pened which boded no good to the white people. About forty Indians, mostly of the Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes, having decided to embark extensively in the cattle business, formed a com- pany to visit California for the purpose of secur- ing stock by trading with the Spaniards. Peo- peo-mox-inox, head chief of the Walla Wallas, was the leader of the enterprise. The company reached California in safety, had good success for a while in accomplishing their ends, but eventu- ally fell into difficulty through their unwilling- ness to be governed by the laws of the land. While on a hunting expedition, they met and conquered a band of robbers, recovering a num- ber of head of horses, stolen from Americans and Spaniards. Some of them were claimed by their former owners, in accordance with the law that property of this kind belonged to the original possessors until sold and marked with a transfer mark. An incident of the dispute was the kill- ing by an American (in cold blood if the Indian account be true) of Elijah, son of Peo-peo-mox- mox. This unfortunate event had its effect in deepening the hatred of the Indians for the American people. Peo-peo-mox-mox and his band were eventually expelled from California by the Spanish authorities, being pursued with such vigor that they had to leave their cattle behind. They returned home in the spring of 1845. Dr. Whitman was deeply disturbed by the incident, fearing that the Indians would take their revenge upon his mission, and sent a hasty message to the sub-Indian agent, so stating. White was visited about the same time by an Indian chief, Ellis, who wished advice as to what to do in the matter. White states that he was apprehensive . of difficulty in adjusting it, "particularly as they lay much stress upon the restless, disaffected scamps late from Willamette to California, load- ing them with the vile epithets of 'dogs, thieves,' etc., from which they believed or affected to that the slanderous reports of our citizens caused all their loss and disasters, and therefore held us responsible."

"According to Ellis," writes Mrs. Victor, "the Walla Wallas, Cayuses, Nez Perces, Spo- kanes, Pend d'Oreilles and Snakes were on terms of amity and alliance; and a portion of them were for raising two thousand warriors and marching at once to California to take reprisals by capture and plunder, enriching themselves by the spoils of the enemy. Another part were more cautious, wishing first to take advice and to learn whether the white people in Oregon would remain neutral. A third party were for holding the Oregon colony responsible, because Elijah had been killed by an American.

"There was business, indeed, for an Indian agent with no government at his back, and no

money to carry on either war or diplomacy. But Dr. White was equal to it. He arranged a cor- dial reception for the chief among the colonists ; planned to have Dr. McLoughlin divert his mind by referring to the tragic death of his own son by treachery, which enabled him to sympathize with the father and relatives of Elijah; and on his own part took him to visit the schools and his own library, and in every way treated the chief as though he were the first gentleman in the land. Still further to establish social equality, he put on his farmer's garb and began working in his plantation, in which labor Ellis soon joined him, and the two discussed the benefits already enjoyed by the native population as the result of intelligent labor.

"Nothing, however, is so convincing to an Indian as a present, and here it would seem Dr. White must have failed, but not so. In the autumn of 1844, thinking to prevent trouble with the immigration by enabling the chiefs in the upper country to obtain cattle without violating the laws, he had given them some ten-dollar treasury drafts to be exchanged with the emi- grants for young stock, which drafts the emi- grants refused to accept, not knowing where they should get them cashed. To heal the wound caused by this disappointment, White now sent word by Ellis to these chiefs to come down in the autumn with Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding to hold a council over the California affair, and to bring with them their ten-dollar drafts to exchange with him for a cow and a calf each, out of his own herds. He also promised them that if they would postpone their visit to California until the spring of 1847, and each chief assist him to the amount of two beaver skins, he would establish a manual training and literary school for their children, besides using every means in his power to have the trouble with the Californians adjusted, and would give them from his private funds five hundred dollars with which to purchase young cows in California."

By this means White succeeded in averting an impending calamity, though he was unable to fulfill all his pledges. Peo-peo-mox-mox did, however, return to California in 1846 with forty warriors to demand satisfaction for the murder of his son. Not a little excitement resulted, and a company was sent by the California authori- ties to protect frontier settlements. The Indians, seeing that both Americans and Spaniards were . prepared to defend themselves, made no hostile movement, but gave their attention to trading and other peaceful pursuits.

For a few years prior to the settlement of the Oregon question in 1846, there was another cause of alarm among the colonists, namely, the possibility of war with Great Britain and conse- quent hostilities between the settlers and the Hudson's Bay Company. It was very certain that in the event of war the Indians would side

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

with the British company, and the condition of the colonists would become truly deplorable. Happily, this contingency was averted by the triumph of diplomacy.

But even after the question of sovereignty had been settled by the treaty of peace, war clouds still hung over the Northwest. In his message to the provisional legislature of Oregon, sent in December 8, 1847, Governor Abernethy referred to the Indian situation in this language:

"Our relations with the Indians become every year more embarrassing. They see the white man occupying their land, rapidly filling up the country, and they put in a claim for pay. They have been told that a chief would come out from the United States and treat with them for their land; they have been told this so often that they begin to doubt it; 'at all events,' they say, 'he will not come till we are all dead, and then what good will blankets do us? We want something now.' This leads to trouble between the settler and the Indians about him. Some plan should be devised by which a fund can be raised and presents made to the Indians to keep them quiet until an agent arrives from the United States. A number of robberies have been committed by the Indians in the upper country upon emigrants as they were passing through their territory. This should not be allowed to pass. An appro- priation should be made by you sufficient to ena- ble the superintendent of Indian affairs to take a small party in the spring and demand restitution of the property, or its equivalent in horses."

As heretofore stated, this message reached the legislature December 8, 1847. The same day another was sent with communications from William McBean and Sir James Douglas, of the Hudson's Bay Company, giving details of a hor- rible massacre in the upper country. The calam- ity so long expected had come at last. With savage whoops and fiendish yells, the Cayuse Indians had fallen upon the helpless inhabitants of the Waiilatpu mission, enacting the most awful tragedy which has stained the pages of northwest history, a history presenting many dark and dreadful chapters, written in the blood of the Argonauts who bore the stars and stripes o'er plain and mountain and through the track- less forest to a resting-place on the Pacific shore.

There were several causes in addition to the general ones heretofore recited which impelled the Indians to strike their first blow when and where they did. A short time before the fatal 29th of November, Bishop A. M. A. Blanchet, of the Catholic Society of Jesus, Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet, and other priests, made their appear- ance in the vicinity of the Whitman mission. Whitman met Blanchet at Fort Walla Walla and told him frankly that he was not pleased at his coming and would do nothing to help him estab- lish his mission. The priests, however, eventu- ally took up their abode in the house of an Indian

named Tauitowe, on the Umatilla river, having failed to secure a site near Whitman from Tilou- kaikt. The later intercourse between Whitman and Blanchet seems to have been more friendly than their first interview, and there is no evi- dence of any bitter sectarian quarrel between them. But there is little doubt that the priests encouraged the Indians in the belief that the Americans would eventually take all their lands. Many of the earlier Protestant writers accused the priests, or the Hudson's Bay Company, or both, of having incited the Indian murderers to their devilish deeds, but most of the historians of later date refuse to accept any such theory.

Perhaps one of the boldest of the early secta- rian writers was W. H. Gray, whose history of Oregon is so palpably and bitterly partisan and shows such a disposition to magnify "trifles light as air" that it fails to carry conviction to the mind of the unprejudiced reader.

The proximate cause of the massacre, assigned by the Indians themselves, was a belief that Dr. Whitman was administering poison instead of wholesome medicines to such of their number as were sick and required his professional services. The large immigration of 1847 had been the vic- tim of a terrible pestilence, and by the time it reached the vicinity of Whitman's station was suffering from measles in a form so virulent as to cause the death of many. Of course, the dis- ease was communicated to the Indians, who hung about the wagons parleying or pilfering. The condition of the diseased Indians became pitiful. "It was most distressing," said Spald- ing, "to go into a lodge of some ten or twenty fires, and count twenty or twenty-five, some in the midst of measles, others in the last stage of dysentery, in the midst of every kind of filth, of itself sufficient to cause sickness, with no suita- ble means to alleviate their inconceivable suffer- ings, with perhaps one well person to look after the wants of two sick ones. They were dying every day, one, two, and sometimes five in a day, with the dysentery which generally followed the measles. Everywhere the sick and dying were pointed to Jesus and the well were urged to pre- pare for death."

Six were sick with measles in. the doctor's household, and furthermore, Mrs. Osborn was weakly from a recent confinement and her baby was in ill-health. Dr. Whitman had the care of all these, and besides was acting as physician to the entire white and Indian population of the surrounding country. He was unremitting in his attentions to those who needed him, but no skill could avail to stay the ravages of the dread scourge.

This terrible condition of things furnished an opportunity to Whitman's two principal enemies -Joe Lewis, a half-breed, of his own household, and Chief Tiloukaikt-both of whom had been many times the beneficiaries of his benevolence.

THE CAYUSE WAR.

The cause of Lewis' spite is not known, but "with the iniquity which seemed inherent in his detestable nature," he began circulating the report that Whitman was poisoning the Indians, for the purpose of securing their lands and horses. He even went so far as to state that he (Lewis) had heard Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Spalding discussing the matter among them- selves.

"The mission buildings," says Gray, "occu- pied a triangular space of ground fronting the north in a straight line, about four hundred feet in length. The doctor's house, standing on the west end and fronting west, was eighteen by sixty-two feet, adobe walls; library and bedroom on south end; dining and sitting-room in the middle, eighteen by twenty-four; Indian room on north end, eighteen by twenty-six; kitchen on east side of the house, eighteen by twenty-six; fireplace in the middle and bedroom in the rear; school-room joining on the east of the kitchen, eighteen by thirty; blacksmith shop, one hun- dred and fifty feet east; the house called the mansion on the east end of the angle, thirty-two by forty feet, one and one-half stories; the mill made of wood, standing upon the old site, about four hundred feet from either house. The east and south space of ground was protected by the mill pond and Walla Walla creek-north front by a ditch that discharged the waste water from the mill, and served to irrigate the farm in front of the doctor's house, which overlooked the whole. To the north and east is a high knoll, less than one-fourth of a mile distant and directly to the north, three-fourths of a mile distant is Mill creek."

Referring to the disposition of different per- sons about these premises at the time of the out- break, the same writer says:

"Joseph Stanfield had brought in an ox from the plains, and it had been shot by Francis Sager. Messrs. Kimball, Canfield and Hoffman were dressing it between the two houses; Mr. Sanders was in the school, which had just called in for the afternoon; Mr. Marsh was grinding at the mill; Mr. Gillan was on his tailor's bench in the large adobe house, a short distance from the doc- tor's; Mr. Hall was at work laying a floor to a room adjoining the doctor's house; Mr. Rogers was in the garden; Mr. Osborn and family were in the Indian room adjoining the doctor's sitting- room; young Mr. Sales was lying sick in the family of Mr. Canfield, who was living in the blacksmith shop; young Mr. Bewley was sick in the doctor's house; John Sager was sitting in the kitchen but partially recovered from the measles; the doctor and Mrs. Whitman, with three sick children, and Mrs. Osborn and her sick child were in the dining or sitting-room."

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An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 12

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146