USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington > Part 10
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On the 3d of March 1853. Washington became a separate territory. Major Isaac I. Stevens was appointed governor, and in the following summer he set out for his domain. Gold had been discovered in the Colville coun-
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try and there were many adventurers moving across the plains in that direction. The In- dians were very restive. These explorations they regarded with well grounded suspicion as the entering wedge of the establishment of white sovereignty.
There were at that time two remarkable In- dian chiefs, chiefs who belong to that line of remarkable Red Men of which Philip. Pontiac. Red Jacket, and Tecumseh were more illus- trious specimens : whose qualities of mind and character contain a hint of what Indians might have been had they had any wide or long con- tinued opportunity. These two Columbia val- ley chiefs were Kamiakin of the Yakimas and Peupeumoxmox of the Walla Wallas. Like all the Indian chiefs, he perceived the handwriting on the wall revealed by the entrance of the whites, and they determined to make a des- perate effort to burst their tightening bonds while there was yet a chance of success.
There was a general outburst of all the tribes of Oregon and Washington in 1853 and 1854. which led into the great war centering in Walla Walla in 1855. This series of troubles began in the summer of 1853 in the Rogue river valley. in southern Oregon. The usual bitter controversy raged as to who was to blame for this. It looks as though whites and Indians were both equally so. In 1854 occurred the horrible "Snake River Massacre," in which a number of immigrants who had offered no provocation whatever, were butchered in the most brutal manner. Norman Ward, of Pen- dleton, then a boy of thirteen, was the only sur- vivor. That massacre occurred on the Boise, a few miles above Fort Boise. Great excitement ensued in the Willamette valley when this atrocity was known, and Major Haller was sent by General Wool, then commanding the Department of the Pacific. to the scene. Having
partially punished the supposed perpetrators of the outrage, the command returned to The Dalles. All these things, with many smoulder- ing causes of discontent, prepared the Indians for war.
THE GREAT WAR OF 1855.
This war had three fields of operation. One was southern Oregon. another Puget sound, a third the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys. In all there were probably four thous- and Indians under arms, and many have be- lieved that nothing but lack of intelligent co- operation among these prevented the annihi- lation of all the smaller settlements. But the various petty feuds and conflicting purposes. always characteristic of barbaric wars, pre- vented such co-operation. Indian fought against Indian, and whites profited thereby.
In May, 1855. Governor Stevens and Gen- eral Joel Palmer met the representatives of seventeen tribes at Walla Walla, to endeavor to make treaties for the cession of their lands. The council ground was on and around the identical place now occupied by Whitman Col- lege. The immemorial council ground of the Walla Walla and other tribes of this country. lay between the college brook and the one north of it. and around the place now known as Council Grove. A fair, entrancing spot it must have been in its primeval luxury and wildness. The tents of the great chiefs were pitched, as nearly as can be ascertained. on the spot now occupied by the house of Mrs. E. H. Baker.
FIRST COUNCIL OF WALLA WALLA.
Lieutenant Kipp has preserved a graphic account of this important meeting. Governor Stevens and General Palmer had an escort of only about fifty men. The Indians gathered in
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great numbers. Old Chief Lawyer led an army of Nez Perces, twenty-five hundred strong, and, as the sequel proved, it was well for the whites he did so.
Two days later three hundred Cayuses, those worst and most dangerous Indians, the "Spartans of the Columbia," reached the ground, surly and scowling as usual, led by several chiefs, of whom none was friendly ex- cept Stechus. Two days later came over two thousand Yakimas, Umatillas and Walla Wal- las. Governor Stevens and his small squad must have been somewhat startled to see that in case of treachery their lives were not worth a dime. But with his characteristic nerve he maintained perfect dignity and composure. That was a meeting worthy of the pen of Irv- ing or the brush of Bierstadt. Along the banks of Mill creek and on either side of those rip- pling spring branches, whose clear cold waters lend beauty and freshness to the pleasant homes of Walla Walla, were stretched the camps of the flower of the warriors of the Inland Empire. The "Valley of many Waters" must have seemed blessed indeed to the tribes of the plains, after they had ridden across the arid wastes be- tween Yakima and Walla Walla and emerged from the Touchet hills upon the fresh and grassy dales now consecrated to the memory of that very missionary whom the Cayuses slew. It seems poetic justice that Whitman College should now hold the self-same spot which fifty years ago was the capitol of the confederated tribes. Poetic justice, and yet melancholy and pitiable, if we could by some magic wand ren- der again visible and audible the savage mag- nificence which was there out-stretched on the banks of Mills creek, and contrast it with the wretched remnant which now shambles aimless- ly through this heritage of their fathers and
look with inscrutable eyes toward their own certain fate.
Governor Stevens opened the council on May 29th by a short speech setting forth his desire to purchase the lands of the Indians, leav- ing to them in perpetuity certain reservations. On the 30th and 3Ist both Governor Stevens and General Palmer addressed the council in lengthy speeches. These had to be translated into both the Nez Perce and Walla Walla tongues and from these they gradually filtered down among the mass of Indians. The In- dians were entirely unresponsive. Attempts were resumed unsuccessfully to get some sign of committal by the chiefs. On June 4th Law- yer broke the ice by an address favoring the treaty. Many of the Nez Perces followed Lawyer, but Joseph swung a large faction in the other direction. All the eloquent portray- al of Stevens and Palmer of the blessings of civilization was received by the Indians with gutteral grunts, an Indian's sign of attention, but no token of approval followed, aside from the faction represented by Lawyer.
Several days passed. The Cayuses bitterly opposed the treaty. Peupeumoxmox, the great Walla Walla chief, departed from his usual policy of taciturnity and openly opposed it. Peupeumoxmox had sufficient cause of griev- ance. He had been a friend of the whites. His son had been educated at Whitman's mission. He had been friendly to Whitman. Then his son was taken by Sutter, of gold-discovery fame, to California. There the innocent and well-meaning boy was murdered by a crowd of those low, coarse, brutal white men, who have caused so large a part of Indian troubles. The father swore vengeance and bided his time.
On June 9th came another great "Wa Wa." Governor Stevens was pitted against Looking
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Glass, the great Nez Perce war chief, who had arrived late to the council, with a Blackfoot scalp dangling beside him as a tropy of a re- cent foray. The governor had decided to offer them three reservations, one for the Yakimas, one for the Nez Perces, and one for the Cay- uses, Walla Wallas and Umatillas. He made a great speech, and aided as he was by the in- fluence of Lawyer, felt sure that he had at- tained his end. But the magnificent war chief Looking Glass leaped to his feet and poured forth a speech that soon had the tribes shout- ing and applauding around him. He was the Demosthenes of the occasion and the gov- ernor found all his work undone. But with the patience and skill which made him such a great figure in our annals, he again gathered up the broken threads of his work, and by private manipulations and persuasions, Lawyer being his right-hand man, he secured the assent of the chiefs to the signing of the treaties on the 11th of June, and his work was complete. Lieutenant Kip asserts that they afterwards discovered that they had been all the time on the very verge of a volcano, for the Indians were spending most of their time discussing the question of whether they should massacre the whole detachment. The Cayuses, as usual, were the active originators of this plot. The firm opposition of the Nez Perces was the only thing that prevented its consummation. An un- told delt of gratitude is due the Nez Perces. No white man with a spark of humanity in him should forget these noblest of the red men. Had the plot been executed, the Indians would next have wiped out the sokliers at The Dalles, and after that the extermination of all the whites in the country cast of Portland would have followed.
The treaties negotiated at Walla Walla, June 12. 1855 ( though dated June 9th ). pro-
vided for the surrender by the Yakimas of the vast area of twenty-nine thousand square miles, being substantially Chelan, Yakima, Kittitass, Franklin, Adams, and the most of Douglas and Klickitat counties. From that cession was to be excepted the princely domain, one of the finest bodies of land in the world, now known as the Yakima reservation. The Yaki- mas, it may be said, constituted a "nation" composed of fourteen tribes, extending from the Cascade summits to the Palouse river. The Nez Perces agreed to relinquish almost as large an area, embracing what is now a good part of Whitman, Garfield, Columbia and Aso- tin: counties in Washington : Union and Wal- lowa counties in Oregon: and Washington. Idaho and Nez Perces counties in Idaho. . 1 very large reservation was provided by the treaty for the Nez Perces ; being, in addition to that now embraced in the Nez Perce reserva- tion, large tracts between the Alpowa and Snake rivers and the Wallowa valley. The retention of the Wallowa was insisted on by Chief Joseph, and seems to have been the key to the ratification of the entire plan: and it is the more to be deplored that the modification of the treaty in 1863 afterward precipitated the Nez Perce war of 1877. That change in 1863 involved the surrender of the Wallowa and the reduction of the Nez Perce reservation to what it was prior to its recent opening. But few Indians seem to have been consulted, and young Joseph, son of the Joseph who took part in the treaty of 1855. insisted on their claim to the country, and the difficulty led to the memorable war of 1877. This is not the place to discuss the event, but we refer to it here in order to illustrate the lamentable results which follow a failure to adhere to a given agree- ment from one administration to another. The treaty of 1855 should have been faithfully ob-
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served unless abrogated by the clear and gen- eral agreement of both parties. And there was the deeper obligation on the government to do it in case of the Nez Perces, for to them Governor Stevens and his party owed their lives, and the settlers owed a debt of thankful- ness not to be computed. Instead of remem- bering this, the land-grabbers goaded those steadfast friends of the whites into a cruel and causeless war. In connection with this Wal- lowa matter, an interesting reminiscence was given the writer by John McBean, son of the Iludson's Bay employe of that name. Young McBean was at that time a boy of twelve, and being a half-breed and knowing the Indian language perfectly, could pass at any time for ar: Indian. He related that while acting as a spy on the grounds, he heard the discussion about the treaties. And the whole matter de- pended upon whether the Nez Perces would ac- cept it. This they finally did on the distinct agreement that Joseph and his band should have permanent possession of the Wallowa. That point assured, the Nez Perces agreed. The others followed. That settled the whole mat- ter. Otherwise the treaties would never nave been accepted. Yet eight years after, without general agreement by the tribe, the vital point was violated and the cherished Wallowa valley left out of the reservation to be demanded in later years by white settlers. It should be added that those immediate settlers were in no way personally guilty. Government was to blame. That is a sample of one kind of reason for Indian wars. So much for the Nez Perce part of the agreement.
The Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas, under the terms of this treaty, relinquished their right to another magnificent territory, embraced substantially in the present limits of Walla Walla county in Washington, and Uma-
tilla, Morrow, and part of Union and Gilliam counties in Oregon. Their reservation was es- sentially that now known as the Umatilla reser- vation. Which of these three superb domains was the best would puzzle a good judge to de- cide. Any one of them is larger than most of the Atlantic states, and in point of opu- lence of natural resources surpasses equal areas in most parts of the world.
For their concessions the Indians were to receive what seems a just and even liberal compensation ; though to the mind of civilized man ridiculously small; for the whole vast area of probably thirty million acres outside of reservations, was relinquished for about six hundred and fifty thousand dollars in all ; per- haps, roughly estimated, two cents per acre. It is probably worth to-day, with its improve- ments, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
The compensation of the Yakima Nation was two hundred thousand dollars, paid in an- nuities, with salaries for the head chief of five hundred dollars for twenty years, also some special agreement in regard to houses, tools, etc. The compensation of the Nez Perces was the same. The Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas were to receive one hundred thousand dollars ; each of the head chiefs to have an an- nuity of five hundred dollars for twenty years, and also to have the usual special donations for houses, tools, etc. Peupenmoxmox, whose favor was especially courted, was granted the unique privilege of beginning to draw his salary at once, without waiting for the formal ratifi- cation of congress. His remaining son was to receive an annuity of one hundred dollars a ycar, a house and five acres of land. plowed and enclosed. Peupeumoxmox was also to be given three yoke of oxen, three yokes and chains, one wagon, two plows, twelve hoes, twelve axes, two shovels, a saddle and bridle. a
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set of wagon harness and one set of plow har- Icss.
I laving completed this great work, Governor Stevens passed on to the north and cast to con- tinue the same line of negotiations with the Indians there. We may say in brief, that he succeeded in making a treaty with the Black- fcet, but was unsuccessful with the Spokanes. Meanwhile, during his absence, the great Walla Walla and Yakima war had burst with the sud- denness of a cyclone upon the Columbia plains. And not only here but throughout the Sound country the storm of war had burst on all sides.
WAR BEGINS.
That the outbreak of hostilities should have occurred almost simultaneously at places so re- mote from each other as Walla Walla, Puget sound and Rogue river has led many to sup- pose that there was a definite and wide-spread conspiracy. Others have believed that there was simply an identity of causes, and that these produced like results at like times. While it is altogether likely that there may have been hints 01 outbreak in the air which spread from tribe to tribe, it is likely that the second is the true solution.
Kamiakin, the Yakima chief, and Peupeut- moxmox, the Walla Walla chief, were the ani- mating force of the movement on this side of the mountains. Kamiakin was a natural gen- eral and diplomat. He seems to have signed the treaty at Walla Walla only under great pressure and with the mental reservation that he would break it at the first opportunity. Hardly had the ink dried on the treaty when he was rounding up the warriors over the wide domain of the Yakima nation. These chiefs secm to have seen, as did Philip and Pontiac.
that the coming of the whites, if not checked, meant the destruction of Indian rule. If they struggled against fate at all they must do it then. From their standpoint they were adopt- ing the only possible policy. As some of the Nez Perces told Governor Stevens, they were not afraid of explorers, or trappers or soldiers, but they were afraid of men with wagons and axes. They had now been watching for fifteen years a steady stream of immigrants passing down to the Willamette. Steamboats were running on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Towns were springing up. It was now or never for them. One Indian only, and that was Lawyer, the Nez Perce, perceived the impos- sibility of the Indians ever coping with the whites, and that therefore the only wise course for them was to yield to the inevitable as easily as possible and adopt the white man's mode of Me and live on terms of amity with him. Though Looking Glass and Eagle-from-the- light had dissented very strongly from the first, they had finally yieldled to Lawyer's powerful influence and the treaty had resulted. Now in the midst of the fury of war they remained true to their agreement.
Kamiakin had gathered together a great council of the disaffected at a point north of Snake river. The fierce and intractable Cay- uses were the most active in the movement of any except Kamiakin himself and his imme- chiate friends. Young Chief and Five Crows were the Cayuse chiefs leading the war. Stechus alone, with a very small following, holding aloof.
The war broke out rather prematurely in September by the murder of miners who were traversing the Yakima valley. . Agent Bolon having gone courageously into the valley to in- vestigate the matter, was murdered and burned to ashes on September 23d. It is said that
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Quelchen, son of Owhi and nephew of Kamia- kin, committed this crime.
Tidings of the outbreak of hostilities hav- ing reached The Dalles. Major Haller with a hundred men started north at once and Lieu- tenant Slaughter went from Steilacoom across the Natches pass to the Yakima to co-operate with Haller. But on October 6th, the Indians burst upon Haller with such energy that he was obliged to retreat with the loss of a fourth of his men, besides his howitzer and baggage. At this stage of affairs Peupeumoxmox fell upon old Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, and though it had no garrison the Indians plundered the fort of a considerable quantity of stores. The Walla Walla valley was swept of settlers. The regions also bordering Puget sound were ravaged by the Indians. At this time General Wool was the commander of the Department of the Pacific. It is not possible here to enter into any examination of the bitter and ran- corous dispute that has arisen as to General Wool's conduct of this war. It was intensely unsatisfactory to the settlers. Wool seems to have decided that the whites in southern Oregon were more to blame than the Indians, and he felt disposed in consequence to let them meet the results of their own acts.
Discovering from experience that there was little to be hoped for from the regulars, Governor Curry and the Oregon legislature speedily equipped a strong force under Colonel J. W. Nesmith. Colonel Nesmith having gone to the Yakima country with four com- panie; under general charge of Major Rains of the regulars, on what proved to be a fruit- less expedition, Lieutenant-Colonel J. K. Kelly, in command of five hundred men, marched to Walla Walla.
BATTLE OF WALLA WALL.1.
There occurred the famous battle of the Walla Walla, on the 7th, 8th, 9th and Ioth of December, 1855. The force of Oregon vol- unteers having reached Wallula on December 2nd, found that the Indians who they had hoped to meet there had eluded them, leaving the fort in ruins. Setting forth in two divi- sions on December 5th, the volunteers pro- ceeded up the Walla Walla river to the Tou- chet. Turning up the latter stream they had gone about ten miles when there suddenly ap- peared, with a flag of truce, no less a personage than Peupeumoxmox himself. Captain Con- noyer, who was in the vanguard, entered into a parley with the Walla Walla chieftain, in which the chief stated that he and his people were anxious to make peace. He told Nathan Olney, the Indian agent with whom he con- versed, that he had at first intended to make war on the whites, but on reflection had de- cided that it would not be good policy.
While the conference was in progress, the" troops as well as the Indians had gradually gathered around in considerable numbers and finally passed on in the direction of an Indian village near at hand.
Seeing that they were approaching a dan- gerous canyon. Colonel Kelly became suspi- cious that the Indians were meditating treach- ery, and he determined to return a short dis- tance back upon the trail and camp without supper for the night. It was a cold, wretched night. Snow began to fall. Colonel Kelly. in his anxiety to make a forced marchi, had given orders to travel light, and they were so very light that they had no supplies.
Much difference of opinion developed as to
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the wisdom of pausing and camping on the trail. Captain Connoyer held the opinion, which he afterwards stated to Colonel Gilbert. that Peupeumoxmox was acting in good faith and that if the army had gone on with him, he being entirely in their power. they would have reached the village in safety and would have found plenty of food, passed a comforta- ble night, and that the war would have ended then and there. Colonel Kelly believed other- wise and has left on record the following rea- sons for his opinion :
Colonel Kelly writes that Peupeumoxmox "stated that he did not wish to fight and that on the following day he would come and have a talk and make a treaty of peace. On con- sultation with Honorable Nathan Olney, In- dian agent, we concluded that this was simply a ruse to gain time for removing his village and preparing for battle. I stated to him that we had come to chastise him for the wrongs he had done to our people, and that we would not defer making an attack on his people nin- less he and his five followers would consent to accompany and remain with us until all difficulties were settled. I told him that he might go away under his flag of truce if he chose, but that if he did so we would forth- with attack his village. The alternative was distinctly made known to him, and to save his people he chose to remain with us, a hostage for the fulfillment of his promises, as did also those who accompanied him. He at the same time said that on the following day he would accompany us to his village; that we would then assemble his people and make them deliver 11) their arms and ammunition, restore the property which had been taken from the white settlers, or pay the full value of that which could not be restored, and that he would furnish fresh horses to remount my command
and cattle, to supply them with provisions to enable us to wage war against other hostile tribes who were leagued with him. Having made these promises, we refrained from mak- ing the attack, thinking we had him in our power, that on the next day his promises would be fulfilled. I also permitted him to send one of the men who accompanied him, to his vil- lage to apprise the tribes of the terms of the expected treaty, so that they might be prepared to fulfill it.
"I have since learned from a Nez Perce boy who was taken at the same time with Penpeumoxmox, that instead of sending word to his people to make a treaty of peace, he sent an order to them to remove their women and children and prepare for battle. From all I have since learned, I am well persuaded that he was acting with duplicity and that he expected to entrap my command in the deep ravine in which his camp was situated, and make his escape from us."
We will not now undertake to say who was correct, but all seem to have agreed in one thing, and that is that the men had a most wretched night and became exceedingly im- patient, and rather blindly feeling that Peu- peumoxmox was to blame for all their discom- fort, they were in the mood for the tragedy that followed.
This move of the "Yellow Serpent" was hard to explain in any way. It seemed very strange that he would have put himself right in the hands of his enemies unless he really meant to act in good faith. Moreover, it is not easy to see how he could have expected to gain anything by leading the whites to his village, so long as his own life was sure to be the instant forfeit of any treachery. But on the other hand, it is very strange that if he was perfectly honest the Indians should have made
.
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the attack on the next day. However it may have been, it was plain that things were not going just according to program, for during the night Indians had gathered in great num- bers about on the hills, and were evidently watching in great anxiety to see what might be the fate of Peupeumoxmox.
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