USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington > Part 7
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The first attempt to establish a city on Elliott bay was at .Alki Point. The ambition and expectation of the founders are indicated in the name which they gave to their embryonic municipality,-New York. Some of them soon removed to the east side of the bay, and the information which they received from the Indians regarding the country, especially rela- tive to the accessibility of the region east of the Cascades, led them to establish a rival city. They gave it the name of the chief, Seattle. Thus the name of an honored, true and dig- nified Indian chieftain has been perpetuated.
After this settlements extended with in- creasing rapidity. Many people of extraor- dinary intelligence and enterprise and of ster- ling character came into the country.
We soon find milling and coal-mining op- erations beginning and within a few years the former develops to immense proportions. At the same time the country to the south is developing -- the lower Chehalis valley, and the Cowlitz valley down as far as the Coluiti- bia river. Attempts were made to establish great cities. So, at the close of 1852, we find in what was then known as northern Oregon,
settlements from the Columbia river to British Columbia and from the Cascade mountains to the Pacific coast. In this territory we find the towns of Olympia, Vancouver, Steilacoom, Se- attle and Port Townsend, with an aggregate population of three thousand.
A resume of historical facts will lead us to consider briefly the circumstances and events leading to and connected with the
DIVISION OF TERRITORY.
Some of the earliest settlers north of the Columbia probably cherished the laudable am- bition of being the founders of a state. They were men of vision, and planned great things. We find that active measures looking toward separate political existence from Oregon were inaugurated as early as the 4th of July, 1851. Independence day was celebrated at Olympia by those who had settled around the head of Puget sound. Mr. J. B. Chapman, who was the orator of the day, took for his theme "The Future State of Columbia," and treated it in an eloquent and stirring manner. The orator struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his hearers, and the appeal for prompt action found a ready response. During the day a committee on resolutions was appointed, and in rendering their report they recommended that representa- tives of all the districts north of the Colum- bia river meet in convention at Cowlitz Land- ing, for the purpose, as expressed, "of taking int ยป careful consideration the peculiar position of the northern portion of the territory of Ore- gon, its wants, the best method of supplying these wants, and the propriety of an early ap- peal to congress for a division of the terri- tory."
The recommendation being in accordance with the will of the people, the various districts
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
responded and a convention was held on the day appointed, with twenty-six delegates pres- ent. As a result of the deliberations of said convention, a memorial to congress on the sub- ject of division was adopted. The Oregon delegate to the United States congress was instructed to act in accordance with the mnemo- rial, and congress was petitioned to construct certain roads necessary for the public good, also to extend to the new territory the bene- fits of the Oregon land law. For some reason congress took no action on the memorial, and consequently the enthusiasm for territorial segregation lost its ardor for a season. But the agitation did not cease, for at Olympia was established a paper which had that for its ob- ject.
Under the lead of this paper, called the Columbian, another convention was planned, the same being held at Monticello, on the 25th of October, 1852. There were present forty- four representative citizens, and the action was in harmony with that of the previous conven- tion. Cogent reasons were prepared and sub- mitted to General Lane, the delegate to con- gress, for the organization of a new territory. The Oregon legislature, meeting a few days afterward, exhibited an unusually magnani- mous spirit by acting in harmony with the de- sires of the convention. General Lane acted without delay in introducing the measure to congress, and on February 10, 1853, it passed by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to twenty-nine. The name Washington was, however, substituted for Columbia. The bill passed the senate on the second day of March, at which time the population of the new ter- ritory was somewhat less than four thousand. President Pierce appointed Isaac Ingalls Ste- vens, of Massachusetts, as governor. Ile was a man eminently fitted for the position. Other
official appointments were as follows: C. H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary; Edward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice: John R. Miller, of Ohio, and Victor Monroe, of Ken- tucky, associate justices ; and J. S. Clendenin, of Louisiana, United States district at- torney.
The act which created the territory gave to it an arca more than twice as great as was asked for in the memorial, its boundaries be- ing defined as follows: " All that portion of Oregon territory lying and being south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, and north of the middle of the main channel of the Co- lumbia river, from its mouth to where the forty-sixth degree of north latitude crosses said river near Fort Walla Walla, thence with said forty-sixth degree of latitude to the sum- mit of the Rocky mountains." This included all of the state of Washington as it now stands and also a portion of the present states of Idaho and Montana.
About the last of November Governor Stevens arrived, and issued a proclamation or- ganizing the government of the territory and designating the 30th for the election of a dele- gate to congress and of members of the ter- ritorial legislature, and February for the con- vening of said legislature. Good material for the offices was not wanting, nor a sufficient number ambitious to fill them. Columbus Lan- caster, of Clarke county, was elected delegate to congress. AAlthough a worthy man in many respects, he did not prove to be qualified for the position at such a critical time. Men of fair abilities were elected as legislators, and ac- complished their mission creditably. The ma- terial progress of the territory was slow for several years. The Cascade mountains were a great barrier to the extension of settlements eastward.
CHAPTER III.
THE MISSIONS OF WALLA WALLA AND THE WHITMAN MASSACRE.
Few of the pioneer lands of the west have lacked their heroes. Few have lacked their martyrs. It has been the work of some to find the passes of the mountains, to blaze trails through the wilderness, to find the river cross- ings. Others have found it their task to dis- cover the materials and the routes of industry and commerce. Others yet again have had the grim destiny of meeting, fighting. killing. or being killed by the unfortunate natives. Still others, very few in comparison, assumed the yet harder, and, in most minds. the thankless duty of imparting the ideas of Christianity and civilization to those poor remnants of a doomed race. Most important of all, on yet others has been laid the weightiest task, that of forming national political policies and managing the in- ternational questions arising out of the struggle for possession.
.Any one of the various lines of duty would have been thought hard enough. We find the strange spectacle in the annals of Walla Walla of one man performing them all.
This man was Marcus Whitman. The pre- eminent services of this man have begun to receive a tardy recognition, and in the west at least he is now acknowledged as without a peer in the importance of his work as the foundation buikler of Americanism in Oregon.
Properly to understand the history of the Whitman mission and the massacre, and the events growing out of these in their bearing on the history of Walla Walla and the Oregon
country, we must turn back the pages of history and take our station in the year 1832. In that year a strange thing occurred. Four Flathead Indians came from what is now Idaho to St. Louis, seeking the White Man's "Book of Life," of which they had heard some vague report from some trappers or explorers in their own land. Two years were spent by them on their strange quest, years of suffering. danger and doubt.
When at last they reached St. Louis they could not find words with which to make known their wants, and for a long time they wandered. tongue-tied. through the streets. Finally coming under the notice of Governor Clark, they were sent to a Catholic priest, and from him the story reached the country. It pro- duced a profound interest among the churches; seeming to them a veritable Macedonian cry. Two missions were organized for the Oregon Indians, one by the Methodists under Jason Lee in the Willamette valley in 1834. The fol- lowing year the American Board sent Dr. Marcus Whitman of Rushville, New York, and Dr. Samuel Parker of Ithaca, New York, to examine the field and report on the condi- tions for missionary work.
Ilaving reached Green river, the general rendezvous of the trappers, it was decided that Dr. Parker should continue his journey to the Pacific and Dr. Whitman should return east and make ready to come back and locate some- where in Oregon Territory. Accordingly in
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
the early spring of 1836. in company with his newly made bride, Narcissa ( Prentice ) Whit- man, and Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, Dr. Whitman started across the plains. From the Loup Fork of Platte river to Green river the missionary party traveled with the fur com- pany's annual detachment, but at the latter point they committed their fortunes and lives to a body of Nez Perce Indians who had come to meet them. The letters and journals of Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding give us some conception of the heroic fortitude with which they met the hardships and dangers of that unprecedented bridal journey of three thousand miles across the American wilderness. Reach- ing Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, on Sep- tember 1, 1836, and being in the general vi- cinity of the region where they had expected to labor, it became apparent that they would need to establish friendly relations with the Hudson's Bay Company, the great autocrats of the Columbia valley. Accordingly they made the additional journey by boat to Vancouver, where Dr. McLoughlin, a true-born king of men, received them with the kindly courtesy which always characterized his treatment of those who came to him. By his advice Whit- man was established at Waiilatpu, six miles west of the present Walla Walla.
We must pass rapidly over the events of the next few years. Suffice it to say that they were years of great activity on the part of the missionaries. Travelers who visited the sta- tion expressed their wonder at the amount ac- complished by Dr. Whitman.
He had brought over two hundred acres of land under cultivation, had built several large buildings, had put into running order a small grist mill run by a water power from Mill creek, had also a small saw-mill on Mill creek about fourteen miles above the present
site of Walla Walla, had gathered together a large number of Indian children for instruction. and with all this was acting as physician to all the whites in the country and to many of the Indians.
He was a keen observer of the international politics which gathered about Oregon and could not fail to see that his plans were necessarily antagonistic to those of the great English fur company, whose Briarean arms reached to all parts of the land and whose evident and in fact necessary purpose was to keep the country in a state of savagery. Although the personal re- lations between Dr. Whitman and Dr. Mc- Loughlin were of the pleasantest sort, each was keen enough to see that success for the one meant defeat for the other.
Busy as Whitman was with the multifari- ous duties which he had loaded upon himself. he became more and more absorbed in the vital question as to who was going to own this coun- try. Among a number of Americans coming to Oregon in 1842, was .\. L. Lovejoy, a man of intelligence and force, who informed Whit- man of the pending Webster-AAshburton treaty between England and this country. the effect of which many Americans thought would be detrimental to their country.
The more Whitman thought of it the more he became possessed of the idea that it was his patriotic duty to go to Washington and inform the authorities of the nature of this country and its value, and assist the emigrants of the next year to cross the plains and mountains on their way to Oregon. That was the primary idea of that great winter ride in 1842-3. made by Whitman, Lovejoy accompanying as far as Fort Bent. The details of that grand, heroic ride, with the momentous results hinging upon it and the magnificent success achieved. have been many times narrated, have been discussed,
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
hotly disputed, exaggerated and belittled, and yet out of the general turmoil certain historical facts may be regarded as definitely established. First, it is now conceded by all that Whitman's idea was "to save Oregon to the United States."
Many writers have questioned this in the past. One writer (we are glad to say but one ), Mrs. F. V. Fuller, has the unenviable distinction of having attributed low and sordid motives to the hero, believing that his object mainly was to secure the continuance of the mission as a source of profit to himself. She even at one time went so far as to suggest a doubt whether Whitman was ever in Wash- ington at all. Although those to whom Whit- man had related his experiences, as well as men who actually recalled seeing him in Washing- ton, had given their testimony, yet these per- sistent efforts to depreciate him had produced a good deal of effect in the public mind. it was therefore a matter of profound interest when in 1891 there was made in the archives of the War department an extraordinary dis- covery. This was a letter from Dr. Whitman himself to the department, proposing a bill for the establishment of a line of forts from the Kansas river to the Willamette This entire letter and proposed bill appeared in the Walla Walla Union-Journal of August 15. 1891. A perusal of it will convince any one that Whit- man's aim in his tremendous exertions was political, as well as that he had all the essential elements of statesmanship. Ilis aspersers have scarcely "peeped" since the discovery of this letter. The question of "Why Whitman went cast" has ceased to be debatable. We incor- porate here the beginning and closing of this letter, adding only that reference to the Union- Journal referred to, or to Dr. O. W. Nixon's book, "Ilow Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon,"
will give to historical students this final word on the controversy.
To the Hon. James M. Porter, Secretary of War.
Sir :- In compliance with the request you did me the honor to make last winter while at Washington, I herewith transmit to you the synopsis of a bill, which, if it could be adopted, would according to my experience and observa- tion prove highly conducive to the best in- terests of the United States generally ; to Ore- gon, where I have resided for more than seven years as a missionary, and to the Indian tribes that inhabit the intermediate country.
The government will now doubtless for the first time be apprised through you, and by means of this communication, of the immense migration of families to Oregon, which has taken place this year. I have since our inter- view been instrumental in piloting across the route described in the accompanying bill. and which is the only eligible wagon road. no less than - families, consisting of one thousand persons of both sexes, with their wagons. amounting in all to more than one hundred and twenty, six hundred and ninety-four oxen, and seven hundred and seventy-three louse cattle. * ** *
Your familiarity with the government pol- icy, duties and interest, renders it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several objects intended by the inclosed bill. and any enlarge- ment upon the topics here suggested as in- ducements to its adoption wonkl be quite su- perfluous, if not impertinent. The very ex- istence of such a system as the one above recommended suggests the utility of postoffices and mail arrangements, which it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon to have granted them, and I need only add that contracts for this purpose will be readily taken at reas mable rates for transporting the mail across from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty days, with fresh horses at each of the con- templated posts. The ruling policy proposed, regards the Indians as the police of the coun-
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
try, who are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not only for themselves, but to repel lawless white men and prevent banditti, under the solitary guidance of the superintendent of the several posts, aided by a well directed sys- tem to induce the punishment of crime. It will only be after the failure of these means to procure the delivery or punishment of violent, lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a band or tribe should be regarded as conspira- tors against the peace, or punished accordingly by force of arms.
Hoping that these suggestions may meet your approbation, and conduce to the future interests of our growing country. I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, your obedient servant.
MARCUS WHITMAN.
The second fact established in regard to Whitman's work is that he did produce a pro- found influence on the minds of President Tyler and Secretary Webster and others in authority, and as a result, other influences, perhaps, also reaching them, our government took an entirely new stand and began to raise the demand of "Fifty-four forty."
.A third fact is that he published broadcast in the spring of 1843. his intention to return and pilot the train across the mountains. It is also true that many immigrants, though by no means all, were induced to come by his pres- ence and representations.
A fourth fact is that he triumphantly suc- ceeded in conducting a thousand people, with wagons and cattle, to the promised land of Oregon. The immigration of '43 was the deciding contest in the struggle for pos- session between England and the United States. The American home vanquished the English fur-trader.
.A fifth fact may be added to the effect that Whitman's station on the Walla Walla became the rallying point for Americans, with
all their interests, between the Rocky Moun- tains and the Cascades. Waiilatpu was the eastern frontier of American settlement in Ore- gon. For though the mission posts of Lapwai and Tchimakain were actually farther east. they had no bearing on the political question of the time.
Such briefly summarizes the acknowledged facts in regard to Dr. Whitman and his work. As to the comparative value of. his services, as to the controverted questions of what some. have styled the "Whitman Myth," this is not the place to speak. Suffice it to say that by the uniform testimony of his contemporaries, as well as of the students of history, Whitman was one of the heroes of America and the chief factor in giving this "Valley of Many Waters" its high rank among the sacred places of our land.
But Whitman's destiny was not yet ful- filled. The missionary had become the patriot. the patriot had become the hero, the hero had become the statesman. Now the statesman must become the martyr.
THE WHITMAN MASSACRE.
After Whitman's return in 1843 the In- dians had become restive and ngly. They could form no conception of the exalted sen- timents which actuated the missionaries. They began to see in a rude way the logic of Amer- ican occupation. It meant a change in their whole method of life. It implied farming, cattle-raising, houses, fixed and narrowed do- mains, instead of the hunting and wild life of their ancestral habits. They saw also the an- tagonism between the Americans and the Brit- ish, and inasmuch as the latter were the more (lisposed to maintain the existing condition of savagery, the Indians generally inclined to
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
sympathize with them. Dr. Whitman per- ceived the danger and during the summer of 1847 he had in contemplation a removal to The Dalles. He had arranged to purchase the Methodist mission there and was planning to remove thither in the spring. In the meantime sinister influences were gathering around his devoted head, all unknown to him. His two principal enemies were Tamsuky, a Cayuse chief. and Joe Lewis, a renegade half-breed who had wandered to the mission, had been befriended by Whitman, and then with the inequity which seemed to be inherent in his (letestable nature, became a prime mover in the murderous plot.
During the summer of 1847, measles, in- troduced by immigrants, became epidemic among the Cayuses. Their native method of treating anything of a feverous nature was to enter into a sweat house, stripped of clothing. and remain there until thoroughly steamed. and then plunge naked and perspiring into a cold stream. Death was the almost inevitable result. Whitman was faithful and unremitting in his ministrations, but many died. At this critical moment the wretch Lewis perceived that his oportunity had come. He made the Indians think that Whitman was poisoning them. He went so far as to affirm that he had heard a conversation between Spalding and Whitman as to what they would do when they had got possession of the country.
The Indians determined to make a test case of a sick woman, giving her some of Whit- man's medicine, and agreeing that if she died they would kill the missionaries. The woman died, and the plot came to a focus.
Istickus of Umatilla, who had always been a warm friend of Whitman, had felt some ink- ling of the plot, and suggested to him his danger. Ile had never realized it before, but
with his daring spirit had laughed off thoughts of harm. At the warning of Istickus, Mrs. Whitman, noble, intrepid soul that she was. felt the darkening of the approaching tragedy. and was found by the children in tears for the only time since the death of her beloved little girl eight years before. The doctor told her that if possible he would arrange to remove down the river at once.
But the next day. the fatal 29th of No- vember. 1847. dawned. Great numbers of Tamsuky's adherents were in the vicinity. Survivors of the massacre say that on the day before, the little hill on which the monument is now situated, was black with Indians look- ing down upon the scene. Their presence and their unfriendly looks added to the alarm felt ly Mrs. Whitman.
At about 1 o'clock on the 29th, as Dr. Whit- man was sitting reading, a number of Indians entered and having attracted his attention by the accustomed request for medicine, one of them, said afterwards by the Indians to have been Tamahas, drew forth a hatchet and buried it in the head of his benefactor. AAnother named Telaukait, who had received many fa- vors from Whitman, then came up and pro- ceeded to beat and hack the noble face that had never expressed any sentiment but kindness toward those children of darkness. The work of murder, thus begun, was followed with fiendish energy. None of the white men, scat- tered and unsuspecting, could offer any ef- fective resistance. They were quickly shot down, with the exception of such as were in places sufficiently remote to elude observation and glide away at night. Five men in that manner escaped and after incredible suffering reached places of safety. Mrs. Whitman was the only woman who suffered death. The other women were shamefully outraged, and
.
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
the children, both boys and girls, were held in captivity several days. William McBean, the Hudson Bay agent at Fort Walla Walla, displayed a dastardly spirit when he learned of the massacre, for instead of rescuing, he refused to harbor one man, Mr. Hall, who had escaped as far as the fort. but shutt the door on him, with the result that he perished. A courier was sent by McBean to Vancouver, but he did not even warn the people at The Dalles of their danger, though happily they were not molested. As soon as James Douglas, then chief factor in the place of Dr. McLoughlin, heard of the massacre. he dispatched Peter Skeen Ogden with a force to rescue the sur- vivors. Ogden showed a commendable zeal and efficiency, and by the expenditure of sev- eral hundred dollars, ransomed forty-seven women and children. The names of the mur- dered were Marcus Whitman, Narcissa Whit- man, John Sager, Francis Sager, Crocket Bew- ley, Isaac Gillen, James Young, and Rogers, Kimball, Sales, Marsh. Saunders, Hoffman and Hall. A lock of long, fair hair was subse- quently found on the site of the massacre which was undoubtedly taken from the head of Mrs. Whitman. It is now preserved among the precious relics in Whitman College.
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