USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 6
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Governor Stevens, who appears to be losing some of his ex- pressed confidence in savage " docility," asked for a thousand stand of arms and suitable accessories to be stored at Fort Steila- coom and made subject to his requisition. Though the Territory was virtually unprotected, depending only upon the guardian- ship of its widely separated settlers, the War Department, with that devotion to " red tape" which has wrecked so many com- mon-sense intentions, declined to issue them on the ground that "' no return of the effective militia had been made."' Had Jeffer-
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son Davis shown one half the energy he did in providing for a later struggle, it is just possible that the storm of savagery so soon to break upon the devoted heads of these much-enduring pioneers might have been averted ; but as the old Scotch High- landers used to say when threatened, " it was a long cry to Loch Lough," and even so the federal Washington and its new-born namesake were very, very far away-too far, alas, for the hearing of either wail or war cry. A thousand stand of arms would have been just so many arguments for peace-a killing logic in the horny hands of as many determined backwoodsmen, which no Indian of the sound would have been too stupid to understand. It would, moreover, have been a saving in blood, treasure, and time ; but red tape in the hands of official indifference strangled it.
In the mean while, Congress, more wise than the War Depart- ment, was legislating for the Territory's good. The amendment to the old Donation Law, with its liberal construction by the Land Office, was accepted as a boon. The offices of Register, Receiver, and Surveyor-General were created, and appropriations granted on a liberal scale for the extinguishment of Indian land titles, and yet another for lighthouses on Puget Sound. Mail routes were also extended. The presence of the territorial dele- gate, combined with the strong influence of Governor Stevens, did much to press to a conclusion congressional action on many points suggested by the gubernatorial inaugural ; but that which was well done in one House met its failure in the other.
The next noticeable incident of our history was the massacre of the Ward party by a band of the Snake Indians. It was the opening gun, so to speak, of the long and bloody Indian cam- paigns soon to follow. It, moreover, marked the first exhibition of the friction preventing the harmonious working together in more than one instance of the Regulars with Volunteer troops, as evinced by the declination of Major Raines, the commandant of Fort Dalles, to accept the services of two companies of Volunteers, called for by Governor Curry, of Oregon -- a refusal to co-operate which caused the rescinding of the Governor's order. It will be found that Oregon troops will figure in these Indian conflicts as the tide of battle rolled on either side of the boundary. The total Indian population with which, should they unite, as they" seemed well inclined to do, was, as shown by Governor Stevens' report of their census to the Indian Bureau, taken about this
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time, to be 14,099, of which 6500 lived east of the Cascade Moun- tains, and 7599 on the west. This would enable them to put many warriors into the field. Add to intense enmity their per- fect knowledge of a wild and broken country and a chieftainship well skilled in every art of savage warfare, and it will be seen that the settlers, scattered and isolated as they were, had no little cause for uneasiness. There was another source from which came continual menace and actual outrage-the incur- sions of the Indians from Russian or British territory, dwelling in the far North. They were the sea rovers and Norsemen of the Pacific coast, coming in their great war canoes on errands of rapine, and for the most part returning unpunished, or, if over- taken, exacting two lives for one in every case where they suf- fered loss ; beheading their victims, and celebrating their infer- nal orgies over these ghastly trophies of their prowess in the security of their distant homes. A single steam revenue cutter, had Congress so directed, would have inflicted summary justice upon these piratical wretches, by overtaking them in the wide stretches of the sound, and without mercy sending them to its bottom. But Government seems ever the last to learn from the fool's teacher-experience-and even then to profit by it.
Governor Stevens' official report as ex officio Indian Superin- tendent is a somewhat curious document, as showing the effect of experimental evolution. The Governor, not yet fully disillu- sionized, still clings to his creed of philanthropy, but has already discovered disturbing elements-a leaven of evil among the good. The Clallams, with their tribal relatives, the Lummi, Indians with British preferences and insolence accordingly, have decidedly wandered from the straight and narrow path of "good Indian docility." They have murdered three Americans and committed many robberies. One was arrested and awaiting trial. It is a comfort to know that these savages continually emphasized the homely truth that " where thieves fall out honest men gain an advantage," for they dreaded each other, well knowing that dis- honesty was to the Puget Sound savage as his native heath. The following extract from the Governor's report, bearing upon this characteristic, may be quoted here. He says :
" The jealousies existing among all these petty bands and their fears of one another is everywhere noticeable in their estab- lishing themselves near the whites. Wherever a settler's house
Han JA Perkins
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is erected a nest of Indian rookeries is pretty sure to follow, if permitted, and in case of temporary absence, they always beg storage for their valuables. The compliment is seldom returned, though it is often considered advantageous to have them in the neighborhood as a spy upon others. Some amusing traits of character occasionally develop themselves among the Indians, of which an instance happened with these. A saw-mill was erect- ed upon the outlet of a lake where they were in the habit of tak- ing salmon. The fishery was much improved by the dam ; but what afforded them the greatest satisfaction was its situation on their property and the superior importance thereby accruing to themselves. They soon began to understand the machinery, and took every visitor through the building to explain its working, and boast of it as if it had been their own construction."
The conclusion of his report abounds with beneficent sugges- tions, many of which were afterward adopted, looking to the general comfort and protection of tribes, some of whom came very near rewarding their author by taking his scalp-possibly as a tangible souvenir of Washington's philanthropic "tyee."
December, 1854-55, finds the Governor once more addressing the Legislature at Olympia. His annual message, delivered on the first Monday of that month, was an admirable and states- manlike document, replete with important suggestions, among others urging the immediate organization of the militia, and requesting Congress to put a sufficient force in the field to overawe the hostiles and protect the settler. The legislative pro- ceedings being thus fairly inaugurated, the Governor turned his attention to treaty making with the Indians. We quote the first as the alpha of a long line of treaties, good, bad, and indiffer- ent, which more or less enabled the savage to gain time to de- ceive and finally destroy the unsuspecting white. It was known as the " Medicine Creek Treaty," was concluded and signed De- cember 26th, 1854, and confirmed by the United States Senate in March of the following year. It conveyed lands belonging to and secured reservation tracts for various tribes occupying the country about the head of Puget Sound at a cost to the United States of $32,500, the payment of which extended over a term of years, and was so judiciously arranged as to prevent the extermi- nation of its recipients by undue indulgence in the " fire water" of the pale face. It furthermore provided most liberally for the
5
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education, physical care, and parental guardianship generally of these vagabonds. As the best practical comment upon the real value and significance of these one-sided arguments, it is, as Evans tells us :
" A noteworthy fact that the first Indian signature to this Medicine Creek Treaty is that of Quiemath. His brother, Leschi, signed third. They were the two leading spirits in the organization of Indian hostility in the fall of 1855. They both infused life into that conspiracy, and held together the hostile combination on Puget Sound. They were . in that war what Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, were in the War of 1812, on the then Northwestern frontier. Natural leaders, born ora- tors, consummate strategists, fertile in resource and of brilliant audacity, they gave strength to the malcontents, and trans- formed a mere outbreak into a protracted war."
We have no space to follow this round of treaty-making, all about equally valuable when the United States paid and the Ind- ian. for the most part failed to deliver the peace and honesty traded for.
His diplomatic labors completed, the Governor returned to Olympia.
Meanwhile, the Legislature had completed deliberations, which occupied but sixty days. Of their doings, one of the best results was a crude militia law, just strong enough to pass muster and avoid the entanglements of the War Department's network of red tape. It also declared void all marriages yet unconsum- mated between whites and those of one-fourth negro or one-half Indian blood, with a penalty of from $50 to $500 against the party solemnizing such illegal unions. It shut off the sale of " fire water" to the Indians, and spent much of the session in locating public territorial buildings, Vancouver getting the peni- tentiary, Seattle the university, and Olympia, like Olympus of old, most favored, getting those pertaining to the seat of gov- ernment. In connection with the details of the prison plan, it is evident that they made provision for a ripe fruitage of rascality, as the bill called for no less than " one hundred cells to confine prisoners separately at night" within its walls. But this latter clause, so far as Vancouver was concerned, came to naught ; for though they laid a good foundation, it never reached a super- structure -- nothing more being done-nor did the universities on
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paper fare much better, legislatures, like men, being apt to de- vise many things which the public purse is not always long enough to materialize. The seat of government, more fortunate, got ten acres upon the Donation claim of Edmund Sylvester, just south of Olympia, as then laid out. Both Vancouver and Steila- coom made an effort, but in vain, to grasp the capital honors, which Olympia bore away, which may possibly account for the fact that when the title to the land donated-the ten acres re- ferred to-came to the crucible of examination, the joint com- mittee differed, their somewhat negative decision being " that it was as good as any title to lands in the territory could be made." The appropriation of $5000 was then applied to the erection of a building which might be called a "law factory," for it has turned out first and last many a legal enactment through proc- esses of evolution which, though slow, are not always sure.
The " temperance question" also came to the front, and secured recognition in the passage of an act to prohibit the manufacture of ardent spirits, which almost exactly duplicated the famous one of Maine. This act, however, was conditional, being made subject to the approval of the people at the general election to be held in July of 1855. There it met its quietus by a vote of 540 for to 610 opposed, failing to become a law by only 70 votes. And here we may remark that legislative coercion never seems to effect much in this direction, the influences that really restrain men in such matters coming from within rather than from without, reason and conscience proving stronger fac- tors than the pressure of a law which sooner or later is sure to be repealed, letting loose the tide of evil checked for awhile, only to flow more fiercely when its barriers are removed.
The extinction of the territorial claims of their old enemies, the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies, by purchase, together with an act to enable the Governor to call out volunteers for the protection of incoming settlers, with other matters of local interest, brought forth urgent appeals to the general Government for immediate congressional action.
The discovery of gold in paying quantities upon the bars of smaller rivers emptying into the Upper Columbia, ever a disturb- ing element, was now destined to initiate trouble with the Ind- ians. The miners journeyed through their hitherto untraversed hunting grounds. Haller's command of United States Regulars
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had also entered their territory in pursuit of Indian marauders who had committed brutal murders near Fort Boisé. The sav- ages, excited and made jealous by these inroads, were becoming restless and hostile. When Governor Stevens passed through the country they professed great friendliness, and offered the same "lip service" when James Doty, the Secretary of the Ind- ian Commission, went to visit them to see if they continued in that mind. Through him arrangements were made for all par- ties to meet at a grand council in May.
The 12th of that month found Governor Stevens in the saddle en route to meet with those who, coming with a superfluity of fair words upon their lips, strove with honeyed falsehoods to mask the dagger they carried in revengeful breasts. The coun- cil was to be held at Walla Walla, in Eastern Washington, and the Governor went, determined, if possible, to placate these " docile" creatures, who were evidently becoming more danger- ous every day. It was an evil venture, and very nearly did he anticipate the fate which came to him when, more gloriously em- ployed in later years, he died upon the battle-field. Though he knew it not at the time, he and his party throughout the whole negotiations were in eminent danger of being treacherously slain, falling victims to the devilish malignity of savage hate. As we look back upon it all, it seems simply wonderful that any white man escaped alive from that futile attempt at treaty·mak- ing-futile because an Indian will make as many treaties as you please, particularly when accompanied by present-giving-he rather enjoys it ; but when he comes to the keeping of them -- ah ! that is quite another matter.
The Governor applied for and took with him as an escort and to guard the " treaty goods" a party of forty Dragoons, under the command of Lieutenant Gracie, who had been detailed by Major Rains for that purpose. They had a couple of packers and a Cayuse Indian guide. This fellow was pleasantly desig- nated as " Cat Mouth John," from an enlargement added to that expansive feature by a bullet wound received in " battle with the Snakes." Lieutenant Lawrence Kip, who afterward very graphically wrote up the affair under the title of " The Indian Council at Walla Walla," accompanied then as the guest of Lieutenant Gracie. Before reaching Walla Walla they were re- enforced by a detachment of ten men, commanded by a corporal,
A.S. In althus?
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whom they met returning from a fruitless attempt to overtake certain Indian marauders. The place appointed for the meeting had been the traditional council ground of the natives to be treated with for many generations. As the location of a tourna- ment of former days was entitled " The Field of Gold," so this fencing ground of false and evasive tongues might well have been called the "Field of Lies," if only to commemorate the falsehoods which still clung to its memories.
The Governor and Superintendent Palmer reached the ground designated by Kamiakin, head chief of the Yakimas, before the arrival of his escort ; the Indians, however, were more tardy. The story of this council, as told by Lieutenant Kip, informs us that on the 24th the Nez Perces, twenty-five hundred strong, arrived, under the leadership of Lawyer, their principal chief. These were followed, on the 28th, by the Yakimas, the Uma- tillas, and Walla Wallas, who swelled the assembled number to about five thousand. Then speech-making was in order, begin- ning with an opening address by the Governor, on the 29th. The scene, from an æsthetic point of view, must have been eminently picturesque-the rude surroundings ; the wide plain dotted with evidences of Indian occupancy ; the midnight glimmer of hun- dreds of camp-fires ; the wildness of the place and the yet greater savagery exhibited by representatives of the combined rascality of the three great tribes controlling Eastern Washing- ton ; a senate of five thousand warriors, all gaudy in paint, feathers, blankets, and filth, but fortunately for the Commis- sion, like most conventions, divided among themselves by con- flicting interests and memories of former feuds. Take it all in all, Catlin himself, the great Indian delineator, could not have asked a more favorable grouping on which to exercise his artistic skill.
The manner in which the speeches were interpreted left little room for oratory or rounded periods-those of the white officials being literally lined out, and then doubly translated, sentence by sentence, into the Nez Perce and Walla Walla tongues-a very tedious process, which, in all probability, sadly mutilated the original text. For three consecutive days their purpose and the advantages of the treaty they came to make were fully ex- plained by the commissioners, but without response from their Indian auditors. They listened in surly silence, on other
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thoughts intent, which, had the secrets of those dark bosoms been then explored, would have made Gracie's Dragoons look more carefully to their sabres and carbines. On June 1st the Indians declined to attend the council, but held deliberations among themselves. On the 2d both sides did some talking, a Cayuse chief closing the debate with some remarks unfavorable to the treaty. On the 4th, Lawyer, of the Nez Perces, talked for the treaty, and declared that he, with his chiefs, was willing to sign. On the 5th the pale faces once more had their innings, eloquently explaining to the motley horde the advantages of civilization, which Kip very properly designates as "a casting of pearls before swine," the outcome being a chorus of grunts savagely rendered. Stechus, a surly old Cayuse, responded in words that showed no change of sentiment on the part of those ill disposed people, who that night manifested increased hos- tility of feeling, not permitting the officers to enter their camps, and showing a special dislike to the soldiers who acted as guards for the preservation of order. On the 6th the Indians again con- sulted among themselves, but declined to meet the whites in council. They differed as to the treaty-the Nez Perces favor- ing, while the Cayuses opposed its signature. An old Walla Walla chief, whose name, if written, would fill a line or two, usually a politic talker, openly denounced the sale of their terri- tory. Kamiakin would have nothing to do with it. So, like the katydids of their forests, they continued to affirm and deny without definite result till Friday, the 8th of June, a day pro- verbially unlucky, but on this occasion made doubly so by the ar- rival of Looking Glass, the war chief of the Nez Perces, who, just at the moment when the Indian mind was taking a turn for the better and everything was going on charmingly, arrived in hot haste, fresh from the warpath, with a newly taken scalp dangling from his pole, and, possibly on that account, with his smoothness so ruffled that he declined to reflect the views of the commissioners or those which his head chief, Lawyer, had already expressed himself willing to adopt. For the time, war, as repre- sented by Looking Glass, decidedly prevailed over the more peace- ful attitude of Lawyer. Did the gravity of history admit of plea- santry, it might be curious to compare the names with the natures of these two Nez Perce chiefs. From " Lawyer," for instance, we might have expected disputation and acrimony ; while " Look-
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ing Glass" would seem to suggest a calm, smooth, bright, and responsive nature, not to say a reflective one. But who shall account for contrarieties ? The day following the arrival of the war chief was spent in fruitless argument, Looking Glass, nominally the inferior, but in reality the leader of the Nez Perces, so influencing his people that the whites lost all they had gained by previous negotiation. On the 11th, probably with an eye to securing the yet undistributed presents, experiencing a change of mind, but not of heart, all came forward and signed the treaty. Then came the "potlatch" of gifts, after which, doubtless with many expressions of mutual good-will and esteem -which, costing the Indian nothing, he is quite willing to part with-" the famous Council of Walla Walla," to quote the words of Lieutenant Kip, "like other legislative bodies, ad- journed sine die." He adds : " We subsequently discovered that our party had been treading over a mine during the whole meet- ing of the council. Some of the friendly Indians afterward dis- closed to the traders that throughout the session active negotia- tions were on foot to cut off the whites. This plot originated with the Cayuses, who were irritated at the prospect of being deprived of their lands. Their programme was first to massacre the escort- not difficult to accomplish, as fifty soldiers against three thou- sand Indian warriors out on the open plain made rather too great odds. We should have had time to deliver one fire, and then the contest would have been over. Their next move would have been to surprise the post at the Dalles, which they could also easily have done, as most of the troops were withdrawn and the Ind- ians in its neighborhood generally hostile. This would have been the beginning of a war of extermination against the settlers ; the only thing which prevented the execution of their plan was the refusal of the Nez Perces to accede to it, and as they were more powerful than all the others united, it was impossible to make the outbreak without their concurrence. Constant negotiations to this end were going on between the tribes without effect, though we little suspected it at the time."
Now, what did the Territory gain from this series of councils and treaty-makings, of which the one described is only an ex- ponent ; treaties most liberal in every provision for the Ind- ian's comfort, and offering full valuation for the rights given in return ; treaties entered into with good faith on our part, but
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not the slightest intention to respect them on that of the na- tives ; involving the expenditure of thousands of dollars, with a special clause giving the surly chief of the Cayuses a grant of land-possibly by way of a sop to Cerberus ? We gained a treaty on paper, the sole result of a meeting where the territorial offi- cials and their escort barely escaped with their lives, because the old feuds and jealousies existing between two rival tribes, the Nez Perces and Cayuses, prevented their joining hands to perpetrate a butchery. We gained, moreover, a vast extent of wilderness, which for years furnished a battle-ground, where the signatories who ceded them were our most bitter and unrelenting enemies. We have given so much space to the doings of this great " pow- wow," this hidden hatred wearing the mask of peace, which, like the treacherous calms of the tropic seas, are the surest precursors of its most dangerous storms, because it is a fair sample of all its kind. Henceforth we record no more treaties.
One word, however, of final explanation in connection with this treaty matter here : None of those made in 1855 were rati- fied by the United States Senate ; and some of their sentimental sympathizers, who should cast in their lot with these filthy sav- ages upon whom they waste their maudlin pity, have advanced the idea that it was an evidence of bad faith on the part of the United States, and afforded an apology for the Indian wars so soon to be inaugurated. The best answer to which is the fact that their unprovoked outbreak did not follow, but anticipated the presentation of these treaties to the Senate, the devilish im- patience of the savage to begin his work of outrage and slaugh- ter not permitting him to wait for so plausible an excuse. It is, to quote from Evans-and we most heartily endorse his views- " a cruel slander to insinuate that the treaty or its stipulations were in any way intended to bring about the deplorable events which followed. The personal character of Governor Stevens and his evident leaning toward a lenient and most generous policy in the interest of the native is a sufficient answer to all such accusations."
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