USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 27
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Undoubtedly the arrangements for removal had been made, or notice of it, and of the direction the fugitives had taken, had been conveyed to the prisoners by the conversations carried on with them during the night. In fact one of the prisoners, who was a Nez Perce, told Kelly that, instead of sending word to his people to come in and make peace, Peo-peo-mox-mox had directed them to remove the women
* Mr. A. B. Roberts, who is still living in Walla Walla, and who was a member of Captain Bennet's company, and one of the guards who had Peo-peo-mox-mox in charge during the night after he was made prisoner, gave me this account of how he was taken, and what followed, substan- tially as given here. Also see Lang's "History of the Willamette Valley," pp. 414 and 415.
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and children and prepare for battle. When the troops visited the camp they found it deserted. Every scrap of provisions had been removed, and all the cattle driven away, while, from the tops of distant hills, a considerable number of Indians looked down upon the hungry soldiers in their discomfiture. Colonel Kelly sent messengers to these, urging them to come in and make peace, but his invitation was not accepted and, after remaining in the camp until noon, or a little later, he started south to rejoin Chinn at the mouth of the Touchet. "I am well persuaded," says Colonel Kelly, "that he (Peo-peo-mox-mox) 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." The surviving soldiers say the place was admir- ably chosen for an ambuscade, and that they found abundant evidence that one had been prepared for them. Had they advanced only a little farther into the defile before taking the alarm on the previous evening, the whole party would easily have been massacred.
From the mouth of the Touchet Kelly intended to march to the neighborhood of Whitman's old station and there establish a permanent camp. But he was to have four days of more or less continuous fighting before he could begin these arrangements.
On the morning of the seventh, Companies H and K crossed the Touchet, leading the column, and when formed on the plain, were joined by Company B. A few soldiers in front were driving the cattle, and a few others were on the flanks, near the foot of the hills that extended along the river. Some Indians appeared in front, and in a short time the whole column, except those detailed to guard the baggage, were in full pursuit of them. But they were
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reinforced as they retreated. The soldiers kept up a running fire as they advanced, which was returned by the retreating Indians. Finally, at the house of a settler named La Roche, which was about eight miles up the Walla Walla from the point where the chase began, the Indians made a stand, their left resting on the river, covered with trees and under- brush, their center occupying the flat covered with clumps of sagebrush and small sand knolls, and their right on the high ridge of hills which skirt the river bottom.
When the forty or fifty volunteers who were best mounted came up to this point, the Indians received them with a sharp fire from the brushwood and willows along the river, and from the sagebushes along the plain. Some were wounded by this fire but none were killed. The line fell back, and for a moment the situation was critical. But the volunteers rallied quickly and an order was given to cross the fence which surrounded the field, and make a charge. In executing this order, Lieutenant Burrows of Company H was killed, and Captain Munson of Company I, Isaac Miller, sergeant-major, and G. W. Smith of Company B, wounded.
At this moment Captain Wilson, with Company A, came forward at a gallop, dismounted at a slough, and with fixed bayonets pushed on through the brush. In the course of half an hour, Captain Bennet was on the ground with Com- pany F, and with this accession, the enemy were steadily driven for some distance, when they took possession of a settler's cabin, which was surrounded by a close fence, and in attempting to carry it Captain Bennet and Private Kelso were killed.
The fire from the cabin became so destructive that the vol- unteers began to fall back, but some members of Company
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F, who were unwilling to leave their captain where he had fallen, made a charge to recover it, and their brave con- duct had the effect of checking the retreat, and recalling the rest of the line to its work. The fight soon became the hottest in which the volunteers had so far engaged, but they now stood manfully to their work.
Everywhere along the whole line of retreat, so far, the Indians had been cheered on to their work, every time they had made a stand, by a crowd of their friends, who followed the battle along the top of the ridge north of the river, and who always carefully kept themselves out of range. This crowd was composed, for the most part, of non- combatants. They were the old men, the women and children, though there were many able-bodied warriors among them who were doubtless without arms that could be made serviceable in the fight. They were, however, taking as active a part in the contest as seemed possible, and the volunteers were quite as much exasperated by their presence and conduct, as by the more efficient enemy in their front. In several of their charges they had hoped to come within range of this part of the enemy, but had not been able to do so. When the line fell back, after the death of Captain Bennet, this howling mob was emboldened to approach nearer than it had done before, to the thin line of the volunteers, and at this moment a small howitzer, which had been found under the floor at Fort Walla Walla, was brought up and placed in action. It was without a carriage, or any convenience for loading or handling it. But under command of Captain Wilson it was quickly placed on end; one volunteer dipped into it a few double handfuls of powder, from an open bucket in which it had been brought on the field, and another put on top of this a
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few handfuls of bullets from a similar magazine, and the whole was rammed down as well as it could be with a stick. It was then placed on a small hummock and aimed at the crowd on the hill. The first discharge had some effect, but how much the soldiers could not tell. There was a momentary scattering, but so far as appeared not much permanent damage was done, as the yelling was almost immediately resumed, as vigorously as ever, and there seemed to be no permanent diminution in the numbers of the shrieking party. The piece was again loaded, as before, and fired with similar results, and this was repeated until at the fourth discharge it burst, wounding Captain Wilson. The volunteers in their excitement, having no measure to gauge their charge, had overloaded it. Years afterward they were accused of slaughtering women and children indiscriminately in this battle. If they did so it was done with this old cannon, and while they were doing all they could do, to urge on the battle .*
Soon after the howitzer was brought into action the Indians began to give way along their whole line, the house and the enclosed space about it were retaken, and all the wounded and the bodies of the dead recovered. This position was held until nightfall, when the volunteers with- drew to their camp.
While the battle at this point was at its fiercest, the La Roche cabin was converted into a hospital, and the wounded, as they fell, were removed to it. The Indian prisoners, who had been taken on the evening of the fifth, and carried along under guard during the battle, were also kept near
* This description of the use made of the howitzer in this battle was given me by Mr. A. B. Roberts, above quoted, who stood near it when it exploded.
C. A. S.
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it. They became greatly excited as the fighting progressed, especially when the volunteers began to give way, and the howitzer was brought into action. Their guards felt none too kindly toward them. Peo-peo-mox-mox had been shouting to his warriors, whenever it seemed possible that he might make himself heard, and more than once the soldiers, as they passed, had suggested to the guard that they "shoot the damned Indians." As their conduct became more and more turbulent, it seemed probable that they might have to do this, or bind them to prevent their escape. At length a wounded soldier came back from the front, with an arm hanging helpless by his side, bringing the unwelcome news that Captain Bennet had been killed, and this added to the excitement of all concerned. Some one shouted : "Look out, or the Indians will escape"; a volley from the rifles of the guards followed, and the old chief and two of his companions were stretched dead upon the ground. A fourth was stunned by a blow from a musket, and so badly wounded that he was soon after shot to end his misery. The Nez Perce, who had given information as to what Peo-peo-mox-mox had said to his Indian inter- viewers on the night after his capture, but who had been detained a prisoner with the others until now, was spared. Why he was not killed in the mêlée with the others has never been explained, but possibly he was causing his captors no trouble by trying to escape.
It was at this time, or soon after, and under these cir- cumstances that an act was committed which has tarnished the fair fame of the Oregon volunteers in this otherwise most creditable campaign. The dead prisoners, or at least one of them, was scalped in true savage style, and the scalp and ears of old Peo-peo-mox-mox were afterward exhibited
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in the Willamette Valley, as a trophy of somebody's prowess. Doubtless the old savage and his fellow-prisoners gave their guards abundant cause for excitement and anxiety during this critical part of the action, and their conduct may have been such as to excuse their slaughter, but nothing can justify or excuse the brutality which prompted the mutila- tion of their lifeless bodies. The act is to be condemned, but at the same time it is to be remembered that the volun- teers, as a body, had no part in it, although they have, by some, been blamed indiscriminately. They were no more guilty in this case than the settlers were for the crimes com- mitted by the camp-followers who thrust themselves into their company, in their long trip across the plains, and it was doubtless one of these, who thus impotently wreaked his hate on the dead body of Peo-peo-mox-mox.
Early on the morning of the 8th, the Indians appeared with increased force, amounting, as it was thought, to fully six hundred warriors. They took post as usual in the thick brush by the river, among the sagebushes and sand knolls in the valley, and on the surrounding hills. Com- panies A, B, F, H, I and K were sent to dislodge them, which they did, although they fought with skill and bravery.
On the ninth, they did not make their appearance until about ten o'clock in the morning, and then in somewhat diminished numbers. As Kelly had now sent to Fort Henrietta for reinforcements, and expected the two com- panies there to come up during the day, he thought it best to act on the defensive, and hold his position, until he could get help. An attack was made on Companies A and H in the brush, and upon Company B on the hill, both of which were repulsed with considerable loss to the enemy. Companies F, I and K also repelled all attacks on their
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positions, although in doing so one man in Company F, and one in Company I, were severely wounded. Darkness as usual closed the combat, by the enemy withdrawing from the field.
Owing to the inclemency of the night, the companies on the hill were withdrawn from their positions, Company B abandoning the rifle pits which the men had made for their protection. Next morning the Indians were found to have taken possession of these, and the men resolved to retake them. This they did in less than half an hour, the Indians retreating to an adjoining hill, which they occupied the day before. This position was at once assailed. Captain Cornoyer, with Company K and a portion of Company I, being mounted, gallantly charged the enemy on his right, while Lieutenant McAuliffe, with Company B, dismounted, rushed up the hill in face of a heavy fire, and scattered the enemy in all directions. They fled to return to this battlefield no more, and thus ended the long fight.
The volunteers lost, in these four days of fighting, Captain Bennet of Company B, Lieutenant Burrows of Company H, and five men killed; Captain Layton of Company H, and five men dangerously, and Captains Wilson and Munson, and six men more or less severely, wounded. The Indians' loss was estimated at seventy-five. Thirty-five dead bodies were found on the field, and the troops were certain that others had been carried away, as the custom among Indians is to leave no dead upon the field, if their bodies can pos- sibly be hidden or carried off.
Agent Olney was present during all the four days of the battle, and rendered efficient service as an aid to Colonel Kelly, and that officer gave him the highest praise for advice and assistance rendered.
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Companies D and E having arrived from Fort Henrietta, on the evening of the tenth, the command started in pursuit of the Indians. The old Nez Perce's trail was followed to Mill Creek, where an abandoned camp of the fugitives was found, showing that 196 fires had been kindled there the night before. Here they had abandoned some of their camp outfit, and provisions were found scattered along the wayside, indicating that they had fled in great haste to the north. The troops pursued them until it was too dark to follow the track of their horses, when they camped on Coppei Creek. The pursuit was continued next day to the Touchet, where it was given up, as many of the horses and men were completely worn out and broken down. About one hundred head of cattle were captured, which the Indians left scattered along the trail in their flight, and with these the tired soldiers returned to the camp which they had left at the end of the fight.
Here Kelly received a letter from Narcisse Raymond, asking protection for the French and friendly Indians under his charge, and on the morning of the twelfth, he dispatched Captain Cornoyer with his company to their relief. Mr. Olney, who accompanied them, returned that evening with information that the Palouses, Walla Wallas, Umatillas, Cayuses and Stock Whitley's band of Des Chutes Indians, had all been engaged in the battle, and that they had now gone partly to the Grande Ronde, and partly to the country of the Nez Perces, and Stock Whitley, disgusted with the manner in which the Cayuses had fought, had abandoned them and gone to the Yakima country to join his forces with those of Kam-i-ah-kan.
The volunteers now had undisputed possession of the country south of the Snake River, and Kelly determined
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to remain there until the regular troops should come up, as he supposed they would. The Indians had left much of their stock behind, which they would recover if the country were abandoned. It was not possible to continue the pur- suit, as the men were much exhausted by their long battle and the pursuit thus far, and their horses were even in a worse condition than the men were. They had no boats with which to cross Snake River, and there was no timber, with which shelter for men or horses could be constructed. Kelly therefore abandoned the pursuit, though he fully realized the importance of continuing it, if it had been possible, and wrote to Governor Curry from the battlefield, urging him to send forward supplies without delay. The men were badly in need of winter clothing, and were living on short rations, most of which they had captured from the enemy. Only the two companies which had recently arrived from Fort Henrietta had any flour. There was but little at the mouth of the Touchet, where Chinn had left the pack train. Most of the command were living on the beef and potatoes which the Indians had abandoned, and many of them were much discontented and anxious to return home.
Fort Bennet, which had been constructed, and under which was buried the body of the brave captain who had fallen near its site, was accordingly abandoned, and the command returned to a point on the north bank of the Walla Walla, about two miles above Whitman's station, where they prepared to make themselves as comfortable as might be, until reinforcements should arrive with the supplies of which they were so much in need.
This campaign was made wholly by the Oregon volun- teers. The battle was fought so near the boundary line of
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the two territories that, while it began in Washington, it seems to have ended in Oregon. The Indians engaged were from both territories, and most of them roamed from one to the other, as fancy dictated, or as the means of sub- sistance were found more abundant in the one or the other. But the campaign had an important bearing on the war in Washington, in two respects; it opened the way for the return of Governor Stevens, who was coming home from his council with the Blackfeet, and who would doubtless have been overwhelmed and murdered, together with all who accompanied him, if the campaign had not been made. It had a further and most useful effect in the punishment it inflicted on the disaffected tribes. Had the volunteers been supported as they should have been by the regular troops, whose duty it was to lead rather than be led in any emergency of this kind, or had they even been sent to hold the advantage which the volunteers had gained, after they had gained it, the subsequent campaign in that region, with its disastrous results, would have been avoided. The hostiles would have been subdued, many lives would have been saved, and the country pacified and opened to settle- ment, much earlier than it was. But the obstinancy of an old man, who, at that time, happened to be wearing the epaulets of authority over the soldiers whose business it was to defend the settlers against the assaults of their savage enemies, prevented their proper employment in that business, and compelled the settlers to defend themselves. Under the lead of an efficient and energetic commander they did it nobly and effectively. The power of the confederated tribes south of the Columbia was, for the time being, broken. The reinforcements which, but for this defeat, would have come to them from the Spokanes, the Cœur d'Alenes, and
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even from the Nez Perces and other more or less friendly tribes, were prevented from joining them, and what is per- haps still more important, they were unable to send as much help as they otherwise might, to their allies west of the mountains, where the settlers were none too strong to suc- cessfully cope with them.
CHAPTER XLVI. THE WAR WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.
CHARLES H. MASON.
The first secretary of Washington Territory. He was acting governor during a considerable part of Governor Stevens' term, and also during a part of that of Governor McMullen. His death, which occurred in 1859, was universally regretted by the people of the territory.
ЛОСЬМ Н ЕдляАн
W HEN news of the failure of Rains' campaign in the Yakima Valley reached the Sound coun- try, the settlers realized that they were in imminent danger of attack. There were numer- ous trails across the range, over which the eastern tribes had been accustomed to make frequent excursions to the Hud- son's Bay posts at Vancouver and Nisqually, and the road which the settlers themselves had opened, by way of the Nachess Pass, afforded them an additional facility for invad- ing the settlements. It was therefore natural to expect such an invasion at a very early day, and that the number of the hostiles west of the mountains would be greatly increased. In such an event the troops at Fort Vancouver and Steila- coom would be wholly inadequate to defend them. They must therefore prepare at once to defend themselves.
Secretary Mason, who was acting governor in the absence of Governor Stevens, was a young man without experience in administrative affairs, but was surrounded by many able men, whose advice was doubtless generously tendered, and as freely accepted. Among these were the territorial judges -Lander, McFadden and Chenoweth-William Strong and Victor Monroe, who had been judges, and prominent citizens like William H. Wallace, B. F. Kendall, T. F. McElroy, James W. Wiley, Gilmore Hays, James Tilton and W. W. Miller; all, or nearly all, of whom were as ready to take active service as to offer advice. The young governor acted promptly and decisively. The two companies of volunteers he first asked for were quickly organized. Company B, at Olympia, chose as its officers Gilmore Hays, captain; Jared S. Hurd, first, and William Martin, second, lieutenants. It reported to Captain Maloney at Fort Steilacoom on Octo- ber 20th, and started for Slaughter's camp on White River
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on the 21st. Company A, at Vancouver, chose William Strong for its captain, and another company, composed mostly of trappers and men who had long been accustomed to the free life of the woods, was organized for scouting ser- vice, under the command of Captain Robert Newell. When these had left Vancouver the settlers raised another company of fifty men for a home guard.
Governor Mason also authorized Captain Charles H. Eaton to raise a company of rangers, at Olympia, and nine- teen men* for this service were almost immediately enlisted. They chose James McAllister, James Tullis and A. M. Poe for their lieutenants, and immediately took the field. Eaton had come to Oregon in 1843 and McAllister in 1844, he hav- ing been one of Simmons' party, and both knew the Indians in the upper part of the Sound country well, and they were therefore peculiarly fitted for the service which they were to undertake. Eaton was ordered to divide his company into three platoons and scour the country west of the Cascades, from the Snoqualmie Pass on the north, to the Lewis River on the south, and to intercept any Indians who might be passing from one side of the range to the other. If he should meet any unusual or suspicious party, he was to disarm them, and if they resisted he was to kill them, or send them to Fort Steilacoom if he took them prisoners. Any Yakima or Klikitat found west of the mountains, en- deavoring to incite the tribes to join the war party, he was to hang.
A small company under the command of Indian Agent B. F. Shaw, and known as the Stevens guard, was also enlisted for the purpose of going to the rescue of the
* The company was subsequently increased to forty-one after Lieut. McAllister's death.
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governor, who was then supposed to be returning from the Blackfoot council.
As the territory was without arms, and as very few of the settlers had guns that were at all suitable for war purposes, the acting governor sent to the commanding officers of the sloop-of-war Decatur, and the revenue cutter Jefferson Davis, both then in the harbor at Seattle, asking for such rifles or muskets and ammunition as they could safely spare, and both answered promptly, though neither was able to furnish a very large supply. The cutter, however, immediately moved to Steilacoom, where Captain Pease, her comman- der, reported to the governor that he would be ready to send twenty men on shore, in case of emergency, for any service that might be required of them.
In addition to raising troops and securing arms, the governor took other measures that were quite as effective for protecting the settlements. The Indians who were still peaceably disposed were disarmed and removed to secure places on the islands in the Sound, and to the west side of Admiralty Inlet, where they could, so far as possible, be prevented from holding communication with, or being tempted by, those who might seek to persuade them to join the enemy. In order to separate them from, and keep them from communicating with, the hostiles, it was necessary to make arrangements to feed them, or to contribute in some degree to their support, and this was no small part of the business which the governor had in hand. Cap- tain Eaton was directed to notify all the Indians found in his scouting expeditions to remove to the camps thus established, and their willingness or unwillingness to do so was to determine whether they were hostile or friendly.
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On October 2Ist Maloney, with seventy-five men from Fort Steilacoom, reached Slaughter's camp on White River, where he took command. Captain Hays came up with his volunteers on the 24th, and the entire force, which then num- bered 240 men, was moved along the road which the settlers had opened two years earlier, to and across the sum- mit to the Nachess River, which was reached on the 28th. This was the force that was expected to cooperate with Rains, but, as we have seen, that inefficient officer did not move from the Dalles until two days later. The command was therefore in a very dangerous situation, being liable to be attacked by all the hostiles in the Yakima country, should they discover its exposed position.
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