USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 32
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their movements himself, and in order that those already mustered might be reënlisted as quickly as possible, he issued a general order on February Ist disbanding them.
The new levy was now quickly raised, and organized as the 2d regiment, in three battalions, known as the northern, the central and the southern, with Agent B. F. Shaw as lieutenant-colonel. The first was commanded by Major Van Bokkelin of Port Townsend, and consisted of com- panies G, Captain Smalley, raised at Port Townsend; H, Captain Peabody, raised at Whatcom and in the lower Sound country; and I, Captain Howe, from Whidby Island and vicinity. It was to guard the Snoqualmie Pass, and operate as might be required in the country north of Seattle. The central battalion, under Major Gilmore Hays, was composed of Companies B, Captain Rabbeson, from Thurston County; C, Captain Henness, from Mound Prai- rie; E, Captain Riley, from Steilacoom; F, Captain Swindall, from Sawamish (Mason) County; the pioneer company under Captain White, and the train guard, commanded by Captain Shead. The southern battalion was commanded by Major H. J. G. Maxon, and was composed of the Wash- ington Mounted Rifles, from Vancouver; Company D, Captain Achilles, from Lewis River, and two companies which had been raised in Oregon and were commanded by Captains F. N. P. Goff and Bluford Miller.
The governor's plan was to guard the line of the Sno- homish by the whole available force of the northern battal- ion, to move with the central battalion at once into the heart of the enemy's country, with one hundred days' sup- plies; to operate with the southern battalion east of the Cascades, and to combine all operations by a movement from the Sound to the interior, or from the interior to the
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Sound, according to circumstances. It was also deter- mined, if possible, to occupy the country permanently by roads and blockhouses, and the pioneer company had been enlisted expressly for that service.
Before the end of February the central battalion had moved to Montgomery's, and established a post at the crossing of the Puyallup, on the Nachess road. The northern battalion had taken post on the Snoqualmie and Major Maxon, with the southern, was preparing to advance into the region east of the mountains.
Agreeable to the promise made to Governor Stevens, Patkanim, with fifty-five of his warriors, started up the Snohomish and Snoqualmie rivers early in February, intend- ing to cross the country back of Lake Washington, by trails with which he was familiar, and fall upon Leschi's party wherever he might find them on White or Green rivers. Agents Simmons and Fuller accompanied him as had been arranged. When near Snoqualmie Falls, they fell in with an Indian camp which Patkanim's warriors surrounded, and seventeen Indians, three of whom were Klikitats, were taken prisoners .. Two of these Patkanim hanged and beheaded, and the third turned informer in order to save himself, and offered to guide his captors to the hostile camp they were looking for. He was in possession of much interest- ing information which he readily imparted. He said that a large number of his people were in arms-probably five or six hundred and that many of them had crossed the mountains to make war on the whites. Some of them had taken part in the attack on Seattle, and Leschi's and Nelson's bands had also been present, though neither of those chiefs were there. Their bands were now encamped in four parties on Green and White rivers, near the military road,
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and there were besides about thirty armed warriors back of Seattle, in the neighborhood of Lake Washington. As soon as the snow melted, he said, a large party of Yakimas and Klikitats would cross the mountains again to take part in the war.
Having obtained this information Patkanim pushed on southward toward Leschi's camp, using his captive for a guide. He hoped to surprise the hostiles, but his approach was betrayed by the barking of their dogs. A battle fol- lowed, lasting several hours, in which it is reported that eight of Leschi's warriors were killed; the heads of two of these were cut off by the Snoqualmies and carried away as trophies.
The hostiles had now begun to send bands of marauders through the country west of the Puyallup, and along the Nisqually toward Olympia. One of these waylaid and murdered a teamster named Northcraft in the employ of the quartermaster department, on February 24th, plun- dered his wagon and drove off his oxen. His body was not recovered for several days. On Sunday, March 2d, another party sprang upon William White and his family as they were returning from church near Olympia about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. This was the White who had come to Oregon in 1850 in search of health, and his courageous wife with her three children followed a year later, driving their own ox team from Wisconsin to the Grande Ronde, where he met them. Mrs. White and Mrs. William Stewart, her sister-in-law, were riding in a light wagon, drawn by one horse, and Mr. White was walking beside it, when the Indians fired upon them from some bushes near the road. Most of their bullets flew wide of the mark, but White was hit and mortally wounded. The horse took fright and ran
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away, throwing Mrs. Stewart, who had an infant in her arms, between the wheel and the body of the wagon in such a way that one of her feet was badly crushed by the wheel as the horses ran. White's body was not recovered until the following day.
The regular troops in the territory had now been strongly reinforced. The 9th infantry, which Wool had asked to have sent to him from the East, had arrived, and on December 5th was ordered to the Columbia. On January 29th Lieutenant-Colonel Casey, with two companies, under command of Captains Pickett and Guthrie, had arrived at Steilacoom, where the force now amounted to four companies of infantry and one of artillery, and Casey had superseded Keyes in command. The other companies took post at Vancouver, from which point Colonel Wright, who was now in command of the district, was to advance into eastern Washington.
Wright and Casey were both energetic and capable offi- cers, but both were hampered by the instructions they had received. Casey's first move was to establish a blockhouse on Muckleshoot Prairie, near the scene of the White River massacre, which had been a center of considerable activity, and make it a central position for his own operations. Then taking personal command of the forces in the field, on February 25th, he moved to the crossing of the Puyallup, and two days later to Lemmon's Prairie.
It was here that the famous war chief Kanasket was killed. He was shot by one of the guards, as he and four other Indians were cautiously approaching the camp, just at daybreak, hoping no doubt to kill one or two of the few men then awake, and escape. The guard fired at the foremost of the five and he fell, shot through the body. His four companions made
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their escape. When the soldiers who had been awakened by the shot, hurried to the place where the wounded Indian lay, they found that his lower limbs were paralyzed, but he was still defiant. He was a man of powerful build and a genuine savage by nature. "I am Kanasket," he shouted in Chinook; "kill me, for I hate you, and would kill you if I could." They dragged him to the camp by the heels, for he still fought vigorously with his hands, striking at all who came within reach, and shrieking his hate and defiance. Efforts were made to restrain his struggles, and quiet his ravings, but without avail, until a soldier, putting the muzzle of his musket close to his head, blew his brains out, and so ended his misery .*
As his wound was mortal, and it would probably have been impossible for surgical science to do anything for his relief, even if the surroundings had been more favorable, and the old savage had made it possible, it was perhaps not inhuman thus to terminate his struggles and his sufferings. But it was well that it was done by the regulars, and not by the volunteers, or Wool might have made it a new cause for casting aspersions on the territorial authorities and the settlers.
On the morning of March Ist, an advance toward White River was begun, and about noon Lieutenant Kautz, who was leading, and had reached White River about two miles above Muckleshoot, found himself confronted by a consider- able body of the enemy, while another party had got in his rear, making his situation very perilous. His men hastily constructed such barricades as they could, with the drift- wood, fallen timber and other material about them, and so
* Fifty Years Observations of Men and Events, by General E. D. Keyes, p. 256.
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held their ground until the main body came up, although two were wounded soon after the firing began. Keyes soon came to his relief, and as the Indians were concealed in the thick timber on the hill beyond the river, while the troops occupied the valley where they were unprotected, a charge was ordered. It was made in fine style, although the soldiers were obliged to cross a wide open space, from which the timber had been burned, along the hillside, where they were wholly unprotected from the bullets which the Indians showered upon them. Two soldiers were killed and eight wounded in this charge, among the latter being Lieutenant Kautz, who was shot through the leg. The Indians were completely routed.
On the 5th Keyes was sent, with 120 men, to attack a camp of Indians six miles above the Muckleshoot, in the middle of a swamp, where they had apparently determined to make a stand, having made some crude efforts to fortify the place with rude breastworks. But they had abandoned these by the time the regulars came up, and they failed to find them.
Five days later, however, Major Hays and his volunteers found them beyond Connell's Prairie, near their former battleground on White River, and fought the hardest battle of the war, in the Puget Sound country.
The pioneer company, which had just completed a block- house at Connell's Prairie, was started forward on the morning of March 10th, to build another at the crossing of the river. Lieutenant Hicks, with two men, was sent in advance, as scouts, the remainder of the company following with their saws, axes, hammers, etc., in one hand, and their rifles in the other. After crossing the first ridge beyond their camp, Hicks and his party found indications that a
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considerable number of Indians had been in the vicinity very recently, and halted. Not an Indian was in sight, and no sound betrayed that any were near at hand. But there on the ground were their own, and the tracks of their animals, which certainly had only very recently been made.
The scouts started back to meet the company, which soon came in sight, on the crest of the hill, and Hicks gave the alarm. Instantly a score or more of Indian rifles were discharged. The woods seemed to be swarming with Indians, where only a moment before none were to be seen. Their bullets flew thick and fast, but fortunately no one of the scouting party was hit by them. The remainder of the company soon came forward, and the men took such shelter as they could find, behind trees and fallen logs, and began to return the enemy's fire. While fighting in this way three of the pioneers were wounded.
The firing was heard at camp, nearly a mile away, where Captain Henness' company was already in line, preparing to start on a scout, and twenty of them were hurried forward. Another party of fifteen, under Lieutenant Martin, soon followed. The Indians by this time were extending their line toward the left, and evidently preparing to give battle in earnest. Most of those seen were nearly naked and in war paint, a pretty sure indication that they meant to fight. When Captain Hays came up, he sent Lieutenant Van Ogle, with fifteen men, to prevent the hostiles from further extend- ing their line, and these proving insufficient, Captain Rabbe- son, with another detachment, was sent to his assistance. By this time the fight had become general. The Indians held the crest of a hill, while the volunteers were below them, with but little to protect them from the bullets of the enemy, and in this way the firing continued for nearly two
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hours. Then Captain Swindall, with the Sawamish com- pany, and Rabbeson, with his Olympians, were ordered to charge, while Henness and White were to hold the positions they then occupied, and keep the enemy employed.
This order was promptly obeyed, Swindall attacking the center, while Rabbeson and his men, after wading a deep slough, assailed their left, driving the hostiles from their position, and pursuing them for some distance. Upon their return Captain Henness was instructed to make a charge upon those in his front, but as they were on top of a steep hill, and well protected behind logs and trees, it was thought better to send Swindall and Rabbeson to attack their flank, which was done in gallant manner. As the hostiles began to give way, Henness followed them closely and they were soon routed, and driven from the field. The fighting, which had begun shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning, was over at 3 p. m.
The volunteers pursued the fugitives for a mile or more, over trails giving many indications that they had suffered severely in the battle. Hats, blankets and shirts stained with blood were picked up here and there, and many places where the wounded warriors had stopped, or been laid down to rest by those who carried them from the field, were found marked with their blood. But two of the dead were not carried away, though Captain Hays was of the opinion that not less than twenty-five or thirty were killed. None of the volunteers were killed, and but four wounded.
Only 110 volunteers were engaged in this, the longest and severest battle fought by the volunteers. Hays esti- mated the Indians at twice that number at least. "I regard the victory of this day as complete-a grand triumph," he said in closing his report. "The Indians had together
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their entire force. They picked their own ground. They brought on the attack without being seen by our troops . . . I do but justice to the officers and privates, when I say that each acted a distinguished part-each performed his whole duty."
The Indians were now driven from this stronghold on the Nachess road, at the crossing of these rivers, for good. Within twenty-five days they had been attacked and com- pelled to fight by Casey's regulars, Hays' volunteers and Patkanim's Indian contingent, and they saw that there was no hope for them. They did now what it was known they would do when defeated, and that was to break up into small marauding parties, and attack the settlers in their homes, the hunter in the woods, or the wayfarer on his journey, if he should fall in their way. But even in this murderous work they found that preparation had been made for them, and that they could not pursue it unopposed.
Early in March the governor had foreseen that better use might be made of Maxon's southern battalion, than to send it to assist the regulars, when they should be ready to move east of the Cascades, and had ordered it to the Sound. Maxon was an experienced fighter, having been engaged in every campaign since the Cayuse war, and a hard rider as well. He was such a trooper as Sheridan would have delighted in. The messenger sent for him left Olympia at midnight on March 2d, and by the 11th Maxon reported with his company at Olympia. The distance traversed by the messenger, and by the command, was nearly 300 miles; the roads were in the worst possible condi- tion, and the weather rainy. The other companies from the Columbia soon followed, and Maxon with his own company and those of Captains Miller and Achilles, were
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stationed along the southern border of Pierce and Thurston counties, with orders to scout the country in all directions, while Captain Goff's company was held in reserve at Olym- pia.
Two small companies of friendly Indians under Sidney S. Ford, Jr., and Wesley Gosnell, mostly from the Chehalis and Squaxon tribes, were now brought into use for scouting duty, and rendered very efficient service. But the two white men who commanded them lived in constant danger from their treachery. Ford listened for a long time one night, while lying wrapped in his blanket and supposed to be asleep, to some of his Indians discussing the advisability of killing him and dividing the goods and valuables he had with him, and Gosnell was always suspicious of some members of his party who, he felt sure, were quite willing to betray or murder him. But neither of these intrepid pioneers flinched from the service he had undertaken, and both rendered excellent service during the remainder of the war.
The whole country east of the Sound, from the Skookum Chuck to the Snoqualmie, was now a warground through which the Indian marauders were to be hunted. No friendly Indian was allowed in it without a pass. All others were shot, if they offered battle; if captured, they were tried by commissioners appointed by Colonel Casey, or the governor, and if proven guilty of any murder, or of inciting the peaceable Indians to war, were hung. If innocent they were sent to the reservations under the charge of agents. These commissioners usually conducted the trials with fairness and moderation, and no complaint has ever been made that any Indian was unjustly sent to his death by them. Stevens reported to Wool that of eight who were tried at
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Camp Montgomery, by a court composed of volunteers, seven were acquitted, and the sentence against the eighth was not inflicted.
How many Indians were killed by these scouting parties is not known, but that some were killed is certain. Captain Swindall reported, on May 2d, that he had shot one himself and one of his parties had killed four, and Tilton speaks of eight as having been killed by Maxon on the Nisqually. Maxon himself, in reporting a subsequent expedition, mentions having passed the place where these were killed, but without mentioning their number.
By the 23d of May Stevens was able to report to Secretary Davis that "the war has been prosecuted with exceeding vigor and success." The Indians had been defeated by the regulars, and by the volunteers, and "have been repeatedly struck since by the regulars, the volunteers and the Indian auxiliaries. The country has been repeatedly scouted in every direction, and is now firmly held by blockhouses and roads." Two hundred Indians had been got in back of Seattle, and nearly three hundred on the Puyallup and the Nisqually. "The main body of the hostiles, " he says, "have been driven across the mountains, and under the lead of Leschi are in the camp of the confederated hostile force on the Nachess Pass."
While both volunteers and regulars were thus pressing the enemy with vigor, and bringing the war to a close on the Sound, Colonel Wright, under Wool's instructions, was leisurely preparing to advance from Vancouver into eastern Washington.
"As soon as the season will permit," his instructions began, "you will establish the headquarters of your regiment at Fort Dalles." Wool could not dispossess his mind of
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the notion that the climate of Washington was similar to that of New York, or Hudson's Bay, and that campaigning in it during the winter would be impossible, although he well knew that the Oregon volunteers were still holding the Walla Walla country, and that operations had not been suspended for a single day in the Sound region.
He had now determined to establish a post in the Walla Walla country, as Stevens had recommended, and one at the Selah Fishery on the Yakima. "Expeditions for these points should be prepared at the earliest moment, that is as soon as grass can be obtained," he said, "and as the snow will probably not allow the expedition to the latter so early, by three or four weeks, as the former," the one to Walla Walla, was to be undertaken first. After these posts were established, Wright was to occupy the country with four companies, and "to ascertain the surroundings and dispositions of the several tribes" in that region. By that means Wool was confident that the hostiles would "very soon sue for peace or abandon their country."
There was nothing in these instructions directing the colonel to use his force for the purpose of punishing the Indians for violating their treaties, or for murdering the settlers and miners, or to compel them to respect the authority of the government. Indeed he was thinking rather of their protection than their punishment. "Should you find, on the arrival of the troops at the Cayuse country," the instruc- tions said, "that a company is necessary to give protection to the Cayuse Indians from the volunteers, you will leave a company there with the howitzer and ammunition."
Convenient means of transportation had now been established on the Columbia, from Vancouver to the Dalles, and even above that point. A small steamer ran to the
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Cascades, and smaller ones from the Cascades to the Dalles, while Chenoweth and the Bradfords were getting their tramway around the portage into fairly good working order between. There were other boats, going with some regular- ity, as far as Fort Walla Walla. These transportation facilities had been created to meet the wants of the military, and to supply miners and other settlers who had been attempting, for some years, to gain a foothold in the country. During the preceding winter a blockhouse had been built at the middle Cascade, which was known, though not officially, as Fort Rains, and a small number of regulars were constantly kept there. At both the upper and lower Cascades there were mills and warehouses, with convenient landing places for boats. Several houses had been built, and a number of families had established themselves there.
Wright's leisurely preparations were suddenly expedited, early in March, by an attack by a band of Klikitats, on a small settlement at the mouth of White Salmon River. No one was killed at this time, but a considerable number of cattle were stolen and driven away. Learning of this raid Wright dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe, with two companies of the 9th regiment, to relieve the invaded settlement, and two other companies intended for the Walla Walla expedition soon followed. On the 11th Colonel Wright himself arrived at the Dalles, and established his headquarters there. All the soldiers at Fort Rains, except ten, were withdrawn, and there being no indications of trouble in the neighborhood, the four companies, with Wright in command, moved out from the Dalles toward Walla Walla.
As soon as they were safely gone, on the morning of March 26th, these settlements at the upper, lower and middle
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Cascades, were simultaneously attacked by a large band of Indians. Kam-i-ah-kan had apparently collected all his warriors from the Yakima Valley, and prepared to attack the settlements as soon as Wright should pass up the river. Now supposing that he had gone with his entire command, his warriors, who had been hidden in the timber on the high banks as he went by, made ready for their bloody work. As is usually the case in an Indian attack, no warning was given; the men at the upper, lower and middle Cascades were about their usual employments, in the mills, on the wharves, and along the tramway, and the little steamers Mary and Wasco were lying at their moorings, without the fires yet having been lighted in their furnaces, when the first shots were fired. One of the men at work on the tramway was killed at the first fire, and most of the others fled to Bradford's store, though three of them went in the other direction to the blockhouse, a mile and a half distant. A rain of bullets fell about them as they ran, the high ground back of the river seeming to be covered with Indians, who were now yelling like fiends. Two families near the store also hurried to it for refuge. A boy living with one of these was shot, as he was leaving the house, and James Sinclair, from Fort Walla Walla, was killed at the store door, while encouraging those who were running toward it. He was struck by a bullet in the head and killed instantly.
As soon as all who were hurrying to the store had reached it, the doors were closed and barricaded. Fortunately nine government muskets, with ammunition, had been left in the place for shipment, as the troops passed up the river, and these were the salvation of the party.
The building was but a poor protection against an Indian attack, but it was hurriedly put in as good condition as
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possible for defense. There was no one in the upper story, and the stairway was outside. As it was desirable to reach the upper floor and none dared attempt to go by the stair- way, the stove was removed, and the hole through the floor enlarged with saws and axes, and the whole party trans- ferred through it to the upper part of the building. Here loopholes were made, the muskets brought into use, and the besieged soon had the satisfaction of seeing that their fire was effective. Wherever an Indian showed himself within range, he was either killed or forced to seek shelter.
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