USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 34
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After conferring with the Nez Perce chiefs, who gave the strongest assurances of the friendship of their whole nation, Captain Robie, of the quartermaster's department, went forward without an escort, other than that furnished by the Nez Perces themselves, with the supplies which had been one of the objects of the expedition to deliver to that people.
Learning now that the hostiles were in the Grande Ronde, in considerable force, Colonel Shaw determined to march against them, and moving in the night by an unused trail, he fell upon the main body on July 17th, and struck one of the hardest and most brilliant blows of the war. The enemy at first attempted to draw him into an ambush, but he was too wary for this, and charged them so vigorously that they were driven back in confusion. Maxon was then sent to charge them on one flank and Miller on the other, while Henness and Powell moved forward on the main body which was reassembling in the center. Maxon found
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some difficulty in crossing the river in his front, and his assault was accordingly delayed, but Miller's men did excel- lent work, while Henness and Powell's commands pushed on so steadily, that the Indians scattered and left the field in, great confusion. They were pursued for a distance of fifteen miles, taking refuge at last in a rocky canyon, where they could be followed no further.
During this pursuit Maxon's force became separated from the main command, and did not regain it until more than twenty-four hours later. He met with some loss mean- time, but inflicted much damage on the enemy. Shaw reported the Indian loss in this battle at 40, while many more were wounded. He also captured 150 horseloads of camas roots, dried beef, tents, some flour, coffee and sugar, about 100 pounds of ammunition, and a large amount of camp furniture.
Two days earlier Major Layton, with the Oregon volun- teers, and the reinforcement sent him from Goff's command, had attacked another band of Indians on Burnt River, and utterly routed them, pursuing them to the headwaters of the Umatilla.
The losses of the Washington volunteers in those two battles were five killed, one severely and three slightly wounded.
Before the news of these battles reached the Nez Perce country the disaffected portion of that nation began to use threatening language, and ordered Captain Robie, who had just arrived with his train, out of their country. He returned by forced marches to Walla Walla, where he found Colonel Shaw, who had returned from his victorious campaign in the Grande Ronde. On learning what he had done there, the Nez Perces, in evident alarm, again began to make
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protestations of friendship, but Shaw told them he was not disposed to be further deceived, and "if they beat their drums for war, he would parade his men for battle." The disaffected element accepted this declaration without pro- test and made promises of most complete obedience.
Believing this to be a favorable moment for doing away with disaffection, Stevens sent word to all the Indians, both friendly and hostile, to meet him at Walla Walla. It was made an express condition that the only basis on which a conference would be held, was that of absolute submission to the justice and mercy of the government. Colonel Shaw, who in obedience to his original orders had already communi- cated with the Indians to the same end, now sent the gover- nor's message to all the tribes. The hostiles were directed to come without their arms, and they were guaranteed safe conduct coming to, at, and returning from the council grounds.
On the day this notice assembling the council left Olym- pia, the governor issued a proclamation calling for two hundred volunteers to strengthen Shaw's command, as the term of enlistment of nearly all his men was now expiring. At the same time he wrote Colonel Wright asking him to occupy the Walla Walla with regular troops, and to be present at the council. He met Wright on the Columbia, and having ascertained from him that he was dispatching a force of regulars to the valley, and that they would probably reach it in season for the council, he revoked his proclama- tion, and so left himself practically without an escort of his own. But believing that regulars would be on hand at the council, although Wright was unable to accompany him, from the press of other duties, he went forward con- fidently to the council grounds. Four companies of regulars,
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under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe, reached the valley in September, and the volunteers, except a small company, that of Goff, were sent home to be mustered out.
Before reaching the valley the governor wrote Colonel Steptoe, suggesting that they should camp near each other, "to show the strength of our people, and the amity of our councils." After his arrival he personally urged the same course, but on Steptoe's refusing to assent to the arrange- ment, Goff's company of 69 men, which was about to be sent home to be mustered out, was retained to guard the camp
The council opened on the IIth and continued for two days without making any progress. By that time the tem- per of the Indians had become so alarming, that the governor asked Steptoe to send a company of troops for his pro- tection, but this Steptoe declined, excusing himself on the ground that his train had been unloaded and sent back to the Dalles, and that his supplies required protection, and he was doubtful of his ability to defend both camps. "Under these conditions," he replied, "if you are resolved to go on with your council, does it not seem more reasonable that you shall move your camp to the vicinity of mine ?" He then offered a company of dragoons to bring the governor to his camp, which was seven miles away, closing his letter by reminding him of the embarrassment occasioned by his request for troops, as he could not detach any because of certain instructions from General Wool.
Since there was nothing else to be done, the governor accepted the escort of the dragoons, and moved his camp that night to the vicinity of Steptoe's. On the way the party met Kam-i-ah-kan and his band, and the governor believed that it was owing solely to the fact that the old
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chief had not discovered that he was about to move, before he started, that he was not attacked on the road. In his report to the secretary of war he said: "Kam-i-ah-kan had unquestionably an understanding, as subsequent events showed, with all the Indians except the friendly Nez Perces (about one-half the nation) and a small number of friendly Indians of the other tribes, to make an attack that day or evening upon my camp. He found me on the road, to his great surprise, and had no time to perfect his arrangement."
The result of this move was what might have been expected. The Indians saw there was a difference between the super- intendent of Indian affairs and the military officer in com- mand. It was impossible to bring them to any conclusion, although the council continued for four days longer.
At the end of that time Stevens made his preparations to return, taking with him his train, which was defended only by Goff's company and the teamsters. The day before he departed, Steptoe had notified the Indians that he had come among them to establish a post, and not to fight them and that he hoped they would be friendly. He had appointed the afternoon of the following day for a conference with them, but none of them appeared. They had followed Stevens and his party, who started for the Dalles about II o'clock in the forenoon, and attacked him about two hours later when he was within three miles of Steptoe's camp.
In reporting the battle which followed to the secretary of war the governor said: "So satisfied was I that the Indians would carry into effect their determination in the councils in their own camps, for several nights previously, to attack me, that, in starting, I formed my whole party, and moved in order of battle. I moved on under fire one mile to water,
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when, forming a corral of the wagons, and holding the adjacent hills and the brush by pickets, I made my arrangements to defend my position and fight the Indians. Our position, in a low, open basin, some five of six hundred yards across, was good; and, with the aid of our corral, we could defend ourselves against a vastly superior force. The fight con- tinued till late in the night. Two charges were made to disperse the Indians, the last led by Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw in person, with twenty-four men. But whilst driving them before him-some one hundred and fifty Indians- an equal number pushed into his rear and he was compelled to cut his way through them towards the camp. Drawing up his men, and aided by the teamsters and packers, who gallantly sprung forward, he drove the Indians back in full charge upon the corral. Just before the charge, the friendly Nez Perces, fifty in number, who had been assigned to holding the ridge on the south side of the corral, were told by the enemy: 'We came not to fight the Nez Perces, but the whites. Go to your camps or we will wipe you out.' Their camp, with the women and children, was about a mile distant, to which I directed the Nez Perces to retire, as I did not require their assistance; and I was fearful that my men might not be able to distinguish them from the hostiles, and thus friendly Indians might be killed."
Late in the afternoon the governor sent word to Steptoe, who must have been within sound of his guns, that he was fighting the Indians, but that he hoped to move on next morning. He asked that Steptoe would send him some assistance, but the colonel had now become alarmed for his own safety, apparently, and replied detailing the defence- lessness of his situation, and inquired: "What do you think of returning to this camp, tonight or in the morning, taking
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my baggage up in your wagons, and our moving off to- gether ?"
Although Steptoe's perversity had no doubt been largely responsible for the failure of the council; had encouraged the Indians to make their attack, and had left him for a whole day to defend himself alone, the governor assented to his proposition. He had probably been guided by the policy of his superiors, and perhaps was even carrying out their instructions. He was now evidently alarmed for his own safety, while the governor had maintained himself through one whole day's fight, with the loss of only one man mortally, one man seriously, and two slightly wounded. He could fight his own way out, but it was better to assent to Steptoe's proposition, and he did so. A company of dragoons, with a howitzer, was sent to his assistance during the night, and the Indians renewed the attack in the morning but were soon driven off.
Stevens now strongly urged Steptoe to build a blockhouse where he was, leave one company to defend it, and then go to the Dalles for an additional force, and supplies, and make a vigorous winter campaign, which would end the war. For this purpose he placed at his disposal all his teams and Indian employees.
But Steptoe could not determine the policy to be pursued, and his superiors still persisted in the course they had marked out. The results of it were beginning to appear. One-half the Nez Perces, hitherto friendly, had now become hostile, and the Spokanes, Cœur d'Alenes, Colviles and Okanogans were on the point of revolt. They saw that the regulars and volunteers were not working together in harmony, and even suspected that they did not belong to the same nation. Stevens wrote Davis that when the
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Indians attacked him they did not believe that Steptoe would go to his relief. It was a curious commentary on the situation, that, while Stevens and his party were attacked by a combination of several tribes, among which the Yakimas were prominent, and whose greatest chief, the principal figure in the war, was present and directing the battle, Quieltomee, another chief who was in the fight, had with him a letter recently received from .Colonel Wright-"Ac- knowledging his valuable services in bringing about the peace with the Yakimas."*
Wright made no immediate response to the governor's letter of June 18th, warning him against making any pro- mises to Leschi, Nelson, Kitsap or Quiemuth. On the 19th day of August the governor made demand on him for their delivery to him for trial as murderers. To this Wright replied that while he had made them no promises, "Yet in the present unsettled state of our Indian relations, I think it would be unwise to seize and transport them for trial." To this the governor at once replied that if things were so unsettled in the Yakima, that the arrest of four or five murderers would lead to war, the sooner it began the better. The war had begun, in that place, in an attempt to arrest the murderers of Bolon and the Colvile miners, and if this demand were not inflexibly insisted on, it would be, in his opinion, "a criminal abandonment of the great duty of protecting our citizens." He therefore insisted upon their surrender, and gave notice that they would not be allowed on any of the Indian reservations. Upon receiving this letter Wright directed Major Garnett, in command at Fort Simcoe, to deliver up the Indians named at the earliest mo- ment practicable. But they were not immediately delivered.
* Stevens to Davis, Oct. 22, 1856.
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Late in October, Wool directed Wright to go to Walla Walla, in person, to supervise the completion of the post, and to see and talk with the tribes there, in order to ascertain their wants, feelings and disposition toward the whites, and also to "prevent further trouble, by keeping the whites out of the country." These instructions Wright carried out. His council with the Indians resulted only in many hollow protestations of friendship and amity, but his account of it was so satisfactory to General Wool that in reporting it to Washington he said: "The mail has arrived from Oregon, bringing the gratifying intelligence from Colonel Wright, and Lieutenant-Colonel Casey, that all is peace and quiet in the two territories of Oregon and Washington. Under present arrangements I do not believe the war can be renewed by the whites. The posts are well arranged to preserve peace, and protect the inhabitants from any hostility on the part of the Indians residing in the territories."
Peace had been made by yielding to the Indians all they wished, or by promising to do so, and of course it was delusive and disappointing. When Stevens learned what had been done he foresaw what the results would be, and made this earnest protest to the secretary of war:
"It seems to me that we have, in this territory, fallen upon evil times. I hope and trust some energetic action may be taken to stop this trifling with great public interests, and to make our flag respected by the Indians of the interior. They scorn our people and our flag. They feel they can kill and plunder with impunity. They denominate us a nation of old women. They did not do this when the volun- teers were in the field.
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"I now make the direct issue with Colonel Wright-that he has made a concession to the Indians which he had no authority to make-that, by so doing, he has done nothing but to get the semblance of a peace, and that by his acts he has, in a measure, weakened the influence of the service having the authority to make treaties, and having charge of the friendly Indians. He has, in my judgment, aban- doned his own duty, which was to reduce the Indians to submission, and has trenched upon and usurped a portion of mine."
The volunteers were mustered out from time to time as their terms of enlistment expired, and the provisions, goods, teams, and materials purchased by the quartermaster, and for which there was now no further need, were sold, most of it at prices higher than were paid for it. "Our transpor- tation has cost us nothing," Stevens wrote to Davis .* "Our people have let their animals go into the service from three to nine months, and have taken them back at a premium." The quartermaster's business had been admirably conducted in every respect. Provisions, clothing, and camp outfits had been procured when needed, even when it was most difficult to find them, and they had always been delivered, in camp or on the march, at the time the volunteers looked for them. The governor paid the quartermaster, General Miller, a high compliment for his efficiency, as he did also Adjutant-General Tilton, whose duties, though less arduous, had been performed faithfully and well.
It was to the volunteer soldiers, and their officers, that the people of the territory owed their deliverance. These were the worthy successors of that citizen-soldiery who fought
* Letter of Nov. 21, 1856.
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with Putman and Warren at Bunker Hill, with Washington at Brandywine and Yorktown, and with Jackson at New Orleans. Without military training, and commanded by officers who knew as little as they did of military maneuvers, they went almost direct from their peaceful occupations to the battlefield, and stood to their work like veterans. In Indian warfare there is nothing so effective as a well-directed and courageous charge. It is a strenuous sort of fighting that savages cannot resist. It is at the same time the most difficult of all methods of fighting to manage successfully, especially with men who have never been in battle, and are wholly without drill or discipline. Veterans say they are . sustained in such attacks by their knowledge of their fellows-by the certainty that their comrades on either side will not falter or desert them. But these volunteers had no such confidence, because they and their com- panions had not yet been tried. And yet Hays' men at] Green River and Connell's Prairie, Kelly's at Walla Walla, and Shaw's at the Grande Ronde, made such movements as steadily and as grandly as Pickett's men marched up to Meade's guns on Cemetery Ridge, or Grant's charged those of Pemberton at Vicks- burg.
Napoleon is said to have greatly admired the material of which Alexander's guard was composed, as he saw them at Tilsit-they seemed to be such an unthinking, unreflecting lot-so prompt to obey, without question. Yet he had no occasion to complain of his own guard, or his other soldiers on that score. But the American volunteer does not derive his courage from his stolidity or ignorance; his is not mere brute courage, that risks a worthless all in a worthless cause, as readily as in any other. It is born of his very intelligence
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itself. He knows and realizes his danger, but the cause inspires him, and thus knowing and realizing, he has gone as deliberately and as grandly into such encounters as the Bloody Angle at Spottsylvania, as the Old Guard went to the assault at Wagram or Waterloo.
CHAPTER XLVIII. MARTIAL LAW.
W HILE Governor Stevens was employed, as already described, in directing the movements of the volunteers, and endeavoring to cooperate with the regulars to restore peace to the country, other matters of serious importance claimed his attention and absorbed his energies.
After the Indians had been dispersed by the battle of Connell's Prairie, and Maxon and Swindall were scouring the southeastern part of Pierce County for the small bands into which it was known they had separated, it began to be suspected that some of the old-time employees of the Hud- son's Bay Company were giving them aid and comfort. These men, like others of their kind, were married to, or living with, Indian women. Their homes were on the extreme border of the settlements, and the Indians could easily visit them, and return to the woods without danger of being observed. They were the only white people, at that time, who could live outside of the blockhouses or the stockades in safety. Their old-time acquaintance with the hostiles, as well as the fact that they were living with some of their women, made it probable that they would be visited by them, and that either by threats or persuasion, they would be prevailed upon to give them assistance. They would get information for them, if nothing else, that might help them to elude their pursuers. As time passed it began to be tolerably certain that they were getting food, and possibly ammunition, from them, and on March 2d it was determined to order them to Fort Nisqually. On the 8th, Isaac W. Smith, who was then acting as secretary of the territory- Mason having been sent to Washington to represent the necessities of the territory to the national authorities-was sent to these settlers, most of whom were living in the
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neighborhood of Muck Creek, to deliver the order. Most, or all, of them obeyed it, but soon returned again, claim- ing that their houses or their stock needed their atten- tion.
Late in March Captain Maxon, having found evidence that satisfied him of their guilt, arrested Charles Wren, John McLeod, L. A. Smith, Henry Smith and John McField, and sent them to Fort Steilacoom. "I consider them guilty of treason, and can prove Wren guilty of giving aid and comfort," he wrote the governor. "McLeod alleges that he has been robbed, but has evidently cached his property, as my men have found the things he says he has lost. I think it useless to try to get the Indians while these men are allowed to remain here."
Colonel Casey received these prisoners rather unwillingly, but, as the governor had sent them to him because there were no jails in the territory in which they could safely be detained, he could not well refuse. Within two days after their arrival Frank Clark and W. H. Wallace, two lawyers from Steila- coom, espoused their cause and prepared to sue out a writ of habeas corpus for their release. The application required to be made to Judge Chenoweth, of the third judicial dis- trict, of which Pierce County formed a part, and one of the lawyers set off for his home on Whidby Island to present it, and procure the writ. Learning by special messenger, hurriedly sent to him from Steilacoom in the night of April 2d, that this application was to be made, the governor, on April 3d, proclaimed martial law in Pierce County.
The proclamation recited the arrest of "certain evil- disposed persons" suspected of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and that they were to be tried by military com- mission; that efforts were being made to withdraw them,
FORT STEILACOOM.
This was the first military post established on Puget Sound. Although known as a fort, it was scarcely more than a military camp. The officers and soldiers at first occupied the buildings owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, more commodious and substantial structures being erected in later years. After the soldiers were withdrawn in 1868, the buildings were purchased by the territory for an insane asylum.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS .MOODFILATE THOT
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1 STom pariblind adt 8981 ni awsibdfinnsfoundblevidence door atisfied lum of their guilt, arrested Charles Wren, John MoLeid, L. A. Smith, Henry Smwh and John McField, and sene them to Fort Steilacoom. "I consider them guilty of treasury and can prost Wren guilty of giving aid and coutoit," lw wrote the governor. "MeLend alleges that he has been robbed, Iros hax ordendy naked his property, as my men leve found the thingt he says he has lost. I think it wouless to try to get the Indians while these men are allowed to reorsis here."
Colon Cosey woeived these prisoners rather unwillingly, bus, as the governor Had sent them to him because there were na ja mo the terri ury in which they could safely be detained, he could so well refuse. Wirbin two days after their arrival Vran Glark and W. I Wallace, two lawyers from Steila- coom, espoured their ou and prepared to sue out a writ of habeas corpina for losh release. The application required to be made to Jude Chenoweth, of the third judicial dis- trict, of which Pierce County formed a part, and one of the lawyers set off for his home on Whidby Island to present it, and procure the writ. Lenning by =pecial messenger, hurriedly sent to him from Smeilacoom on the night of April 2d, that this applicanon was to be mare, the governor, on April 3d, proclaimed martial law in Pierce County.
The proclamation recited the arrest of "certain evil- disposed persons" suspected of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and that they were to be tried by military com- mm, that efforts were being made to withdraw them,
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
by civil process, from the control of the commission; and as war was being prosecuted through nearly the whole country, and the plans of the campaign might be frustrated, if the civil authorities interfered with the military in this matter, it was determined to suspend the functions of the civil officers in said county.
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