USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 6
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On March 3d, Governor Lane issued his proclamation announcing that the new territorial government was estab- lished. The provisional government which the early settlers had established in their extremity, when they did not know whether the territory would ultimately be American or English, and which had been indeed "a government of the people, by the people and for the people," passed into history and was numbered among the things that had been. It had been eminently successful. All its acts had been dis- tinguished by moderation. It had invaded no man's rights. Though formed by Americans, who firmly believed in the sovereignty of the people, it successfully avoided giving offence to those who believed in the sovereignty of a king, and the supreme authority was transferred from the latter to the former without friction. At no time in its brief history was the declaration in the memorial of June 28, 1844, lost sight of, that "by treaty stipulations, the territory has become a kind of neutral ground, in the occupancy of which the citizens of the United States, and the subjects of Great Britain, have equal rights and ought to have equal pro- tection."
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Judge Evans has well said of it:
"Founded upon such principles, the national prejudices of every citizen not only tolerated, but deferred to, that government could not have been a failure. It was a grand success. In peace, it commanded the support of all its citizens, without distinction of race or nationality. Under its wise and judicious administrations, its fruits were good order and prosperity. In the shock of battle, it stood the test. Unaided, neglected and alone, it declared and main- tained a successful war to redress the unprovoked wrongs, the unparalleled outrages, its citizens had suffered. From its own resources, it levied the necessary troops, put them in the field, and there maintained them. Confided in by the people, in the hour of danger they promptly responded to the call of their constituted authorities. In the prose- cution of the Cayuse war, the most historic feature of the pioneer period, was fully demonstrated the inherent strength of the Provisional Government, the unity of feeling it inspired, and its entire capability to meet the requirements of the inhabitants of the territory in which it had exercised its functions."
The officers of the new territorial government were General Joseph Lane of Indiana, governor, Kintzing Pritchett of Pennsylvania, secretary, Joseph L. Meek, United States marshal, and General John Adair of Kentucky, collector of customs. William P. Bryant of Indiana was commis- sioned chief justice, and James Turney of Illinois, and Peter H. Burnett of Oregon, justices. Mr. Turney declined the appointment and Orville C. Pratt of New York, but at that time in the service of the government in California, was commissioned in his place. Burnett had gone to Cali- fornia among the earliest of the goldseekers who left Oregon,
JOSEPH LANE.
The first territorial governor of Oregon. He was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, December 14, 1801. Removed to Kentucky in 1804. Served with distinction in the Mexican war, and was appointed governor of Oregon upon the organization of the territory. In 1860, he was a candidate for vice-presi- dent on the ticket with John C. Breckenridge.
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MISE AND PROGRESS
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
and it was therefore necessary to name another in his place. Some months elapsed before the president could be informed of this necessity, and it was not until September 1849 that William Strong of Ohio was appointed in his place. Isaac W. R. Bromley of New York was named as district attorney but declined, and Amory Holbrook of Massachusetts was appointed in his stead.
Governor Lane was at this time without experience in administrative affairs, but his great natural ability, and experience as a soldier peculiarly fitted him for the work he was now to do. Born in North Carolina in 1801, he had early removed to Kentucky, and thence to Indiana, where for several years he was a clerk in a mercantile house. He was for several terms a member of the legislature, and at the breaking out of the Mexican war he enlisted in the second Indiana regiment as a private, but in a few weeks was elected its colonel, and, in June 1846, was appointed a brigadier general by President Polk. He commanded the left wing of General Taylor's army at the battle of Buena Vista, where he was wounded in the left shoulder, and was personally complimented by General Taylor. He was soon after promoted to be major general and joined General Scott's army. During the campaign ending with the fall of the City of Mexico, he was in many battles and skir- mishes, and by his activity and success became known as "the Marion of the Army." Senator Nesmith has said of him that "he had great natural talent for the military profession, which, with wider and broader opportunities, would have developed the most brilliant of soldierly qual- ities. No officer of his rank who served in that war rendered so important services to his country, or gained greater fame by his courage and intrepidity, than Lane."
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Among the earliest acts of his administration was the issue of an order directing a census of the territory to be taken, and of a proclamation calling an election for members of the first territorial legislature. This body was now to consist of two houses, and the counties of Vancouver and Lewis north of the Columbia, with Clatsop on the south side of it, formed a district, which was entitled to one member in each. Samuel F. McKean of Clatsop was elected to the council, and Michael T. Simmons repre- sentative.
As soon as possible after establishing the various branches of the territorial government, Governor Lane turned his attention to Indian affairs, of which, under the organic act, he was made superintendent. The war in eastern Wash- ington and Oregon was not ended. The murderers of the Whitman party had not been surrendered or apprehended. He started, sometime in April, for the seat of war, where his experience as a soldier as well as his authority as governor and superintendent was likely to be useful. On his way he met and counseled with the chiefs and head men of the tribes on both sides of the Columbia, until he reached the Dalles, where he was overtaken by the news of the disturb- ance at Fort Nisqually and the murder of Wallace, and turned back to visit the Sound, where it seemed possible there might be more urgent need for his presence than further east. The advance guard of the mounted rifle regiment, so long before provided for as a protection for the settlers on the trail and in their new home, had now arrived, with news that the other companies, except two which had been left at Fort Laramie and one at Loring Cantonment, on the Snake River near Fort Hall, would soon be on the Colum- bia. Taking a guard of five men, as already detailed in
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
a previous chapter, he started northward and at New Market, after his visit to Fort Nisqually, he learned of the arrival of the steamer Massachusetts at Vancouver with the two companies of the first artillery regiment. He now felt himself sufficiently strong to put down any Indian uprising that might occur; to protect the settlers everywhere, and bring those who were guilty of the depredations already committed to justice.
On July 16th, the first territorial legislature met at Oregon City and remained in session one hundred days. Governor Lane, in his message, reviewed the needs of the territory, and pointed out the various ways in which they could be met, some by memorials to Congress, and some by proper legislative enactments. The county governments were to be organized, a reasonable revenue provided, the courts established, an election law enacted, and the murderers of the Whitman party and of Wallace apprehended and brought to justice. The last named duty he promised should have his earliest and most earnest attention, and, if the murderers were not promptly given up, chastisement should speedily follow, as soon as the remainder of the mounted rifle regiment should arrive.
The legislature carried into effect most of the governor's suggestions. The county organizations were arranged for, an election law passed, under which the necessary officers could be chosen at an early day. The names of several counties were changed, and among them that of Vancouver was changed to Clarke, and so both of the great explorers were honored by giving their names to the first two counties created in Washington.
It was also necessary for this legislature to pass a special act in order to provide for the prompt trial of the murderers
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of Wallace. On May 15th the governor had divided the terri- tory into three judicial districts, and assigned one of the three judges to each. The first of these districts embraced Vancouver, or Clarke County, and all the adjacent counties which had been settled south of the Columbia. To this district Chief Justice Bryant was assigned. All the other counties south of the Columbia were embraced in the second district, and Judge Pratt was assigned to it. All of what is now Washington, except Vancouver County, was the third district. This would have been assigned to Judge Burnett, if he had ever qualified, which he had not, having long before gone to California, and no successor had as yet been appointed. To obviate this difficulty, the legislature, at the suggestion of Governor Lane, passed an act attaching Lewis County temporarily to the first district, and empower- ing Chief Justice Bryant to hold a special term of court at Steilacoom to try the murderers of Wallace.
These had been given up on September 5th. They were delivered to the soldiers, who by this time had arrived and fixed their camp at Fort Steilacoom, a few miles east of the village. Only a few days before, on August 23d, Major Hathaway, Captain Bennett H. Hill and other officers belonging to the two companies of artillery, which had arrived in the Massachusetts at Vancouver, had visited Fort Nisqually,* and on the following day selected the ground on which they were to make their camp. Major Hathaway seems, by the record made at the fort, to have come overland, accompanied by Mr. Latta, formerly in the Hudson's Bay Company's marine service, while Captain Hill and his officers and soldiers came by "the chartered barque Harpooner," whose captain was accused of
* Journal of Occurrences, Fort Nisqually, August 23d.
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smuggling goods and selling liquor to the Indians along the Columbia. They found Indian Agent Thornton still at the fort, where he had been since August 7th, but he had nearly completed his arrangements, so far as he was to carry them, and, on the day after the officers arrived, he closed his account at the Agricultural Company's store by giving Dr. Tolmie a signed statement of the purchases of blankets and trinkets he had made for presents to the Indians, amounting to $401.26, and $20 additional for expenses, both against Governor Lane, which were forwarded to Vancouver for collection, and he took his departure, accompanied by the captain of the Harpooner.
Besides fixing upon a location for the camp of Captain Hill's company, Major Hathaway wished to explore "some of the river estuaries and harbors along the continental shore of Puget Sound," the Journal of Occurrences says, and he intended to make his trip in the Harpooner, but for some reason, possibly because her captain had been sent to Van- couver with Indian Agent Thornton, this was not done, and a Skagit chief, who was visiting the fort, engaged to take him in his canoe. He left, accompanied by Mr. Latta, on the morning of the 25th and was gone six days. "They returned," as the fort chronicler says, "not much satisfied as to the capability of finding a fit site for a dock-yard or a town." They would no doubt be much surprised if they could return today and revisit the scene of their hasty exploration, but they might console themselves with the reflection that they were not the first to misjudge the sites of future cities .*
* In 1823 Major Long, the explorer, made this report of his observa- tions at Chicago: "As a place of business, it offers no inducement to the settler; for the whole annual amount of the trade of the lake did
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Patkanim and his tribe arrived at the fort on September 3d, and Dr. Tolmie sent the eighty blankets, which Agent Thornton had offered for the surrender of the murderers, to Captain Hill's camp, to be used as circumstances should require, and on the 5th the journal says: "All our engaged Indians off to Steilacoom to be present at the making up of the business with the Snoqualmies, which came off today, Dr. Tolmie and Mr. Todd being present. It ended in six of the worst being seized and confined. The names of the six are: Whyeek, Quallawowt, Cussas, Tahawai, Tatam and all of the Snoqualmies. Eighty blankets were paid out to the different chiefs of the tribe."
Two of the six, who were thus given up, were quite promi- nent in their several tribes. Quallawowt was a brother of Patkanim, and Cussas was a Skewhamish chief. They were speedily brought to trial. Chief Justice Bryant "and a large party arrived" at Fort Nisqually on Sunday evening, September 30th, and on Monday morning the trial began at Steilacoom, Dr. Tolmie and Mr. Ross, one of the clerks at Nisqually, being present as witnesses. The six prisoners,
not exceed the cargo of five or six schooners, even at the time when the garrison received its supplies from Mackinaw. It is not impossible that at some distant day, when the banks of the Illinois shall have been covered with a dense population, and when the low prairies which extend between that river and Fort Wayne shall have acquired a population proportionate to the produce which they can yield, Chicago may become one of the points in the direct line of communication between the northern lakes and the Mississippi. But even the intercourse which will be carried on through this communication will, we think, at all times be a limited one; the dangers attending the navigation of the lake, and the scarcity of harbors along the shore, must ever prove a serious obstacle to the increase of the commercial importance of Chicago. The extent of the sand banks, which are formed on the eastern and southern shores by the prevailing north and northwesterly winds, will likewise prevent any important works from being undertaken to improve the port of Chicago."
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all of whom had been indicted, were arraigned, and Judge Alonzo Skinner was appointed district attorney for the trial, while David Stone was designated for the defense. The trial continued for the better part of three days, the court room being crowded with as many settlers and Indians as could find seats or standing room in or about it. Cussas and Quallawowt were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. The other four were acquitted, there being little evidence against three of them and none against the fourth, who seems to have been a slave, who, it was thought, was given up with the expectation, or at least the hope, that he could be shown to be the murderer and the others allowed to go free. If this was so the plotters found to their sorrow that the Boston man's courts were not to be so easily deceived.
In his report to Governor Lane of this the first criminal or civil case tried in any regular court north of the Columbia River, Mr. Chief Justice Bryant says : "The effect produced by this trial was salutary, and I have no doubt will long be remembered by the tribe. The whole tribe, I would judge, were present at the execution, besides a vast gathering of Indians from other tribes on the Sound. They were made to understand that our laws would punish them promptly, for every murder committed, and that they would accept no satisfaction short of all who acted in the murder of our citizens."
The Indians were no doubt as much impressed by the promptness with which sentence was carried out, as by the certainty with which punishment would follow their crimes, for Mr. Ross, in the fort journal says: "The jury of the Court held at Steilacoom having found a verdict of guilty against two of the Indian prisoners, Cussas and Quallawowt, they were sentenced to be hung, which sentence took place
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at 4 a. m. [sic] this afternoon. The other four were liberated after a strict charge."
Many of the grand and petit jurors who attended this trial came from a distance of two hundred miles, Chief Justice Bryant says, as did Judge Skinner and David Stone, the two lawyers in the case. The two latter were allowed $250 each for their services, an allowance which the court thought not unreasonable, since they had to travel so far, "camp in the woods, as well as the rest of us, and endure a great deal of fatigue in the manner of travelling, in bateaux and canoes by water." The total cost of the trial was $1,899.54, to which should be added the cost of the eighty blankets given for the surrender of the guilty parties, and the $20 paid by Agent Thornton for traveling expenses, making a total of $2,320.80.
From the moment he assumed the duties of his office, Governor Lane labored assiduously to bring the murderers of Marcus Whitman and others at the Waiilatpu mission to justice. Negotiations with the tribes in the neighborhood were put on foot, and carried on almost continuously, until they were at last captured in the John Day country, by some Nez Perces, and delivered up for trial. Governor Lane received notice on May 2d, 1850, that they were at the Dalles and would be delivered to him as soon as he could come for them. He went up and brought them to Oregon City in person. They were five in number-Til-au-ka-ikt, Tamahas, Giaashetucteas, Clokamos, and Kimasumkin. The May term of the district court for Clackamas County was in session when they arrived, and they were at once indicted and sent to trial. Hon. Orville C. Pratt was the presiding judge. F. W. Pettygrove was foreman of the grand jury, and Amory Holbrook was prosecuting attorney.
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The indictment was brought in on May 21st, and the trial began almost immediately, the prisoners being defended, both ably and zealously, if we may believe the brief reports of the trial that have been preserved, by Mr. Pritchett, the secretary of the territory, Paymaster R. B. Reynolds of the army, and Captain Clairborne of the Mounted Rifles. The defense first filed a plea to the jurisdiction of the court, contending that, at the time the crime charged in the indict- ment was committed, the laws of the United States had not been extended over the territory, and that, as a consequence, the court could not have jurisdiction to try this cause. This plea was overruled, and a motion for a change of venue to Clarke County, on account of the inflamed state of public feeling at Oregon City, was also made and over- ruled, and the trial proceeded. A jury was impaneled only after much difficulty. The testimony of the inmates of the mission who had escaped the butchery was taken. These were Mrs. Eliza Hall, Miss Lorinda (Bewly) Chap- man and Josiah Osborne. Dr. McLoughlin, Rev. H. H. Spalding and Sticcas, the Indian who had long been employed at Waiilatpu, and who helped to pilot the emigrants of 1843 over the last part of their journey to the station, also testi- fied. The evidence left no doubt of the guilt of the accused. The defense showed by the evidence of Dr. McLoughlin and Osborne that Dr. Whitman had been fully advised of the ill feeling among the savages toward him, and toward the members of his household, and was well aware of the danger which surrounded him. Sticcas testified that he had warned Dr. Whitman, and also Mr. Spalding, of the growing hostility of the Cayuses. It was shown that the Indians were accustomed to hold their medicine men guilty when one of their patients died, and to murder him if they
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could do so, but this was ruled out. As to what was done at the time of the massacre, or who did it, the defense offered but little testimony. On the 24th the arguments of counsel were heard and the jury charged. The jury retired and after an absence of an hour and fifteen minutes returned a verdict of guilty. The attorneys for the defense moved the court for an arrest of judgment, and also for a new trial, but both motions were denied, and the prisoners were sen- tenced to be hanged June 3d. All except Kiamasukin subsequently confessed their guilt, and he admitted that he was present at the massacre, but denied that he had struck a blow or taken any part in it.
The finding and sentence was approved by Governor Lane, who also signed the death warrant. This was deliv- ered to United States Marshal Joseph L. Meek, whose half-breed daughter was one of the victims of the massacre. Secretary Pritchett, one of the counsel for the accused, and who was about to become acting governor, by the resigna- tion of Governor Lane, requested, or it is said even directed, Meek to suspend the execution of the sentence, but he refused. There was an immense assembly to witness the hanging, which was successfully carried out by Meek. It is said of him that when the drop fell the knot of one of the ropes failed to slip, as it should have done, and the Indian was slowly strangling, his neck not having been broken by the fall. Observing this, Meek, who was still standing on the scaffold, quickly put his foot against the knot and pressed it to its place, soon ending the victim's misery.
Thus the Indians were shown, for a second time, that justice would now certainly overtake them, and punish their misdeeds if they persisted in them. The two executions had a most wholesome effect, and during the five years
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following, the settlers had little cause for anxiety on account of Indian hostilities.
The counties both north and south of the river were now organized, or in a fair way to have their organizations com- pleted. The courts were open, and the authority of the territorial government everywhere established, so far as the settlers had urgent need for it. Governor Lane now tendered his resignation, to take effect June 18th, at which time he expected to have completed negotiations with certain tribes of Indians in southern Oregon, and subsequently went to California for a time. Major John P. Gaines had been appointed to succeed him and was soon to arrive.
The steamer Massachusetts, besides the two companies of the first artillery, had brought out a commission com- posed of Brevet Colonel J. L. Smith, Major Cornelius A. Ogden and Lieutenant Danville Leadbetter, of the army, and Commanders Louis M. Goldsborough, G. J. Brunt and Lieutenant Simon F. Blunt, of the navy, "to examine the coast of the United States lying upon the Pacific Ocean, with reference to points of occupation for the security of trade and commerce, and for military and naval purposes." They entered immediately upon their work, coming to the Sound, where they remained several months, exploring its numerous harbors, bays, inlets, and points where fortifi- cations should some time in the future be established. They then examined the coast from Cape Flattery to the Colum- bia River. The name of Leadbetter Point, on the south shore of the entrance to Shoalwater Bay, remains a monu- ment of their work.
Samuel R. Thurston was the representative of the new territory in Congress, and was demonstrating to statesmen of the McDuffie and Mitchell school that it was possible
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