USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. IV > Part 8
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to enlarge the mill, and a stock of goods with which he and Matheney intended to open a store. By the time he had reached the falls with these, C. F. Yeaton had arrived, and a new partnership was formed which soon owned the mill, a store and also engaged in farming and stock-raising.
The town of Spokane Falls, as it was known during the twenty years following, was now started. These first per- manent residents on its site were hopeful, and even confident, that the first railroad to cross the continent by the northern route would pass through or near it, because of the vast power for manufacturing purposes which the falls would furnish, and they were easily able to convince many of the early homehunters and prospectors who passed that way, of the reasonableness of these expectations. In 1873, a postoffice was established, the mail being sent on horseback, overland from Lewiston by way of Colfax. Scranton was the first postmaster and Yeaton the second. In 1874, Rev. H. T. Cowley and family, and Mr. Pool and family arrived, and Cowley soon after opened a school with four pupils. In 1875, S. G. Havermale located a claim on the river, which included the island still known by his name, and Fred Post and family came a year later. Post built the first flourmill at the falls, receiving forty acres of the townsite as a bonus for building it.
When the people of Oregon formed their State Constitu- tion in September 1857, they made an attempt to extend the limits of their State, by proposing to make the Snake River its boundary on the northeast, and so include within it all of what is now Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin Counties. They perhaps felt that they had some claim on this fertile region, as they had made two campaigns in it against hostile Indians-one in 1847-48, after the Whitman
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massacre, and one in the winter of 1855-56, after Wool had withdrawn the regular troops into winter quarters. More- over the Snake River made a better boundary than an imaginary line, and it was apparent that when the region should come to be settled, its people, as things were then, and were likely to remain for a considerable time thereafter, would find a more natural outlet for their surplus products, by sending them down the river, than over the mountains to the Sound.
This attempt drew forth an emphatic protest from the people of the territory, although at the time there were none in the region sought to be annexed, either to favor or oppose it. When the legislature met in December, Governor Mc- Mullin, who had very recently arrived, and as yet knew very little about the territory, made a strong general protest against it in his message. It was a section of country, he said, which, "if I am correctly informed, is of excellent quality, admirably adapted to agriculture, and capable of sustaining a population of seventy-five or one hundred thousand souls." He looked upon this "attempt to rob us of so valuable a portion of our territory, as a political, moral and social outrage," and suggested that the legislature send a strong protest to Congress against this "attempt to change the boundary between the two territories without even ask- ing our consent."
The legislature did protest, though it seems not to have been necessary, as Congress fixed the northern boundary of the State on the same line that had been the boundary of the territory.
Another attempt to attach this part of Washington to Oregon was made in 1866, and this time it seems to have been prompted by a resident of Washington. In the fall of 1865,
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Anderson Cox was elected from Walla Walla to fill a sup- posed vacancy in the legislature. But on arriving at Olym- pia he found that no vacancy existed, and was seemingly grievously disappointed, for instead of retiring quietly to private life, he went to the capital of Oregon, and helped to set on foot a new project to annex the Walla Walla country to that State. The Oregon legislature sent a memorial to Congress urging annexation, and the Bar Association of Walla Walla addressed a letter of thanks to the speaker of the legislature for what had been done. All this provoked a great deal of comment, favorable and unfavorable, and was the cause of some anxiety for a time, but again Congress failed to do as requested.
Statesmen from south of the Snake River have not been permitted entirely to forget this attempt at secession, in the early days of their political history, for in times when they have found themselves out of harmony, for the moment, with the other representatives of their parties, they have been not too gently reminded, sometimes, that there was a time when they were sorry their country was not a part of Oregon, and it is more or less pointedly hinted that possibly some shadow of regret still remains. All of which goes to show, possibly, that there is less of the milk of human kindness in the breast of the average politician than there might be and, no doubt, ought to be.
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CHAPTER LII. THE CIVIL WAR.
W HEN the war between the States began in 1861, the people of Washington were but poorly prepared to take an interest in it. They had been exhausted by a war at their own doors, in which nearly every man, and many of the women, had at some time taken up arms to defend themselves. Those who had not actually enlisted, or gone to the field, or served in the quartermaster's department, or in some other capacity connected with the volunteers, had acted as guards in the stockades and blockhouses, or carried arms with them to their fields, when they went about the work of planting the crops which were to support both the volunteers and their own families.
War had impoverished them, though they had been poor enough before it came. They had not been paid for the fighting they had done, or for the property they had sacri- ficed to support those who had done the fighting, nor did they know when they would be, if ever. War, therefore, had little if any inspiration for them; they had seen too much of its grim reality, with none of its pride, pomp and circum- stance. They were loyal to the flag, and to all it represented -that was one reason at least why they were here, as they were, on this remote frontier, and why they made the sacri- fices they had made to be here. But they did not regard the flag or the government as in any special danger. They had long heard of the threats made by the secessionists to break up the Union, but did not regard them as serious. They were so far away that only the last and feeblest rever- berations of the guns from Fort Sumpter reached them. The blare of trumpet, and soul-stirring throb of drum, that sounded so continually in the ears of people in the Eastern States, hardly penetrated to their quiet homes, and when
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they did it hardly seemed probable that any patriotic response on their part, if made, could be of any benefit.
The Democrats had always been in the majority in the territory. All the governors so far had been Democrats, appointed by Democratic presidents, and all the delegates in Congress had been Democrats, and had been elected by considerable majorities. The majority had, therefore, long been opposed to any interference with slavery, and inclined to sympathize with the slaveholders, as against the aboli- tionists, and few perhaps understood clearly that the new president and his party were not proposing to interfere with slavery in the States where it existed-in fact had declared repeatedly that they believed they had no right to do so. The majority accordingly were but little inclined to march across the continent to engage in the war on either side, and the minority probably did not, for some time, comprehend that the attack on Sumpter had changed the issue from one about slavery, to one about union or disunion.
When therefore Henry M. McGill, the acting governor of the territory, on May 10, 1861, issued his proclamation in response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, calling upon the citizens of the territory capable of bearing arms to enroll themselves, and report to the adjutant-general, to aid the president in "maintaining the laws and the integ- rity of the Union," it met no very hearty response. It was not until October 12th, apparently, that any step was taken to raise volunteers in the territory, that resulted in any actual enlistments. On that day Colonel Thomas A. Scott, then assistant secretary of war, wrote to Justus Steinberger, who appears to have been in Washington at the time, notify- ing him that, by request of "Colonel W. H. Wallace, the
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governor of Washington Territory,"* he was authorized to organize a regiment of infantry, "in that territory, and the country adjacent thereto," of which regiment he was ap- pointed colonel. The other officers were to be appointed by the governor. In case the regular troops had left the terri- tory when he should arrive there, he was to be mustered in by any officer of the army at San Francisco, and he was to stop there on his way home and report to the officer in com- mand for the purpose of securing information.
Arriving on the coast, he came to the Sound in January 1862, and after consulting with members of the legislature then in session, and visiting the principal towns and settle- ments west of the mountains, he found that he could not hope to raise more than three companies, at most, in the territory. He appears to have received very little encourage- ment at Olympia. The territory was without a governor. Gholson had left it more than a year before, and had now gone over to the enemy. His successor had not yet been appointed. A new secretary, L. Jay. S. Turney, of Illinois, who had arrived only a few months earlier, was acting governor, and had opened the session with a message that was little more than a stump speech. Few of its recom- mendations were followed, or in any way regarded. One of them was that resolutions should be passed "calling upon Union-loving men to stand by Union-loving men in all things, and at all times, and resolving not to trade with, or in any manner countenance, those who are base enough to oppose the Administration in its laudable and patriotic efforts to sustain the government." This suggestion of a patriotic boycott appears to have been resented by the legislature, for although resolutions pledging the support of the territory
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* Wallace had been appointed governor, but never qualified.
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to the Union cause were offered in both houses, they were not adopted. But while thus refusing to declare their devotion to the Union, the members of the legislature did not fail to provide for raising the territory's proportion of the direct tax levied by the special session of Congress, which amounted to $7,755.33. They took the same course with regard to this war that Mr. Lincoln himself had taken, while a member of Congress, with regard to the war with Mexico; they were not willing to approve it, but they would not withhold the supplies necessary to sustain the soldiers in the field.
While the indifference of the legislature probably had some effect, there were other reasons why the people did not hasten to enlist. The winter was unusually cold, and the settlers were very uneasy about the Indians, who were manifesting many evidences of discontent. During the preceding sum- mer one settler had been murdered by them at Gray's Harbor, and another at the mouth of the Snohomish, and there were indications of an uprising at the Cascades. The tribes in eastern Washington were showing much opposition to the miners, who were passing through their country in great numbers, to the newly discovered mines in Idaho. Eagle from the Light, one of the Nez Perce chiefs who had been present at the Walla Walla council in 1855, had stopped a supply train passing through his country, and compelled it to return to Walla Walla. The payments promised the tribes in the treaties had not been made, in some instances, and General W. W. Miller, who was then superintendent of Indian affairs in the territory, was having much trouble on that account. It had been necessary to send a small detachment from Fort Vancouver to the Chehalis, to quell a threatened uprising in that neighborhood. The northern
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Indians, always troublesome, were now more threatening than ever, and there were supposed to be some two thousand of them at and near Victoria, and along the shore of Van- couver Island. The military company at Fort Bellingham had already been withdrawn, and it was feared that the garrison on San Juan Island would be so far weakened as to be of little service. In such a condition of things few cared to enlist for a service that might require them to leave the State, where they were likely to be so much needed, although it seemed probable enough that they would only be required to replace the regulars already stationed here.
After authorizing R. V. Peabody to raise a company in the Sound country, and I. W. Cannady and F. Moore to raise two east of the mountains, Colonel Steinberger returned to San Francisco and opened a recruiting office there March Ist, under his authority to secure recruits in "adjacent territory." Two months later he had secured four com- panies, and had two more started, with very good prospects that they would soon be raised to the full complement of eighty men each. Early in May, with the four companies then completed and mustered, he left San Francisco for Fort Vancouver. Two other companies from California soon followed, and later two more were raised, making eight in all from California, in the regiment which was notwith- standing known as the Ist Washington Territory infantry.
Two companies of it only were raised in the territory, and one of these was recruited largely from residents of Oregon. This was Company F, which was mustered in at Vancouver. Its officers were W. D. Spencer, captain; Peter Fox, first lieutenant, and James Halloran, second lieutenant. It remained at Vancouver until late in Decem- ber 1862, when it was moved up the river to the Dalles,
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where it remained until March 1865, when it was returned to Vancouver and consolidated with Company E. Captain Spencer was then detailed for service in the adjutant- general's office, and the command fell to Lieutenant Fox, and afterwards to Second Lieutenant Halloran, who later became a lieutenant in the regular army.
The members of Company K were enrolled at Vancouver, Walla Walla, Port Townsend, Steilacoom and Olympia. Its captain was Egbert H. Tucker, while E. D. Jester was first, and James E. D. Tothilleits second, lieutenant. Its organization was not completed until late in 1862. Writing from Fort Vancouver, under date of October 2, 1862, General Alvord says that only twenty-seven men had so far been enrolled at Olympia, while no report had been received from Walla Walla .* This company was stationed at Fort Steilacoom during nearly its whole period of service.
The regiment served in Washington, Idaho and Oregon throughout the war. Companies B and C, under command of Major Calvin H. Rumrill, were stationed most of the time at Fort Colvile; Companies A and H at Walla Walla, where Colonel Steinberger commanded; Company G was with Company K at Fort Steilacoom, under Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas C. English; Company E at Lapwai in Idaho, Company F at the Dalles, and Company D under Captain Seidenstriker at Fort Hoskins in Oregon. In 1863 Com- panies I, B and G, and sometime later Company D, were sent to Fort Boise, under command of Major Lugenbeel of the regular army, and, during that and the following year, did good service in protecting the immigrants against the Snake Indians, who during those years were very troublesome.
* Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. L, Part II, p. 146.
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The Indians also made incursions northward to the neighborhood of Walla Walla and Lapwai, where the troops stationed at those points were called upon to drive them back to their own country.
During the winter of 1864-65, which was very severe, many immigrants were overtaken on the trail by the early snowstorms, and would have starved but for the aid furnished from Fort Boise and other military posts. On December 20th, Captain Seidenstriker wrote to General Alvord from Fort Boise that "A large number of emigrants are living around this vicinity, and a great many of them have families -- in fact nearly all of them. They are in a state of actual destitution and want, which is the more aggravated by the extreme severity of the winter, rendering it impossible to work, even if it could be obtained, which, even in any case, is scarce in a mining region at this season of the year. Under these circumstances, I have deemed it my duty, as a govern- ment officer, to assist them in the way of provisions to some small extent, and the citizens generally have done the same. As I feel convinced that the general, if he saw them daily as I do, would do the same, I respectfully ask his approval of what I have done, and his advice and orders what to do in the future." He also found it necessary to furnish some food to the Indians near the fort, although all those in its neighborhood had shown more or less hostility to the im- migrants during the preceding season, and would show more to those in the season following.
But these Indians made less trouble for the immigrants, the army and the stage and express companies, which had now established their lines from points on the Columbia to Boise and Salt Lake, than white outlaws were mak- ing. Stages were frequently held up, and their' passengers
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murdered. Sometimes the stage horses were stolen from the stables at the stations, and shipments of gold dust were sent away only under strong guard. The military did what could be done to rid the country of these outlaws, but was not able to put an end to their depredations, which continued until long after the war ended.
Those who sympathized more or less openly with the rebels in arms were not wanting in the territory, and they gave the loyal citizens no little cause for anxiety at times. There were also some outspoken sympathizers with the Confederate cause in Victoria, with whom those on this side the straits were believed to be in correspondence. Early in 1863, Allen Francis, the United States consul at Victoria, received information that led him to believe a plot was forming, or had been formed, to seize the revenue cutter Shubrick, and convert her into a Confederate privateer. In March a fast-sailing schooner, called the J. M. Chapman, had been seized in the harbor of San Francisco, just as she was preparing to put to sea, with only four sailors on board, but with seventeen other men, and a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition concealed in her hold. This seizure made the Union men everywhere along the coast more alert, as they suspected that other attempts would be made by the disloyal to get a vessel for their purpose.
The Shubrick made occasional visits to Victoria. Captain Pease, her commander, was Southern born, and it was this fact, no doubt, which caused Consul Francis to observe his movements very closely, and he soon learned enough, as he thought, to justify the conclusion that she was to be seized, with the captain's consent, while on the British side of the straits, and provided with a new crew which would willingly go on a privateering enterprise. The Pacific
FORT BOISE.
This station was built by the Hudson's Bay Company on Boise River in Idaho, a short distance above its junction with the Snake River, a short time after Wyeth built Fort Hall. It was the third resting place of the emigrants on their long journey. Whit- man brought two wheels of his wagon to it in 1836, and they were the first wheels that had passed Fort Hall.
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reqmo) voll ahrozbuH edt vd sliud pow noitsteel dust restolen fom
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The Pacif
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Mail steamers at that time were carrying considerable quanti- ties of gold dust from San Francisco to Panama, and each one of them was a tempting prize for a privateer. While the Shubrick was much smaller than any of these ships, she carried four or five brass cannon, and a considerable supply of small arms, and with the right kind of a crew and commander would probably capture some rich prizes if allowed to get away.
The consul communicated such facts as he had learned to Lieutenant Selden, who was second in command on the Shubrick, and whose loyalty was undoubted, on the occasion of her next visit to Victoria, and while the captain and a large part of the crew were on shore, he threw off her moor- ings, and with only six men on board, sailed away for Port Townsend.
Captain Pease made no effort to rejoin his ship, but sailed from Victoria direct for San Francisco and Panama, and so far at least confirmed the information that Consul Francis had received. Writing of this incident to Captain Hopkins of the United States war steamer Saginaw, on May 13, 1863, Consul Francis said: "There is still in this city a rebel organization, which has had several meetings within the last few weeks. They are awaiting, it seems from rumors, the receipt of letters of marque from the president of the so-called Confederate States. At this moment an English steamer, called the Fusi Yama, is expected in this port from England, and it is rumored that she is to be purchased for a privateer."*
Later there were occasional rumors that certain persons in California had been commissioned by Jeff. Davis to
* Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series I, Vol. II, p. 260.
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raise companies of Volunteers for the Confederate army, and that they were laying plans to start an uprising at this or that place. One of these rumors was to the effect that a steamer was to be seized at one of the southern California ports, and, when manned and armed, was to prey upon the coast cities, as well as upon the commerce of the Pacific. This report appears to have caused some anxiety for the safety of Astoria and points on the Columbia, and a new defense at Cape Disappointment named Fort Baker, in honor of Senator E. D. Baker of Oregon, was built in 1864.
The enrolling officers appointed under the conscription act in 1863, to make up the lists of able-bodied men sub- ject to military duty, met with some trouble, as they did everywhere else. The provost marshal established his head- quarters at Vancouver, and special deputies were appointed in all the counties. Edwin Eells, who served in Walla Walla County, probably met with as much resistance in the discharge of his duty as any of them. The lawless element, which had been attracted to that part of the terri- tory by the successive gold discoveries, was still strong in the community, and it was not patriotic in any sense. It became openly defiant when it began to be known that it would be compelled to furnish its share of recruits for the army in case of need. In one saloon a bucket of water was thrown over the enrolling officer; in another a bunch of fire- crackers was set off under his chair, as soon as he began to write, and in another all his books and papers were taken away and destroyed. Seven of those who had thus inter- fered with the enrollment were subsequently arrested for resisting the draft and, on trial before the United States commissioners, received various sentences.
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But as time passed the loyal element in the community, which was so passive at first, gradually became aroused. Union clubs were organized in the towns, and the disloyal element, which was so bold and outspoken at first, soon found itself in the minority, and the expression of its senti- ments more and more unpopular. The legislature which assembled in December 1862 had a strong majority of out- spoken Union men, who promptly adopted a series of reso- lutions denouncing secession, approving the policy of the national administration, and promising their unwavering support to the Union cause. Women as well as men began to take an active interest in the war, and to organize clubs and societies to aid in the work of mercy which it was arranged that women should do. One of the first of these clubs was organized at Vancouver, and at the close of the war, Dr. Bellows, the president of the Sanitary Commission, reported that it had raised and forwarded more money, in proportion to the population and wealth of the town in which it was located, than any other society in the country, save one. This club had its beginning in a little church which Rev. John McCarthy, chaplain at the fort, had started, and the pulpit of which he regularly filled. It had sixteen members,* scarcely one of whom was able to keep a servant. They
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