THE FRUITLESS PEACE COUNCIL
It will be remembered that Colonel Wright, hugging his delusion and
shutting his eyes to obvious facts, in April expressed the opinion that
the hostile Cuyuses and Walla Wallas were "peaceably disposed" when
declining to occupy the valley or furnish an escort for the Nez Perce
train. The governor, by bringing him to attend the council and see and
judge for himself, hoped to open his eyes to the real situation, and to
induce him to take a more manly and aggressive course in case the
Indians persisted in the war.
Accordingly, leaving Olympia August 11, Governor Stevens reached
Vancouver on the 13th, and there met Colonel Wright, who informed him
that he was unable to attend the council from pressure of other duties,
but that he was dispatching a force of four companies of regulars under
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe in season to be present, and that the
governor could rely upon that officer for support in case of need, an
assurance not made good, and which involved him in no little personal
peril.
As it was no longer necessary to maintain Shaw's force in the valley,
since the regulars were to occupy it, the governor now revoked his call
for two hundred more volunteers.
Traveling together to the Dalles, the governor and Colonel Wright had
repeated conferences en route, and at that point also met and conferred
with Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe, Major Lugenbeel, and Captain Jordan,
with the result, as the governor supposed and reported to the Indian
Bureau, of establishing "the most cordial and effective coöperation in
all the measures taken to maintain the friendly relations of the tribes
east of the mountains." It is evident that Governor Stevens, by his
personal ascendency over men, and the manifest wisdom and necessity of
his measures, actually compelled these officers, like Lieutenant-Colonel
Casey, to a degree of coöperation incompatible with Wool's orders, and
probably repugnant to their own prejudices. It is impossible, however,
to acquit Wright and Steptoe of a lack of candor in concealing from the
governor the real character of Wool's instructions, and in leading him
to expect their faithful coöperation and support. For not only had Wool
positively forbidden anything of the kind, but had ordered them to
disarm the volunteers, if they had sufficient force to do so, and expel
them from the Indian country, as appeared from Wool's orders when
subsequently published by the government. He also ordered them to
exclude American settlers from the entire upper country, but not to
interfere with the Hudson Bay Company people, it being his intention to
make the Cascade Range a scientific frontier to the settlements.
It is noteworthy that the officers of the 4th infantry, who garrisoned
the country at and before the outbreak of the war,--Alvord, Rains,
Haller, Maloney, Slaughter, and Nugen,--agreed perfectly with the
territorial authorities and the people as to the causes of the outbreak,
and were always ready to coöperate with them. It was Major Alvord who
first detected and reported the existence of the Indian conspiracy, and
Major Rains who called for the volunteers.
But the officers of the 9th infantry, like Wright and Casey, were
new-comers in the country, bound by Wool's orders, and prejudiced by his
infamous slanders, and undoubtedly affected by professional jealousy.
They were ready to ignore the territorial authorities, and to make peace
by restraining the whites instead of punishing the hostile Indian
aggressors. They prolonged the war east of the mountains and kept back
the settlement of the country for two years, but at last the scales were
torn from their eyes by stern experience; they realized how mistaken had
been their views and fruitless their policy, and found themselves
obliged to adopt the views of Governor Stevens and make war in earnest.
Then, under the severe blows of Wright, the hostile tribes were finally
punished and subdued, and permanent peace assured.
On the day after reaching Vancouver the governor held a council with a
band of Klikitat Indians, at which Colonel Wright was present, and made
arrangements for removing them temporarily to their original home east
of the Cascades on the Klikitat River, with the view of placing them
ultimately on the Yakima reservation. He informed Colonel Wright that he
would receive and care for, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, any
surrendered Indians, except the Sound murderers,--Leschi, Qui-e-muth,
Nelson, Sta-hi, etc.,--to whom he had already cautioned him against
granting amnesty. He now made formal requisition upon Colonel Wright for
the surrender of these chiefs to be tried for their crimes, and notified
him that he had forbidden the Indian agents to receive them on any
reservation either east or west of the Cascades. He gave full and
careful instructions on all these matters to the agents on the
river,--Captain J. Cain, who had general charge of the Indians on the
Columbia, Mr. Field at Vancouver, Mr. Lear at the Cascades, and the
agent near the Dalles,--and made the necessary arrangements to meet all
exigencies. This trip affords one of many examples of the governor's
untiring zeal and energy in the public service. In a single week he
travels sixty miles on horseback, thirty in canoe, and forty by
steamboat to Vancouver; holds a council with the Klikitats, and arranges
for removing them from the settlements; instructs five Indian agents;
revokes his call for volunteers; confers with Colonel Wright; demands of
him the surrender of Indian murderers for punishment; travels eighty
miles farther to the Dalles; and, by repeated conferences with Wright
and his officers, secures their coöperation, as he has reason to
believe. Moreover, he finds time to write the most clear and detailed
reports to the Indian Bureau and to the Secretary of War.
Leaving the Dalles on the 19th, and pushing forward in advance of
Steptoe with a train of thirty wagons drawn by eighty oxen, and two
hundred loose animals, attended only by Pearson, and without escort
except the employees, Governor Stevens reached Shaw's camp in the valley
on the 23d. On the evening of the 28th a small pack-train was captured
by the Indians within a few miles of camp, the packers escaping on their
horses without loss, after firing away all their ammunition. The
governor was much chagrined at this, the only loss of animals or
supplies suffered by his volunteers during the whole war, and in orders
rebuked the parties whose negligence was responsible for the mishap, and
concluded:
"He desires to impress upon the troops the fact established by
experience, especially in the present Indian war, that bold and
repeated charges upon the enemy, even when the disparity of numbers
is great, will alone lead to results. In this way only can the
superiority of our race be established. In all mere defensive
contests with Indians, whether behind breast-works or in the brush,
an Indian is as good as a white man; few laurels can thus be won,
and the result may be discreditable."
Craig and Dr. Lansdale, the latter the agent for the Flatheads, just
down from the Bitter Root valley, arrived on the 30th with some of the
Nez Perce chiefs. The next day agent Montour and Antoine Plante came in
from the Spokanes and reported that, although the tribe professed a
friendly disposition, they would not attend the council. Captain D.A.
Russell (later major-general commanding 1st division, 6th corps, Army of
the Potomac) with three companies marched from the Yakima to the
Columbia, opposite old Fort Walla Walla, and, being without means of
crossing, the governor sent him a wagon boat guarded by twenty
volunteers, by means of which he ferried his command over the river. On
the 5th Steptoe reached the valley, and went into camp four miles below
the governor's camp, his force, including Russell's, consisting of four
companies. The volunteers were therefore all started for the Dalles,
their term of service expiring on the 8th, except Captain Goff's
company, which cheerfully consented to remain as a guard at the camp
until relieved by the regulars.
Lawyer and the bulk of the Nez Perces arrived on the 6th, and encamped
four miles above. A train of Indian goods under Robie reached the camp
the next day. On the 8th the governor received the Nez Perce chiefs and
headmen to the number of three hundred, after which he held a conference
with the chiefs, and entertained them at dinner. Father A. Ravalli, of
the Coeur d'Alene mission, arrived in the evening, bringing important
information. Reports the governor:--
"The Father reports having seen and conversed with Kam-i-ah-kan,
Skloom, Ow-hi, and his son, and that they will not attend the
council. The Spokanes also declined coming. He also saw Looking
Glass, who was not well disposed, and said he would not come to the
council. From Father Ravalli's report, it became evident to me that
all the Indians in the upper country, if not openly hostile, were
yet far from entertaining a disposition for friendship to be relied
upon. Kam-i-ah-kan had taken advantage of the cessation of
hostilities against him in the Yakima to circulate the grossest
falsehoods as to the objects of the government in making treaties,
against the volunteers, the miners, the settlers, and Americans in
general, and he declares that no settler shall live in the country.
These falsehoods are universally credited by the Indians, and thus
Kam-i-ah-kan, who personally visited most of the tribes, has by his
intrigues been enabled to excite to a point verging upon open
hostility all the tribes in the upper country, withdrawing from
their allegiance one half of the Nez Perce nation. As yet, however,
the Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes, and Colvilles have not molested the
settlers or miners passing through their country."
On the 9th provisions were issued to the Nez Perces. In the evening it
was reported that a party of volunteers on their way to the Dalles were
being attacked by the hostile Indians, and Colonel Shaw was dispatched
to their assistance with all the volunteers in camp and a detachment of
Nez Perces. This left the governor with only ten men, and as he expected
to open the council the next day, and had a large quantity of Indian
goods on the ground, he requested Steptoe to send a company of dragoons
to the council ground as early as practicable. In notes to and
conversation with him the governor had repeatedly requested him to camp
at or near the council ground, in order "to show the Indians the
strength of our people and the unity of our councils." In sending the
wagon boat to Captain Russell he made a similar request. He well knew
that the pacific and parleying attitude of the regular officers had
imbued the Indians with the idea that the regular troops were a
different people from the settlers and volunteers. He wished to disabuse
the Indians, and moreover a guard would be indispensable for the
protection of his camp and supplies as soon as the last of the
volunteers moved away. Wright's assurances, and the cordial conferences
with that officer and Steptoe, fully justified him in relying upon their
support.
The next morning Colonel Steptoe moved his camp farther up the valley,
and on his way called at the governor's camp with a company of dragoons.
The latter, supposing that, after his repeated request and the manifest
necessity of the case, Steptoe would of course encamp near by, did not
reiterate his request, and the regular officer continued his march and
established his camp eight miles above the council ground, leaving it
wholly unprotected. Fortunately Shaw, with his small force, returned in
the afternoon, the rumored attack proving a false alarm, and reported
having seen Stock Whitley, chief of the Des Chutes Indians, who said his
people and the Cuyuses would come to the council that day. The opening
of the council was postponed to the morrow. Later in the afternoon these
Indians, with the Umatillas in large force, advanced mounted to within a
short distance of camp, then, without any salutation or shaking hands,
wheeled and moved off to the Nez Perce camp, where they partook of a
feast prepared for them, after which they encamped just above their
hosts. This demeanor, with the facts that they fired the prairie when
coming in, and treated some members of the party with great insolence,
was indicative of anything but a friendly spirit.
The governor now ordered the company of volunteers to march for the
Dalles the next morning, and made a requisition on Colonel Steptoe for
the presence of two companies of troops on the council ground, stating
that the Cuyuses had all come in, and, as the volunteers were about to
leave, it was essential to have a force on the ground to control the
Indians. Incredible as it may seem, Steptoe refused, giving several lame
excuses, and his real reason in the following pregnant sentence: "And
permit me to say that my instructions from General Wool do not authorize
me to make any arrangements whatever of the kind you wish." As the
governor requested no arrangements except that a regular force should
camp near him to protect his council ground and show the Indians "the
unity of our councils," as he bore the President's commission, and was
charged by the government with the care of the Indians, this act shows
to what length the malignity of Wool and the prejudices of a somewhat
weak though well-meaning officer could extend. The fact was that these
regular officers had idealized the Indians, accepting as true the
falsehood of Kam-i-ah-kan, sympathized with the savages, and were "down"
on the settlers and volunteers.
The governor learned for the first time from this note that Steptoe had
moved his camp so far away, for he had taken it for granted that that
officer had encamped near by. Therefore he retained Goff's company of
only sixty-nine men for the protection of the council, countermanding
the order for it to march below in the morning. A portion of it was
already one day's march on their way down, but was immediately brought
back.
The council was duly opened the next day, September 11, the chiefs of
the Nez Perce, Cuyuse, Umatilla, John Day, and Des Chutes Indians being
present. The governor expressed his sorrow at the state of
hostilities,--reviewed the course of Kam-i-ah-kan, Pu-pu-mox-mox, and
the hostiles in accepting their treaties, professing the utmost
satisfaction with them, and then murdering whites traveling through
their country and their agent, Bolon, plundering Fort Walla Walla,
burning the houses of settlers, and threatening the lives of himself and
party returning from the Blackfoot council. He had labored only for
their good as their friend, and could they wonder that he was grieved at
this state of affairs? The provisions of the treaties relating to
punishments for offenses committed by Indians upon whites, or by whites
upon Indians, were fully explained, and the fact stated that under the
treaties they had bound themselves to deliver up the murderers. It was
the law, and to that they must submit. Men were killed on both sides in
battle, but that was not murder. But the Indians who killed their agent,
Bolon, and others must be given up to be tried and punished by the law.
He invited all Indians who desired peace to submit unconditionally to
the justice and mercy of the government; the lives of all except the
murderers should be safe. He spoke of the Indians of the Sound who had
surrendered and been placed on reservations, fed, clothed, and
protected, and treated not harshly, but with kindness. Few of the
hostiles were present. Many conflicting rumors were current as to the
whereabouts of Kam-i-ah-kan and other hostile chiefs.
The council continued the next day. The governor said that he had given
his views in regard to the war and how it could be ended, that his words
were intended for all the Indians of the country, and called upon them
to express their minds. The Indians manifested a reluctance to speak,
each seeming to wait for another. Several chiefs expressed sorrow that
war existed, and hoped a peace might be made. Peeps, a hostile Cuyuse
chief, said there was no haste, as Kam-i-ah-kan was coming, and they
waited for him.
Wee-lap-to-leek, a hostile chief of the Tigh Indians, a band near the
Dalles, said that the Indians were determined to have their country;
they would bet it on a fight with the whites, and the winners should
take it. He was indorsed by Camas-pello, former war chief of the
Cuyuses.
Eagle-from-the-Light, the prominent Nez Perce chief, complained bitterly
because a Nez Perce brave had been hanged in the valley last winter by
the Oregon volunteers, and asserted that the man was guiltless. He was
followed by others in the same strain.
The governor explained the laws of the whites in regard to spies, and
that the executed Nez Perce was punished as one, and that he would speak
further of the case the next day, after he had learned all the facts. He
then adjourned the council, expressing the hope that Kam-i-ah-kan and
Garry would be present the next day.
The Indians held councils in their camps all night. So hostile were the
Cuyuses, Umatillas, Walla Wallas, and others, and so much did more than
half of the Nez Perces sympathize with them, that the friendly Nez
Perces danced the war-dance during the whole night. The lives of the
friendly chiefs were threatened, and the great bulk of the Indians
seemed simply to be waiting for the coming of Kam-i-ah-kan to fall upon
the governor and his party. Some of the Indians were detected attending
the council with arms under their blankets, and posting themselves near
the governor and other members of the party; but although no open notice
was taken of them, the redoubled vigilance of the volunteer guards gave
no chance for their premeditated treachery.
Early the following morning the governor sent the following letter to
Steptoe:--
COUNCIL GROUNDS, WALLA WALLA VALLEY, W.T.,
September 13, 1856.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL E.J. STEPTOE.
_My dear Sir_,--The council did not adjourn yesterday till near
sundown. I understand the feelings of the Indians from what was
developed yesterday.
The want of a military force on the ground seriously embarrassed me
(I have retained for a day some fifty of Goff's company), but having
called the council in good faith as the Indian superintendent, and
also as the commissioner to treat with the Indian tribes by the
appointment of the President, I shall go through with the duty I
have undertaken.
One half of the Nez Perces and all the other tribes, except a very
few persons, are unmistakably hostile in feeling. The Cuyuses, the
Walla Wallas, and other hostiles were so when they came in. Hence
the requisition I made upon you for troops.
I particularly desire you to be present to-day, if your duties will
permit, and I will also state that I think a company of your troops
is essential to the security of my camp.
I shall, as I said, go through with this business whatever be the
consequences as regards my own personal safety, but I regard it to
be my duty to the public, to the Indians, and to my own character.
This communication is marked confidential, but is intended as an
official communication, and will go on my files as such, only I do
not think it prudent that my judgment as to the aspect of affairs
should, at this time, be disclosed to any other person than
yourself.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
ISAAC I. STEVENS,
_Governor and Superintendent_.
While this letter was being dispatched the council reopened, and the
governor took up the case of the Nez Perce spy, showed that he had
joined Kam-i-ah-kan, taken presents from him, participated in burning
settlers' houses and in stirring up hostilities, and pointed out that
Kam-i-ah-kan and his people were to blame for the death of this man, for
they had caused the war, and but for them he would still have been
living. He had visited and been arrested in the volunteer camp in time
of war, and duly tried, convicted, and executed. Finally Red Wolf, to
whose band the spy belonged, admitted that he committed the offense for
which he was punished, and this ended all complaint.
Speaking Owl, a Nez Perce chief and the mouthpiece of Looking Glass, now
spoke up and said, "Will you give us back our lands? That is what we all
want to hear about; that is what troubles us. I ask plainly to have a
plain answer." The governor, in his report to the Indian Bureau,
comments on this demand as follows:--
"Now thus far there had not been the slightest allusion to the land
of the Nez Perces in council, and this rapid change of front was
most extraordinary. The case of the Nez Perce who was hanged was
simply a device by means of which they hoped to get the desired
concession from me by way of propitiation. When they were obliged to
abandon the case, they had no alternative but to show their hand,
which they did very promptly. I called upon Lawyer, the head chief,
to speak. He produced his commission and a copy of the Nez Perce
treaty, remarking that he knew that, if he cast away the laws, he
should be brought to justice. He pointed out to them the boundaries
of the country sold, and of the reservation, and spoke of other
provisions of the treaty, and concluded by saying that fifty-eight
great chiefs of the Nez Perces had signed the treaty made at the
council of last year, when all fully understood it, and it was his
determination to abide by it, and he trusted his people would do the
same."
Timothy and James expressed a similar determination, but Joseph,
Speaking Owl, Eagle-from-the-Light, and Red Wolf denied that they
understood the treaty, or ever intended to give their land away, and
declared that Lawyer had sold it unfairly. It appeared almost certain
that no satisfactory peace could be made with the hostiles, and that one
half of the Nez Perces, through the intrigues of Kam-i-ah-kan and the
Cuyuses, had become disaffected and desirous of annulling their treaty.
In the afternoon a company of dragoons came with Steptoe's answer to the
governor's dispatch of the morning:--
"If the Indians," he wrote, "are really meditating an outbreak, it
will be difficult for me to provide for the safety of my own camp,
_impossible_ to defend _both_ camps. Under these circumstances, 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? I
send down the company of dragoons to bring you up to this place, if
you desire to come. My force is so small that to be efficient
against the large number of savages in the neighborhood it must be
concentrated; nor can I detach any portion of it, in execution of
certain instructions received from General Wool, while the Indian
host remains so near to me."
In view of the threatening attitude of the hostiles, and the approach of
Kam-i-ah-kan, who was reported as encamped that day on the Touchet, only
a few miles distant, as well as for the protection of the large quantity
of Indian goods brought up for the friendly Nez Perces, and such of the
hostiles as might surrender, the governor the next day moved his whole
party and train to Steptoe's camp, and established a new camp and
council ground within a quarter of a mile of his encampment. They were
met on the march by Kam-i-ah-kan and Ow-hi, with a party of one hundred
warriors under the lead of Ow-hi's son, Qualchen, who clearly meant
mischief; but the coolness with which they were received, and the
manifest readiness of the volunteers and dragoons for battle, checked
them, and they made no disturbance save attempting to provoke a quarrel
with the friendly Nez Perces in rear of the train. The Indians, having
been notified in the morning of the change of council grounds, moved up
to the new location the same day and the following. Kam-i-ah-kan and his
followers encamped a quarter of a mile from the council ground,
separated therefrom only by Mill Creek and its wooded bottom.
The council continued the next two days, the 16th and 17th. The Lawyer
and half the Nez Perces were determined in their adherence to their
treaty and ancient friendship to the whites, and approved of all the
governor said. The other half of the tribe wished the treaty done away
with. The hostiles all said, "Do away with all treaties, give us back
our lands, let no white man come into our country, and there will be
peace; if not, then we will fight."
The governor advised the Nez Perces to stand by their treaty. It was now
in the hands of the President, and could only be set aside by him. To
the hostiles he repeated the terms of peace alone possible: they must
throw aside their guns and submit to the justice and mercy of the
government; but as they were invited under safe conduct, they were safe
in coming, safe in council, and safe in going. The council was then
declared at an end. Many of the friendly Nez Perces departed at once to
their camp, but a large number of hostiles, most of whom it was observed
had arms concealed beneath their blankets, remained loitering around the
council ground. Noting the vigilance and readiness of the volunteers,
they made no disturbance, and by nightfall all retired to their camps.
On every day except the first, known braves of the hostiles came to the
council armed to the teeth, and took positions evincing designs upon the
life of the governor; but picked men watched them closely, ready to
strike down any assailant at the first overt act, so no attempt was
made.
During the night of the 16th there was great excitement among the
Indians. The friendly Nez Perces were much alarmed, and brought frequent
reports that the hostiles were bent upon attacking the camp, and wiping
out the governor and his party. These faithful allies beat the drum all
night, and kept guard around his camp.
The governor called attention especially to the speech of Spotted Eagle
on the last day,--
"which for feeling, courage, and truth, I have never seen surpassed
in an Indian council. The Spotted Eagle is the great war chief of
the Nez Perces, and the right arm of Lawyer. Both the words and
manner of the Spotted Eagle showed that his object in speaking was
to set himself and the friendly Indians right, and that he had no
expectation of changing the hearts of those who were bent on war.
His words, however, 'I will not follow you into the war,' were
significant."
The day after the conclusion of the council the governor made
preparations for returning to the settlements. He decided to withdraw
Craig temporarily from the Nez Perce country on the advice of the
friendly chiefs, who feared he might be killed by Kam-i-ah-kan's
warriors as a means of embroiling the Nez Perces in war against the
whites. Said the Spotted Eagle:--
"If you [Craig] do not return with me, we shall go back as if our
eyes were shut. I think my people will not go straight if Craig gets
up from that place. But, my friend Craig, on account of the talking
I have heard at this place, I am afraid for you."
That afternoon Steptoe had a conference with the Indians, in which he
declared: "My mission is pacific. I have come not to fight you, but to
live among you. Come into my camp when you please. I trust we shall live
together as friends," and he appointed the next day for a fuller
conference with the chiefs. By this action Steptoe intentionally
repelled the governor's wise recommendation and endeavor to "show the
Indians the strength of our people and the unity of our councils."
Reports the governor:--
"Indeed, the Indians looked upon the Indian superintendent and the
military officer as not representing a common cause. The former in
the morning parts from them, having signally failed in making any
arrangement to end the war; the latter speaks to the Indians as
though there was no war, and therefore no necessity of making any
arrangement at all.
"The Indians, sharp-sighted and constantly on the alert from the
merest trifles to draw conclusions as to character and policy, saw
there did not exist between the Indian Department and the military
the proper coöperation."
What next occurred is graphically related by the governor, in his report
to Secretary of War Davis, as follows:--
I was occupied the remainder of the day and the next morning in
establishing Craig's agency in the neighborhood of Steptoe's camp,
and a little before noon, with some fifty friendly Nez Perces in
charge of sub-agent Craig, I started with the train and Goff's
company for the Dalles.
The Indians did not, however, come to see Steptoe at the time
appointed. They previously set fire to his grass, and, following me
as I set out about eleven o'clock on my way to the Dalles, they
attacked me within three miles of Steptoe's camp at about one
o'clock in the afternoon.
So satisfied was I that the Indians would carry into effect the
determination avowed in their 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, when, forming a corral of
the wagons, and holding the adjacent hills and the brush on the
stream by pickets, I made my arrangements to defend my position and
fight the Indians. Our position in a low, open basin some five
hundred or six hundred yards across was good, and with the aid of
our corral we could defend ourselves against a vastly superior force
of the enemy.
The fight continued 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 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 camp, when,
drawing up his men, and aided by the teamsters and pickets, who
gallantly sprang forward, he drove the Indians back when 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 camp, or we wipe it out." Their
camp, with their women and children, was on a stream about a mile
distant, upon 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.
Towards night I notified Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe that I was
fighting the Indians, that I should move the next morning, and
expressed the opinion that a company of his troops would be of
service. In his reply he stated that the Indians had burnt up his
grass, and suggested that I should return to his camp, and place at
his disposal my wagons, in order that he might move his whole
command and his supplies to the Umatilla, or some other point, where
sustenance could be found for his animals. To this arrangement I
assented, and Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe sent to my camp Lieutenant
Davidson with detachments from the companies of dragoons and
artillery with a mountain howitzer. They reached my camp about two
o'clock in the morning, where everything was in good order, and most
of the men at the corral asleep. A picket had been driven in an hour
and a half before by the enemy,--that on the hill south of the
corral, but the enemy was immediately dislodged, and all the points
were held, and ground-pits being dug.
The howitzer having been fired on the way out, it was believed
nothing would be gained by waiting till morning, and the whole force
immediately returned to Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe's camp.
Soon after sunrise the enemy attacked his camp, but were soon
dislodged by the howitzer, and a charge by a detachment from
Steptoe's command.
On my arrival at the camp I urged Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe to
build a blockhouse immediately, to leave one company to defend it
with all his supplies, _then_ to march below and return with an
additional force and additional supplies, and by a vigorous winter
campaign to whip the Indians into submission. I placed at his
disposal for the building my teams and Indian employees.
The blockhouse and stockade were built in a little more than two
days. My Indian store-room was rebuilt at one corner of the
stockade.
In the action my whole force consisted of Goff's company of
sixty-nine men, the teamsters, herders, and Indian employees,
numbering about fifty men, and the fifty Nez Perces. Our train
consisted of about five hundred animals, not one of which was
captured by the enemy. We fought four hundred and fifty Indians,
and had one man mortally, one dangerously, and two slightly wounded.
We killed and wounded thirteen Indians.
One half the Nez Perces, one hundred and twenty warriors, all of the
Yakimas and Palouses, two hundred warriors, the great bulk of the
Yakimas, Walla Wallas, and Umatillas were in the fight. The
principal war chiefs were the son of Ow-hi and the Isle de Père
chief, Quil-to-mee, the latter of whom had two horses shot under
him, and who at the council showed me a letter from Colonel Wright
acknowledging his valuable services in bringing about the peace of
the Yakima.
In his report to the Indian Bureau the governor adds:
"The Indians were greatly surprised at Steptoe's sending a force to
my assistance, and Kam-i-ah-kan said on learning it, 'I will let
these men [referring to the regular troops] know who Kam-i-ah-kan
is.'"
On the 23d the combined force, accompanied by Craig and the fifty Nez
Perce auxiliaries, started for the Dalles, where they arrived on October
2 without incident of moment. Thus, as the governor remarks:--
"Circumstances had brought about the coöperation between the
military and the Indian service which had not previously existed,
and the words of Steptoe to the hostiles and mine to the friendly
Indians corresponded. I had sent messengers to the Nez Perce country
directing the friendly Nez Perces to separate from the hostile Nez
Perces, and to keep the latter out of their portion of the country.
Steptoe sent word that good Indians he would protect, and bad
Indians he would punish."
In truth, a great change had come over Steptoe's views. The burning of
his grass and the attack on his camp were too strong even for the orders
of Wool and his own prejudices. He writes to Colonel Wright from his
camp on the Umatilla, September 27:--
"In general terms I may say that in my judgment we are reduced to
the necessity of waging a vigorous war, striking the Cuyuses at the
Grande Ronde, and Kam-i-ah-kan wherever he may be found."
The day before the attack on the governor, he wrote the same officer:--
"As it is, he [Governor Stevens] complains that I have, by not
aiding him, or by not coöperating heartily with him, actually
opposed him. This may be so, but I certainly have done for him all,
and more than, my instructions warranted."
The governor warmly commends--
"the admirable conduct of the volunteers and the Indian employees
not only during the council, but in all the operations east of the
Cascade Mountains.... There was not a single case of injury either
to the person or the property of a friendly Indian, or of injury to
the persons or property of the hostiles, during the council. The
kindness and forbearance of officers and men, agents and employees,
even when treated with rudeness by the hostiles, was extraordinary.
The strayed cattle and horses of the Indians were restored to them.
The volunteers were well supplied, and were not tempted to plunder
for subsistence. I have the permission of Colonel Steptoe to refer
to him and his officers as witnesses of what I have stated, and have
the assurance from Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe that he has reported
it to Colonel Wright, and of Colonel Wright that he has forwarded
the report to General Wool."
But Wool's malignant animosity was not to be abated by the testimony of
his own officers. He augmented his charges by declaring that Governor
Stevens had called the council on purpose to force war upon the friendly
Indians.
Immediately on reaching the Dalles, Governor Stevens renewed his demand
upon Colonel Wright for the delivery of the Sound murderers for trial.
Writes Wright in reply:--
"You know the circumstances under which the Indians referred to were
permitted to come in and remain with the friendly Yakimas. Although
I have made no promises that they should not be held to account for
their former acts, yet in the present unsettled state of our Indian
relations I think it would be unwise to seize them and transport
them for trial. I would therefore respectfully suggest that the
delivery of the Indians be suspended for the present."
But the governor firmly reiterated his demand, declaring:--
"If the condition of things is so unsettled in the Yakima that the
seizing of these men will lead to war, the sooner the war commences
the better. Nothing in my judgment will be gained by a temporizing
policy."
The result was that Colonel Wright gave an order on Major Garnett, who
commanded the post in the Yakima, to deliver up to the governor, for
trial before the courts, Leschi, Nelson, Qui-e-muth, and Stahi.
But any embarrassment that might be caused to the peace on the Yakima by
the execution of this order was very cleverly obviated by sending these
Indians, or permitting them to go, back to the Sound country, and
placing them under the protection of Colonel Casey, as will more fully
appear hereafter.
On the 5th Wright and Steptoe started for the Walla Walla, their force
being increased one company. One of Colonel Wright's first acts on
arriving there was to hold councils with the disaffected and hostile
chiefs, the same who had so recently attacked the governor and the camp
of his own officer, Steptoe, at which he assured them that "the bloody
cloth should be washed, past differences thrown behind us, and perpetual
friendship must exist between us." He gave ready ear to their complaints
and demands, adopted their views in regard to the Walla Walla
treaties, and actually recommended that they never be confirmed.
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe put forth a proclamation, by order of General
Wool, forbidding all white settlers to return to the country except the
missionaries and Hudson Bay Company people. Wool instructs Wright under
date of October 19: "Warned by what has occurred, the general trusts
you will be on your guard against the whites, ... and prevent further
trouble by keeping the whites out of the Indian country."
A month later Steptoe, who seems to have had doubts of the good faith of
the Indians, and to apprehend that they might resume active hostilities
in the spring, ventured to recommend that "a good industrious colony" be
permitted to settle the Walla Walla valley, but Wool promptly negatived
this suggestion, declaring that "the Cascade Range formed, if not an
impassable barrier, an excellent line of defense, a most valuable wall
of separation between two races always at war when in contact. To permit
settlers to pass the Dalles and occupy the natural reserve is to give up
this advantage, throw down this wall, and advance the frontier hundreds
of miles to the east, and add to the protective labors of the army." He
charged Steptoe to carry out his orders strictly. Thus he joined hands
with the Indian enemy to keep out American settlers from the region to
which they had been especially invited by Congress by the Donation Acts,
and strove to frustrate the policy of his own government of
extinguishing the Indian title and settling up the country. Seldom has
our history shown a more shameful betrayal of duty than this veteran
officer and his subordinates making a quasi-peace by surrendering to the
demands of the hostile Indians for the abrogation of the treaties they
had accepted, and the exclusion of white settlers from their country,
and seeking to lighten "the protective duties of the army" by abandoning
the defense and protection of their own race.
Governor Stevens remained at the Dalles until the 6th, settling up the
business of the expedition and the Indian service, when he proceeded
down the river, and, after spending some days at Vancouver and Portland
in discharge of his multifarious duties, reached Olympia on the 15th.
In his reports, both to the Indian Bureau and to Secretary of War Davis,
Governor Stevens condemned with just severity this craven policy.
On learning of Colonel Wright's pacific and sympathetic talks with the
disaffected and hostile chiefs in the valley, he again protested to
Secretary Davis in the following indignant strain:--
"It would seem that, to get the consent of Colonel Wright to take
the ground that a treaty should not be insisted upon, it was simply
necessary for the malcontents to attack the Superintendent of Indian
Affairs and his party. Now, one half of the Nez Perce nation,
including the head chief, Lawyer, wish the treaty to be carried out.
They have suffered much from their steadfast adherence to it. Are
their wishes to be disregarded?
"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."
The following, from his report of October 22 to the Indian Department,
sums up the mistaken policy of the regular officers and its deplorable
results, and gives his opinion of those neutrals in the war, the Hudson
Bay Company and the missionaries:--
The department is aware that for many months I have been of opinion
that a large portion of the Nez Perces were on the verge of
hostilities, and that I deplored the mistaken course of Colonel
Wright in the Yakima as tending directly to inflame the whole
interior and prepare it for war. The war commenced, on our part, in
the Yakima, in consequence of the attempt to arrest the murderers of
Bolon, Mattice, and others, killed without provocation and under
circumstances of unsurpassed atrocity. Two expeditions were made to
effect this object and to punish the tribe. After the massacre of
the Cascades, the third expedition, under Colonel Wright, went to
the Yakima with the avowed object of pacifying the Indians, and a
quasi-peace is made, and murderers are allowed to come into camp
with impunity.
No effort is made to strike the Indians when within reach, and they
breathe nothing but war, and the result of the campaign is that,
after the chiefs had refused to come into council as they had
promised, and weeks are fruitlessly expended in the attempt to
negotiate, certain Indians with their families come in, and the
master spirits of these tribes, with the flower of the young men, go
east of the Columbia to prepare for continuing the war.
I state boldly and plainly to the authorities that this mode of
managing affairs is disgraceful to the government, and will bring
with it in the future the most bitter consequences to the character
and prosperity of the people of this most remote portion of our
country.
The demand for the murderers should have been inflexibly insisted
upon; the Indians should have been struck in battle and severely
chastised. Then there would have been peace in the Yakima. There
would not have been war in the interior.
But feeble and procrastinating measures having been pursued, even to
the extent of impressing the Indians with the belief that the
regular troops were a distinct people from the Americans, and were
even allies of the Indians, Kam-i-ah-kan and Looking Glass have
effected that combination in the interior which I apprehended and
predicted. The brilliant victory of the Grande Ronde, which caused
for a time the lower Nez Perces to break from the war party, has
proved unavailing.
I have therefore determined to have no agent on the Spokane,
believing, in view of certain influences there, to which I will
briefly allude, his presence would not be beneficial.
In times of peace the influence of the Catholic missionaries is good
in that quarter, and their good offices are desirable till some
outrage is committed, or war breaks out. But since the war has
broken out, whilst they have made every exertion to protect
individuals, and to prevent other tribes joining in the war, they
have occupied a position which cannot be filled on earth,--a
position between the hostiles and the Americans. So great has been
their desire for peace that they have overlooked all right,
propriety, justice, necessity, siding with the Indians, siding with
the Americans, but advising the latter particularly to agree to all
the demands of the former,--murderers to go free, treaties to be
abrogated, whites to retire to the settlements. And the Indians,
seeing that the missionaries are on their side, are fortified in the
belief that they are fighting in a holy cause. I state on my
official responsibility that the influence of the Catholic
missionaries in the upper country has latterly been most baneful and
pernicious.
Again, what is the interest of the Hudson Bay Company? There are
unquestionably large deposits of gold, both north and south of the
49th parallel, east of the Cascade Mountains. A road has been made
connecting Fraser River with the British interior, and the Hudson
Bay Company have established a post in connection therewith on the
main Columbia, north of the 49th parallel. This post and Fort
Colville were supplied over this road the present year.
I ask again, what is the interest of the Hudson Bay Company? Most
unquestionably to develop the British interior and its mines of
gold, and to keep the Americans out, which will be most effectually
accomplished by yielding to the demands of the Indians east of the
Cascades, and making peace by an abandonment of the country.
I charge no man of that company with collusion with the Indians, but
I know what human nature is; it will look out sharply for its own
interests, and the interest of the Hudson Bay Company is the same as
the Indian conceives to be his interest in that quarter.
It will be impossible for Dr. Lansdale to return to the Flathead
agency this year; both the hostility of the Indians through whose
country he would have to pass and the lateness of the season forbid
it. I regret this, as the Flathead nation have stood firmly by the
Blackfoot treaty, and take a proper view of the acts of the hostiles
between the Cascades and the Bitter Root.
Thus, sir, east of the main Columbia the result of the operations of
the regular troops has been that I am compelled to withdraw all my
agents, except that it is barely possible that Craig, when he
reaches the Walla Walla valley on his return, may be able to go to
the Nez Perce country.
What is the remedy for this state of things? I answer, vigorous
military operations,--the whipping of hostile Indians into absolute
submission, the hanging of murderers on conviction, and the planting
of these Indians on reserves established by Congress.
Agent Craig did return to Lapwai at the request of the Lawyer.
The soundness of Governor Stevens's views and the accuracy of his
foresight were abundantly vindicated within two years. During the
following year, 1857, the settlers were excluded, the regulars lay
inactive in their posts, and the quasi-peace continued. But in 1858 the
Yakimas waxed too insolent and predatory for even Wright's patience. He
sent Major Garnett through their country with a large force, who
summarily seized and hanged a number of the chiefs and warriors, shot
seven hundred of their ponies, and these severe acts humbled the haughty
savages and reduced them to good behavior at last.
Colonel Wright also ordered Steptoe, with two hundred dragoons, to
advance from Walla Walla across Snake River towards Spokane. The
Spokanes had warned the troops not to invade their country, alleging
that they were neutral, and would permit neither the Yakima braves nor
the white soldiers to enter their limits. Disregarding this warning,
Steptoe marched some eighty miles north of the Snake, when he was
assailed by the whole force of the Spokanes and Coeur d'Alenes, badly
defeated, and driven in precipitate retreat the whole distance back to
Snake River, hotly pursued by the victorious Indians, and his force was
only saved from massacre by the friendly Nez Perces, who ferried the
fugitive troops over the river in their canoes, and boldly interposed
between them and the pursuing savages.
As soon as he could organize a powerful force, Colonel Wright in
September, two months later, marched to the Spokane in person,
encountered and defeated the Indians near the scene of Steptoe's defeat,
and reduced them to submission, hanging a number of them offhand without
trial, and killing many of their horses. On his return to Walla Walla he
seized and executed in like manner several of the more turbulent Cuyuse
and Walla Walla warriors. And this was the end of Wool's theory of
peaceable and injured Indians, and the prejudiced officers, who clung to
it so long and so obstinately, were at length obliged to adopt the very
policy that Governor Stevens urged upon them in the beginning.
The Yakima chief, Ow-hi, most active next to Kam-i-ah-kan in bringing on
the war and inciting the other tribes to hostility, and cunning and
treacherous in his diplomacy, boldly entered Wright's camp on the
Spokane soon after the fight, and was forthwith arrested and held a
prisoner by that commander. The next day Ow-hi's son, Qualchen,--the
murderer of agent Bolon,--rode into camp, putting on a bold face and
fully expecting to be treated with the consideration formerly shown the
Yakima chiefs. Far different was his fate. Wright sternly ordered him to
immediate execution, and the wretched brave was forthwith hanged by the
guard, despite his frantic pleadings and protestations. His father, the
chief Ow-hi, was killed a few days later while attempting to escape. But
Wool and his parasites, so vociferous in denouncing the slaying of
Pu-pu-mox-mox under like circumstances, raised no voice in rebuke of the
merciless severity of Wright.