white American children born in the Northwest. Alice Clarissa Whitman
was born March 4th, and was the first, and Eliza Spalding, born
November 15th, was the second. In November, 1837, Mrs. Whitman made her
first visit to Mrs. Spalding, bringing her little girl with her, when
each child beheld for the first time a white baby. On the 23rd of June,
1839, little Alice was accidentally drowned in the Walla Walla river,
leaving Eliza as the first white American child who grew to years of
maturity.
Mr. and Mrs. Spalding pursued their labors for the benefit of the
Indians; she collecting the women and the girls in the assembly room,
and teaching them the simple arts of domestic life. Being somewhat of
an artist, she also drew pictures representing events recorded in the
New Testament, and also the alphabet, which they readily learned. The
room was often crowded to its utmost capacity. Men as well as women
of mature age, as well as the young people, applied themselves with
eagerness. Mr. Spalding would often collect a crowd about a campfire
and tell them Bible stories, often somewhat embellished, and he held
their attention until long into the night. The interest of the Indians
was very encouraging.
The next year, 1838, brought them fresh cheer and assistance in the
arrival of a reinforcement to the mission, of which they got Mr. W. H.
Gray and his wife, and a Mr. Rodgers, besides which a Mr. Smith and
his wife went to Kamiah to establish a mission there. For some reason,
Mr. Smith did not succeed at Kamiah and soon left the country. But
with the help of Mr. Gray and Rodgers, Mr. Spalding built a grist mill,
bringing the stones forty miles down the Clearwater river. One of those
stones is in the collection of curios of the Historical Society in
Tacoma. This little mill was very much appreciated by the Indian women,
who before that time had to pound their grain and roots in a mortar
with a pestle. This was very laborious work for them. In later years a
sawmill was also built there.
Messrs. Walker and Eells, who also came at that time, located among the
Spokane Indians, where they remained about ten years.
In the year 1839, three years after they commenced teaching the
Indians, their hearts were gladdened by the receipt of a printing
press, a gift from the native Christians of the Sandwich Islands. With
it came a printer by the name of E. O. Hall, who, with his wife, made
things brighter for the Spaldings. They immediately went to work with
fresh vigor to prepare books and pamphlets for the use of the Indians.
A primer, an elementary spelling book, a book of songs, a translation
of the book of Matthew, and some other books were prepared. These the
Indians learned to use. In their lodges and around their campfires
they studied them, and the air often resounded with their songs, they
using the books that had been prepared for them. The printing press
remained there seven years, when it was taken to The Dalles. It is now
in the rooms of the Historical Society of Oregon at Portland. It is
interesting to note in this connection the fact that the first printing
press was brought to the Atlantic Coast in 1639, just exactly two
hundred years prior to the arrival of this one which was brought to the
Pacific Coast in 1839.
There were lights and shadows in their work. Sometimes the Indians got
tired of their books. At other times they got cranky and lazy. Then
there were outside influences that they had to contend with. Some of
the missionaries got discouraged and left the mission; but Mr. and Mrs.
Spalding labored on. The important results of their work were seen in
later years, when a large proportion of the Indians were found to be
nominally Christians.
Eleven years passed by when a tragedy occurred, which shocked the whole
Northwest, and drove the missionaries from their work and their homes.
Many immigrants had come across the plains with their teams, and most
of them went on down to the Willamette Valley. In the fall of 1847,
however, some fifty or sixty, who for various reasons had found it
impracticable to go any further, were stopping temporarily at Walla
Walla, at Dr. Whitman's place. There were in all about seventy-five
stopping there, including the mission family and attaches. So many
white children were among them that a school of English speaking
children was established. It seemed an opportune time for Eliza
Spalding, who was then ten years old, to be there, where she could
associate with children of her own race, and her father took her down
to spend the winter with the Whitmans. Arriving the latter part of the
week, Mr. Spalding decided to remain a few days, and on Saturday he
accompanied Dr. Whitman to the Umatilla, some forty miles to the south,
where there were some sick Indians that the Doctor wished to visit.
Dr. Whitman returned the next day, as the calls for him at home were
urgent; while Mr. Spalding remained a few days to hold services with
the Indians there and do missionary work among them.
On Monday, the 29th of November, 1647, shortly after noon, while Dr.
Whitman was sitting in his house, two Indians came in and asked for
some medicine, which was given them. While the Doctor was explaining to
one of them something about the use of it, the other stealthily slipped
up behind him, drew his tomahawk out from under his blanket, and struck
him a blow on the top of the head which stunned him. A second blow and
he fell to the floor insensible. This was the signal for a general
attack. The screams of the women and children, the rapid discharge of
firearms, and the yells of the savages made pandemonium let loose.
During this affray little Eliza was almost the only one who understood
the Indian language, and her terror was increased by knowing what they
were saying. At one time, when she heard the order to shoot all the
children, she turned her back so she could not see it done, and leaning
over the sink, put her hands over her face and listened in terror. But
better counsels prevailed and they were saved. During that and the few
following days thirteen men and one woman, Mrs. Whitman, lost their
lives, a few escaped, and more than fifty women and children were taken
prisoners.
Two days later Mr. Spalding started back from the Umatilla, knowing
nothing of what had occurred. The same day a party of three, a Catholic
priest, a half-breed and an Indian, left Walla Walla to go to the
Umatilla. The latter went for the purpose of killing Mr. Spalding.
Eliza heard of this, and having learned in some way that the half-breed
was friendly, managed to have a little private conversation with him,
and implored him to do what he could to protect her father. This he
promised to do. They met on the road; but a short time before meeting
the Indian had discharged his gun at some game, and stopped to load,
and was otherwise engaged, so that he did not see Mr. Spalding. When
he overtook his companions nothing was said about having met Mr.
Spalding for some time, so that he had quite a start to get away. In
the meantime they had given Mr. Spalding the warning, and he had hid
in the brush, and although the Indian and his party passed close to
him, they did not discover that he was there. He hid there till it
was dark, and then traveling by night, and hiding by day, made his way
toward his home, but by a very circuitous route. He was near a week on
the way. In the meantime he lost his horse, his shoes gave out, he had
but little food, and crazed with grief for the fate of his comrades,
tortured with fear for the fate of his daughter, and terribly anxious
about what should befall his wife and three small children whom he had
left at home, he staggered along until he reached an Indian village in
his own neighborhood. Uncertain whether they were friends or foes he
listened intently, when he heard them singing. Creeping slowly along,
he discovered that they were singing the songs that he and his wife
had taught them. A wave of relief swept over him. He was now among his
friends. The next day, accompanied by a strong guard, he reached his
home, which he found deserted.
It had been looted that very morning. But where were his wife and
children? At length they were found secreted in an Indian lodge with
some friendly Indians ten miles distant. When he finally found them,
all were overcome with emotions too deep to be described. They then all
returned to their home under a sufficient guard, where they remained
for several weeks, protected by friendly Indians.
In the meantime an express had been sent to Vancouver, the headquarters
of the Hudson's Bay Company, apprising the chief factor of what had
occurred. He immediately dispatched Factor Peter Skeen Ogden, one
of the most tactful men, who made all possible haste to Walla Walla
to rescue the prisoners. He was successful. For about four hundred
dollars' worth of blankets, beads and other trinkets the Indians
delivered to him all at the fort, which was located at what is now
Wallula. Negotiations were also entered into for the delivery of Mr.
Spalding and family. They, under a guard of forty Nez Perces, finally
rode into the fort. There little Eliza fell into her mother's arms with
transports of joy too deep for utterance. The last days of December
witnessed the departure of all these people from the upper country, who
arrived at Oregon City December 31, 1847.
Soon after this, the provisional governor of Oregon, George Abernethy,
called for a regiment of volunteers, who went up and fought the
Indians. That is what is known as the Cayuse Indian war, the first
Indian war in the Northwest. After a campaign of six months, the
Indians were driven out of their country and large numbers of their
horses were captured. Eventually, through the kind offices of the Nez
Perces Indians, five of the murderers were delivered up, and taken
to Oregon City, where they were tried, convicted and executed by the
authorities.
Mr. Spalding then settled in the Willamette Valley, where he lived for
a number of years. Governor Abernethy had issued a proclamation warning
all Americans not to settle east of the Cascade Mountains, and for
nearly ten years that section of the country was closed to settlement.
Three years after they went to lower Oregon, Mrs. Spalding passed away.
Never a strong woman, the excitement, fatigue, and exposure, incident
to the breaking up of the mission, and moving to the Willamette Valley,
had been too much for her. After a lingering illness, she closed her
labors for the cause of her Master, whom she so much loved.
Eliza was now left at the age of thirteen at the head of the household
with the care of the family. She had one brother and two sisters. The
burden was a heavy one for her young shoulders to bear. In a few years,
her father having married, she also married, and for a time disappears
from our narrative.
Now let us return to the Nez Perce Indians. After the close of the
Cayuse war, for years they were left to themselves. They did not,
however, forget the worship of the true God. The books that had been
distributed among them, and which they had learned to read, were
used continually, and served to strengthen them in the belief and
practice of the truths that had been taught them. Seven years passed
away, during which time the Territory of Oregon, and later that of
Washington, were organized. Governor Isaac I. Stevens had arrived. He
was also Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory.
With his accustomed impetuous energy, he had made treaties with most of
the Indians west of the Cascade Mountains. In May, 1855, he assembled
a large council of Indians in the Walla Walla Valley, to try to make
treaties with them. He had with him less than one hundred men. The Nez
Perces were the first to arrive, who came, twenty-five hundred strong.
While waiting for the others to arrive, Sunday intervened. Governor
Stevens relates that the tribe held religious services in their camp,
conducted by one of their own number. He commends the good order,
interest and devotion manifested by them.
When all had assembled, it was estimated that there were five thousand
present. A large proportion were opposed to selling any of their land.
There was much angry discussion, and it looked as though the effort
would be a failure. Late one night, Lawyer, the head chief of the Nez
Perces, came unattended into the tent of Governor Stevens and disclosed
to him the fact that a conspiracy had been formed to kill him and his
whole party. He proposed that he move his own family into the midst of
Governor Stevens' camp; and although it was now past midnight it was
immediately done, and word was circulated that he was there for their
protection. The plot failed by this bit of strategy, and their lives
were saved.
Matters then took a turn, and in a few days the terms of the treaties
were agreed upon. Lawyer was the first to sign, and the others then
followed. This result was largely due to the teachings of Mr. and Mrs.
Spalding, whose instructions had made Lawyer, who was the head chief,
a Christian, as well as so large a following that they controlled, for
the time being, the other bands who were there.
However, a few months later the general Indian war broke out, in which
a large proportion of all the Indians in Oregon and Washington took
part, led by many of the very Indians who had signed the treaties above
mentioned. During all of these hostilities, which lasted about two
years, the Nez Perces Indians remained friendly to the whites and saved
many valuable lives.
By the year 1859, peace had been declared, the Indians having been
conquered, and the country east of the Cascade Mountains was opened
up to settlement. The next year Mr. Spalding moved his family into
the Walla Walla country, and attempted to renew his work among his
former Indians. The Indian Service at that time was very corrupt, and
he encountered such strong opposition on the part of the agent and
employes that he had to desist and await further developments. The
influences about these Indians during the next ten or twelve years
was very bad. The White Salmon River and the Oro Fino mines had been
discovered, and thousands of miners, many of whom were of the worst
class, passed through their country.
In 1871, however, the Indian Service had been reconstructed, and what
was commonly known as the peace policy was adopted by the government.
In accordance with its principles, all religious work among the Indians
of the United States was to be encouraged. The way was now open for
Mr. Spalding to return to his former field of labor. Twenty-three
years had passed since he was driven away, during which time no work
had been done by white men to encourage the best, while much had been
done to encourage the worst, in them. The Indians received him with
open arms. They thronged about him, and a more joyous welcome could not
have been given him. The old church organization was resuscitated and
during the next three years, while he still lived, he baptized nearly
seven hundred of this tribe, and more than two hundred and fifty among
the Spokanes, a smaller tribe, where Messrs. Walker and Eells had been
stationed. During his last days, not being able to travel about as he
had done, he established a boys' school in Kamiah, in which he taught
and trained young Indian men to be preachers. But he had not much
longer to live. He was worn out. In August, 1874, he was brought down
to Lapwai, where he laid down to die, at the ripe age of seventy-one.
He was buried near the same spot where, thirty-eight years before, he
had commenced his labors which had accomplished so much for the tribe
and the country.
Another chapter in the good work done for the Nez Perces was the advent
of the McBeth sisters. Nearly a year before Mr. Spalding's death, Miss
Susan L. McBeth arrived at Lapwai under appointment as a teacher in the
Indian school. As subsequent events will show, hers was a remarkable
Christian character, in every way worthy to be the successor of Mrs.
Spalding. The following year she went to Kamiah, and took up the work
begun by Mr. Spalding, the training and education of young men to do
missionary work among their own people. In addition to her work as a
teacher, she was also a missionary, and held services among the Indians
there. Although afflicted with partial paralysis, she performed her
duties with a heroism and success that was remarkable. For three years
she was there alone. When the breaking out of the Chief Joseph Indian
war made it unsafe for her or any of the whites to remain there, she,
in company with two other white families, fled hastily to Lapwai under
guard of forty of the Christian Indians. The war closed in the fall of
that year, 1877, but there were still stragglers about, and the agent
felt it would be unsafe for her to remain there alone, and under his
direction she remained in Lapwai for two years. Some of her students
followed her down to Lapwai to receive the benefit of her instruction
at that place.
She had now been on that reservation for six years, when in the fall
of 1877 her sister, Miss Kate C. McBeth, arrived, and joined her in
her work. Together they went back alone to Kamiah, where Miss S. L.
McBeth resumed her work teaching the young Indian men, and her sister,
Miss K. C. McBeth, opened a school especially for young women. It had
been found that however well the young men were instructed and trained,
when they wished to marry, they could not find young women fitted to
be help-meets for them; and they deteriorated so much as greatly to
impair their usefulness. This new school soon became popular, and was
very useful and important. Those were happy days for the two sisters.
The church work, the Sunday school services, the Women's Missionary
Society, the hearty cooperation, and I had almost said the adoration of
the Indians, was very enjoyable. For six years they continued there,
supported by the Presbyterian Missionary Society. A part of the time
a government school was kept near them, and the intercourse between
the teachers of the different schools was mutually enjoyable. About
this time the health of Miss S. L. McBeth gradually failed, and there
were changes in the management of affairs on the reservation which
did not help the McBeth sisters in their work. At first, during the
hot weather, and later permanently, Miss S. L. McBeth removed to Mt.
Idaho, fifteen miles distant and across the reservation line. She went
there first in 1885. She bought a little home there, and lived in it
until her death. Many of her pupils followed her and built little
houses in which to live while attending her school. In addition to her
other duties, during all these years, she prepared a dictionary of
the Nez Perce Indian language, containing upwards of fifteen thousand
words, which she left as her legacy. It was a most valuable one. For
nearly twenty years she had lived among and for the benefit of the Nez
Perces Indians, when her end came. In May, 1893, at the age of sixty
years, she passed away. Born on the banks of the Doon, in Scotland,
hers was a strong character, and a long and useful life. Loving hands
bore her fifteen miles to the little church at Kamiah, near which, on
the banks of the Clearwater, she was buried. Her influence, even after
her death, was most potent. The young men she had taught and trained
lived and labored for others for many years thereafter. Some of them
went to preach to the Spokane Indians, some to the Umatillas, some to
the Shoshones, and some even followed the prisoners taken in the Joseph
Indian war to the Indian Territory, where so many of them died. They
were of great comfort to the suffering ones, and finally returned with
some of the prisoners to the home land. The high moral tone of the Nez
Perces Indians, as well as those living in that vicinity, is largely
due to her influence.
As has been said, six years after Miss S. L. McBeth came to the Nez
Perces Indians, Miss Kate McBeth, her sister, followed her, and also
took up a similar work, especially among the young Indian women. Upon
her shoulders has fallen the mantle of her elder sister and now for
a third of a century she has been among them. "Miss Kate," as she is
familiarly called, is to them the little mother to whom they come for
advice and counsel. She has written a book, covering the principal
events of their history during the past century, which is valuable, and
intensely interesting to any one who cares for information regarding
the Indian tribes of the Northwest. From this book I learn that there
are now six churches among the Nez Perces, two among the Spokanes, a
smaller tribe, and where Messrs. Walker and Eells were for nearly ten
years, one among the Umatillas, where was the remnant of the Cayuse
tribe who remained friendly during the Cayuse war. Old Istychus, who
had led the first wagons across the Blue Mountains, in 1843, when Dr.
Whitman was called away to visit the Spauldings, when so many were
sick there, who with his band of forty-five Christian Cayuses always
remained true to the faith taught them by Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. There
were two other real mission churches, one among the Shoshones, and
one among the Shivwits in Utah, eleven in all. These are the results
of the work of the early missionaries, among whom the Spaldings and
the McBeths were the most fruitful. All of these churches are self
supporting, and conduct their own affairs with so much wisdom that at
present they do not need a superintendent to care for them. In the
Christian Endeavor Convention, held in the Presbyterian church of
Tacoma, in 1912, half a dozen well dressed Indian men were there as
delegates sent by those churches.
The Nez Perce tribes originally numbered about three thousand,
approximately. Their country is especially well adapted for their
needs. Consequently they were always well supplied with the necessities
of life, and were, compared with the other tribes, well off. They were
an unusually high-minded, noble and intelligent tribe. About two-thirds
are what are called the Treaty Indians. About half of these are
nominally Christian Indians, and all are and always have been friendly
to the whites. About one-third are called non-treaty or wild Indians.
It was from these that Chief Joseph collected his band, and made war
on the whites in 1877; and whom General Howard followed across the
Rocky Mountains to near the British line, where they were surrounded,
and taken prisoners. They were then taken to the Indian Territory and
given land. Many of them died there. Most of the children could not
endure the climate of the hot land, as they called it, and wilted away.
After eight years of captivity, they were permitted to return. Those
who were willing to come on the reservation were given lands and homes.
The others were sent to the Colville Reservation. Among these was Chief
Joseph, who steadily refused to return to his own tribe. He felt that
those Indians had sold his country without his consent, and he could
never forgive them. Perhaps two hundred stuck by him as long as he
lived, and since then they have been gradually drifting back. Something
like half of the non-treaty Indians joined Chief Joseph in the war.
They have now dwindled, so that scarcely one hundred are left who have
not come on the reservation. Joseph, himself, died in 1904.