A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 66

Doctor Saffron tells us, under oath, "On Mr. Ogden's arrival, we stated to him these things," about the ma.s.sacre, the priests, McBean, and the Indians threatening, which Mr. Ogden admits in his letter to Mr. Walker, when he advised them to leave. He then proceeds on up the river, and does a thing which Sir James says was _common_, which we know Mr.

Douglas has said to us _was not common_, for the company to give ammunition to the Indians for making those portages.

On the present occasion, knowing all the facts, and the danger to the lives of all at the Dalles station, Mr. Ogden deliberately gave (Mr.

Douglas says, "_as usual_") an unusual amount of war material; he then proceeds to Wallawalla, called the Indians together, and gave them "_twelve_ common guns, _six hundred_ loads of ammunition, twelve flints, thirty-seven pounds tobacco, sixty-two three-point blankets, sixty-three common cotton s.h.i.+rts."

And what was the service that these Indians had rendered, for which these goods were given by this "_powerful organization_?" Six years before, when a Hudson's Bay servant got into a drunken row, and was killed by an Indian at the mouth of the Columbia, the Americans and company went in a body, and demanded and hung the murderer; but now, when Dr. Whitman and fifteen other _Americans_ are murdered, Mr. Ogden goes up and pays them more _guns_, _ammunition_, _blankets_, and _s.h.i.+rts_, than had ever before been given to them on any one occasion.

Was that company weaker at this time than they had been before, that they could not manage or conquer the Cayuses? Sir James Douglas, under oath, says the company in 1846 "_practically enjoyed a monopoly of the fur trade, and possessed extraordinary influence with the natives_." And we say, the Whitman ma.s.sacre is the result of that influence.

Mr. Ogden, distinctly, and at several times, insisted upon the distinction necessary to be made between the affairs of the Americans and the company, and why? Simply, because the company had determined to suppress and crush the American settlements, if it could be done, by the Indians. They were now in a condition to furnish the Indians directly, or clandestinely, through their Jesuit missionaries, all the ammunition required. Hence the liberality of Mr. Ogden, and the care of Mr. Douglas to catch "_a rumor_" to defend Mr. Ogden's course; to manifest great sympathy for the sufferers, to deceive the settlement in every way possible; and refuse, under the plea of the "_stringent rules of the home department_," to supply munitions to the provisional troops.

On the 23d of February, Colonel Gilliam, with fifty of his men, arrived at Wascopum, an express having been sent by Major Lee for him to hasten forward with his troops. On his arrival, he learned that the Des Chutes Indians were hostile. Was Mr. Douglas correct in his opinion?

The main body of his troops having arrived on the 27th, he started with 130 of his best mounted men, crossed Des Chutes, and ascended on its east or right bank. On the 28th, he sent forward Major Lee with twenty men to find the Indians, they all having fled from their usual encampments. At twelve o'clock at night, Major Lee returned, having found the Indians, and made the following report, which we give in Major Lee's own language. He says:--

"We proceeded this morning up the river some twenty miles, when we discovered a considerable party of Indians with their families, removing across the plains, and evidently to station themselves higher up the canon, which was close by. We charged upon them, killed one, took two females prisoners, and several horses; the rest escaped into the canon, which was close by. Expecting a large war party out immediately, we hastened toward camp with the prisoners, but had not proceeded far when we discovered a large party of mounted Indians making after us with all possible speed; we rode down into a small canon, turned our horses loose below us, and prepared for battle,--the Indians by this time all around us on the hills, tumbling down huge stones in our midst, and annoying us much with their savage yells, some with their arms. We were fighting some two or three hours, killed and wounded, I suppose, some six or eight, as they took care to keep at a respectful distance. They drew no blood from us, and got only in return for their loss their horses which we had taken, with four or five of ours that went out with them, unperceived, through a small canon, during the engagement. We have all returned safe, though much fatigued."

On the 29th of this month the whole of the camp moved to the mouth of the canon, at the Meek crossing. On the 30th, ten A.M., as they entered the mouth of the canon, the Indians appeared on the hills immediately above, drawn up in order of battle, to about their own number. The colonel ordered his horses and train to a safe position under a strong guard, dismounted his men, ascended the hill, drove and killed, as was supposed, some twenty or thirty Indians, with but one man (a Spaniard) slightly wounded, capturing forty horses, four head of cattle, and three hundred dollars' worth of personal property, which the colonel had sold to the regiment, and credited to the paymaster, amounting to fourteen hundred dollars. Mr. Brown, first lieutenant, 5th company, died at Vancouver. The skirmis.h.i.+ng and battle with the Des Chutes Indians brought them to terms, and a treaty of peace was made with them. The army was re-enforced by the arrival of Captain McKay's company of _British subjects_, as claimed by a writer in the _Spectator_, of February 24, 1848, who says:--

"The party consisted of _two Canadians_, fifty or sixty half-breeds,--all _British subjects_,--and two or three American citizens, while there is not a single Frenchman in it. It is due to the _British subjects, Canadians, and half-breeds_, to state, that many more would have gone, but, they know well, that winter is not the time, in this country, to go to war, and that all that can be done at this season is, to rescue the prisoners, which could be effected only by negotiation, and acquire correct information, and make all preparations necessary, so as to be able to act with the _propriety_, _decorum_, and energy which the case required.

"VERITAS."

By the statements of "Veritas," the feelings of the _British subjects_ in our midst, at that time, can be seen. He evidently wished to claim credit for the British and half-breed subjects, who, in the operations of the provisional army, were found to be, to use no harsher term, a nuisance in the American camp, keeping the Indians and murderers well informed as to all the movements of the army, so that while they were permitted to remain, no movement of the army produced any satisfactory results.

This statement is made upon the verbal information given to us at the time, as well as from personal knowledge, and a letter of Colonel Waters to Governor Abernethy, under date, Wailatpu, April 4, 1848, in the _Spectator_, April 20, 1848. The colonel says of the Indians, "They know our circ.u.mstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if they act accordingly."

Soon after the re-enforcement of this provisional army by Captain T.

McKay's _British subjects_, there was a general engagement or battle. It commenced while the army was on the march in the open rolling prairie, between Mud Spring and the Umatilla. Nicholas Finlay, of the Whitman-ma.s.sacre notoriety, met the scouts and officers, and while there was a consultation, or parley, it appears he prolonged it, to give time for the main body of the Indians to surround the troops; he then turned his horse, rode a short distance toward a party of Indians, and discharged his gun in the air, as a signal to commence the attack, while the peace commissioners were attempting to effect a compromise.

At Finlay's signal, from five to seven hundred Indian warriors appeared on the plains all about them, with from two to three hundred Indian camp-followers, as spectators, all on horseback, consisting of boys and women, who had come to see the slaughter, and gather up the property that the Americans were going to throw down and run from, as soon as Nicolas Finlay fired his gun, and the warriors raised the yell. But instead of this, Colonel Gilliam, as soon as Finlay made his appearance, and other Indians were seen in the distance, ordered a hollow square to be formed to protect his train and cattle, and by the time the Indians were ready, he was, and the fight commenced, a sort of running, das.h.i.+ng, and, on the part of the Indians, retreating performance. There being no water near the place where the attack was commenced, it became necessary to continue upon the march, and they drove the Indians before them, till they reached water at night. By this time the Indians found that the Bostons were not _all clochemen_ (women), as they had been told by the "_British half-breeds_."

A stranger would naturally conclude from the accounts published in the _Spectator_ at that time, that the company under Captain T. McKay did all the fighting on this occasion. They, we infer from the printed account as given in C. McKay's letter, made some gallant dashes in true Indian style, and as prudent retreats back to the protection of the "_Boston men_," making a great show of bravery and fight, without much effect. At the close of this demonstration, the Indians retired in their usual confused manner, while the Americans moved on to find water and a camp for the night. They continued their march till they reached Fort Waters, at Wailatpu.

At this place the commissioners called for the princ.i.p.al chiefs of all friendly tribes to meet them, to have a big talk. In this council, one Cayuse war-chief, Camaspelo, and two of the lower grade of the Nez Perces,--Joseph and Red Wolf,--with several prominent Indians of the Nez Perces, were present, and received the commissioners with the governor's letter, and made the speeches hereafter given.

_Governor Abernethy's address_ to the Indians a.s.serted the fact, that Dr. Whitman was invited by the Indians themselves to remain in their country, and teach them the arts of civilization, agriculture, a knowledge of books and of religion; that the Indians had not regarded the Doctor's instructions, else they would not have stolen property belonging to the immigrants, and, on the 29th of November, murdered him and Mrs. Whitman. That the Doctor, in giving them medicine, was not poisoning them, but doing all he could to save their lives, and relieve their sick. That Americans died of the disease as well as the Indians.

That if the Doctor was poisoning them, which they knew was not the case, why did they kill all the Americans at his place? That the Doctor was their best friend, and always trying to do them good; and now he required of them, that they should give up the murderers, and those who had taken and forced young women to be their wives, to be punished according to our laws. He named Tilokaikt and Tamsaky in particular.

They were also required to restore or pay for the property stolen from the immigrants, while on their way to the Wallamet Valley.

CAMASPELO (a Cayuse chief).--"My people seem to have two hearts. I have but one; my heart is as the Nez Perces. I have had nothing to do with the murder. Tamsaky came to me to get my consent to the murder, before it was committed. I refused. I pointed to my sick child, and told him my heart was there and not on murder; he went back and told his friends he had obtained my consent; it was false. I did not give my consent to the murder, neither will I protect or defend the murderers."

JOSEPH (a Nez Perce chief, half-brother of Five Crows).--"Now I show my heart. When I left my home I took the book (a testament Mr. Spalding had given him) in my hand and brought it with me; it is my light. I heard the Americans were coming to kill me. Still I held my book before me, and came on. I have heard the words of your chief. I speak for all the Cayuses present and all my people. I do not wish my children engaged in this war, although my brother (Five Crows) is wounded. You speak of the murderers; I shall not meddle with them; I bow my head; this much I speak."

JACOB.--This Indian had once been a celebrated medicine man among the Nez Perces. He said: "It is the law of this country that the murderer shall die. That law I keep in my heart, because I believe it is the law of G.o.d,--the first law. I started to see the Americans, and when on the way I heard the Americans were coming to kill all the Indians; still I came. I have heard your speech, and am thankful. When I left home I believed the Americans were coming for the murderers only. I thank the governor for his good talk."

JAMES was an old Indian who was for a long time a pet of Mr. Spalding's; but, through the influence of Mr. Pambrun and the priest, he had been induced to receive a cross and a string of beads. He was the acknowledged owner of the land on which the Lapwai station was located, and, by the influence above referred to, caused Mr. Spalding considerable annoyance, though nothing of the difficulty a.s.serted by Brouillet, page 14. He says: "The Indians then met together and kept all the whites who lived at the station blockaded in their houses for more than a month." Living at the station at the time, I know there was no quarrel or disturbance with the Indians, nor were any at the station confined to their houses for a moment at any time, as stated by this priest; it is one of a great number of just such statements made to cover their guilt in a great crime.

Old James said: "I have heard your words and my heart is glad. When I first heard of this murder, our white brother Spalding was down here; I heard the Cayuses had killed him also, and my heart was very sad. A few days after, when he returned, I met him as one arose from the dead. We spoke together; he said he would go to Wallamet. I told him to tell the chiefs there my heart. We have been listening for some word from him.

All these chiefs are of one heart."

RED WOLF was connected by marriage with the Cayuses, and, it seems from his speech, was instructed as to the information he should give to the Americans. He says: "You speak of Doctor Whitman's body. When I heard of the Doctor's death, I came and called for the murderers. I wished to know if it was the work of the chiefs. I went to Tawatowe, and found it was not of all, but of the young men. I did not sleep. I went to Mr.

Spalding and told him the chiefs were engaged in it. Mr. Spalding said, 'I go to Wallamet and will say the Nez Perces have saved my life, and I will go to Wallamet and save yours.' We have all been listening to hear from the white chief."

TIMOTHY.--This Indian had always been a firm friend of the Americans, and of the mission, and was a consistent member of the mission church.

He seems to have taken no decided part. He says: "You hear these chiefs; they speak for all. I am as one in the air. I do not meddle with these things; the chiefs speak; we are all of the same mind."

RICHARD was one of the Indian boys taken to the States by Doctor Whitman from the American rendezvous in 1835, and brought back in 1836, and was always more or less about the mission. He was an active and intelligent young Indian, and was basely murdered by a Catholic Indian after being appointed a chief by Indian Agent H. A. G. Lee. He said: "I feel thankful for the kind words of your chief. My people will take no part in this matter. Our hearts cling to that which is good. We do not love blood. This is the way our old chief (Cut Nose) talked; his last words were: 'I leave you; love that which is good, be always on the side of right, and you will prosper.' His children remember his words. He told us, take no bad advice. Why should I take bad words from your enemies, and throw your good words away? Your chief's words are good; I thank him for them. My chief is in the buffalo country; he will be glad to hear I talk thus to you. They would be sorry should I talk otherwise. This much I tell you of the hearts of my people."

KENTUCK, a good-natured, sensible, and yet apparently crazy Indian, said: "The chiefs have all spoken; I have listened, and now I wish to speak a little. I have been much with the Americans and French; they know my heart, can any one tell any thing bad of me? In war with the Blackfeet, I and my father fought with the Americans, and my father was killed there. He (pointing to Mr. Newell) knows it. Last year I was in California at Captain Sutter's, and helped Captain Fremont,--not for pay, but from a good heart. I came home, and heard the Doctor was killed! We heard that the whites were told we were with the Cayuses. We have not such hearts. I and my people are from the furthermost part of our country. We had heard there that you were coming to kill off the last Indian west of the mountains. We have never shed the blood of the Americans. We are glad to hear that you want none but the murderers."

In the _Spectator_ of March 23, 1848, we find the following letters:--

"WAILATPU, March 4, 1848.

"_William McBean, Esq.:_

"DEAR SIR,--I have been requested by Captain McKay to apprise you of the progress we have made in adjusting the difficulties between the whites and Cayuses, and I am happy to say that matters are a.s.suming a favorable appearance. With your and his a.s.sistance, with that of a little forbearance on the part of the troops, I believe all that could be devised will be accomplished without further shedding of blood.

"_Captain McKay thinks that Captain Grant_ (of the Hudson's Bay Company) _can travel through the country with perfect safety_. Mr.

Meek will leave the first of the week. Doctor Newell will write to Captain Grant, according to your request. In haste, I have the honor to subscribe,

"Your humble servant,

"JOEL PALMER."

DEAR SIR,--I only have time to say a word. Stikas was here yesterday, and things look more favorable since Gervais arrived. _I wish to go down when your people go._ I will be ready in a few days and come to the fort; no time for particulars; _Mr. Meek leaves to-night._

"With respects, yours, etc.,

"R. NEWELL."

"FORT VANCOUVER, March 15, 1848.

"_Governor Abernethy, Esq.:_

"DEAR SIR,--One of the company's servants has this moment arrived with dispatches from Wallawalla, of date the 7th instant; I hasten to communicate the intelligence received, for your information. The army had made its way to Wailatpu, and taken possession of the remains of the mission, the Cayuses having been defeated, with considerable loss, some days previously, in a pitched battle near the Umatilla River; and had since fallen back upon the Nez Perce country. Serpent Jaune, chief of the Wallawalla tribe, had visited the commissioners, and decided on remaining quiet; the Nez Perces had in part also decided for peace, and were expected in camp within a few days. The remaining part of the tribe appeared still undecided about the part they would take, and will, no doubt, be much influenced in their future conduct by the success which attends the operations of the army. _Their sympathies are with the Cayuses_; but fear may restrain them from taking an open part against the whites. The Cayuses remain, therefore, without any open support from the more powerful tribes in their neighborhood, and in such circ.u.mstances can not be expected to make a very protracted defense.

"The accompanying copy of a letter from Mr. Palmer possesses much of interest, and will put you in possession of further particulars.

"Our dates from Fort Colville are up to the 23d of January; the Indians were all quiet and well disposed, _though they had been severe sufferers from the measles and dysentery_. Their detestation of the brutal conduct of the Cayuses has been openly and generally expressed, as well as their determination to oppose the repet.i.tion of such atrocities in the country. Messrs. Walker and Eells have been induced, by the friendly protestations of the Indians about them, to continue their residence at the mission near Spokan.

"We have letters from Fort Hall up to the 30th of December. A city has sprung up, as if by enchantment, in the midst of the desert, near the southern extremity of great Salt Lake. It contains a population of 3,000, and numbers within its precincts 600 houses.

One flour-mill was in operation, and four saw-mills were nearly finished.

"In haste, yours truly,