The Cayuse war.—Letter of Captain Lee.—Indians friendly with the Hudson’s Bay Company.—Conduct of Mr. Ogden.—His letters to Mr. Walker and Mr. Spalding.—Note of Rev. G. H. Atkinson.—Sir James Douglas’s letter to Governor Abernethy.—A rumor.—The governor’s reply.—Another letter from Sir James.—Mr. Ogden.—Extraordinary presents to the Indians of arms and ammunition.—Colonel Gilliam’s campaign.—Indian fight.—Property captured.—The Des Chutes Indians make peace.—Captain McKay’s company of British subjects join the army.—A nuisance.—“Veritas.”—Nicholas Finlay gives the signal for battle.—Running fight.—Captain McKay’s company.—Council held by the peace commissioners with the Indians.—Governor Abernethy’s address.—Speeches of the Indians Camaspelo, Joseph, Jacob, Old James, Red Wolf, Timothy, Richard, and Kentuck.—Letters of Joel Palmer, R. Newell, James Douglas, and William McBean.—Who is responsible for the Cayuse war?
If the reader has carefully perused the foregoing pages, he will be able to understand the movements of our little army in the Cayuse war, as to the prime cause of which, the development of twenty-five years, and the monstrous claims of the Hudson’s Bay Company, have relieved our present history from all mystery and doubt, and have enabled us to arrange and combine the facts, without fear of a truthful contradiction. Major H. A. G. Lee, in a letter dated at Wascopum, December 26, 1847, writes:— To Governor Abernethy: “Sir,—I reached this place on the evening of the 21st instant, with ten men, including Mr. Hinman, whom I met on his way to Wallamet at Wind River Mountain, thirty miles below. The boats being windbound, and hearing from Mr. Hinman that a party of the Cayuses and river Indians had been down and driven off some horses from the mission, and that he had left with his family soon after, thinking it unsafe to remain longer, I was induced to lead the few men that were with me (for we had been separated by the wind and could not get together), and press to this place by land with all dispatch, to save the houses from destruction; and I am very happy to inform you that we arrived just in time, and that all is now safe. The natives immediately about this place are friendly, and hailed our arrival with much joy. Seletsa professes friendship, but I shall keep an eye on him; his men have been killing cattle, and I suspect with his consent, though he promises to make them pay for them. We have been collecting the cattle and placing them below, in order to stop the slaughtering that has been carried on above. We have not yet learned the amount of mischief done at this place, but are getting things under way quite as well as I could have anticipated. Mr. Hinman has been of great service to me here; he leaves to-day to join his family, whom he left on the river. “We have no intelligence from Wailatpu, except Indian report, which, if we may credit, is awful enough. It is said, after the murder of the whites at the place, a general council had been held, and that the Nez PercÉs were present by special invitation, i. e., the chiefs; that it was determined to make ‘a clean sweep’ of all the Bostons, including Messrs. Spalding, Eells, and Walker above, and Hinman here; that they had, in execution of that resolution, returned and murdered all the women and children who had been spared in the first place, with the exception of three females who had been reserved for wives. Remember this is but native news. I must refer you to Mr. Hinman for many other items which I dare not write. “From all I can gather, the country east of the river Des Chutes is all an enemy’s country, and our movements should be directed accordingly. Can you have us two or three small guns cast at the foundery? Each one would be equal in effect to fifty men. I am satisfied that the enemy is going to be much more formidable against an invading force than many in Wallamet are willing to believe. The Indians are all friendly with the Hudson’s Bay Company’s men, and I am truly sorry to learn that Mr. Ogden paid them powder and ball for making the portage at the Dalles. I hope this will be stopped, and their supplies of ammunition immediately cut off. Please take some measures to effect this without delay. “Mr. Rogers and Mr. Savage return immediately from this place, feeling that the object for which they enlisted has been accomplished; and as they would have to return, according to promise, in the course of ten or twelve days, and there being no active employment for them, they are permitted to return now. You are aware that they are among my best men, and for their persevering energy, so far, they deserve the praise due to good soldiers, although they have not had the pleasure of a fight. They are therefore honorably discharged from service in the 1st company of Oregon riflemen. “Sergeant McMellen will bear this to you and return to me as soon as possible. If he gets down in time to accompany the next party, he will be of much service to them on the river; he has few equals in the service. “While writing the above, one horse which had been stolen from the immigrants has been brought in, and others reported on the way. I think most of the property stolen near this place will be returned; that above Des Chutes will probably be contended for. The Indians about this place are evidently terrified, and I shall avail myself of that fact, as far as possible, in furthering the object of our trip. I have no fears of an attack on this place, yet I shall be as vigilant as though an attack were certain. The boats which were windbound eight days arrived this morning all safe and well. “I remain, your most obedient humble servant,
“H. A. G. Lee.”
With the light that twenty-two years have shed upon the early history of Oregon, how shall we regard the policy and practice of the professedly kind and generous chief factors of the Hudson’s Bay Company? The one, Sir James Douglas, attempting to deceive the American settlement and the world as to the real danger of the settlement and the cause of the massacre; the other, Mr. Ogden, supplying the Indians on his route, and at Wallawalla, with ammunition, and “insisting,” while bargaining with the murderers for their captives, “upon the distinction necessary to be made between the affairs of the company and those of the Americans.” We undertook, in our third position, to show the influences of this Hudson’s Bay Company, as well as Romanism, upon our early settlements, and the causes of the Indian wars. These were backed by one of the most powerful nations then on the globe, while a handful of American pioneers found themselves involved in a savage war. The Indians were advised, aided, and urged on by the teachings of Roman priests and this Hudson’s Bay Company, sustained by the British government, with assistance pledged to them by Bishop Blanchet and Chief-Factor Ogden, as he received the captives from their hands, and gave them more ammunition and guns than had ever before been given to them at any one time. He says, in a letter dated Fort Nez PercÉs, December 31, 1847, addressed to Rev. E. Walker, at Cimakain: “I have been enabled to effect my object without compromising myself or others, and it now remains with the American government to take what measures they deem most beneficial to restore tranquillity to this part of the country, and this, I apprehend, can not be finally effected without blood being made to flow freely. So as not to compromise either party, I have made a heavy sacrifice of goods; but these, indeed, are of trifling value, compared to the unfortunate beings I have rescued from the hands of the murderous wretches, and I feel truly happy. Let this suffice for the present. “On my arrival at the Dalles, Mr. Hinman’s mission, the previous day, had been plundered of four horses in open day, and in presence of all the inmates of the mission; and on consulting me on the propriety of remaining or removing under the present distracted state of the country, I advised him to move, leaving a trusty Indian, on whom he could rely, and who speaks the English language, to remain in charge of the establishment; and he would have started the same day I left it. I trust this arrangement will meet with your approbation; under existing circumstances, could not consistently give any other.” “Yours truly,
“P. S. Ogden.”[19]
With such powerful combinations, and such experienced, wise, and reverend advisers, it is not surprising that those Indians should feel themselves able to make, as Captain Lee says, “a clean sweep of all the Bostons in the country.” Mr. Ogden, in his letter to Mr. Walker, does not intimate that the provisional government will presume to attempt to seek any redress for the murders committed; but consoles himself with the “happy” thought that the difficulty is to be settled by the United States. Mr. Hinman he advises to leave, and to Mr. Spalding he sends the following letter:— “Fort Nez PercÉs, December 23, 1847. “Rev. H. H. Spalding: “Dear Sir,—I have assembled all the chiefs and addressed them in regard to the helpless situation of yourself and the rest at Wailatpu, and I have got them to consent to deliver them all to me: yourself and those with you, save the two Canadians, who are safe enough among the Indians; and have now to advise you to lose no time in joining me. At the same time, bear in mind, sir, you have no promises to make them, or payments to make. Once more, use all the diligence possible to overtake us. “Yours truly,
“P. S. Ogden.”[19]
We place a note of Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D., in this connection, to show the influences that have for a series of years been operating, and how careful that unscrupulous monopoly was to combine its influences, and to deal out its hospitalities, to secure a good word from a reverend Protestant divine, who was connected with the United States Home Missionary Board, whose character is unimpeachable, and to whom it refers for evidence of its generosity. We are not surprised to find Doctor Atkinson attempting to ease the weight of censure due to that overgrown monopoly, from the fact, that on his first arrival in the country (after the Cayuse war), on one of the company’s ships, unusual attention and kindness were evidently shown to him and his family by the company’s agents, to gain his favorable representations of their proceedings, and a name for honorable dealing and generous treatment of missionaries, as intimated in his note. Doctor Atkinson says:— “The agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon furnished all the missionaries with supplies at the usual trade rates until they could supply themselves from home.”
In this the doctor is mistaken, as we have shown in previous pages. He continues:— “After the death of Mr. Whitman and family, Mr. Ogden, an agent of the company, brought the rest of the mission and the American families to the Wallamet Valley, at considerable risk and sacrifice to himself. The guilt of the plot to massacre Dr. Whitman and other Americans is understood to belong to the Jesuits.”
The letters above quoted, from Mr. Ogden and Captain Lee, show the doctor’s great mistake in this statement. Mr. Ogden ran no risk, and made no sacrifice, as the Hudson’s Bay Company presented their bills, and have been paid every dollar they had the impudence to demand of our government, for transporting the captive women and children to a place of safety, and for all the supplies they so reluctantly furnished to our provisional troops. We do not believe it is good morals, or divinity, to say nothing of politics, to praise, encourage, or warm the serpent that improves every opportunity to sting us with his poisonous fangs. That company has enjoyed the monopoly of this vast country, and prevented its settlement too long, for any one to seek its praise or favor. We have another letter from Sir James Douglas, which shows us more clearly the exact position of that monster monopoly. It is as follows:— “Fort Vancouver, Dec. 31, 1847. “To Governor George Abernethy, Esq.: “Sir,—A rumor having been in circulation, for some days past, that it is General Gilliam’s intention to levy contributions on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s property, for the purpose of completing the equipment of the troops ordered out in your late proclamation, for the intended operations against the Indians, I feel it my duty to communicate with you frankly on the subject, as it is most important, in the present critical state of our Indian relations, that there should be an entire absence of distrust, and that the most perfect unanimity should exist among the whites of every class. From my personal knowledge of General Gilliam, and his highly respectable character, I should be the last person to believe him capable of committing an outrage which may prove so disastrous in the immediate and remoter consequences to the peace and best interests of this country; at the same time, as the representative of a powerful British association, it becomes my duty to take instant measures for the protection of their property, until I receive, through you, a distinct disavowal of any such intention as herein stated. Difficulties of that nature were certainly not contemplated by us when we dispatched a large part of our effective force into the interior for the purpose of receiving the unfortunate women and children, the survivors of the massacre at Wailatpu, who remained in the hands of the Indians. It was never supposed that our establishment would be exposed to insult or injury from American citizens, while we are braving the fury of the Indians for their protection.”
What a powerful and noble company, and how much “fury of the Indians” they had to contend with, when they were handing them guns and ammunition by the quantity; and all their servants and posts were unharmed by either whites or Indians, during all the Indian wars that have occurred on this coast. This letter continues:— “Such a proceeding would, in fact, be so inconsistent with every principle of honor and sound policy, that I can not believe any attempt of the kind will be made; but I trust this explanation will satisfactorily account for any unusual precaution observed in the present arrangement of this establishment. “Trusting that this note will be noticed at your earliest convenience, I have the honor to be, sir, “Your most obedient, humble servant,
“James Douglas, C. F., H. B. Co.”
Mr. Douglas, in this letter, has suddenly assumed a very honorable, as well as powerful position. As to his personal bravery, there is no question; but as to truth, there is. He says, “I can not believe any attempt of the kind will be made,” and then tells us not to be alarmed; or, at least, as the “rumor having been in circulation,” we must excuse him for his “unusual precaution” in his establishment, while he has deceived, and intends to continue to deceive, the governor and the settlers as to his real motives of caution, and the deep-laid schemes that he and his “powerful British association” are bringing about, not against the “fury of the Indians,” but against the American settlements. As was to be expected in those times, our governor and General Gilliam wilted right down, and the governor wrote:—
“Oregon City, January 3, 1848. “Sir,—I received your favor of 31st ultimo yesterday evening, and, in answering it, would thank you for your frankness in communicating with me on the subject. Having had conversation with Colonel Gilliam on this subject, I can state that he has no intention of levying contributions on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s property for any purpose whatever. He will probably cross the Columbia River at the mouth of Sandy.”
This was the information that Mr. Douglas wished to obtain, as we have since learned from one of the company’s clerks, and also the extent of information received from Mr. Lee by his express. “I trust nothing will occur that will in any way cause distrust among the whites during this crisis. The reports from above lead to the conclusion that Messrs. Spalding, Walker, and Eells have been cut off, and the women and children, spared in the first place, have since been murdered. Should these rumors prove true, we know that peace can not be restored between the Indians and whites without bloodshed.”
As near as we can learn, Governor Abernethy was disposed to follow the counsels of a writer in the Spectator, signed “Veritas,” which was, to wait till spring opened, and then make a decent demonstration in the summer to punish the murderers. The energy of the people overruled his tender spirit, to use no harsher term, and pushed their forces up in the winter, which allowed most of the men to return in time to secure the following harvest, and produced the desired effect upon the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Indians. The governor says:— “Captain Lee informs me that Mr. Ogden paid the Indians powder and ball for making the portage. The Legislature passed an act during their last session prohibiting the sale of powder, lead, caps, etc., to Indians. I trust you will see the necessity of complying with this act; it will be published in the next Spectator. “I trust the disavowal in this letter will prove satisfactory to you. I have the honor to remain, sir, “Your obedient servant,
“George Abernethy.”
The next day, the 4th of January, Mr. Douglas returned a long letter, which is as follows:— “Fort Vancouver, January 4, 1848. “George Abernethy, Esq.: “Sir,—I have to acknowledge yours of yesterday’s date, and consider it perfectly satisfactory. I place little confidence in the late reports from the Dalles, and entertain sanguine hopes that they will prove unfounded. “The Indians have been always paid with ammunition and tobacco by our traveling parties, for passing boats at the portages of this river, and I can not see that Mr. Ogden had any reason to depart from the established practice on the occasion mentioned in your letter, as these Indians have no fellow-feelings with the Cayuses.”
This statement of Sir James is notoriously untrue; the Cayuses have always had more or less trade with the Dalles Indians, in dried salmon, horses, etc., and have always been the superiors, and treated them as they pleased. Mr. Douglas has invariably cautioned us, in passing those portages, not to give ammunition, as it was against the rules of the company to do so, except to a very few, and in small quantities, and that for packing goods by trusty Indians. This sudden change from tobacco to powder is only a part of the policy now being executed. “These Indians behaved in the most friendly manner, and, I am convinced, will not enter into any combination against the whites, unless there be great mismanagement on our part. “In fact, when we consider the object of Mr. Ogden’s journey to Wallawalla [which we consider really to have been to inform the Indians, as he did, that the Hudson’s Bay Company would take no part in this quarrel between the Indians and Americans, and that the company would supply them with ammunition and aid them in the present war, we are not disposed to question but that the lives of some of the men that were left would have been taken, but we doubt if any more women would have been killed, unless the company had consented to it; but it answered for a plausible argument for Sir James, who says], and that the lives of sixty or seventy fellow-creatures were, under Providence, mainly dependent on the celerity of his movements, it can not be supposed he would allow any minor consideration to weigh one moment in his mind against the great object of their preservation. As he could not carry his boats over the portages of the falls without the assistance of the Indians, it would have been an act of great indiscretion on his part to have excited alarm and created suspicion in their minds.”
Doctor Saffron, in answer to the interrogatory, “In what way did you become acquainted with the Whitman massacre?” makes the following reply: “I was residing at the Dalles mission when the Canadian, bearing an express from Fort Nez PercÉs to Vancouver, came to the station and ate dinner, and with whom Mr. Hinman went to the lodge, and secured a canoe to assist him on his way to Vancouver, and went to Vancouver with him. A very short time after they were off,—I did not think they had scarcely got off before the Indians came from the lodges, and told what they said the Frenchman had told them, that Doctor Whitman was killed. The next information was from an Indian lad from Des Chutes, who came on horseback, in great haste, and said that two Cayuses were at Des Chutes, and had told them that Dr. Whitman, his wife, and all his people were killed, except the women, who had been taken for wives for the chiefs. In giving the causes which the two Cayuses had given them, he spoke of the sickness, and also that the priests had made known to them that the Doctor was a dangerous medicine man to have among them, and said something of their having said about the Doctor’s medicines being the cause of their dying; and also of what Mr. McBean had said of Dr. Whitman’s determining to have all their spotted horses. I can be certain as to the priests’ part, but not so certain as to McBean’s part, being said by the young Indian at that time, or told me afterward by other Indians.” Dr. Saffron states in this deposition that the Indians were very threatening about the station, and that he thinks the reason they did not commence the massacre of all at the station was the report that Mr. Ogden was just below with a party. “On Mr. Ogden’s arrival, we stated to him these things, and he informed Mr. Hinman that we had better get away as soon as possible, which we did.” In this letter from Mr. Douglas, in answer to Governor Abernethy, about supplying the Indians with powder, etc., he says:— “It would have been an act of great indiscretion on his part to have excited alarm and caused suspicion in their minds by withholding the compensation of two or three pounds of gunpowder and lead, which they had been accustomed to receive for such service, when it was certain that the omission would be regarded as evidence of a hostile intent, and induce them to put every possible obstacle in his way, whereby the object of the journey must have been entirely defeated, and the unfortunate women and children left to their cruel fate. “To prohibit the sale of ammunition within certain districts in arms against the whites would be the proper course; but to extend the measure to every part of the country is to make the innocent suffer with the guilty, and a departure from the conciliatory course of policy which we have always found to answer best with Indians; and will, I much fear, drive them to the most desperate course. I am now only expressing an opinion on what the law is reported to be, and await the next issue of the Spectator with some impatience, to discover its real character and value. “You may rest assured that we will do nothing improper, or which will, in any way, endanger the safety of the country.
“We have not yet heard from Mr. Ogden since he left the Dalles, but are now daily expecting to hear from him. “I have the honor to be, sir “Your most obedient servant,
“James Douglas.”
The careless reader, or one that is disposed to regard Sir James Douglas as an honorable, truthful, and upright man, will, on first reading this letter, in all probability, consider it a satisfactory reply to Governor Abernethy, and his reasons sufficient to justify Mr. Ogden’s course at the Dalles and at Wallawalla. Doctor Saffron tells us, under oath, “On Mr. Ogden’s arrival, we stated to him these things,” about the massacre, 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 shirts.” 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 shirts, 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 massacre 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 caÑon, which was close by. We charged upon them, killed one, took two females prisoners, and several horses; the rest escaped into the caÑon, 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 caÑon, 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 caÑon, 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 caÑon, at the Meek crossing. On the 30th, ten A. M., as they entered the mouth of the caÑon, 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 skirmishing 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 circumstances 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-massacre 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, dashing, 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 principal 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 PercÉs,—Joseph and Red Wolf,—with several prominent Indians of the Nez PercÉs, were present, and received the commissioners with the governor’s letter, and made the speeches hereafter given. Governor Abernethy’s address to the Indians asserted 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 PercÉs. 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 PercÉ 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 PercÉs. 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 God,—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 asserted 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 PercÉs 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 assuming a favorable appearance. With your and his assistance, 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 PercÉ country. Serpent Jaune, chief of the Wallawalla tribe, had visited the commissioners, and decided on remaining quiet; the Nez PercÉs 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 circumstances 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 repetition 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,
“James Douglas.”
As to the letter of General Palmer, he has informed us that, while he was attempting to effect an arrangement with the Indians, he was satisfied that McBean was using his influence against the Americans, and doing all he could to keep up the hostile feelings then existing, but, by humoring and flattering him, he would do less harm than by opposing his self-conceit. As to Dr. Newell’s note, it showed his disposition to crawl under the shade of McBean and the Hudson’s Bay “people” and to give them information that would enable them to cut off the messenger sent to Washington. General Palmer informed McBean that he would leave the first of the week. Newell says, “Mr. Meek leaves to-night.” Mr. Douglas is all friendship and affection. He has just learned that a large body of American people are in Salt Lake Valley, and that the Indians about the Spokan station are friendly, notwithstanding the measles and dysentery have been severe among them. The Indians had been defeated with considerable loss, but the “sympathies of the Nez PercÉs are with the Cayuses.” Whence did Sir James get this information? When he wished to convince Governor Abernethy that Mr. Ogden had done right in giving powder and ball for making the portages at Des Chutes, he said, “These Indians have no fellow-feeling with the Cayuses.” We will give another remarkable letter, in answer to the one Mr. Douglas refers to:— “Fort Nez PercÉs, March 4, 1848. “To the Commissioners, Messrs. Palmer and Newell: “Gentlemen,—I have to acknowledge your esteemed favor of this date, which was handed me this evening. “I am happy to learn that your success to effect peace has so far rewarded your endeavors, and that the Nez PercÉs are on your side. Previous to their visiting you, the most influential chiefs came to me, to know your real intention, which I fully explained, and addressed them at length. They left me well disposed, and, I am glad to learn, have acted up to their promise.” Put this statement of Mr. McBean by the side of that of Sir James Douglas, and how does it read? March 7, “Their sympathies are with the Cayuses.” What are we to understand by such information given to two different parties? Mr. McBean professes to know the views of the Nez PercÉs, and, on March 4, tells the American commissioners he is happy to learn they are on their side; and, three days after, writes to his superior, at Vancouver, “Their sympathies are with the Cayuses.” General Palmer, nor any one else, need mistake the character of such a man; and we will give the company credit for ability to select their men to perform their appropriate business, and at the proper time. “I now forward letters to Fort Hall and Fort Boise, and have to request, in behalf of the company, that you be kind enough to get them forwarded by Mr. Meek. They are of importance. On their being delivered depends loss or gain to the company. “William McBean. “P. S.—Please present my best respects to General Gilliam and Major Lee.”
There are two remarkable facts in these two letters. The first, “the most influential chiefs” went to him, and he explained the real intentions of the Americans, which, according to his report to his superior, made them sympathize with the Cayuses; but to accomplish another object, he would have us believe he made them favorable to the Americans, and claims all the credit for doing so. This would have done very well, only it leaked out, in the speeches of the Indians, the part this agent of the company was playing. Query 1. How came the Nez PercÉs, who had always been friendly with the Americans, and never had shed any of their blood, but always fought with and for them, to be at war—that it should require the consent or advice of McBean, or any other Hudson’s Bay Company’s servant or clerk, to go and make peace with friends? Query 2. The importance of two letters to Forts Boise and Hall? The loss or gain to the company was of more importance to him than the lives of the missionaries and all at the Dalles, for he would not allow his messenger to inform them of their danger. We have in their communications a specimen of a high and a low agent of that company during the Cayuse war. The Cayuse tribe was always more dependent upon Fort Nez PercÉs for supplies than the Nez PercÉs, who have always had more or less intercourse with American traders. From the deposition of Mr. Geiger, we learn that this agent (McBean) of the company was in the habit of interfering with the affairs of the American Indians and missionaries, and from the deposition of Mr. Kimzey, that he was equally officious in favoring the Jesuit missions. And now, from his own officious letter, we learn his position in relation to the war then in progress; that he was attempting to deceive the commissioners, as to his operations and instructions to the Indians, is shown in the information he communicated to Mr. Douglas, and in the letter of Colonel Waters to Governor Abernethy. Putting all these facts together, who is responsible for the massacre and the war with the Cayuses?
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