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CHAPTER V.
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THE CAYUSE WAR.
Friends of Mr. McBean have come forward with an explanation of his treatment of the refugees from the Waiilatpu massacre. It is claimed that his reluctance to do any act which appeared like befriending Americans was through fear of the Cayuse Indians and a belief that they were about to begin a war of extermination upon Americans, their friends and allies. Therefore it would be dangerous to assist such Americans as were then seeking refuge from massacre, outrage and torture.
It was reserved for Americans, however, to take the initiative in this war. News of the Whitman tragedy stirred the hearts of genuine men; men in whose veins ran the milk of human kindness instead of ice-water. On the day following the massacre Vicar General Brouillet visited the Waiilatpu mission. He found the bodies of the victims unburied; he left them with such hasty interment as was possible, and soon after met Mr. Spalding whom he warned against attempting to visit the mission. This was, indeed, a friendly act on the part of the Vicar General, for the horrors of this tragedy did not come to a close on the first day. While it was safe for Brouillet, in close touch with the Hudson's Bay Company, to repair to that sad scene of desolation, it was not considered safe for any Americans to visit the spot. On Tuesday Mr. Kimball, who had remained with a broken arm in Dr. Whitman's house, was shot and killed. Driven desperate by his own and the sufferings of three sick children with him, he had attempted to procure water from a stream near the house. The same week Mr. Young and Mr. Bulee were killed. Saturday the savages completed their fiendish work by carrying away the young women for wives. Of the final ransom of the captives F. F. Victor, in "The River of the West," says:
"Late in the month of December (1847) there arrived in Oregon City to be delivered to the governor, sixty-two captives, bought from the Cayuses and Nez Perces by Hudson Bay blankets and goods; and obtained at that price by Hudson's Bay influence. 'No other power on earth,' says Joe Meek, the American, 'could have rescued those prisoners from the hands of the Indians,' and no man better than Mr. Meek understood the Indian character or the Hudson's Bay Company's power over them."
On December 7, 1847, from Fort Vancouver, James Douglas sent the following letter to Governor Abernethy:
SIR: — Having received intelligence, last night, by special express from Walla Walla, of the destruction of the missionary settlement at Waiilatpu, by the Cayuse Indians of that place, we hasten to communicate the particulars of that dreadful event, one of the most atrocious which darkens the annals of Indian crime.
Our lamented friend, Dr. Whitman, his amiable and accomplished lady, with nine other persons, have fallen victims to the fury of these remorseless savages, who appear to have been instigated to this appalling crime by a horrible suspicion which had taken possession of their superstitious minds, in consequence of the number of deaths from dysentery and measles, that Dr. Whitman was silently working the destruction of their tribes by administering poisonous drugs, under the semblance of salutary medicines.
With a goodness of heart and a benevolence truly his own, Dr. Whitman had been laboring incessantly since the appearance of the measles and dysentery among his Indians converts, to relieve their sufferings; and such has been the reward of his generous labors.
A copy of Mr. McBean's letter, herewith transmitted, will give you all the particulars known to us of this indescribably painful event. Mr. Ogden, with a strong party, will leave this place as soon as possible p.35 for Walla Walla, to endeavor to prevent further evil; and we beg to suggest to you the propriety of taking immediate measures for the protection of the Rev. Mr. Spalding, who, for the sake of his family, ought to abandon the Clearwater mission without delay, and retire to a place of safety, as he cannot remain at the isolated station without imminent risk, in the present excited and irritable state of the Indian population.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, JAMES DOUGLAS.
The reception of this letter was followed by intense excitement among people in the Wallamet settlement. The governor was authorized to mobilize a company of riflemen, not exceeding fifty in number, their objective point being The Dalles, which they were instructed to garrison and hold until such time as they could be reinforced. Three commissioners were chosen to carry out such provisions. The commissioners addressed a circular letter to the superintendent of the Methodist Mission, the "merchants and citizens of Oregon" and the Hudson's Bay Company. This document is valuable as explaining existing conditions in Oregon at that date, December 17, 1847:
Gentlemen : — You are aware that the undersigned have been charged by the legislature of our provisional government with the difficult duty of obtaining the necessary means to obtain full satisfaction of the Cayuse Indians for the late massacre at Waiilatpu, and to protect the white population of our common country from further aggression. In furtherance of this subject they have deemed it their duty to make immediate application to the merchants and citizens of the country for the requisite assistance.
Though clothed with the power to pledge to the fullest extent the faith and means of the present government of Oregon, they do not consider this pledge the only security to those, who, in this distressing emergency, may extend to the people of this country the means of protection and redress.
Without claiming any special authority from the government of the United States to contract a deb) to be liquidated by that power, yet from all precedents of like character in the history of our country, the undersigned feel confident that the United States government will regard the murder of the late Dr. Whitman and his lady, as a national wrong, and will fully justify the people of Oregon in taking active measures to obtain redress for that outrage, and for their protection from further aggression.
The right of self defense is tacitly acknowledged to every body politic in the confederacy to which we claim to belong, and in every case similar to our own, within our knowledge, the general government has promptly assumed the payment of all liabilities growing out of the measures taken by the constituted authorities to protect the lives and property of those who reside within the limits of their districts. If the citizens of the states and territories, east of the Rocky Mountains, are justified in promptly acting in such emergencies, who are under the immediate protection of the general government, there appears no room for doubt that the lawful acts of the Oregon government will receive a like approval.
Though the Indians of the Columbia have committed a great outrage upon our fellow citizens passing through the country, and residing among them, and their punishment for these murders may, and ought to be, a prime object with every citizen of Oregon, yet, as that duty more particularly develops upon the government of the United States, we do not make this the strongest ground upon which to found our earnest appeal to you for pecuniary assistance. It is a fact well known to every person acquainted with the Indian character, that by passing silently over their repeated thefts, robberies and murders of our fellow citizens, they have been emboldened to the commission of the appalling massacre at Waiilatpu. They call us women, destitute of the hearts and courage of men, and if we allow this wholesale murder to pass by as former aggressions, who can tell how long either life or property will be secure in any part of the country, or what moment the Willamette will be the scene of blood and carnage.
The officers of our provisional government have nobly performed their duty. None can doubt the readiness of the patriotic sons of the west to offer their personal services in defense of a cause so righteous. So it now rests with you, gentlemen, to say whether our rights and our firesides shall be defended or not.
Hoping that none will be found to falter in so high and so sacred a duty, we beg leave, gentlemen, to subscribe ourselves,
This patriotic communication produced a certain effect, though not. perhaps, financially commensurate with the hopes of its authors. The amount secured was less than five thousand dollars, but this sufficed to arm and equip the first regiment of Oregon riflemen. In the month of January they proceeded to the Cayuse country. p.36Your servants and fellow citizens,Jesse Applegate,A. L. Lovejoy,Geo. L. Curry,Commissioners.
We are now acquainted with the agency through which the ransomed missionaries, their wives and children reached the Willamette valley in safety. Concerning the people who were brought from Lapwai and Tchirriakin, it may be said to the credit of the Indians that though one band, the Cayuses, were murderers, two bands, the Nez Perces and Spokanes, were saviors. Few narratives are more thrilling than that relating to Fathers Eells and Walker, who attended the council of the Spokanes at Tchimakin, which council was to decide whether or no to join the Cayuses. On their decision hung the lives of the missionaries. Imagine their emotions as they waited with bated breath in their humble mission house to learn the result of the Indians' deliberations. Hours of animated discussion followed; argument with the Cayuses emissaries; and finally the Spokanes announced their conclusions in these words: "Go and tell the Cayuses that the missionaries are our friends and we will defend them with our lives."
The Nez Perces arrived at the same conclusion. Bold though these Cayuses were — the fiercest warriors of the inland empire — their hearts must have sunk within them as they saw that the Umatillas, the Nez Perces and the Spokanes and, even at that particular period, the Hudson's Bay Company, were all against them, and that they must meet the infuriated whites from the Willamette. The provisional government had entered upon the work of equipping fourteen companies of volunteers. The act of the legislature providing for this had been passed December 9, 1847. A large majority of these volunteers furnished their own horses, arms and ammunition. This, too, without thought of pecuniary gain or reimbursement. The response to the circular letter of the commissioners had been prompt, openhanded and hearty.
Cornelius Gilliam, father of W. S. Gilliam, of Walla Walla, was chosen colonel of the regiment. He was a man of superlative energy, brave and resourceful, and, pushing all necessary arrangements, he set forth from the rendezvous at The Dalles on February 27, 1848. Several battles occurred on the way into the Cayuse country, the most severe being at Sand Hollows, in the Umatilla country. Five Crows and War Eagle, famous fighters of the Cayuse tribe, had gathered their braves to dispute the crossing of this region with the Oregon riflemen. Five Crows flamboyantly claimed that by his wizard powers he could stop all bullets while War Eagle's gasconade was couched in the boastful statement that he would agree to swallow all missiles fired at him. This same spirit of braggadocio has, throughout all historical times, animated pagan soldiers. During the war with the Filipinos the natives were solemnly told by their priests that all bullets fired by American soldiers would turn to water before reaching them.
Mark the result of the engagement between the avengers of Dr. Whitman and the superstitious Cayuses. At the first onset the "Swallow Ball" was killed, and the "wizard" was so seriously wounded that he was compelled to retire from the war.
Nevertheless the Indians maintained a plucky fight. A number of casualties were suffered by the whites. But at last the Indians were compelled to break, and the way for the first regiment of Oregon riflemen was clear to Waiilatpu. The desolated mission was reached by Colonel Gilliam's command March 4. Here the soldiers passed several days to recuperate from the effects of a short but arduous campaign, and give to the remains of the martyrs of the Whitman massacre a reverent burial. Some of the dead had been hastily covered with earth by Vicar General Brouillet, and his companions; others when Ogden ransomed the captives, but afterward they had been partially exhumed by coyotes; hyena-like allies of the dastardly Cayuses.
The Indians had now fallen back to Snake river. Following them thither the whites were, p.37 somewhat, out generaled by the wily savages, an event that has been duplicated several times in Indian wars of more recent date. The Oregon riflemen surprised and captured a camp of Cayuse Indians among whom, as was afterward divulged, were some of the murderers of Dr. Whitman and his friends at Waillatpu. The Machiavellian Cayuses suddenly professed great friendship for the Oregon avengers, and, pointing to a large band of horses on a hill, declared that the hostiles had abandoned them, and gone across the river. This deception was successful. Completely deluded the whites surrounded the camp and, rounding up the horses, started on their return. It was the hour of temporary Cayuse triumph. The released captives, mounting at once, began a furious attack on the rear of the battalion of riflemen which proved so harassing that the volunteers were compelled to retreat to the Touchet river, and finally, although they repelled the Indians, they were forced to turn loose the captured horses. These animals the strategic Indians immediately seized and with them vanished over the plains. They had outwitted Gilliam's men. Not only had they secured life and liberty for themselves, but had actually recovered the bait with which they had inveigled the volunteers into a trap.
It was soon made evident that the Cayuse Indians»had no real desire to fight. The whites insisted on a surrender of the murderers of Dr. Whitman and his people. Finding that the volunteers were in earnest in making this demand the treacherous tribe scattered in different directions; Tamsuky, with his friends, going to the headwaters of the John Day river. There, despite various efforts to capture them, they remained two years. In 1850, a band of Umatillas undertook the task of securing them, for trial, and after fierce and desperate resistance, killed Tamsuky and captured a number of his murderous compatriots. Of these captives five were hanged at Oregon City, June 3. 1850.
The Cayuse Indians, however, assert that only one of these condemned and executed Indians were really guilty of participation in the horrible deeds at Waiilatpu. That one, they declared, was Tamahas, who struck Dr. Whitman the fatal blow. The claim that the others were innocent may be true, so far as the actual murder of the doctor or his friends is concerned, but as accessories to a great — indeed, a national crime — they were, undoubtedly, guilty. If they were not, it is but one more instance of lamentable failure to apply either punishment or mercy accurately, which has characterized all Indian wars on both sides. The innocent have
borne the sins of the guilty in more ways than one.
In this Cayuse war many men, who afterward became famous in Oregon and Washington history took an active part. Among them may be named James Nesmith, who was United States Senator. He was the father of Mrs. Levi Ankeny, of Walla Walla, present United States senator from Washington. William Martin, of Pendleton, Oregon, was one of the captains in the corps of rifle men during this war. Joel Palmer, Tom McKay. J. M. Garrison and many others bore their part in the beginning, or later in the maturer development of the country. Colonel Gilliam, who had shown himself to be a brave and sagacious commander, was accidentally killed on the return of his troops, a most melancholy close of a career full of promise to this country, then slowly unfolding its wealth of varied industries.
In taking leave of this stirring epoch in the history of a certain portion of the, now, state of Washington, pursuit, capture and punishment of principals and instigators of the murder of Dr. Whitman, and his associates in missionary work, it may be said in the way of retrospection that, grievous as was the end of Whitman's career, no doubt it will ultimately be seen to have produced greater results for this region and the world than if he had survived to have enjoyed a well-merited rest from his labors. Subsequent development of this section, the p.38 founding of Whitman College, and the whole train of circumstances arising from American occupation of Oregon may be seen, in some measure, to have grown out of the tragedy at Waiilatpu. Here, as elsewhere, martyrdom appears a necessary accompaniment to the most brilliant progress in civilization.
While the offense of these Indians can not be condoned, charity compels the admission that the ignorant creatures were scarcely more responsible than the wild beasts who, also, disputed this territory with civilized man. The very superstition which it is the duty of every missionary to eradicate from pagan minds as speedily as possible, is primarily to blame for the undoing of Dr. Whitman. Steeped in this barbaric superstition, pampered by the Hudson's Bay Company, treacherously deceived by agents and emissaries of the great octopus of the Northwest Coast, we can not hold these savages to a higher degree of responsibility than the source from which they drew their gruesome inspiration. But in 1848 the progress of western civilization demanded their suppression, if not ultimate removal, along with the coyote and rattlesnake.
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