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THE CONQUEST
of the
COEUR D'ALENES, SPOKANES,
AND PALOUSES
THE EXPEDITIONS OF COLONELS E. J. STEPTOE
AND GEORGE WRIGHT AGAINST THE
"NORTHERN INDIANS"
IN 1858
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B. F. MANRING
PUBLISHED BY
JOHN W. GRAHAM & CO.
SPOKANE, WASH.
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Printed by Inland Printing Company
Spokane, Wash.
1912
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This work is being included in this blog partly because of the place of these events in the settlement of the Inland Northwest; partly because Col. Steptoe was my 3rd cousin 5x removed; and partly because, through my wife, I am connected to the Spokane Tribe — one of her nephews is married to a member of the Peone family of the Spokanes. —
C. S.
This book is available for view or download on the
Internet Archive
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CONTENTS
PAGE CHAP.
PREFACE
13 1 TRADITION
18 2 STEPTOE BUTTE
26 3 1858
30 4 CAUSES
49 5 CAUSES — CONTINUED
67 6 STEPTOE MARCHES NORTH
81 7 STILL NORTHWARD
88 8 BATTLE OF TOHOTONIMME
110 9 THE COUNCIL
116 10 THE RETREAT
127 11 COLONEL STEPTOE'S REPORT
158 12 PRELIMINARIES
186 13 MEASURING STRENGTH
186 14 RETRIBUTION
227 15 THE SPOKANE COUNCIL
246 16 THE LONELY BATTLE-FIELD
BIOGRAPHICAL —
264 COLONEL EDWARD J. STEPTOE
275 CAPTAIN O. H. P. TAYLOR
278 LIEUTENANT WILLIAM GASTON
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PREFACE
The expeditions of Colonels Steptoe and Wright into the country of the Coeur d'Alenes, Spokanes and Palouses were made without the blare of notoriety; they were not heralded by the press in startling headlines; nor were the minutiae of accompanying details flashed momentarily over convenient wires to an expectant nation. In obedience to orders laboriously conveyed to them, the commanders of these expeditions went forward to their duty. They went into a country to them unknown and pursued their courses under the direction of guides. On returning they bore the history of their achievements with them, save that which was impressed upon their adversaries. Excepting the few white men in charge of the Coeur d'Alene Mission, none of their race remained on the field of their operations to tell the coming settler of the things they did. And when in after years the settler arrived the physical evidences of combat had been almost obliterated.
Meager and unauthenticated details of the story gained circulation among the early pioneers and were by them rehearsed from memory to those who came after them.
This volume, the result of long research, was primarily suggested through a lingering love of the pioneer days. The pleasures that were woven into the thin mesh of early day society and the occupations of those first citizens, as well as the hardships and privations which came into the country hand in 'hand with the pioneer himself, are matters that have frequently passed in review of the writer's memory. They are of a period which of itself constitutes an important epoch. From meditation upon these things has emanated the desire to place in the hands of the people the facts of the events which made it possible to settle and develop this great, rich section of country in unbroken peace of the time just beyond the real pioneer.
In the preparation of the work, the writer acknowledges grateful appreciation of the assistance of Mrs. Nannie Steptoe Eldridge, Lynchburg, Va., sister of Colonel E. J. Steptoe; Brig.-Gen. David McM. Gregg (Lieutenant with Colonel Steptoe), Reading, Pa., who, besides offering valuable suggestions as to original sources of information, kindly gave the manuscript of the chapters covering Colonel Steptoe's expedition a critical reading; Mrs. Mae D. Taylor Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio, daughter of Captain O. H. P. Taylor; Mrs. Bronson and Miss Mary G. Hawks, Summit, N. J., cousins of Lieutenant Wm. Gaston; H. N. Fleming, Erie, Pa., son of Major (Lieutenant with Colonel Steptoe) Hugh B. Fleming; Hugh Lyon, Crider, Ky., son of Brig.-Gen. (Lieutenant with Colonel Wright) Hylan B. Lyon; Mrs. Edith Coventry, Henley-on-Thames, England, daughter of Colonel (Lieutenant with Colonel Wright) Lawrence Kip; Lieutenant Charles Braden, West Point, Secretarv Association of Graduates, U. S. M. A.; Captain John Mullan, Washington, D. C.; General (Lieutenant with Colonel Wright) Michael R. Morgan, Minneapolis, Minn.; Hon. Wesley L. Jones, U. S. Senator, State of Washington, through whose assistance he was enabled to procure a large part of the official documents consulted and which have been extensively quoted; John O'Neill, J. J. Rohn and Thomas Beall, survivors of the Steptoe-Wright campaign whom he has personally consulted. He has also been kindly
permitted to quote from the Journal of The Military Service Institution, Governor's Island, N. Y., and has taken the liberty of quoting largely from Lieutenant Lawrence Kip's valuable journal, "Army Life on the Pacific," printed soon after Colonel Wright's expedition, copies of which are now extremely difficult to find.
The writer has not striven for literary distinction, but rather for the object of assembling the details of the consecutive events which total the history of the expeditions, and if that be approved he will feel that the task, which has been one of pleasure, will not have been in vain.
BENJAMIN F. MANRING.
Garfield, Wash.,
Aug. 1st, 1911.
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PINE CANYON: Convict labor from the state penitentiary built the first Pine Canyon road from Orondo to Waterville in 1915-17. It was about five miles long, 30 feet wide, with a maximum grade of five percent. The new section branched off the original Corbaley Canyon road. Pine Canyon road was rebuilt in 1949-50 and in the late 1960s.
