Walla Walla County, Washington - Chapter 3: The Missions of Walla Walla and the Whitman Massacre, 1901

Chapter 3: The Missions of Walla Walla and the Whitman Massacre

Few of tlie pioneer lands of tlie west have lacked their heroes. Few have lacked their martyrs. It has been the work of some to find the passes of the mountains, to blaze trails through the wilderness, to find the river crossings. Others have found it their task to discover the materials and the routes of industrj' and commerce. Others vet asrain have had the grim destiny of meeting, fighting, killing, or being killed by the unfortunate natives. Still others, very few in comparison, assumed the yet harder, and. in most minds, the thankless duty of imparting the ideas of Christianity and civilization to those poor remnants of a doomed race. ^lost important of all, on yet others has l)een laid the weightiest task, that of formingnational political policies and managing the international questions arising out of the struggle for ix)ssession.

Any one of the various lines of duty would ha\e been thought hard enough. \\'e find the strange spectacle in the annals of Walla \\'alla of one man performing them all.

This man was Marcus Whitman. The preeminent services of this man have begun to receive a tardy recognition, and in the west at least he is now acknowledged as without a peer in the importance of his work as the foundation builder of Americanism in Oregon. Properly to understand the history of the Whitman mission and the massacre, and the events growing out of these in their bearing on the history of W'alla W'alla and the Oregon country, we must turn back the pages of history and take our station in the year 1832. In that year a strange thing occurred. Four Flathead Indians came from what is now Idaho to St. Louis, seeking the White ]\Ian's "Book of Life," of which they had heard some vague "report from some trappers or explorers in their own land. Two years were spent by them on their strange quest, years of suffering, danger and doubt.

When at last they reached St. Louis they could not find words with which to make known their wants, and for a long time they wandered, tongue-tied, through the streets. Finally coming under the notice of Governor Clark, they were sent to a Catholic priest, and from him the story reached the country. It produced "a profound interest among the churches; seeming to them a veritable Macedonian cry. Two missions were organized for the Oregon Indians, one by the Methodists under Jason Lee in the Willamette valley in 1834. The following year the American Board sent Dr. Marcus Whitman of Rushville, New York, and Dr. Samuel Parker of Ithaca, New York, to examine the field and report on the conditions for missionary work.

Having reached Green river, the general rendezvous of the trappers, it was decided that Dr. Parker should continue his journey to the Pacific and Dr. Whitman should return east anil make ready to come back and locate somewhere in Oregon Territory. Accordingly in the early spring of 1836. in company witii his newly made bride, Narcissa (Prentice) Whitman, and Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife. Dr. Whitman started across the plains. From the Loup Fork of Platte river in Green ri\-er the missionarv party traveled with the fur company's annual detachment, but at the latter point they committed their fortunes and lives to a body of Nez Perce Indians whu had come to meet them. The letters and journals of Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding give us some conception of the heroic fortitude with wdiich they met the hardships and dangers of that unprecedented bridal journey of three th(jusand miles across the American wilderness. Reaching Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, on September I, 1836. and being in the general vicinity of the region where they had expected to laljor, it became apparent that they would need to establish friendly relations with the Hudson's Bay Company, the great autocrats of the Columbia valley. Accordingly they made the additional journey by Ijoat to Vancouver, where Dr. McLoughlin, a true-liorn king of men, received them with tlie kindly courtesy which always characterized his treatment of those who came to him. By his advice Whitman was established at Waiilalpu, si.x miles west of the present Walla Walla.

We must pass rapidly over the events of the ne.xt few years. Suffice it to say that they were years of great activity on the ])art of the missionaries. Travelers who visited the station expressed their wonder at the amount accomplished l)y Dr. Whitman.

He had brought over two hundred acres of land under cultivation, had built several large buildings, had put into running order a .small grist mill run by a water ])o\ver from Mill creek, had also a small saw-mill on Mill creek about fourteen miles above the present site of Walla Walla, had gathered together a large number of Indian children for instruction, and with all this was acting as physician to all the whites in the country and to many of the Indians.

He was a keen observer of the international politics wdiich gathered about Oregon and could not fail to see that his plans were necessarily antagonistic to those of the great English fur company, whose Briarean arms reached to all parts of the land and wdiose evident and in fact necessary purpose was to keep the country in a state of savagery. Although the personal relations between Dr. Whitman and Dr. Mc- Loughlin were of the pleasantest sort, each was keen enough to see that success for the one meant defeat for the other.

Busy as Whitman was with the multifarious duties which he had loaded upon himself, he became more and more absorbed in the vital question as to who was going to own this country. Among a number of Americans coming to Oregon in 1842. was A. L. Lovejoy, a man of intelligence and force, who informed Whitman of the pending Webster-Ashburton treaty between England and this country, the effect of which many Americans thought would be detrimental to their country.

The more Whitiu;in thought of it the more he became possessed of the idea that it was his l)atriotic duty to go to Washington and inform the authorities of the nature of this country and its value, and assist the emigrants of the next year to cross the plains and mountains on their way to OregoiT. That was the primary idea of that great winter ride in 1842-3. made by Whitman, Lovejoy accompanying as far as Fort Bent. The details of that grand, heroic ride, with the momentous results hinging upon it and the magnificent success achieved, have been man\- times narrated, have been discussed, hotly disputed, exaggerated and belittled, and yet out of the general turmoil certain historical facts may be regardetl as definitely established. First, it is now conceded by all that Whitman's idea was "to save Oregon to the United States."

Many writers have questioned this in the past. One writer (we are glad to say but one), Mrs. F. V. Fuller, has the unenviable distinction of having attributed low and sordid motives to the hero, believing that his oI)ject mainly was to secure the continuance of the mission as a source of profit to himself. She even at one time went so far as to suggest a doubt whether Whitman was ever in Washington at all. Although those to whom Whitman had related his experiences, as well as men who actually recalled seeing him in Washington, had given their testimony, yet these persistent efl:'orts to depreciate him had produced a good deal of effect in the public mind. It was therefore a matter of profound interest when in 1891 there was made in the archives of the War department an extraordinary discovery. This was a letter from Dr. Whitman himself to the department, proposing a l)ill for the establishment of a line of forts from the Kansas river to the Willamette This entire letter and proposed bill appeared in the Walla Walla L'nion-Journal of .\ugust 15, 1891. A perusal of it will convince any one that Whitman's aim in his tremendmis exertions was political, as well as that he liad all the essential elements of statesmanship. His aspersers have scarcely "peeped'' since the discovery of this letter. The fpicstion of "Why Whitman went east" has ceased to be debatable. We incorporate here the beginning and closing of this letter, adding only that reference to the Union- Journal referred to. or to Dr. (). W. Xixon's book, "tb)\v Marcus Whitman .Sas'ed Oregon,"

Sir : - In compliance with the request you did me the honor to make last winter while at Wasliington, I herewith transmit to you the synopsis of a bill, which, if it could be adopted, would according to my experience and observation prove highly conducive to the best interests of the United States generally ; to Oregon, where I have resided for more than seven years as a missionary, and to the Indian tribes that inhabit the intermediate country.

The government will now doubtless for the first time be apprised through you, and by means of this communication, of the immense migration of families to Oregon, which has taken place this year. I have since our interview been instrumental in piloting across the route described in the accompanying bill, and which is the only eligible wagon road, no less persons of both sexes, with their wagons, amounting in all to more than one hundred and twenty, si.x hundred and ninety-four o.xen. anil seven hundred and seventy-three loose cattle. * * * *

Your familiarity with the givernment policy, duties and interest, renders it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several olijects intended by the incli'sed l)ill. and any enlargement upon the topics here suggested as inducements to its adoption would be quite sui;erfluous, if not imiiertinent. The \-ery existence of such a system as the one above recommended suggests the utility of postoftices and mail arrangements, which it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon to have granted them, and I need only add that contracts for this purpose will be readily taken at reasmiable rates for transporting the mail across from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty days, with fresh horses at each of the contemplated posts. The ruling policy proposed, regards the Indians as the police of the conn- try, who are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not onl_v for tliemselves. 1)ut to repel lawless white men and prevent banditti, under the solitary guidance of the su]ierintendent of the several posts, aided by a well directed system to induce the punishment of crime. It will only be after the failure of these means to procure the deliver^' or punishment of \'iolent, lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a band or tribe should be regarded as conspirators against the peace, or punished accordingly by force of arms.

Hoping that these suggestions may meet your approbation, and conduce to the future interests of our growing country, I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, your obedient servant,

The second fact established in regard to \\'hitman's work is that he did produce a profound inHuence on the minds of President Tyler and Secretary Webster and others in authority, and as a result, other influences, ]ierhaps, also reaching them, our government took an entirely new stand and began to raise the demand of "Fifty-four forty."

A third fact is that he published broadcast in the spring of 1843, liis intention to return and pilot the train across the mountains. It is also true that many immigrants, though by no means all, were induced to come by his presence and representations.

A fourth fact is that he triumphantly succeeded in conducting a thousand people, with wagons and cattle, to the promised land of Oregnn. The immigration of '43 was the deciding contest in the struggle for possession between England and the United States. The American home vanquished the English fur-trader.

all their interests, between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades. Waiilatpu was the eastern frontier of American settlement in Oregon. For though the mission posts of Lapwai and Tchimakain were actually farther east, they had no bearing on the political questiijn of the time.

Such briefly summarizes the acknowledged facts in regard to Dr. Whitman and his work. As to the comparative value of. his services, as to the controverted questions of what somehave styled the "Whitman JMyth," this is not the place to speak. Suflice it to say that l)y the uniform testimony of liis contemporaries, as well as of the students of history. Whitman was one of the heroes of America and the chief factor in giving this "Valley of Many \\'aters" its high rank among the sacred places of our land.

But Whitman's destiny was not yet fulfilled. The missionary had become the patriot.- the patriot had become the hero, the hero had become the statesman. Xow the statesmanmust become the martyr.

After Whitman's return in 1S43 t'le Indians had become restive and ugl_\-. They could form no conception of the exalted sentiments which actuated the missionaries. They began to see in a rude way the logic of American occupation. It meant a change in their whole method of life. It in-ijjlied farming, cattle-raising, houses, fi.xed and narrowed domains, instead of the hunting and wild life of their ancestral habits. They saw also the antagonism between the Americans and the British, and inasmuch as the latter were the more disposed to maintain the existing condition of .savagery, the Indians generally inclined to sympathize with them. Dr. \\'hitman perceived tlie danger and tluring the summer of 1847 he iiad in contemplation a removal to The Dalles. He liad arranged to purcliase the Methodist mission there and was planning to rem()\-e thither in the spring. In the meantime sinister influences were gathering around his devoted head, all unknown to him. His two principal enemies were Tamsuky. a Cayuse chief, and Joe Lewis, a renegade half-hrced who had wandered to the mission, had heen befriended by Whitman, and then with the inequity which seemed to be inherent in his detestable nature, became a prime mover in the murderous plot.

During the summer of 1847. measles, introduced by immigrants. Ijecame epidemic among the Cayuses. Their native method of treating anything of a fe\-erous nature was to enter into a sweat ln)use. stripped of clothing, and remain there until thoroughly steamed, and then plunge naked and ]ierspiring into a cold stream. Death was the almost inevitable result. Whitman was faithful and unremitting in his ministrations, but many died. At this critical moment the wretch Lewis perceived that his oportunity had come. He made the Indians think that Whitman was poisoning them. He went so far as to affirm that he had heard a conversation between Spalding and Whitman as to what tlicy would do when tlie\' had got possession of the country.

The Indians determined to make a test case of a sick woman, giving her some of Whitman's medicine, and agreeing that if she died they would kill the missionaries. The woman died, and the plot came to a focus.

Istickus of Umatilla, who had always i)een a warm friend of Whitman, had felt some inkling of the plot, and suggested to liim liis danger. He had never realized it before, but with his daring spirit had laughed off thoughts of harm. .\t the warning of Istickus, Mrs. Whitman, nolile. intrepid soul that she was, felt the darkening of the approaching tragedy. and was found by the children in tears for the only time since the death of her beloved little girl eight years before. The doctor told her that if ix)ssible he would arrange to remove down the river at once.

But the next day, the fatal 29th of Xo- \ember. 1847. dawned. Great numbers of Tamsuky's adherents were in the vicinity. Survivors of the massacre say that on the day before, the little hill on which the monument is now situated, was l)lack with Indians looking down upon the scene. Their presence and their unfriendly looks added to the alarm felt l;y Airs. Whitman.

At about I o'clock on the 29th. as Dr. Whitman was sitting reading, a number of Indians entered and having attracted his attention l)y the accustomed re(|uest for medicine, one of them, said afterwards by the Indians to have been Tamahas, drew forth a hatchet and buried it in the head of his benefactor. Another named Telaukait. who had received many favors from Whitman, then came up and proceeded to beat and hack the noble face that had never expressed any sentiment but kindness toward those chiklren of darkness. The work of murder, thus begun, was followed with fiendish energy. Xone of the white men. scattered and unsuspecting, could offer any effective resistance. They were quickly shot ilown, witli the excepti<.)n of such as were in ])laces sufficiently remote to elude observation and glide away at night. Five men in that manner escaped and after incredible suffering reached places of safety. Mrs. Whitman was the onlv wnman who suffered death. The other women were shamefullv outraged, and the children, both boys and girls, were held in cai)ti\-ity several days. William AIcBean, the Hudson Bay agent at Fort Walla Walla, displayed a dastardly spirit when he learned of the massacre, for instead of rescuing, he refused to harbor one man, Mr. Hall, who had escaped as far as the' fort, but shut the door on him, with the result that he perished. A courier was sent by ]\IcBean to Vancou\-er, but he did not even warn the people at The Dalles of their danger, though happily they were not molested. As soon as James Douglas, then chief factor in the place of Dr. McLoughlin, heard of the massacre, he dispatched Peter Skeen Ogden with a force to rescue the survivors. Ogden showed a commendable zeal and efficiency, and by the expenditure of several hundred dollars, ransomed forty-seven women and children. The names of the murdered were Alarcus Whitman, Narcissa Whitman, John Sager, Francis Sager, Crocket Bewley, Isaac Gillen, James Young, and Rogers, Kimball, Sales, Marsh, Saunders, Hoffman and Hall. A lock of long, fair hair was subsequently found on the site of the massacre which was undoubtedly taken from the head of Mrs. Whitman. It is now preserved among the i)recious relics in Whitman College.

Such was this dreadful event which at the now peaceful site of the Waiilatpu desecrated all the sanctities of life and left a tragic stain on the heroic pages of Walla Walla's history.

As one stands now upon the monument hill and views that entrancing rural scene, the sil- \ery bend of the Walla Walla, the dark green belts of birch and cottonwood, the bright fields of alfalfa, the continuous wheat-fields, green or gold with changing seasons, the gullied Umatilla highlands to the west, the roofs and spires of Walla Walla, near at hand to the east, with the many-hued Blue mountains filling the back ground of the east and south, it is hard to realize how Waiilatpu was once torn and beaten with the relentless cruelty of savage warfare. Still harder is it to realize that the momentous world question of the ownership of Oregon came nearer its focus of settlement in this quiet spot than anywhere else. The people of Walla Walla are not greatly given to imagining or idealizing, and hence do not generally realize the historical significance of the old mission ground. The time will surely come when they will perceive that the richest products of field and orchard have played but a small part in making Walla \\'alla known compared with that tale of heroism and patriotism.

Among many reminiscences of that time those of some of the hapless children are the most vivid and tloubtless the most relialile, for a child's memory for details, as well as ingenuousness and freedom from prejudices, gives such testimony the greatest value. Among the children was Mrs. Jacobs, now matron of Billing's Hall, \\'hitman College. Her remembrances of the hiirrors of the massacre, and the equally dreadful details of the escape of the Osborne family, of which she was a member, ha\'e the intensity of fire even after the lapse of these fifl}'-tliree years. Mr. Osborne gave to Mr. Spalding many years ago for publication an account of his escape, from which we take the following extracts. Mr. Osborne says : "As the guns fired and the yeljs commenced I leaned ni}- head upon the bed and committed myself and family to my Maker. My wife removed the loose floor. I dropped under the floor with my sick family in their night clothes, taking only two woolen sheets, a piece of bread and some cold mush, and pulled the floor over us. In five minutes the room was full of Indians, but they did not discover us. The roar of guns, the yell of the savages and tlic crash of clubs and kni\-es and tlie groans of the dying continued till dark, ^^'e distinctly heard the dying groans of j\Irs. Whitman, Mr. Rogers and Francis, till they died away one after the other. We heard the last words of Mr. Rogers in a slow voice calling "Come, Lord Jesus, come qtiickly.' Soon after this I removed the floor and we went out. \\'e saw the white face of Francis by the door. It was warm as we laid our hand upon it, but he was dead. I carried my two youngest children, who were sick, and my wife held on to my clothes in her great weakness. We had all been sick with measles. Two infants had died. She had not left her bed for six weeks till that day. when she stood up a few minutes. The naked, painted Indians were dancing the scalp dance around a large fire at a little distance. There seemed no liope for us and we knew not \\hich way to go, but Iient our steps toward Fort W'alla W'alla. .A dense cold fog shut out every star and the darkness was complete. W'e could see no trail and not even the hand before the face. We had to feel out the trail with our feet. My wife almost fainted but staggered along. Mill creek, which we had to wade, was higii with late rains and came up to the waist. My wife in lier great weakness came nigh washing down, but held to my clothes. I braced myself with a stick, holding a child in one arm. I had to cross five times for the children. The water was ic}^ cold and the air freezing some. Staggering along about two miles, Mrs. Osborne fainted and could go no further, and we hid ourselves in the brush of the Walla W'alla river, not far below Tamsukey's (a chief) lodges, who was very active at the commencement of the butchery. We were thoroughly wet and the cold fog like snow was about us. The cold mud was partially frozen as we crawled, feeling our way, into the dark brush, ^\'e could see nothing the darkness'was so extreme. I spread one wet slieet down on the frozen ground ; wife and children crouched upon it. I covered the other over ihcm. 1 thought they must soon perish as they were shaking and their teeth rattling with cold. I kneeled down and commended us to my Maker. The day finally dawned and we could see the Indians riding furiously up and down the trail. Sometimes thev would come close to the brush and our blood would warm and the shaking would stop from fear for a moment. The day seemed a week. Expected every moment my wife would breathe her last. Tuesday night, felt our way to the trail and staggered along to Sutucksnina (Dog creek), which we waded as we did the other creek, and kept on about two miles when my wife fainted and could go no farther. Crawled into the brush and frozen mud to shake and sufifer on from hunger and cold, and without sleep. Tiie children, too, wet and cold, called incessantly for food, but the shock of groans and yells at first so frightened them that they did not speak loud. Wednesday night my wife was too weak to stand. I took our second child and started for Walla W'alla; had to wade the Touchet; stopped freciuentlv in the brush from weakness; had not recovered from measles. Heard a horseman pass and repass as I lay concealed in the willows. Have since learned it was Mr. Spalding. Reached Fort Walla Walla after daylight ; begged Mr. McBean for horses to get my family, for food, blankets and clothing to take to them, and to take care of my child till I could bring my family in, should I live to find them alive. Mr. McBean told me I could not bring my family to his fort.

he liad put liim over the Columhia river : that he could not let me have horses or anything for mv wife and children, and I must go to Umatilla. I insisted on hringing my family to the fort, hut he refused: said he would not let us in. 1 next begged the priests to show pity, as mv wife and children must perish and the Indians undoubtedly would kill me, but with no success. I then Iiegged to leave my child who was not safe in the fort, but they refused.

"There were many priests in the fort. Mr. JMcBean gave me breakfast, but I saved most of it for my famil}-. Provider.lially 'Mv. Stanley, an artist, came in from Coh'ille, narrowly escaped the Cayuse Indians by telling them he was 'Alain' H. B. He let me ha\e his two horses, some food he had left from Rev. Eells and Walker's mission: also a cap. a pair of socks, a shirt and handkerchief, and Mr. Mc- Bean furnished an Indian who proved most faithful, and Thursday night we started back, taking niy child, but with a sad heart that I could not find mercy at the hands of the priests of God. The Indian guided me in the thick darkness to where I supposed I had left my dear wife and children. We could see nothing and dared not call aloud. Daylight came and I was exposed to Indians, but we CDUtiuued to search till I was about to give up in despair when the Indian discovered one of the twigs 1 had broken as a guide in coming out to the trail. Following these he soon found my wife and children still alive. I distributed what little food and clothing I had, and we started for the Umatilla, the guide leading the way to a ford.

"Mr. McBean came and asked who was there. I replied. He said he could not let us in ; we must go to Umatilla or he would put us over the river, as he had Mr. Hall. My wife replied she would die at the gate but she would not leave. He finally opened and took us into a secret room and sent an allowance of food for us every day. Next day I asked him for blankets for my sick wife to lie on. He had nothing. Next day I urged again. He had nothing to give but would sell a blanket out of the store. I told him I had lost everything, and had nothing to pay; but if I should li\e to get to the Willamette I would pay. He consented. But the hip-bones of my dear wife wore through the skin on the hard floor. Stickus, the chief, came in one day and took the cap from his head and gave it to me, and a handkerchief to my child."

Mr. Osborne and his family finally went to the W^illamette valley, where they lived many years as honored members of the community, though Mrs. Osborne never entirely regained her health from the dreadful experiences of the massacre and the escape.

A less distressing case of a few weeks later is presented in the following extract from some reminiscences of Mrs. Catherine Pringle of Colfax. Mrs. Pringle was one of the Sager children adopted by Dr. and Airs. Whitman.

"The Christmas of 1847," said Airs. Pringle, "was celebrated in the midst of an Indian village, where the American families who kept the day were hostages, whose li\es were in constant danger. There is something tragicall}- humorous about that Christmas, and I laugh when I think of some of the things that I cried over on that day.

"When the survivors moved to the Indian village, a set of guards was placed over us, and those guards were vagabond savages, in whose charge nobody was safe. Alany times we thought our final hour had come. They ordered us ardund like slaves, and kept us busy cooking for them. Whenever we made a dish, they compelled us to eat of it first, for fear there was poison in it. They kept up a din and noise that deprived us of peace by day and sleep at night. Some days before Christmas we complained to the chief of the village, who was supposed to be a little generous in our regard, and he gave us a guard of good Indians, under command of one whom knew as 'Beardy.' The latter had been friendly to Dr. Whitman; he had taken no part in the massacre, and it was claimed to be through his intercession that our lives were spared.

"We hailed the coming of Beardy as a providential thing, and so when the holiday dawned the elder folks resolved to make the children as happy as the means at hand would allow.

"Mrs. Sanders had brought across the plains with her some white Hour and some dried peaches, and these had been brought to our abode in William Gray's mission. White flour was a luxury, and so were dried peaches then. Mrs. Sanders made white bread on Christmas morning, and then she made peach pie. Beardy had been so kind to us that we had to invite him to our Christmas dinner. We had ever S(j many pies, it seemed, and Beardy thought he had tasted nothing so good in all iiis life. He sat in one corner of the kitchen and crammed piece after piece of that dried peach pie into his mouth. We were determined that he should have all the pie he wanted, even if some of us went hungry, because Beardy was a friend on whose fidelity probably our lives depended.

an hour after Beardy went a^vay, we were thrown into alarm by a series of mad yells and we heard Indian cries of 'Kill them Tomahawk them !' A band of savages startec to attack the Gray residence, and we saw then from the windows. Our time had come anc some of us began to pray. The day tha opened with fair promises was about to clos< in despair.

our amazement and horror, the Indiai band was led by Beardy himself, the Indiai we counted on to protect us in just such emer gencies. He was clamoring for the death o all the white women.

favored us at this critical junc ture, for just as the Indians were enterinc the house messengers arrived from For Walla Walla. The messengers knew Beard} well, and they advanced on him and inquirec the reason of his wild language.

"That would be a liberal translation of th( Indian words. Then followed a colloquy be tween Beardy and the messengers, and fron the language used we gleaned that Beardy hat suffered fn)m an overdose of American pie and not knowing alxiut the pains that lie ir wait after intemperate indulgence even in pie he rushed to the conclusion that the pie hac been poisoned.

"It required a long time for the messengers to convince Beardy that the women wen innocent of any intention to cause him pain but that he was simply suffering from the effects of inordinate indulgence in an indigestible lu.\ury.

"We were all happy that night - happy that Mrs. Sanders' pie had not been the means of a wholesale slaughter of white families on Christmas day.

'"The messengers I speak of brought good news from the fort. Succor was at hand, and on December 29th we were moved to the fort, and started down the river to The Dalles, January 3, 1848. The Christmas of the year 1847, 'I* 't was celebrated in this territory, offers somewhat of a contrast to the Yuletide merriment in all the churches and homes to-day."

We have now described the Whitman mission. Whitman's midwinter journey, his work for Oregon, and the massacre. It now remains to speak of the Cayuse war, which followed as a natural secpience.

The C.Vyuse War

The ransomed missionaries from Waiilatpu, Lapwai and Tchimakain reached the \\'illamette valley in safety. Concerning those from Lapwai and Tchimakain, it may be said here to the credit of the Indians, that though one band, the Cayuses, were murderers, two bands, the Nez Perces and Spokanes, were saviors. Few things more thrilling ever came under the observation of the writer than the narrations by Fathers Eells and Walker of the circuit of the Spokanes at Tchimakain to decide whether or not to join the Cayuses.

The lives of the missionaries hung on the decision. Imagine their emotions as they waited with bated breath in their mission house to know the result. After hours of excited discussion with the Cayuse emissaries, the

Spokanes announced their conclusion : "Go and tell the Cayuses that the missionaries are Dur friends and we will defend them with our lives." 1 he Xez Perces made the same decision. Bold though those 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 the Hudson's Bay ' Company, were all against them and that they must meet the infuriated whites from the Willamette. For as soon as tidings reached the AVillamette the provincial government at once entered upon the work of e(|uipping fourteen companies of volunteers by an act of December 9. These volunteers mainly provided their own horses, arms and ammunition, without a thought of pecuniary gain or even reimbursement.

Cornelius Gilliam, father of W. S. Gilliam, of Walla Walla, was chosen . colonel of the regiment, and with great energy pushing all necessary arrangements, he set forth from the rendezvous at The Dalles on February 27th, 1848. Several battles occurred on the way, the most severe being at Sand Hollows, in the Umatilla country. Five Crows and War Eagle, the great fighters of the Cayuse tribe, had gathered their braves to dispute the crossing of the Umatilla river. The former claimed that by his wizard powers he could stop all bullets, and the latter agreed to swallow all that were fired at him. P)Ut at the first onset the "Swallow Ball" was killed, and the wizard was so severely wounded as to be obliged to retire from the war. Nevertheless the Indians maintained a plucky fight and the whites suffered several casualties. The Indians broke at last and the way to Waiilatpu was clear. Gilliam's command reached it on March 4th. They paused several days to recuperate and give a reverent burial to tlie remains of tlie niartvrs, whicli had been liastily covered with earth when Ogden ransomed the captives, but were afterwards partiaUy exliumed In- coyotes. Tiie Lidians had now fallen back to Snake river. Following them thither the whites were somewhat outgeneraled. They surprised and captured a camp of Indians, among whom were, as afterwards discovered, some of the murderers themselves. But the wily Cayuses professed great friendship, and jjointing to a large band of horses on the hill, said that the hostiles had abandoned them and crossed the river. Completely deluded, the whites surrendered the camp and rounding up the horses started on their return. .\nil now the released captives, mounting at once, began a furious attack which proved so harrassing that the volunteers were obliged to retreat to the Touchet, and finally, although they repelled the Indians, they let loose the captured horses. These the Indians seized, vanishing with them over the plains.

But the Indians in general had no wish to fight, and finding that the whites insisted on a surrender of the murderers, the tribe scattered in various directions; Tamsuky with his friends going to the head waters of the Joiin Day. There they remained for two years. In 1850 a band of Umatillas undertook to capture them, and after a fierce fight killed Tamsuky and captured a number. Of the captives five w-ere hanged at Oregon City on June 3d, 1850. The Cayuse Indians assert, however, that only one of those condemned was really guilty. That was Tamahas, who struck Dr. Whitman the first fatal blow. The claim that the others were innocent is very likely true, and if so is but another instance of the lamentable failure to apply either punislnnent or mercy accurately, which has characterized all Imlian wars on both sides. The imiocent have Ixjrne the sins of the guillv in more ways than one.

I\Iany men afterwards famous in Oregon and \Vashington history took part in the Cayuse war. Among those we may name James Nesmith, afterwards United States senator, and father of Mrs. Ankeny, of Walla \\'alla. William Martin, of Pendleton, was a captain in that war. Joel Palmer, Tom McKay, J. M. Garrison and many others bore their part in that beginning, as later in the maturer development of the country. Colonel Gilliam, wdio had shown himself a brave and capable commander, was accidentallv killed on the return, a most melancholy end of a career wdfich was full of promise to this country.

In taking our leave of this great epoch in the varied history of Walla A\'alla, we can only say in the way of reflection, that. grie\- ous as this end of Whitman's career was, it will no doubt ultimately be seen to have produced greater results for this region and tho world than if he had survived to enjoy a W'elb merited rest. For the subsequent development of this section, the founding of Whitman College, and the whole train of circumstances arising from American occupation may be seen in some measure to have grown out of the tragedy of ^^'aiilatpu. Here, as elsewhere, martyrdom seems a necessary accompaniment of the profoundest progress. While the offenses of the Indians cannot be condoned, yet charity compels the admission that the poor creatures were hardl}^ more responsible than the wild beasts who also disputed the ground with civilized man, and though the progress of the world demanded the removal of both as obstacles, yet the disposition of many people to indiscriminate hate and to hold saxages to a higher standard of responsibility than we

The following interview casts so vivid a light on our earlier time, and bears so directly on the Whitman epoch, that we preserve it here entire.

Ixterview With L. T. Boyd

Mr. Boyd is a well-known pioneer of Walla Walla. He came to Oregon in 1843 with the famous wagon train led by Dr. Marcus W^hitman. He drove Dr. Whitman's cart part of the way and was well acquainted with him. On October 5, 1900, he gave the following account of his experience at that time and of his subsequent hfe:

"The way I came to get started was somewhat peculiar. JMy uncle with whom I was living gave me a tremendous thrashing one day, which riled me so that I gathered together my clothes and struck out afoot and alone. I came up into Jackson county, Missouri, and got in with an old farmer and lived with him a couple of years. One day the farmer's daughter told me that my uncle had got wind of where I was and was coming after me. so I skipped out from there and in the spring, having heard that an immigration was going to start from this country, I joined it. We started from Independence, Missouri, in the spring of '43 with about one hundred and fifty wagons which averaged about ten people to the wagon. It was commonly believed by the people in the wagon train that it was Dr. Whitman's influence that brought them togetiier.

ahead with the captain of the immigration, Applegate, in a light wagon. They took with them when they started out each morning, a bundle of long sharp stakes with wdiite rags tied to their tops. Every half mile or so they would set up one of these stakes and the driver of the lead teams of the wagon train took these as his guide posts. When they struck a good place to camp with plenty of grass and water, they would stop and the train when it came up would stay there for the night. I drove the Doctor's cart every other day until we reached Fort Boise and from there I drove it all the way.

"We had a good deal of rough weather along through the country near the Missouri river, but after we got to the Platte we had good weather all the way out. The first bad luck we had was in crossing the Platte. The water was so deep that it would get into the beds of the wagons and we were afraid that we would lose all our provisions. We had to stop and figure out a way of getting the provisions and things that water would spoil, across in some way. At last we hit upon the scheme of building bufYalo boats. So we struck out and killed a lot of 'buffalo and made boats out of their hides in which to take the stuff across. To get the boats across was no small trick in itself. We made long ropes of hide, and when a boat was filled a man would swim his horse to the nearest island, taking the loose end of the rope with him. When he was securely on the island the boat would be swung from the shore and the current would help to put it over to the island. Then the man would gO from that island to the next until the boat and its cargo were ferried across. This process took a lot of time but w as the best we could do. There were some cattle lost bj'- getting mired in the sand and two women came near getting drowned. They had passed one island in safety and were just being swung to another wlien tlieir raft sunk and they were left floundering in the water. They would certainly have perished had it not been for the bravery of Charley .Vpplegate and Air. Gilliam, who swam out from shore and rescued them just as they were being carried into the swift water above the rapids.

"The wagons went in single file until we saw signs of Indians. Then they would form in a column of twos, and if Indians actually came in sight we drove four and four. At night we made a round corral by running the tongue of one wagon up on the hind wheel of the next wagon in front, and then camped inside of that. One wagon would take the lead one day and the next day the wagon behind it would take the lead and the lirst wagon would fall back to the rear. We had to break the sage brush and it would have been too hard for one team to break the road all the time. All along ihe Platte there was heavy sand.

"We crossed the North Platte at the Cottonwood grove and took across and struck the South Platte nearly one hundred miles below Independent Rock, which is right in the gap of the Rocky mountains. We never saw an Indian on the plains except at Cottonwood grove. There we met a war party, and when they saw us coming they all formed in line beside the Indian trail and got off their horses. \\'e came up to them four abreast and formed a corral and put the women and children inside of that. Then we made motions to the Indians to come clown as we wanted to know what they were going to do. They made signs that they wanted to be friendly, so they came down and we gave them bacon, flour and meat and such things as we could spare. When they got ready to go they got up and raisec war whoop, got on their horses and away tl went. This was the only party of Indi; that we saw except the Indians at the foi

"We had hunting parties out nearly the time. We laid over at Sweetwater g for about a week and all the men went t and killed buffalo and antelope and laid ir stock of dried meat. There was plenty game and we had no trouble in getting a I supply. One day when we were about foi miles this side of Sweetwater gap we saw big cloud of dust rising away out to the soul Pretty soon we saw that it was a great he of buffalo heading our way. We hurried i and drove as fast as we could, but the he struck us about mid-way of the train. E Whitman ga\e us orders to make a gap f them, for if we didn't they would make oi for themselves and mash cattle, men ai wagons into the dust. We made a gap aboi two hundred yards wide for them and killed lot of them as they went through. The catt of the front wagons got scared and ran f' about a mile before they could be stoppe They turned one wagon right over on top of family of three little children, but fortunate no one was hurt. Another time some buft'a came near camp and scared a team so that ran away and ran o\er a woman and broke little child's arm.

"Not long after starting we held an ele tion and elected Dr. Whitman guide, or pile as you might say, because he knew the route well, and especially from Fort Hall down 1 knew it perfectly. Jesse Applegate w: elected captain until we got to Fort Ha' There some of the wagons got to lagging b hind and we broke up into two trains. Lim say Applegate took charge of the head trai and Charley Applegate took charge of the hir train. The trains arrived about a week the lost one and sometimes he would get back apart. After we got this side of the Black to the train before they did. He did most of Hills the wagons took their own gait, staying the doctoring. There was not much sickness in companies of four or ti\'e wagons, and were in the immigratidn. only two deaths; a little scattered from that time until we reached the child died on the way and a man named Richvalley. Whitman stayed in the first train all ardson died at Fort Hall, the time. When his team fagged the com- "They looked to Whitman for everything; p;iny would furnish cattle and he would go on. for orders and for directions to travel. When "Dr. Whitman would give us family we came to the Black Plills he told us he would jirayer ever}- night and morning and preach have to stop and make roads across the swamp, once in a while, probably two sermons a week; He superintended the making of the corduroy nearly every Sunday evening he would have a roads in person. It took us two weeks to cut sermon. He would give out word every morn poles and carr^- them in. We laid down three ing that he would have family prayers, and long poles or strings of poles for stringers and as regular as the night came he would coma then laid other poles across them. There was out to the guard tent and have prayer out about a mile of road in one place and a quarter there. Everyone thought a great deal of him. of a mile in another that we had to build, but They thought that what he said was about; there were so many of us that it did not take right. Of course there were some that didn't long. Dr. Whitman did the managing of it like him, but that was only natural because and stayed right with the company till they got there were so many of them. it done, working right along with the rest of "I have heard him say that he went back the men. I do not think a more willing man to Washington on business, but he never talked to do work e\-er drew breath, and if there was much about it, or told what particular busi- anything that needed attention anvwhere in ness he went back on. the camp, he would get up at any time of "He was sandy complexioned, a man that night to attend to it. He was always in the would stand about five feet seven or eight, and place where there \N-as the greatest need of when he talked he talked fast. His eyes, I some one to take hold and do things, think, were blue, his mouth tolerably small and "At Fort Hall the Hudson's Bay ofificials his teeth very white and even. As well as I and trappers tried to get us to turn and go to can recollect, his forehead was rather square California. They were going in that way and his temples came out full and his brows trapping and they did not want us in their were shaggy. He had a heavy beard. He l.unting grounds: but we had our heads set on was raw-boned, broad shouldered and stood as Oregon and we made up our minds to go straight as an Indian. He was a good horse- through. Then they tried their best to get us man and had splendid powers of endurance, to leave our wagons and pack our stufif the He could stand almost anything and was al- rest of the way on horses. They said that we ways ready to take the lead in danger or work, cnuldn't cross the rivers, that the Indians It any one was out longer than usual, he was would scalp us and dri\e our stock off, and the first one to say: 'Come, boys, let's go and that even with pack-honses the trail was lumt for him." Sometimes they would find difficult, but with wagons it was impossible.

Dr. Whitman got up and told the men that tney could get their wagons the rest of the way just as easily as they had gotten them to Fort Hall, and he told us that he had already taken his wagon there. We told the Hudson's Bay people that we had made up our minds to follow Dr. Whitman and wherever he went or said we could go we were going.

"We thought that Oregon belonged to the Indians and in the long run would belong to the United States unless the English got hold of it, and they were trying mighty hard to get hold of it. The settlers made no difference between the land north of the Columbia river and soutli of it ; it was all Oregon to the Siskiyou mountains. It was the treaty of 1846 that really settled the Oregon question, and we all felt that it was our settling in Oregon in 1843 that saved the country to the United States.

"Along in the winter of 1842 Whitman made a speech at Independence, Missouri, and it was published and they got hold of it down in Franklin county and St. Louis. He made this speech at Independence on his way to Washington. D. C. It got spread around that there was to be an immigration the next spring, and a rendezvous was appointed at a place about ten miles from Independence. When Whitman came back from Washington in .\pril. he made another speech that he was going to take this immigration through to Oregon and that he would go all the way with them.

"When we got to the Snake river an amusing incident occurred that came well nigh being fatal in its outcome. At the first crossing a Dutchman named Stemmerman tried to tlrive a cow across, as she would not Icail. When the cow got to swimming water, ho took hold of her tail to help himself along.

The cow did not like this performance, and tin-ning around gave him a jab in the ribs with her horns. He let go the cow's tail and sank. As he did not come up some of the men jumped in and brought him out, and then we h.ad to roll him over a Cottonwood log until he came to.

"When we got to the Grande Ronde valley the Doctor was called up to the Clearwater to attend Mrs. Spalding, so he left us and we w ent on. \\"e came right through Union and LaGrande and up past where Baker City now is. Coming through the Blue mountains we had a pretty hard time building corduroy roads in man\- places, and in general experienced about the hardest part of the whole trip almost at its end.

"If I recollect right it was about the middle of September when we struck the Whitman mission. We found an adobe house about 30x40, some out-buildings and a corral made of willow brush. The Hour mill had been burned by the Indians during the Doctor's absence.

"I believe that tliere were ten wagons that stopped at the station during the winter and the rest of the wagons went on down into the valley. When the cattle got rested up they came to The Dalles and came down in boats from there.

"We got news that the Indians were getting bad and we came up to kind of corral them. They all appeared to be friendly and we took a notion to take a little scout up around the Snake and Clearwater. We roved around until the news came that the Indians had killed Wliitman and all the family. We gathered together and came bagk again and staved for about eighteen months, ransacking the country all over. The Indians got word that we were hunting them and tliey brought the girls that they had captured to \\'alhila, then Fort W'alla W'alla. We had one skirmish up here about four miles this side of the mouth of the Clearwater. We killed about forty of them and threw them in the river. While we were counting litjw many we liad killed, we ran across one old Indian whose horse had fallen on him and pinned him to the ground. As we came along he pulled his bow and arrow on us. but he only shot a couple of his shafts before we fixed him and threw him in the river with the rest. Only two of our boys were wounded and they not enough to make them stay behind.

"We got a lot of them corralled in the Big Bend about ten o'clock one night and waited until daybreak to pick our ground to fight. 1 he next morning at daybreak we opened fire on tliem, and, as the saying is, "the river ran red.' We didn't show any mercy on them and when the fight was o\-er we took some scalps in regular Indian style and strung them to our saddle bows. The Indians fought with bows and arrows and old flint locks, but they were pretty good fighters. This was our last big fight and it occurred about eighteen months after the massacre. When we got back to Wallula they tried to get us to go l^ack with the regulars to the valley, but we said we hadn't followed the regulars up here and weren't going to follow them back."