Frances Fuller Victor

“ Whatever Colonel Kelly may have hoped from the subjugation of the Walla Walla chief was probably accomplished by his death, which, under the circumstances, was evidently unavoidable. There was, however, a scandal created in military circles by the uncivilized and unjustifiable mutilation of the body of Peu-peu-mox-mox by the volunteers, who cut off the ears and pieces of the scalp to keep as souvenirs. It is not the office of the historian to excuse the barbarities of either race. ”

“ General Wool, in his letter to the National Intelligencer, speaking of the Yakima campaign, said that Rains had ample force, without the volunteers, to have defeated all the Indians in the country, but that the major "partaking somewhat of the alarm pervading the country, increased and stimulated by political demagogues," called for two companies from Washington, and four from Oregon, but that Governor Curry called for a regiment which was not, nor any part of it, "in any sense of the term, necessary to defend the inhabitants of Oregon." ”

“ It is, however, true that retaliation is an important part of the spirit of war, and that the mutilation in a comparatively slight degree of the dead body of a noted chief was hardly a sufficient reprisal, in a retaliatory sense, for the horrible atrocities perpetrated upon living men, women, and children by the groundless hatred of his race. ”

“ As affairs stand, it is my humble opinion that it might not be prudent to make your way hither with the force at your command of one hundred and fifty men. I have requested the bearers of this dispatch to proceed to The Dalles with the letters to the respective addresses of Messrs. Olney and Noble; and placed as we are, a mere handful of men, destitute of ammunition, the sooner assistance is tendered to us the better, for Serpent Jaune daily threatens to burn our houses and to kill us, and he is not the only enemy we have to dread. ”

“ Every interest of the people in the first instance was in favor of peace; but the peace once, nay many times, broken, the preservation of their lives and property forced upon them the alternative of war, even to extermination, the end of which was, as we have seen, first conquest, and finally banishment for the inferior race. ”

“ Whereas it has been deemed advisable that such companies, or parts of companies, as may so desire of the first regiment Oregon mounted volunteers, should be relieved from the arduous service in which they have been so honorably distinguished, and in order to maintain the successes achieved by the valor and ability of our citizen soldiery against the combined tribes of hostile Indians, and to insure a vigorous prosecution of the war to a successful termination, it is necessary that the efficient strength of the regiment should be preserved. ”

“ We wanted to instruct you in all our learning; to make axes, ploughs, and hoes to cultivate the ground; blankets to keep you from the cold; steamboats and steam-wagons which fly along swifter that the birds fly, and to use the lightning which makes the thunder in the heavens to carry talk, and serve as a servant. ”

“ William Chinook at The Dalles, Lawyer, chief of the Nez Percés, Sticcas, and We-atti-natti-timine, bias tyee of the Cayuses, and many others of their people, can tell you what I say is true. You, a few people, we can see with our glasses a long way off, while the whites are as the stars in the heavens, or leaves of the trees in summer time. Our warriors in the field are many, as you must see; but if not enough, a thousand for every one more will be sent to hunt you, and to kill you ”

“ I issue this my proclamation calling for eight companies of mounted volunteers, to remain in force until duly discharged; each company to consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, and sixty privates, each volunteer, if possible, to furnish his own horse, arms, and equipments; each company to elect its own officers, and rendezvous without delay on the right bank of the Willamette river, opposite Portland, where they will be mustered into service on reporting to the adjutant-general of the territory. ”

“ Your cattle and your horses, which you got from the white man, we will hunt up, and kill and take them from you. The earth which drank the blood of the white man, shed by your hands, shall grow no more wheat nor roots for you, for we will destroy it. ”

“ Two Nez Percé chiefs now here, Joseph and Red Wolf, desire me to tell you that all their tribe is for peace; that they will suffer no hostile Indians to remain among them. In justice to Pierre (Walla Walla chief) , I beg to say that he stuck to his charge until forced away by Serpent Jaune and his people, but not until they had robbed three different times out of the fort. ”

“ Dispatching Craig with a part of the Nez Percé delegation to Lapwai, to arrange in advance for a council and to engage an escort to The Dalles, he enlarged his party by recruits of twenty miners and others waiting to get through the warring tribes, forming a battalion which he called the "Stevens Guards and Spokane Invincibles," consisting of fifty men, all told. Procuring the best horses in the country, reducing every pack to eighty pounds, that he might fight or fly, as occasion required, he began his march to meet, for ought he knew, the whole force of the hostile combination. ”

“ Olney that ever since the treaty council in the spring, war had been the absorbing topic among the Indians about the Ahtanahm mission.
That the Yakimas were prepared for war was ascertained to be quite true, large stores of powder having been purchased notwithstanding the legislative act against selling arms and ammunition to the Indians, and everything pointed to a combination of several powerful tribes, including the hitherto friendly Walla Wallas, and the Spokanes. ”

“ But the Spokanes, in the fullness of their friendship, warned him against the Nez Percés, who, they contended, were hostile; especially Looking Glass. This chief, they confided to Stevens, had laid a snare for him when he should arrive in the Nez Percé country; and the story was confirmed by the Delaware interpreter, who had been sent to spy upon Looking Glass, and who overheard him unraveling his plot to the Spokanes, and counseling them to treachery. "I never communicated," says Stevens, "to Looking Glass my knowledge of his plans, but knowing them I knew how to meet them in council. ”

“ The volunteers were confined between the Walla Walla river on their right and the hills on their left; and the Indians having become strong enough late in the afternoon, formed a line across the plain to prevent the advance of the troops, extending from the foothills to the river, and being partly covered by a growth of shrubby trees, which served as a shelter. It was here that the battle raged hottest. ”

“ Shaw was ordered to throw up defensive works around the winter camp of the friendly Indians and French settlers, and to protect in like manner the settlers at Spokane and Colville, at the same time coöperating with Colonel Cornelius in any movement he might make against the Indians in arms. He agreed with the Oregon officers that the Walla Walla valley should be held by the volunteers until the regular troops were ready to take the field, and that the war should be vigorously prosecuted. ”

“ Colonel Cornelius, who wished to confer with Governor Curry, on the sixth of April took up his line of march for The Dalles with a portion of his command, his route lying along the north side of the Columbia. At Cañon creek, four days' march from Walla Walla, he was attacked by Kamiakin and a force of nearly three hundred Indians, when an engagement took place in which the Yakimas were defeated, with the loss of only one man wounded on the side of the volunteers. ”

“ Thus hard pressed, the haughty chief reluctantly consented to remain as a hostage for the fulfillment of his word and the safety of his people, saying that the following morning he would take the troops to his village and arrange the business. He also assured the colonel that none of his people would remove during the night. A guard was placed over him and his six men, and the command, by request of the chief, moved towards his village to find some beef cattle, the men having had nothing to eat all day. On the march the sixty or more Walla Walla warriors traveled unmolested with the troops. ”

“ No reference was made to the fact that Governor Stevens with a small party was in the Blackfoot or Cœur d'Alene country, unable, presumably, to come through the hostile tribes who were determined upon cutting him off; nor to the fact that acting Governor Mason had intimated to the military authorities at Vancouver that he desired them to do something for the relief of Stevens, and had at last caused to be raised a company for this purpose, which was commanded by special Indian agent B. F. Shaw, successor to the murdered Bolan. ”

“ The incident, however, proved that this Nez Percé chief was no more sincere in signing the treaty of Walla Walla than Peu-peu-mox-mox or Kamiakin, but that it had been signed by these three at least only to gain time to prepare for war.
What so difficult as to learn the mind of an Indian? ”

“ The organization called into the field by Governor Curry for service in the Yakima war, was styled the "First Regiment of Oregon Mounted Volunteers," being raised to ten companies through ready volunteering. J. W. Nesmith, formerly brigadier-general of Oregon, was chosen colonel; James K. Kelly, lieutenant-colonel; Ambrose N. Armstrong, senior major; and Mark A. Chinn, junior major.
The facilities for moving troops, subsistence, and baggage into the Indian country east of the Cascades were scarcely better than during the period of the Cayuse war. ”

“ In order to show his confidence in the good disposition of the Yakimas, he traveled unattended, and consequently only Indian evidence was obtainable of what occurred between the agent and the chief. It was said that the latter was insolent and threatening, and that Skloom, the brother of Kamiakin, informed Bolan that a council of war had been held in Grand Rond valley, at which he, and Lawyer of the Nez Percés, had spoken in favor of peace. ”

“ McBean came to my assistance and offered the services of his son John, who, in company with another man, will be the bearer of this. The news is gloomy and very different from what I had reason to expect when I left The Dalles on my way hither. Serpent Jaune (Peu-peu-mox-mox ) has shown his colors, and is a declared foe to the Americans. He has taken possession of the fort and pillaged it, government as well as Hudson's Bay Company's property; has placed himself on the south side of the Walla Walla river, on the hills, guarding the road with a force, it is said, of a thousand. ”

“ The young men on the Umatilla river are disposed for war, and John Whitford and Tolman instigate them to it. The chiefs of that place, at least the majority of them, are on the balance, and have not yet decided; but Stockalah and Welaptelekt, with their people, have joined the Cayuses, and are doing all in their power to have them join against the Americans. The chiefs of this valley have remained firm and will not join the unfriendly Indians. Their conduct, since Mr. Olney's departure, has been praiseworthy, and did all they could to prevent Mr. ”

“ You say that you will fight us with thousands, and if vanquished, those of you that remain will kill all your women and children, and then the country will be ours. The country is ours already, as you must see from our assembled army ”