CHAPTER IV.

INDIAN WARS.

1855-1856.

CAUSES OF THE INDIAN OUTBREAK-DISCOVERY OF GOLD NEAR FORT COL VILLE YAKIMAS HOSTILE-EXPEDITIONS OF MAJOR O. G. HALLER INTO THE SNAKE AND YAKIMA COUNTRIES-YAKIMA CAMPAIGN OF 1855MOVEMENT OF TROOPS ON THE SOUND-ATTACK ON SEATTLE-WAR VESSELS ON THE SOUND-WALLA WALLA CAMPAIGN OF THE OREGON VOLUNTEERS OPERATIONS OF THE SECOND OREGON REGIMENT-ATTACK ON THE CASCADES-COLONEL CORNELIUS RETURNS TO PORTLAND.

THE reader of Oregon history will remember that mention is made of the massacre of the Ward train by the Snake Indians near Fort Boisé in the autumn of 1854. Major Granville O. Haller, stationed at Fort Dalles, made a hasty expedition into the Snake country, intended to show the Indians that the government would not remain inactive while its citizens were subjected to these outrages. The march served no other purpose than to give this notice, for the guilty Indians had retired into their mountain fastnesses, and the season being late for recrossing the Blue Mountains, Haller returued to The Dalles. The following summer, however, he led another expedition into the Boisé Valley, and following up the trails, finally captured and executed the murderers.

In

Hardly had he returned to Fort Dalles when news reached him of trouble in the Yakima country. the spring of 1855 gold had been discovered in the region of Fort Colville, which caused the usual rush of miners to the gold fields, making it difficult for Governor Stevens to restrain his escort from deserting.1

1 Pac. R. R. Rept, 201.

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PIERRE JEROME AND BOLON.

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He proceeded on his mission, informing the tribes. of the Upper Columbia, Kettle Falls, Spokanes, Pend d'Oreilles, and Coeur d'Alenes, that on his return he would negotiate with them for the sale of their lands.

But the Indians were not satisfied with their treaty, nor with the influx of white men. About the first of August Pierre Jerome, chief of the Kettle Falls people, declared that no Americans should pass through his country. From Puget Sound several small parties set forth for Colville by the Nisqually pass and the trail leading through the Yakima country by the way of the catholic mission of Ahtanahm, and about the middle of September it was rumored that some of them had been killed by the Yakimas. A. J. Bolon, special agent for the Yakimas, was on his way to the Spokane country, where he expected to meet Stevens on his return from Fort Benton, and assist in the appointed councils and treaties with this and the neighboring tribes. He had passed The Dalles on this errand when he was met by Chief Garry of the Spokanes with these reports, and he at once turned back to investigate them.

The catholic mission, near which was the home of Kamiakin, was between sixty and seventy miles in a north-easterly direction from The Dalles, and to this place he determined to go in order to learn from Kamiakin himself the truth or falsity of the stories concerning the Yakimas. Unattended he set out on this business, to show by his coming alone his confidence in the good faith of the tribe, and to disarm any fears they might have of the intentions of the white people. His absence being protracted beyond

2

The Ahtanahm mission was established by the oblate fathers who came to the country in 1847, and by Brouillette. It was in charge of Pandosy in 1855, but owing to the absence of this priest, was, at the time of Bolon's visit, temporarily in charge of Brouillette. This priest seems to have been unfortunate in the matter of being housed by American-killing Indians.

Gibbs says that Kamiakin had avoided meeting Bolon since the treaty, but that Skloom, his brother, had told Bolon that a war council had been held in the Grand Rond Valley, and that he, Skloom, had spoken against war; and that Lawyer also informed Bolon of this council. Bolon must have hoped to influence Kamiakin. Swan's N. W. Coast, 426.

the time required, Nathan Olney, agent at The Dalles, sent out an Indian spy, who returned with the information that Bolon had been murdered while returning to The Dalles, by the order of Kamiakin, and by the hand of his nephew, a son of Owhi, his half-brother, and a chief of the Umatillas, who shot him in the back while pretending to escort him on his homeward journey, cut his throat, killed his horse, and burned both bodies, together with whatever property was attached to either.

All this Kamiakin confessed to the Des Chutes chief, who acted as spy, saying that he was determined on war, which he was prepared to carry on, if necessary, for five years; that no Americans should come into his country; that all the tribes were invited to join him, and that all who refused would be held to be foes, who would be treated in the same manner as Americans the adults killed, and the children enslaved. The report of the spy was confirmed by a letter from Brouillette, who wrote to Olney that war had been the chief topic among the Yakimas since their return from the council. It was now quite certain that an Indian war, more or less general, was at hand.

Without any authoritative promulgation, the rumor of the threatened coalition spread, and about the 20th of September returning miners brought the report that certain citizens had been killed in passing through the Yakima country. As soon as it became certainly

This boast was not an idle one. Gibbs says that the Yakimas had laid in large stores of powder, and that Qualchin, the son of Owhi, had purchased 300 pounds at The Dalles some time before the war commenced. He further says that Kamiakin did not intend to begin the war so soon, but meant to wait until the Columbia should be frozen, so that no succor could reach the people at The Dalles and elsewhere. Swan's N. W. Coast, 427-8.

5 Letter of O. Humason in Or. Statesman, Oct. 6, 1855; Armstrong's Or., 108; Dowell's Scrap-Book, 89, 96, 100; Parrish's Or. Anecdotes, MS., 80; Gray's Hist. Or., 95; Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 56, 60; Palmer's rept to com. of Ind. aff., in U. S. II. Ex. Doc., 93, pp. 55-61, 34th cong. 1st sess., Ind. Aff., vol. 34; letter of Supt Palmer, in Or. Statesman, Oct. 13, 1855; U. S. II. Ex. Doc., 1, p. 335, 512-15, vol. i., part i., 34th cong. 1st sess.; Ibid., p. 73-89, vol. i., part ii.; Stevens' Speech on War Claims, 6, 16.

RAINES AND HALLER.

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known, Acting Governor Mason made a requisition upon forts Vancouver and Steilacoom for troops to protect travellers by that route, and also intimated to the commanding officers that, as Governor Stevens expected to be in the Spokane country in September, under the circumstances a detachment of soldiers might be of assistance to him.

Meanwhile Major Raines, who regarded Kamiakin and Peupeumoxmox as the chiefs most to be dreaded, ordered eighty-four men under Haller from Fort Dalles to pass into the Yakima country and coöperate with a force sent from Steilacoom. Haller set forth on the 3d of October. His route lay over a gradual elevation for ten miles north of the Columbia to the summit of the bald range of hills constituting the Klikitat Mountains. Beyond these was the Klikitat Valley, fifteen miles in width, north of which stretched the timbered range of the Simcoe Mountains, beyond which again was the Simcoe Valley, on the northern boundary of which, about sixty miles from The Dalles, was the home of Kamiakin and the Altanahm mission, the objective point of the expedi

tion.

It was not until the third day, and when the troops were descending a long hill to a stream skirted with dense thickets of small trees, that any Indians were seen. At this point, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Indians attacked, being concealed in the thick undergrowth mentioned. There was a sharp engagement lasting until nightfall, when the Yakimas withdrew, leaving Haller with eight killed and

The first person known to be killed by the Yakimas was Henry Mattice of Olympia. One of the Eatons, the first settlers east of Tumwater, was also killed, and other citizens of Puget Sound, to the number of about 20, among whom were Fanjoy, Walker, and Jemison of Seattle.

7 Cram, in his Top. Mem., 90, says that Haller attacked the Indians without authority from his commanding officer, quoting from Raines' official address to the Yakimas to prove it, which runs as follows: 'I sent this handful of soldiers into your country to inquire into the facts of the murder of Indian agent Bolon; it was not expected that they should fight you.' Haller, in his report, says he was attacked, and Raines' reproof of the Yakimas shows that he was. No other version was ever given until Cram undertook to vindicate the course of Gen. Wool.

wounded men. That night the troops lay upon their arms. In the morning the attack was renewed, the Indians endeavoring to surround Haller as he moved to a bold eminence at the distance of a mile. Here the troops fought all day without water and with little food. It was not until after dark that a messenger was despatched to The Dalles to apprise Raines of the situation of the command and obtain reënforcements.

The

The cavalry horses and pack-animals, being by this time in a suffering state, were allowed to go free at night to find water and grass, except those necessary to transport the wounded and the ammunition. Toward evening of the third day the troops moved down to the river for water, and not meeting with any resistance, Haller determined to fall back toward The Dalles with his wounded. The howitzer was spiked and buried, and such of the baggage and provisions as could not be transported was burned. command was organized in two divisions, the advance under Haller to take care of the wounded, and the rear under Captain Russell to act as guard. In the darkness the guide led the advance off the trail, on discovering which Haller ordered fires to be lighted in some fir trees to signal to the rear his position, at the same time revealing it to the Indians, who, as soon as daylight came, swarmed around him on every side, following and harassing the command for ten miles. On getting into the open country a stand was made, and Haller's division fought during the remainder of the day, resuming the march at night, Russell failing to discover his whereabouts. When twenty-five miles from The Dalles Haller was met by Lieutenant Day of the 3d artillery with forty-five men, who, finding the troops in retreat, proceeded to the border of the Yakima country merely to keep up a show of activity on the part of the army. Lieutenant W. A. Slaughter with fifty men had crossed the Cascades by the Nachess pass, with the design of reënforcing Haller, but finding a large number of Indians in the field, and hearing that