Copyright 2000 - 2003 - Janine M. Bork
This page is part of the
Union County, OR AGHP
Condition of Washington Territory at the Time of the Outbreak - Company A, Washington Territory Volunteers, Reports to Captain Maloney, U.S. Army, Fort Steilacoom - Captain Maloney's Expedition Towards the Yakima Country - Killing of Moses and Miles - Company B, Captain William Strong, Reports to Major Rains - Uprising of Indians on the Sound - Captain Eaton's Command Besieged - Massacre of Families on White River - War Policy Established - Hostile Ground Defined - Battle with Hostiles on White River, November 3d - Killing of John Edgar - Disposition of Forces by Captain Maloney, U.S. Army - Night Attack by Hostiles - Killing of Lieutenant William A. Slaughter, U.S. Army, and Two Corporals by Kanaskut - The Steamer Active Cruises near Steilacoom - Return of Governor Stevens from Blackfoot Council - Hostility of General Wool to the People and Authorities of Oregon and Washington.
Condition of Washington Territory at the Time of the Outbreak
- Company A, Washington Territory Volunteers, Reports to Captain Maloney,
U.S. Army, Fort Steilacoom - Captain Maloney's Expedition
Towards the Yakima Country - Killing of Moses and Miles - Company B, Captain
William Strong, Reports to Major Rains - Uprising of
Indians on the Sound - Captain Eaton's Command Besieged - Massacre of Families
on
White River - War Policy Established - Hostile Ground
Defined - Battle with Hostiles on White River, November 3d - Killing of
John Edgar -
Disposition of Forces by Captain Maloney, U.S. Army -
Night Attack by Hostiles - Killing of Lieutenant William A. Slaughter,
U.S. Army, and
Two Corporals by Kanaskut - The Steamer Active Cruises
near Steilacoom - Return of Governor Stevens from Blackfoot Council - Hostility
of General Wool to the People and Authorities of Oregon
and Washington.
BEFORE passing to the narrative of events, a recurrence
to the condition of the territory becomes interesting. The hitherto uniform
and
peaceable character of the Indians, the contempt or pity
indulged by the settlers for their weak, forlorn and destitute condition,
the fact that they had so recently and so cordially entered into the treaties,
ceding their title to the lands with the accompanying pledge that they
would live in friendship with the Whites, had created the feeling of perfect
security in our recognized superiority; and the idea was contemned that
there
could by any possibility be any cause of dread or apprehension
from such an enemy. The territory was illy supplied with arms and ammunition.
The necessary supplies to maintain either offensive or
defensive war were almost entirely lacking. Such weapons as had been in
the country had been carried off by the miners; and, without a thought
that they would be so soon required, but few had refurnished themselves.
On hearing the news from the Yakima county, on being apprised of the real
danger which surrounded the settlements, and in fact within our very midst,
the reaction at once carried the people to the other extreme; - the situation
amounted almost to a "stampede." Too late to prevent its first unfortunate
consequences, the fact was apparent that an Indian war existed; that we
had to combat an enemy whose power to inflict injury was
not to be despised, who had to be chastised, who had
to be taught submission.
The company of volunteers enrolled at Olympia,
in response to Governor Mason's proclamation (Company A), elected Gilmore
Hays, Captain,
Jared S. Hurd, First Lieutenant, and William Martin,
second Lieutenant. That company reported to Captain Maurice Maloney, Fourth
Infantry,
U.S. Army, in command at Fort Steilacoom, on Saturday,
October 20th. On Sunday, the twenty-first, Company A, Washington Territory
Volunteers, started for the Yakima country via the Nahchess
Pass. Lieutenant Slaughter,
with forty United States regulars, was encamped on White
river prairie where, upon the twenty-first, he had been joined by Captain
Maloney
with seventy-five United States infantry. They remained
there until the twenty-fourth, at which time, captain Hay's company of
volunteers
having come up, the expedition, under command of Captain
Maloney, U.S. Army, marched to the Nahchess river, which they reached on
the
28th of October. At that point, captain Maloney remained
to recruit the animals. He sent in an express to Lieutenant Nugen, U.S.
Army, in
command at Fort Steilacoom, that the delay in the march
of the troops from Fort Vancouver, the reliably reported heavy force of
the hostile
Indians in front, the alarming character of the reports
in the rear as to the disaffection of the Puget Sound Indians, and the
actual outbreak of
many since the troops had left Fort Steilacoom, had occasioned
him (Captain Maloney) to determine upon returning with his command to the
west of the mountains to protect the Puget Sound settlements.
The express party to Lieutenant Nugen consisted of A. Benton Moses, Joseph
Miles, George R. Bright, Dr. Matthew P. Burns, Antonio
B. Rabbeson and William Tidd. On Wednesday, October 31st, the party were
fired upon from an ambush near White river; and Messrs. Moses and Miles
were instantly killed. Upon the recovery of their bodies they were found
shockingly mutilated. After severe suffering and hardships, the surviving
members of the party succeeded in reaching the settlements.
Equal promptness had been displayed
in raising the second company of volunteers, ordered by Governor Mason's
proclamation to report to
Major Rains, U.S. Army, at Fort Vancouver. That company
(Company B) elected William Strong (late Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of
Oregon), captain. A company of volunteers, commanded
by Captain Robert Newell, consisting of trappers and others well acquainted
with the
country, had been raised about the same time for scouting
purposes in the vicinity of Fort Vancouver, and had been accepted into
the service of the United States. Upon the withdrawal of the troops from
Fort Vancouver, the citizens organized a company of fifty men at Vancouver
for home defense, of which William Kelly was elected captain.
The threatening condition of
affairs on Puget Sound foreshadowed by Captain Maloney's dispatch to Lieutenant
Nugen had been fully
realized. No sooner had the force under Captain Maloney
left Fort Steilacoom for the Yakima country, than the Indians west of the
mountains
evinced unmistakable evidence that they were disaffected,
that they were well apprised of the movements of the hostile Yakimas, and
in close
communication with them. those facts prompted Acting
Governor Mason, on the 19th of October, to authorize Captain Charles H.
Eaton to raise
a company of rangers. The conduct of Leschi and Quiemuth
and their bands of disaffected Nisquallys had rendered necessary such action.
The
company was fully organized (forty-one strong), elected
him captain, James McAllister, James Tullis and Alonzo M. Poe lieutenants,
and took
the field on the 24th of October. Captain Eaton had come
to Oregon in 1843, and was thoroughly acquainted with the country and with
the
Indians. No wiser selection, considering the peculiar
duties imposed, could have been made. James McAllister, First Lieutenant,
was an old
citizen and pioneer of Thurston county (1844). Captain
Eaton was instructed to divide his company into three parties and scour
the whole
country along the western base of the Cascade Mountains
between the Snoqualmie Pass and the Lewis River Pass of the Cascades, and
intercept communication between the Indians west of the
Cascades and the Indians east. He was especially enjoined to notify all
Indians found
upon the line of march to remove west to the shores of
Puget Sound; and upon their willingness or refusal so to remove was to
be determined
their friendly or hostile disposition.
On the 28th of October, Captain
Eaton having received news that Leschi, with a large party of Indians,
were fishing twelve miles distant on
the White river, at the crossing by the military road
from Fort Steilacoom to Fort Walla Walla, Lieutenant James McAllister applied
for
permission to make a friendly visit to them, which was
granted. He was accompanied by Mr. Connell and two friendly Indians. The
whole party were treacherously killed by a band of the hostiles led by
Quiemuth long before reaching Leschi's camp. About an hour after Lieutenant
McAllister had left camp, Captain Eaton, accompanied by James W. Wiley
(1), made a reconnaissance of a slough lying ahead about three-quarters
of a mile, which had been passed en route to White river. Upon returning,
and before they had reached the house which his small command (now reduced
to eleven) occupied, several shots had been fired by the hostiles. Captain
Eaton at once abandoned the house (that of Charles Baden, and built of
thin cedar boards), and fell back to an Indian log cabin, in which had
been stored a quantity of oats, wheat, peas, salmon skins and berries.
A log Indian barn looking to the eastward was demolished to insure safety;
and the cabin was additionally fortified, as far as practicable. The baggage
was transferred from Baden's house. The horses were picketed about two
hundred yards to the northward of the cabin, and a water cask brought from
the house and filled. At sundown the Indians attacked the cabin in force,
and kept up a constant fire until after two o'clock, and at intervals thereafter
during the remainder of the night. The horses of the command were all stolen
by the Indians. On the next morning, Captain Eaton strengthened his position.
At eleven o'clock, an express from Fort Steilacoom, en route to
Captain Maloney's camp, three in number, came into the fortification. Eaton's
gallant little band maintained their position for one hundred and one hours
without losing a man, and then effected their escape to Steilacoom. It
is not known what was the loss of the enemy. Indian testimony, however,
has fixed the number of Indians killed at seven.
On the 22d of October, Governor Mason called for four additional companies, to be considered "a reserve force," and liable at any moment to be called into the field. The call of the executive was promptly responded to; and the various settlements erected blockhouses, and otherwise placed themselves in a posture of defense. James Tilton was commissioned as adjutant-general of the volunteer forces. To avoid complications as to rank between the regiment of Oregon volunteers commanded by Colonel Nesmith, and the regulars commanded by Major G.J. Rains, U.S. Army, the latter was appointed brigadier-general of Washington Territory Volunteers by Acting Governor Mason.
Corroborative of the fact that a general combination of Indians had been formed against the settlers of the Sound was the horrible massacre of a number of families upon White river, in King county. Christopher C. Hewitt, afterwards chief justice of the territory, captain of the company raised at Seattle, in a letter dated November 5th, in that county, thus communicated the sickening intelligence: "We started Monday morning (October 29th) for the scene of action. After two days' hard work, we made the house of Mr. Cox, which we found robbed. We next went to Mr. Jones', whose house had been burnt to the ground; and Mr. Jones, being sick at the time, was burnt in it. The body of Mrs. Jones was found some thirty yards from the house, shot through the lower part of the lungs, her face and jaws horribly broken and mutilated, apparently with the head of an axe. The bones of Mr. Jones were found, the flesh having been roasted
(1) James
W. Wiley was editor of the Pioneer and Democrat, published at Olympia,
long the only newspaper printed within the territory. He was a zealous
advocate of the division of Oregon Territory, which resulted in the establishment
of the territorial government of Washington, and was a member of the Monticello
convention, November 25, 1852, called to promote that object. He served
three years as a member of the territorial Council. He died at Olympia,
March 30, 1860, in the fortieth year of age.
and eaten off by hogs. Mr. Cooper, who had lived with Mr. Jones, was found about one hundred and fifty yards from the house, shot through the lungs. After burying the bodies, we proceeded to the house of W.H. Brown, a mile distant. Mrs. Brown and her infant, apparently ten months old, we found in the well, the mother stabbed in the back and head and also in the lower part of the left breast, the child not dressed, but no marks of violence noticeable upon it. Mr. Brown was found in the house, literally cut to pieces. We next went to the house of Mr. King, or to the site of it, for it had been burnt to the ground. Mr. Jones and the two little children were burnt in the house; and the body of Mr. King, after being roasted, had been almost eaten up by hogs. Mrs. King was some thirty yards from the house. She had been shot through the heart and was horribly mutilated. Three children were saved, one the son of Mr. King, and two of Mr. Jones."
The territory of Washington had reached a critical period in its history. An active enemy was in the field composed of malcontents from a number of tribes. It was not known nor could it be ascertained, to what extent the disaffection existed. Governor Mason and Colonel Simmons, Indian Agent, at this time inaugurated a war policy, which had for its object the segregation of the friendly Indians, or those who had not yet joined the hostiles, and their separation from those who were in the field. The war was declared to be a war against the Indians who located upon the east side of the Sound, who disregarded the protection of the government, who refused to come in upon the reservation, - against the hostile Indians, or those who had chosen to stay on ground declared to be hostile and under the interdict of military operations. A numerous corps of sub-agents were appointed to collect all the Indians at convenient localities upon the west side of the Sound. To this policy, successfully carried out, more than to any other agency, were the people of the Sound country indebted for the checking of the Indian outbreak, the circumscribing of the war limits and the lessening of the number of hostiles. Had not this been done, nothing possibly could have averted a general Indian war.
It is proper to chronicle the embarrassments of the volunteer service. The people at this time were almost without arms and ammunition. The authorities were unable to arm the volunteers who were ready to serve. In this exigency, the executive department made requisitions on the military posts of Fort Steilacoom and Fort Vancouver. Those posts were almost as indifferently supplied, and could not issue either. Failing there, Governor Mason called upon Captain Sterrett, of the U.S. sloop-of-war, Decatur, then lying at Seattle, and upon Captain W.C. Pease, of the revenue cutter Jefferson Davis. The prompt, generous and hearty co-operation of both those gallant officers entitled them to the lasting gratitude of the people. Captain Sterrett purchased at his own risk, and upon his private credit, all the arms which could be procured in the town of Seattle, and liberally furnished all the arms which could be spared from his ship. He also stationed Lieutenant Drake and a boat's howitzer at Seattle, to assist in the defense of that place, procured and mounted a twelve-pounder, and, having left an abundance of ammunition, he started for a cruise upon the Sound.
Captain Pease of the revenue
cutter was equally zealous. He supplied a considerable number of small
arms, 350 rounds of musket cartridges, and two twelve-pounders with fixtures
complete, together with a large quantity of ammunition. These guns were
mounted on the stockade in the town of Olympia, where they continued until
the cessation of hostilities west of the mountains. He also tendered a
detachment of twenty men well armed to be landed on notice at any point,
to assist the land forces. The services of
Lieutenant Harrison of the Jefferson Davis are worthy of especial notice. He was present and behaved with great gallantry in the action on Green river on the 6th of November, 1855.
The co-operation of James Douglas, Governor of Vancouver Island, at this trying juncture, cannot be too highly commended. He sent to Olympia the steamer Otter (1), which cruised the whole length of Puget Sound, to exhibit to the Indians that, in a war against the Whites, they could not expect the sympathy of the Hudson's Bay Company. In his response to Governor Mason, he aptly remarked: "The moral effect of the steamer Beaver's visit to the Sound will be powerfully felt by the native Indian tribes, and may contribute, in some measure, to confirm their wavering loyalty, and to detach them from the general Indian confederacy. Again, I most cordially acknowledge the moral obligations which bind christian and civilized nations to exert their utmost power and influence in checking the inroads of the merciless savage; and it is a matter of infinite regret on my part that our means of rendering you assistance come infinitely short of our wishes."
Governor Douglas also transmitted fifty stands of arms (half of all they had for the defense of the colony at Victoria), ten barrels of gunpowder and a large supply of ball.
On the 3d of November, 1855, a decisive engagement was fought upon White river. The force engaged consisted of fifty volunteers under Captain Hays and fifty regulars commanded by Lieutenant Slaughter. The Indians, numbering form one hundred and fifty to two hundred, commenced the attack; and one of the regulars was shot dead. The fight lasted from nine o'clock A.M. until three P.M. The estimated Indian loss was thirty one wounded. The river was so swollen that the troops could not cross on the same day. Next day a detachment sent by Captain Maloney overtook Captain Hays' command on the opposite side of Green river. The Indians, not being disposed to make a protracted resistance, retreated. Two of the troops were wounded. The Indian loss is unknown. Active operations in that region against the hostiles were almost impracticable, owing to the high state of the rivers.
On the 6th of November, Lieutenant Slaughter's command, in crossing the Puyallup river, was attacked from an ambush. John Edgar, acting as guide, was mortally wounded and died shortly afterwards. The same shot severely wounded Addison Perham. Andrew J. Burge, a pioneer of Pierce county, was also badly wounded. On coming out to South Prairie, Corporal Magek, a regular, was wounded by a buckshot. Captain Maloney then established himself at Camp Montgomery.
The volunteer forces had been so augmented that they had amounted to a regiment, yet were never organized as such. Several companies, in addition to Companies A and B and the Puget Sound Rangers, Captain Eaton, had been enrolled, and had been accepted by Governor Mason. Those companies had been mustered into the regular service, but furnished their own horses. The other companies had ben especially raised and accepted for "home defense." But all were subject to be called into active service in the field, upon emergency; and several of them as entire companies, and detachments from each, were actively and continuously in the field during their terms of enlistment, "for three months unless sooner discharged." They were thus classed upon the muster rolls of the First Regiment of Washington Territory Volunteers:
(1) On the 6th of November, 1855,
Governor Douglas addressed a letter to Adjutant-General Tilton, stating
that, on the arrival of the Beaver, she should be sent. The Otter
arrived at Fort Victoria before the Beaver; and she was dispatched November
19th.
Company C: Captain George B. Goudy; infantry; Olympia; seventy men, rank and file. Many of this company were constantly detached for field service. Company D: Captain William H. Wallace; infantry; Steilacoom; fifty-five men; constantly in the field as a company. Company E: Captain Isaac Hays; mounted; Thurston county; forty men; furnished their own horses, and were much of the time in field service. Company F: Captain B.L. Henness; mounted; Mound Prairie, Thurston county; sixty-three men, rank and file; furnished their own horses; in active field service. Company G: Captain McCorkle; infantry; Cowlitz county; twenty-two men; blockhouse defenses. Company H: Captain Christopher Hewitt; Seattle, King county; infantry; seventy-five men, rank and file; in continuous active service in the field. Company I: Captain Isaac N. Ebey; infantry; Lower Sound; eighty-four men; performed much active and detached service in the Lower Sound and Snohomish country. Company : Captain A. Plummer; infantry; Port Townsend; twenty-nine men; garrison duty at Port Townsend. Company K: Captain John R. Jackson; mounted; Lewis county; thirty-six men; scouting service. To the foregoing must be added: The Cowlitz Rangers: Captain Peers; mounted; Cowlitz Landing; thirty-nine men; active scouting service. And the detachment of ten men, known as Sergeant Packwood's squad, mustered as the Nisqually Ferry Guards; on constant duty guarding that ferry, and keeping open communication between Olympia and Fort Steilacoom; an arduous and dangerous post. Though later called into service, there must not be omitted: The Stevens Guards, commanded by Captain William Huggins; twenty-five men; mounted. The Spokane Invincibles: Captain Benjamin F. Yantis; twenty-three men. And the Nez Perce volunteers, Chief Spotted Eagle's command, seventy in number, who escorted the governor from Hell Gate to the camp of the Oregon Volunteers. The three companies last-named were improvised to escort Governor Isaac I. Stevens through the hostile country upon his return from the Blackfoot council, and continued in service until the disbandment of the First Regiment.
The whole country between Cowlitz river and the Sound had been deserted; and the inhabitants had taken refuge in stockades and blockhouses. By special orders of Captain Maloney, U.S. Army, in command of the forces operating in the Puget Sound region, the following disposition had been made: Lieutenant Slaughter, Company C, Fourth Infantry, accompanied by Lieutenant Harrison of the revenue service and fifty men, marched to White and Green rivers. Captain Hewitt, Company H, Washington Territory Volunteers, proceeded up White and Green rivers and placed himself in communication with Lieutenant Slaughter. Captain Wallace, Company D, Washington territory Volunteers, was stationed on Puyallup river, keeping up communication with Lieutenant Slaughter. Captain Hays, Company B, Washington Territory Volunteers, proceeded to Nisqually river and Muck Prairie.
Upon receiving advices from Major
Rains of the Indian outbreak, General Wool had ordered Captain E.O.C. Ords'
company, Third Artillery, to reinforce Major Rains. Captain Edward Fitzgerald's
company, First Dragoons, from Fort Lane, and Captain E.D Keyes' company,
Third Artillery, were ordered from the Presidio to push northward with
all haste to the seat of war. At the same time, requisition was made by
the commanding general on Washington City for an additional regiment for
duty on the Pacific coast. Responsive to this request, the Ninth Regiment
was ordered to California in December, 1855. Early in November, General
Wool, with Major E.D. Townsend, Major Cross, Major Lee, Captain Cram, Captain
Keyes and Captain Reynolds, came to Fort Vancouver on the steamer California,
Captain W.E. Dall. Company M, Third Artillery, U.S.
Army, Captain Keyes, destined for Fort Steilacoom, together with two thousand stand of arms, were also aboard. Captain Keyes thus described the crossing of the bar of the Columbia river on that voyage:
"We arrived off the mouth of the Columbia river in the afternoon; and, although a fierce wind had covered the whole bar from shore to shore and for several miles up and down with a white foam, it ws decided to cross at once. There happened to be a pilot on board; and he and the captain stood together on the bridge. The head of steam was increased to secure steerage way in the billows; and we moved up against a strong ebb tide at a fine rate of speed till we reached about midway of the passage, when a flue collapsed, drove all the burning coals from under one of the boilers and set fire to the ship, which immediately lost headway so much that she ceased for a moment to obey her rudder. The pilot lost courage, exclaimed "she's a goner!" and started down the bridge. Captain Dall instantly resumed command, and called out to the firemen to feed the remaining fires with lard and tallow. After a few seconds, the ship began to move forward; and, at the end of an hour, we were anchored off Astoria. When the steamer lost headway, the lead showed a draught of water almost exactly corresponding with that of the vessel; but fortunately she did not ground. If she had struck, not a soul on board could by any possibility have been saved. Some of the soldiers, as they saw the pilot quitting his post, came tome in terror and asked what they should do. I replied, 'Take hold of that hose and let us put out that fire in the hold.' I carried the end of the hose down the steps as far as I could breath. The men pumped; and in a short time the flames were extinguished. General Wool was perfectly calm, as were the other officers; such wa the opinion of the eight or ten shipmasters who were among the passengers. Captain Dall's intrepidity was the admiration of every man on board the ship.
"From the Columbia river, General Wool ordered me to proceed on another transport to Steilacoom, and assume command of the Puget Sound district. I arrived there on the 24th day of November, 1855, and found a condition of wild alarm. Many families had been massacred; and the surviving settlers were all collected in the small towns. There were only two skeleton companies of regular infantry and a few companies of volunteers in the district; and they were widely scattered. Lieutenant Slaughter, with one company, guarded a stockade at the mouth of the Puyallup and I arranged an interview with him with the aid of a friendly Indian. I went out twenty miles from Fort Steilacoom and conversed with him across the river, which was so deep and rapid that my volunteer messenger, after delivering my note to Slaughter, lost his horse in returning, but saved himself" (1).
On Saturday, the twenty-fourth inst., Company C, Fourth Infantry, under command of Lieutenant W.A. Slaughter, and the Pierce county volunteers, Company D, numbering forty-five men. Captain W.H. Wallace, left Camp Montgomery for the Puyallup and White rivers. On the march to the Puyallup, fresh tracks of Indians were discovered, leading both up and down the river. No Indians, however, were seen. That night they camped on Bitting's Prairie, one mile from the Puyallup river. During the night, everything remained quiet. The next day (Sunday) Lieutenant McCaw, Company D, Washington Territory Volunteers, was sent to the "Stuck" settlement with sixteen men. They found there the houses of Messrs. Kincaid, Woolery and McCarty burnt to the ground.
(1) "Fifty
Years' Observation of Men and Events," by E.D. Keyes, Brevet Brigadier-General
U.S. Army, Major-General U.S. Volunteers, page 257.
The grain, except some taken from the barn of Mr. Morrison, remained untouched. The houses that were not burnt were built of square timbers, and could easily be made defensible. The house of Robert S. Moore, a lieutenant of Company D, Washington territory Volunteers, was found broken open, and everything taken. There were no signs of Indians on the march or at Stuck river. At half-past ten o'clock that night Mr. Hall, f Captain Wallace's company, on duty as sentinel, had his attention attracted by the snorting of a pack animal, picketed thirty yards from the camp. It was very foggy; and nothing could be seen. He ran immediately to camp, and gave information that the Indians were stealing the animals. A rush was made by a number of men to the place where the animals had been picketed; and a number were missing. The guard, numbering twenty men, under Sergeants Tootwiler, of Lieutenant Slaughter's company, and Byrd, of Captain Wallace's company, pursued about a mile to the house of Mr. Lemmon, firing at intervals. At Lemmon's place, unmistakable evidence was furnished that a large body of Indians were in the vicinity; and the guard hastily retraced their steps to camp. During the balance of the night, the yells of the Indians were incessant. The number of hostiles immediately about the camp was afterwards ascertained to have been three hundred. Much that they said was distinctly understood; and one squaw, known to be a female from the voice, wa repeatedly heard urging them on in the most vehement manner. They were commanded by Kitsap and Ka-nas-kut, who led the Klikitats, and Quiemuth and Klow-ow-it, chiefs of the Green river and White river Indians. The next morning (Monday), about nine o'clock, E.G. Price, a recent volunteer in Captain Wallace's company, after cooking breakfast, went down to the creek about three hundred yards from camp to wash. Upon starting to return, he was shot in the back with a musket ball.
On Monday at 2 o'clock, Lieutenant McKeever, U.S. Army, reached camp with a detachment of twenty-five men from Captain Keyes' company of artillery. On Monday night, Messrs. Lemmon, Pierce and Fosher volunteered as picket guard. About two o'clock, one of the inside sentries had fired at an Indian, but missed him. As he ran from camp he was shot by Lemmon and was killed. During the whole of the night, sentinels were continually firing at the Indians. Few shots, however, were returned by them.
In the night-attack upon Lieutenant Slaughter's and Captain Wallace's camp, the Indians succeeded in driving off thirty-two horses and mules, - a great misfortune at that juncture. Thirteen of these animals belonged to the volunteer company. On the receipt of the news, Captain Keyes ordered Captain Hays to march to the support of Lieutenant Slaughter, Captain Henness, Company F, Washington Territory Volunteers, with twenty-five men, was left in the neighborhood of the Nisqually river. Catain Keyes took the field in person November 27th, leaving Captain Maloney, with one hundred men, in command of Fort Steilacoom. After the engagement on White river, the Indians had separated into small bands, but were now regaining confidence, and were concentrating.
On the 4th of December, Lieutenant
Slaughter, on his march from the Puyallup to the forks of the White and
Green rivers, had encamped on Brannan's Prairie and occupied a small house
built of logs. At about seven o'clock in the evening, Lieutenant Slaughter,
Captain Hewitt, Lieutenant Harrison, and Dr. Taylor of the navy, being
engaged in conversation, a band of hostile Indians, under command of Kanaskut,
fired a volley at the house and through the door. One ball passed through
the breast of the gallant Slaughter; and he fell dead without a groan.
The Indians continued the firing until after ten o'clock,
killing Corporal Barry of Company C, Fourth Infantry, and Corporal Clarendon of Company D, Washington Territory Volunteers, and severely wounding six of the men, one of whom died within a day or two.
It was the fortune of the writer of these annals to have enjoyed the intimate personal acquaintance of the late Lieutenant Slaughter. His death was certainly one of the saddest events of that war. He was a native of Kentucky, born there in 1827. In 1844, he entered the military academy at West Point from Indiana, being then a resident of Lafayette, in that state. He graduated in 1848, and entered the army as a brevet second lieutenant, Second Infantry, serving first on the commission to run the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Promoted to the Fourth Infantry, he returned to the states again, coming in 1852, with his regiment, to the Pacific coast. He was stationed at Fort Vancouver a short time, and in 1853 was ordered to Fort Steilacoom. As an officer, he was brave to a fault. As an Indian campaigner, he had been remarkably successful. No man had more endeared himself to his command. None had a more happy faculty of inspiring men with enthusiasm. Small in frame and delicate in person ,his powers of endurance were wonderful. He had led almost all the expeditions to check the Indians during his stay in the country, and had ben actively in the field from the commencement of hostilities till he met his untimely death. Brilliant he was as a soldier; and, as the citizen, he had rendered himself equally dear to the people of the territory in which he had been assigned to duty. In the walks of social life, who that enjoyed his friendship or acquaintance can ever forget him?
It was a homely phrase which Captain Keyes adopted to close his report of that sad event, and yet how true and suggestive: "My heart is sick when I reflect that so brave an officer and so gallant a gentleman should be slain by the wretched savages." The Legislative Assembly in session at the time of his death passed resolutions expressing the feeling of the territory in the irreparable loss, and adjourned in honor to his memory. He was buried at Fort Steilacoom on the 9th of December, with appropriate masonic and military honors.
The success of the Indians in that last attack, and the unfavorable condition of the country at that season of the year for operations against the Indians, occasioned the temporary withdrawal of the United States troops from the field.
On the 17th of December, the U.S. surveying steamer Active, Commander James Alden, arrived at Steilacoom with a large supply of arms, ammunition and stores. She was stationed at or near Steilacoom, and co-operate with the land forces, and in the transportation of troops and supplies. The fact that a large number of Northern Indians in the Sound country about that time had recently committed numerous depredations, and excited considerable alarm, rendered the presence of that steamer an opportune occurrence.
On the night of the 5th of January,
1856, Leschi, the Nisqually chief, who had led the enemy west of the Cascades,
with thirty-eight warriors visited the Indian reservation opposite Steilacoom,
and endeavored to incite the friendly Indians there collected to join the
hostiles. Captain Keyes immediately sent an express to Captain Gansevoort
of the Decatur (who had superseded Captain Sterrett, the latter
having been placed on the retired list), to send boats. At request of the
same officer, Dr. Tomie dispatched the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer Beaver
(then
at Fort Nisqually) to Steilacoom, which was sent at daylight on the sixth,
with Captain Maloney and thirty men, to the reserve. Judge Lander, aide-de-camp
to Governor Mason with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel Washington Territory
Volunteers, accompanied the expedition. Mr. John Swan, who
was in charge of the reservation Indians, had been unmolested, and on the arrival of the steamer off the reserve came aboard alone. Leschi and his party, well armed, lined the beach. The Beaver had no guns which could cover the landing of Captain Maloney's force, and had but one boat capable of landing more than four or five men at once. Under such circumstances it was found impracticable for Captain Maloney to accomplish anything; and the steamer returned to Steilacoom. Leschi continued there some thirty hours after the steamer left, and then left for the Puyallup.
On the 19th of January, 1856, Governor Stevens arrived from the Blackfoot council. Much anxiety until very recently had been felt for his safety; and his return was hailed with great enthusiasm (1).
The terms of enlistment of the troops called into service by Governor Mason were about to expire. The two companies on the Columbia river, Company B, Captain Strong, and the company of scouts, Captain Newell, had been disbanded by General Wool. Grave difficulties had occurred between the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Division and Governors Steven and Curry. The troops of Oregon had never been mustered into the United States service; but those of Washington had been. General Wool, had, in a manner most insulting, humiliating and degrading, ignored the authorities of both Oregon and Washington. Through private pique, malignity or envy, or all combined, he had refused to furnish an escort or guard to insure the safety of Governor Stevens, an United States commissioner, through the hostile Indian country. The time had therefore come, either for the territories to protect themselves or abandon the field and trust entirely to General Wool, who, judging from the animus so manifestly displayed in his every report made to the War Department, was not as much interesting in punishing the Indians and securing peace as he was in seeking to bolster up libelous and slanderous charges he had originated against the people of Oregon and Washington territories.
(1) The incidents of Governor Stevens' return from the Blackfoot council to Olympia will be found detailed in a subsequent chapter introductory to the campaign of the Second Regiment, Washington Territory Volunteers. They are inseparably connected with those causes which fully warranted Governor Stevens in organizing the Washington Territory Volunteers as an independent factor in the war, and in refusing to allow them to be mustered into the service of the United States while General Wool was command of the Pacific Department, U.S. Army.