[Memorial of the legislative assembly of Oregon, relative to the service of Captain Olney’s company of mounted volunteers, passed January 13, 1857.] edit
MEMORIAL.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
Your memorialists, the legislative assembly of the Territory of Oregon, respectfully represent that the Indians on the northern and southern Oregon emigrant roads have been at various times very hostile for years; that on the 20th of August, 1854, the Weness or Snake Indians committed an outrageous and inhuman massacre of upwards of twenty immigrants at or near Fort Boise, on the northern Oregon emigrant road; and the United States forces at Fort Dalles, in that vicinity, being wholly inadequate to protect the immigrants and punish the offenders, a volunteer force of one company, commanded by Captain Nathan Olney, was called into the service of the United States by Major G. J. Raines, of the United States army, commanding the Columbia and Puget’s Sound district, and that said company were in active service of the United States, under orders of Major Raines, for nearly two months, and were honorably discharged by his orders at Fort Dalles.
And your memorialists would further represent that a part of the Shasta, Modoc and Piute Indians, allies of the Snake Indians, who reside on the southern Oregon emigrant road, stole stock, plundered and robbed the first immigration that passed through their country, in 1846; that even at that early day they brutally murdered a sick, weak and helpless immigrant near Lost river, and they have been very hostile to the whites from that day to this; that in the summer of 1852 they barbarously massacred, in the vicinity of this road, thirty-two persons immigrating to southern Oregon and northern California, without regard to sex, age and condition—old gray-headed fathers and mothers and their helpless little children all shared the same fate; that in July, 1854, these Indians took a pack-train loaded with provisions and supplies for the miners, killed one man on the Siskiyou mountains, close to the settlements, and soon afterwards three or four horses were stolen by them at the “forks” of the emigrant and Yreka road, within the settlements of Rogue river valley; that large bodies of these Indians were at this time collecting on the southern Oregon emigrant road, and threatened the immigrants who were then on their way to southern Oregon and northern California; and the United States regular forces in that vicinity, stationed at Fort Jones and Fort Lane, being scarcely sufficient to protect the settlements in the immediate vicinity of the forts, company A, commanded by Captain Jesse Walker, of the 9th regiment of Oregon militia, was called into active service by orders of his excellency John W. Davis, governor of Oregon Territory, for the purpose of protecting the immigrants on this route; that this company traversed the plains, drove the Indians from the road, and penetrated the enemy’s country along the emigrant road for upwards of five hundred miles, and gave ample protection to the immigrants on the route, so that not a single person was killed during the time Captain Walker and his company remained in the field.
Your memorialists would further represent that various citizens of Oregon furnished supplies, transportation and valuable property, such as saddles, bridles, ammunition, guns, &c., for the use and benefit of these two companies; that a portion of said property was turned over to, and still remains in the possession of, the United States, under the control of the proper officer at Fort Dalles; that our citizens have not been paid for either services or property; therefore we, your memorialists, would respectfully ask Congress to make an appropriation to pay the officers and privates belonging to said companies for their services, and other persons for supplies furnished, and for all other expenses necessarily incurred for the use and benefit of said companies while in active service protecting the lives and property of American citizens in 1854.
Passed January 13, 1857.
L. F. GROVER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JAMES K. KELLY,
President of the Council.
Territory of Oregon, ss.
I certify that the foregoing is a true and perfect copy of the original joint resolution concerning Captain Olney’s company, passed December 11, 1854, and the joint resolution concerning Captain Walker’s company, passed January 26, 1855; a memorial of the legislative assembly concerning Captain Olney’s company, passed January 23,1856; a memorial concerning Captain Walker’s company, passed January 31, 1856; a memorial concerning the war of 1855-’6, passed January 31, 1856; and a memorial concerning Captains Walker and Olney’s companies, passed January 13, 1857, now on file in my office.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Territory at Salem, this, the 29th day of September, A. D. 1857.