The Early Indian Wars of Oregon/Cayuse/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
Presbyterian Missions in Oregon—Dr. Whitman—H. H. Spalding—A. B. Smith—W. H. Gray, Cornelius Rogers—Dr. Parker's Mission to Oregon—Heroic Women—Characteristics of the Flatheads, Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Perces—Bonneville's Present from a Cayuse—Their Religious Observances—Taught by Pambrun—Missionaries Unable to Understand the Indians—Their Demands—Spalding's Troubles—The Fate of Hat—Attitude of Ellis—Efforts at Agriculture—Mrs. Spalding—Chemekane Mission—Catholic Influence—Blanchet and Demers—The Root of the Troubles with the Indians—Cayuses Assault Dr. Whitman—Assistants Refuse to Remain at the Mission—Gray's Indiscretion—Troubles of Spalding—Demands of the Home Board—Order to Discontinue Wailatpu and Lapwai Missions—Arrival of White's Immigrant Party—Whitman's Bill, and What it Asked For—The Failure of His Mission to the East—Conclusions.
Besides the Methodist missions, there were north of the Columbia river and east of the Cascades mountains several Presbyterian missions, founded in 1836, 1837, and 1838. These were under the superintendency of Dr. Marcus Whitman, and supported by the American board of com missioners for foreign missions. Dr. Whitman was settled among the Cayuses in the Walla Walla valley, twenty-five miles from Fort Walla Walla of the Hudson's Bay Company. Rev. H. H. Spalding was stationed among the Nez Perces, eighty miles east of the superintendent, on the Clearwater river, at a place called Lapwai; and a third station on a branch of the Spokane river, about forty miles from Fort Colville of the Hudson's Bay Company, was in charge of Elkanah Walker and Cushing Eells, who had charge of the Spokane Indians. A fourth station was selected among the upper Nez Percés, about sixty miles northeast of Lapwai, which was put in charge of A. B. Smith. Each of these missionaries had a wife, who assisted him in teaching. There was, besides, a lay member, also married, attached to the missions from the first—W. H. Gray, whose work on the early history of Oregon is well known; also an unmarried man, Cornelius Rogers; and from time to time several independent missionaries gave temporary aid to these widely scattered missions.
Unlike the Methodists, the Presbyterians abstained from politics, and had no complaints to make to the home government of the tyranny and aggressions of the Hudson s Bay Company; or, if they ever felt in any way aggrieved, it does not appear in their correspondence with the home board. They had a different class of Indians to deal with from those in the Wallamet and lower Columbia valleys—more intelligent, more imperious, and for both these reasons, more dangerous as well as more interesting. To keep the peace with the Cayuses had on some occasions required all the tact and influence of the fur company.
Allied to them were the Walla Wallas and the Nez Perces, the latter being a large and powerful tribe, of a better temper than their more southern relatives, who boasted of their compact of friendship with Lewis and Clarke, and of having always kept it.
In 1835 Rev. Samuel Parker of Ithaca, New York, and Dr. Marcus Whitman traveled together to the Rocky mountains, escorted by the American Fur Company, where, meeting the Flatheads and Nez Perces, they became con vinced of their desire for teachers, and Whitman returned to the states to bring out assistants, only finding, however, Miss Narcissa Prentiss of Prattsburg, New York, whom he married, Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, and Mr. Gray, who could be induced to join him at that time, and who journeyed with him to the Columbia river in 1836, where they were received literally with open arms[1] by the gentlemen of the Hudson s Bay Company at Fort Walla Walla and Fort Vancouver, their unconscious heroism in undertaking a land journey of thousands of miles, in company with mountain men, to live among savages in order to teach them, being appreciated by these gentlemen as it was not at that time by the missionaries themselves.
Before proceeding with this history, it might be well to inquire into the characteristics of the people concerned in it previous to the introduction of Protestantism among them, because it would be unjust to both parties to rep resent the Indians as in a wholly untaught state when the missionaries of the Presbyterian church came among them. On the contrary they had what might be called a national religion.
Recent writers have seldom made sufficient distinction between the Flatheads and the Nez Percés. From Lewis and Clarke we learn that they were originally the same people, although their dialect had come to differ, as well as their habits. The Flatheads lived in the Bitter Root valley, and occupied the country northwest and westward to the Blackfoot river. Their territory shaded off into the Nez Percés country, and they very much resembled the upper Nez Percés. Both received strangers cordially, when satisfied they were not foes; but while the Flatheads were brave, determined, and honest, the Nez Percés were of a weaker character, and would steal and beg. In dress, they resembled each other. The men wore buffalo or elk-skin robes, ornamented with beads. Bits of sea shells, chiefly mother of pearl, were worn attached to an otter-skin collar, and hung in the hair, which was plaited in two braids falling in front. They also wore feathers in the hair, and used paint of several colors on their persons. The women wore a skirt of ibex-skin reaching to their ankles, and festooned with shells and other ornaments, but did not wear ornaments on the head. As to food, the Nez Percés were very poor, and very much disinclined to part with a morsel. Nevertheless, such was their love of ornaments, that by selling the buttons off their coats, empty medicine phials, and empty boxes, the first explorers were able to purchase a scanty supply of provisions from them.
Lewis and Clarke, on coming among the Cayuses, found them famishing, so that they greedily picked the bones and ate the refuse meat thrown away by Lewis and Clarke s party. They were also despicable beggars. Captain Bonneville, of a later date, relates an anecdote of being entertained by a Cayuse chief, who presented him with a handsome horse, for which he returned a rifle, thinking the chief well paid. But the donor of the horse brought his wrinkled old wife with, "This is my wife—she is a good wife—I love her very much—she loves the horse a great deal—will cry to lose him—I do not know how I shall comfort her—that makes my heart sore." The captain remembered some ear-bobs, and made the old dame young with delight. The chief then brought his son, "A very good son—a great horseman—he took care of the fine horse—he loves him like a brother—his heart will be heavy when he leaves the camp." Again the captain bethought himself of a hatchet to reward the youth s virtues. Then the chief, "This rifle shall be my great medicine—I will hug it to my heart, and love it for the sake of my friend, the bald-headed chief. But a rifle by itself is dumb—I cannot make it speak. If I had a little powder and ball I would take it out with me, and would now and then shoot a deer; and when I brought it home to my happy family I would say, 'This was killed by the rifle of my friend, the bald-headed chief, to whom I gave that fine horse.'" It is unnecessary to add that the captain, after handing over powder and ball, fled.
Speaking of the moral characteristics of the Flatheads and Nez Percés, Bonneville says that they exhibited strong and peculiar feelings of natural religion, and that it was "not a mere superstitious fear like that of most savages—they evince abstract notions of morality, a deep reverence for an over-ruling spirit, and a respect for the rights of their fellow men. They (the Flatheads) hold that the Great Spirit is displeased with all nations who wantonly engage in war; they abstain from all aggressive hostilities. But though, thus unoffending in their policy, they are called upon continually to wage defensive warfare, especially with the Blackfeet, with whom, in the course of their hunting expeditions, they coine in frequent collision, and have desperate battles. Their conduct as warriors is with out fear or reproach, and they never can be driven to abandon their hunting grounds." He added that they believed in dreams, charms, and a charmed life.
In spite of their opposition to wanton warfare, they were not averse to some practice in the art of war. "War," they said, "is a bloody business, and full of evil, but it keeps the eyes of the chiefs always open, and makes the limbs of the young men strong and supple. In war, every one is on the alert. If we see a trail we know it must be an enemy; if the Blackfeet come to us we know it is for war, and we are ready. Peace, on the other hand, sounds no alarm; the eyes of the chiefs are closed in sleep, and the young men are sleek and lazy. The horses stray into the mountains; the women and their little babes go about alone. But the heart of a Blackfoot is a lie, and his tongue is a trap. If he says peace, it is to deceive. He comes as a brother: he smokes his pipe with us; but when he sees us weak and off our guard, he will slay and steal. We will have no such peace; let there be war!"
Wyeth gave the Flatheads equal, or even greater praise, saying he had never known an instance of theft among them, neither quarreling nor lying; that they were brave when put to the test, and more than a match for the Blackfeet. What is here said of the moral character of the Flatheads, applied, with the exception already made, to the Nez Perces; especially to the upper division of that tribe. Concerning the religious feeling of these Indians, the early American traders remarked upon their observance of the Sabbath, to which Bonneville adds: "We must observe, however, in qualification of the sanctity of the Sabbath in the wilderness, that these tribes, who are all ardently addicted to gambling and horse-racing, make Sunday a peculiar day for recreations of this kind, not deeming them in any way out of season."
This Sabbath observance, and other religious forms greatly surprised travelers among these tribes, namely, the Flatheads, Nez Perces, and Cay uses. Dr. Parker found in it a mystery also. But the explanation is simple. Says Bonneville: "Mr. Pambrun informed me that he had been at some pains to introduce the Christian religion, in the Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had evidently taken root, but had become altered and modified to suit their peculiar habits of thought, and motives of action, retaining, however, the principal points of faith, and its entire precepts of morality. The same gentleman had given to them a code of laws, to which they conformed with scrupulous fidelity. Polygamy, which once prevailed among them to a great extent, was now rarely indulged in. All the crimes denounced by the Christian faith met with severe punishment. Even theft, so venial a crime among the Indians, had recently been punished with hanging, by sentence of a chief."
Bonneville, speaking of the Cayuses, says: "They will not raise their camp on that day, unless in extreme cases of danger or hunger; neither will they hunt, nor fish, nor trade, nor perform any kind of labor on that day. A part of it is passed in prayer and religious ceremonies. Some chief, who is at the same time what is called a medicine man, assembles the community. After invoking blessings from the Deity, he addresses the assemblage, exhorting them to good conduct; to be diligent in providing for their families; to abstain from lying and stealing; to avoid quarreling or cheating in their play, and to be just and hospitable to all strangers who may be among them. Prayers and exhortations are also made early in the morn ing on week days.[2] Sometimes all this is done by the chief from horseback, moving slowly about the camp with his hat on, and uttering his exhortations with aloud voice. On all occasions the bystanders listen with profound attention, and at the end of every sentence respond one word in unison, apparently equivalent to an 'amen.' While these prayers or exhortations are going on, every employment in the camp is suspended. If an Indian is riding by the place, he dismounts, holds his horse, and attends with reverence until all is done. When the chief has finished his prayer or exhortation, he says 'I have done' upon which there is a general exclamation in unison." He says further: "Besides Sunday, they observe all the cardinal holidays of the Roman Catholic church," but that with them they mixed some of their pagan ceremonials, such as dancing and singing.
Townsend, in his Narrative, expresses much interest in these Indians on account of their desire for instruction in religious matters, and evidently is at a loss to discover the motive—for to ascribe a spiritual motive to the savage would be childish. The greater intelligence of a few tribes of Indians is difficult to account for, especially when in contact with degenerate tribes like the Walla Wallas and the Indians of the Columbia. But their motive in adopting any innovation is the same as the white man s. It is because it is to his material advantage. When it ceases to be that, there is danger of a too sudden and serious revolt.
It was impossible that the missionaries should understand at once how to deal with a people so different from any of whom they had any experience. For the first year all was smooth sailing. The Indians at Whitman's and Spalding's stations were pleased with the idea of becoming wise like their teachers. But it was not long before they found they had not understood each other. The missionaries had to work, and wanted the Indians to do so; but the masculine side of savagery scorns work, leaving it to his female relatives. The gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company did not labor. Naturally their savage serfs entertained contempt for white men who condescended to do what servants ought to do, and were not able to make allowance for the poverty of missionary societies.
An indiscreet remark of Dr. Parker s on his visit to them was also the occasion of much trouble. Dr. Parker, they said, had told them that their land should not be taken for nothing, but that they should be paid annually in goods and agricultural implements, that being "the American fashion."
A year had not elapsed before a chief known as Splitted Lip ordered Dr. Whitman off the land he had taken to cultivate on the Walla Walla river, because he had not paid for it. In 1838, the same chief threatened the doctor with death should he fail to cure his wife, whom he was treating for some sickness. It would seem that Dr. Whit man thought these threats idle, or that the protection of the Hudson s Bay Company would suffice, for he went on teaching, assisted by Mrs. Whitman, and at the same time improving his farm.
In the autumn of that year Gray s return from the states, whither he had gone to procure more workers for the missionary field, having with him a wife and seven other persons, men and women,—a small company, indeed,—was the occasion of fresh trouble.
When Gray started for the states in 1837 he took with him a band of Indian horses to exchange for cattle, which were much needed. To aid him Mr. Spalding persuaded three young chiefs of the upper Nez Perces to accompany him, namely, Ellis, Blue Cloak, and Hat. By,the time they had reached the rendezvous of the fur companies on Green river, their horses feet had begun to fail, and two of them turned back, Hat only continuing on. When Ellis and Blue Cloak presented themselves at Lapwai mission. Mr. Spalding, who was an excitable man and felt much anxiety for the success of the expedition, reproached the young chiefs severely, and declared they deserved punish ment for breaking their contract, and leaving Gray in the middle of his journey with insufficient help.It was the custom of the Hudson s Bay Company when the Indians committed any offense not amounting to a serious crime, to demand pay for it; or, if pay was not forthcoming, to require their chiefs to have them whipped—the culprits receiving their chastisement with little sense of degradation. This custom was adopted, it would seem, by Mr. Spalding, who assessed the delinquents a horse each for their breach of faith, which was refused.
Ellis, who had a large following, was able to avoid the penalty imposed on him, no one venturing to arrest him. Blue Cloak, however, one evening appeared at prayer meeting unattended, when Mr. Spalding ordered some Indian pupils present to take and tie him. No one obeying, at last a young Nez Perces chief arose in wrath, seized Blue Cloak, bound him, and turning to Spalding said, "Now whip him." "No," said Spalding, "I do not whip; I command: God does not whip, he commands." "You are a liar," returned the young chief indignantly. "Look at your picture (a water-color sketch hanging on the wall, designed by Mrs. Spalding to illustrate bible teachings). You have there painted two men, and God behind them with a bundle of rods to whip them. Whip him, or we will put you in his place and whip you." Mr. Spalding yielded, punished Blue Cloak, and received the horse he had exacted, which discipline restored quiet for a time.
In 1838, when Gray returned from the states, and it was learned that Hat, the chief who had accompanied him, had perished, together with four other Indians, in an attack made upon Gray s party by the Sioux at Ash Hollow, a great excitement was aroused by it among the followers of Ellis. That chief accused Mr. Spalding of designing the death of all three of Gray s Nez Perces aids. He had the mission family at Lapwai confined in their house for more than a month, during which time Mr. Pambrun sent a messenger several times to induce the Nez Percés to restore them their liberty, explaining to them tli at Gray could not have foreseen or prevented the attack upon his escort, and was in no way responsible. They were finally persuaded to accept presents and release their captives.
But this was not the end of the early troubles at the Presbyterian missions. A. B. Smith, the year after his arrival with Gray s party, was sent to establish a mission upon Ellis land at Kamiah, east of Lapwai. To do this he had permission, but was forbidden to cultivate the land. After being at Kamiah one year, Smith made some preparations to till a small field, but Ellis reminded him that he had been warned not to do so. "Do you not know," he asked, "what has been told you, that you would be digging a hole in which you should be buried?" At this he desisted, but the following year made another attempt, and was again reminded, when he made no more such efforts. In 1841 he left the country for the Sandwich Islands, having during his residence in Oregon written a grammar of the Nez Percés language, which was printed on a press brought from Honolulu, together with a hymn book, and primers to be used in the schools.
Why it was that Spalding was permitted to cultivate does not appear, unless it was that he was able to convince the Indians by actual test that it was good for them to be able to raise food, and save themselves the trouble of taking long journeys every summer to procure game, roots, and berries. At all events he seems to have been very successful, and his reports upon the fertility of the country compare well with those written at a much later period. He presented those whom he could induce to cultivate, with hoes and ploughs—a present going a long way toward convincing an Indian that your word can be trusted.
Mrs. Spalding was a balance wheel in the missionary machinery. Her quiet devotion to duty, her kindliness and firmness, made a real impression upon the Nez Percés, the women looking upon her as their true friend, whose wisdom they never questioned. She taught them work, sewing, spinning, and cookery, all of which they learned readily when they chose.
Farnham, who visited Waiilatpu in 1839, was struck with admiration of the superintendent s work, both as teacher and farmer, and greatly impressed by the apparently devotional character of the Cayuses as exhibited in some of the chief families, who were regular in their attendance upon public worship, and morning and evening devotions in their lodges.
At the Spokane mission of Chemekane there was less improvement, and somewhat less anxiety. In 1839 one of the teachers at that station wrote, "The failure of this mission is so strongly impressed upon my mind that I feel it necessary to have cane in hand, and as much as one shoe on, ready for a move. I see nothing but the power of God that can save us." Yet the Spokaues were esteemed more tractable than the Cayuses. When the mission house was burned in the winter of 1839-40, they offered their assistance, and refrained from pillage. But not knowing what their course might be, the Hudson s bay gentlemen at Colville came down with their servants, and camped near, to afford their protection.
As early as 1838 an element of discord of a nature different from those already mentioned, was introduced into the missionary life in Oregon. This was a period in church history, when Catholicism and Protestantism were in a state of active hostility to each other. The mere presence of a Catholic priest in the neighborhood of Waiilatpu was like a pestilence in the air, threatening the welfare of every member of the missions. The same feeling existed in western Oregon, with this difference—that the natives there were so contemptible that their souls were not worth saving, and their bodies too insignificant to be feared.
But in the upper country, inhabited by powerful and numerous tribes, religious antipathy and intolerance were likely to occasion disorders of a dangerous nature, particularly as neither party was able conscientiously to yield to the other, but bound by duty to combat the contrary opinion with all the zeal that was in it. Dr. Whitman could readily see that the ceremonials of the Catholic faith must prove attractive to the childish minds of savages, who were likely to turn away from the lessons of an austere religion to the delights of bells and beads.
Hence, when Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. Modeste Demers came overland from Canada in 1838, making a brief pause at Walla Walla to hold a "mission "among the French Canadians, and to baptize all the natives whom they could reach into the holy mother church, the supererintendent of the Presbyterian missions was filled with anxiety, and not without reason. The more ignorant people are, the more bitter are their prejudices, and rancorous their animosities. A religious schism among Indians was therefore to be feared, and if possible avoided.
Dr. Whitman had before him a fine example of religious toleration in the head of the Hudson s Bay Company, who received and listened to protestant missionaries of whatever sect visiting Vancouver, whom he also aided in various ways by courtesies and by contributions. He and all his officers and dependants were friends of Dr. Whitman. Pambrun, to whom they were indebted for many kindnesses, was a French Canadian arid a Catholic. Mr. McKinlay, Pambrun s successor at Fort Walla Walla, was a Presbyterian, and a warm friend of Dr. Whitman, but not more so than Pambrun. The Canadian servants of the company were Catholics, but they never refused friendly aid and neighborly kindness to the Methodists or Presbyterians. And 3 T et Dr. Whitman was alarmed, with some reason we musj admit, considering that he lived ever over a mine of savagery that needed but a match to touch it off. The Catholic fathers taught their converts to say a few simple prayers, and gave them a picture called the "Catholic Ladder," explanatory of the principal points of their faith; that was all. Mr. Spalding opposed to the "Catholic Ladder" a picture representing two roads towards heaven—one wide, where the Pope was selling indulgences, and at the end of which the purchasers were seen falling head-foremost into hell; the other so narrow that few could follow it, but supposed to lead to bliss.
This now seems puerile, but in that time was thought a worth} 7 means of bringing savages to practice the religion of Jesus Christ, by Catholics and Protestants. The Presbyterians often argued with the Indians, as it was the fashion of the churches to hold doctrinal arguments among its members a fashion most unwisely followed among a people whose understandings led them to literal constructions, or to strange subtleties, rather than to spiritual insight.
But the root of the troubles between the missionaries and the natives was not at any time in their religious differences, which was really a side issue capable of being turned to account, but which was never used except in simple competition, and which alone need never have endangered the peace of the country.
The real cause of ill feeling between the Indians and their Protestant teachers was the continued misunderstanding concerning the ownership of land, and the accumulation of property. The promise of Dr. Parker had never been redeemed. No one had appeared to purchase the lands occupied by the missions, nor had any ships arrived laden with Indian goods and farming implements for their benefit.
Doubtless Dr. Parker, when he made the promise, was thinking of the hoped for settlement of the Oregon boundary question, and the speedy extinguishment of the Indian title to the country which would folio w,*in order that congress might carry out the plan of populating it by offering liberal donations of land to emigrants. But this we have seen had not taken place, while every year a few more Americans arrived and remained in the country, and without paying for their lands.In the meantime, the very favorable view which was first held by the Presbyterians of the generous character of the Indians had faded out. We find Spalding saying that "I have no evidence to suppose but a vast majority of them would look on with indifference and see our dwelling burned to the ground, and our heads severed from our bodies." Smith at Kamiah, and Walker and Eells at Chemekane thought the natives professed religion to secure presents, which not being forthcoming they were hostile; and all agreed as to their untruthfulness.
In 1840 the Cayuses destroyed Dr. Whitman s irrigating ditches, and allowed their horses to damage the grain in the mission field. This was done out of malice, the Indians having been taught enough about farming to be perfectly aware of the mischief they were causing to the doctor s crops. When he angrily reproved them they threw mud upon him, plucked his beard, pulled his ears, threatened him with a gun, arid offered to strike him a blow with an axe, which he avoided.
These demonstrations alarmed the doctor s friend, McKinlay of Fort Walla Walla, who counseled him to leave the country for a time at least, saying that the Indians would repent when they no longer had him, and want him back again. But he feared to abandon his place, which would probably be destroyed; and the chief, Splitted Lip, who instigated the attack on him, dying that year, he hoped for relief from the persecutions he had suffered. Besides, he had determined, as he said, "never to show the white feather."
In 1841 W. H. Gray struck an Indian boy, probably a well-deserved blow, and his uncle, who was the chief on whose lands the mission of Waiilatpu was built,—Tiloukaikt,—a haughty and ill-tempered savage, struck Whit man in revenge, pulling his nose, and committing other outrages, which the doctor bore without any signs of fear. McKinlay, to punish them, refused to hire their horses as agreed, to take the Red-river immigrants to The Dalles, unless the chief and all implicated in the assault should beg the doctor's pardon, which they consented to do.
Hearing of these things prevented some missionaries at the Sandwich Islands from joining the Oregon missions, and prevented the board from sending more across the continent. The Indian boys were mischievous and thieving, and carried off the best fruits raised in the mission garden, which troublesomeness inspired Gray to sicken them with a dose of ipecac introduced into the finest looking melons. The illness induced by the drug caused the Indians to accuse the missionaries of designing to poison them, and incited them to fresh acts of hostility.
These experiences at Waiilatpu were duplicated at Lapwai, where the Nez Percés pulled down Spalding's mill, threatened him with a gun, and offered a gross insult to Mrs. Spalding. These were things hard to be borne; but both Whitman and Spalding were determined to keep their hold upon the homes they had built up in the wilderness under so many difficulties, until such time as the government of the United States should come to their rescue.
Added to his other trials, Dr. Whitman was worried by demands from the home board that the Oregon missions should be made self-supporting, a thing which could not happen while he had so few assistants, and where there was no market for any productions. He could barely subsist his family by raising and grinding grain enough; and by eating horse flesh in place of beef. He could not purchase groceries, clothing, machinery, nor other necessaries, and so he told the board—and that if they wished him to turn trader they must furnish him assistants and means, and even then wait for a market to come to him, as the Methodist missionaries and Hudson's Bay Company controlled the trade of the country.
To all this the board finally returned in 1842 that Dr. Whitman must abandon the Cayuse station and join Walker and Eells in the Spokane country; and Spalding must return to the states, leaving the ungrateful Cayuses and Nez Percés without teachers.
Now, this was what these gentlemen were resolved not to do. From their point of view it was unwise to abandon good homes, at a period when it seemed most likely that the government was about to settle the question of the Oregon boundary, and immediately after of course, as they believed, to acquire title by treaty to the Indian lands, out of which the first settlers were to receive large donations. If only they could keep the peace a little longer!
It was just at this painful juncture in mission affairs that Dr. White arrived at Waiilatpu with his immigrant party of 1842. He spent two days at the station, and we can imagine how eagerly Dr. Whitman questioned him, and how hopefully he heard what White had to relate, which confirmed his belief that if he could hold on a little longer he need neither abandon the Cayuses nor his home. If men in authority at Washington had asked White to start the emigration movement, and given him an office,—the first delegated authority bestowed on any one in this Northwest,—could he not also accomplish something for the country, the missions, and himself by going to Washington and Boston? If he was to do this, it must be now or never, for orders to vacate had been issued, and they must be obeyed, or a good reason given for the failure.
He felt able, if he could see the board personally, to present a strong case. He could show them now, since immigration had begun, that Waiilatpu and Lapwai could be made important supply stations on the road to the Wallamet valley, and thus self-supporting; that fifty Christian families settled about him would be an example to the Indians, and give aid and protection to him, while a few more teachers among the Indians would help him greatly to maintain control of the native children, and through them of their parents.
To politicians he would say, "Hold on to the country north as well as south of the Columbia; it is a fine country for grazing, and raises good crops where irrigated." He meant to ask some friends of Oregon in Washington to get an appropriation for erecting military stations in the Indian country, and he had thought that if he could obtain a grant of money to buy sheep to be given to the Indians as a reward for good conduct and a food supply, so that they might not have to go to the buffalo country for meat, it would have a tendency to give them more settled habits, and incline them more towards civilization.
With these mixed motives, and feeling driven by the exigencies of the situation, Dr. Whitman determined to start for the states as soon as he could find some one to take charge of his station. Rogers and Gray had deserted him, and he was forced to write for William Geiger, u Presbyterian, who had been employed in the Methodist mission school in the Wallamet, to come to Waiilatpu and remain during his absence.
These matters arranged, he was finally ready for his journey, and aided by his friend McKinlay, set out October 3, 1842, for the east via Fort Hall, Uintah, Taos, Fort Bent, and Santa Fe, at which point A. L. Lovejoy, his only traveling companion, besides his guides, remained, while Whitman joined a trading company going to St. Louis, where he arrived in the month of March, having manfully borne the hardships of a winter journey seldom performed in that day even by mountain men.
On reaching the frontier Dr. Whitman found that a treaty with Great Britain had been negotiated between our secretary of state, Daniel Webster, and the British plenipotentiary, Lord Ashburton, and confirmed by the high contracting parties seven months before his arrival, but that it did not in any way affect the Oregon question, leaving it where it had been before.
He found also that the Linn land bill had passed the senate a few weeks previous, and been defeated in the house. But so sure had its passage been regarded by the people that a large number of immigrants were ready to start for Oregon with their families, cattle, and household goods; and had appointed a rendezvous in western Missouri from which to march as soon as the grass should be sufficiently high to subsist their stock. With some of these people he talked in passing, and gave them instruction as to the route, and the best means of traveling and encamping. He found the secretary of war in his last report had recommended a line of military posts with the object of impressing the Indians on the Pacific coast with the strength of the United States, and also to afford protection to the Americans in that region. The secretary went further, and recommended making an appropriation to send out a colony to settle in Oregon. He found petitions pouring into congress from Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Alabama, insisting upon the occupation of Oregon. He found, in short, little left for him to propose or advocate in Oregon matters, for the subject was one more written and talked about than any other at that time.
It appears from a letter preserved in the war department, that while Dr. Whitman was in Washington he had a conference with the secretary of war, Hon. James M. Porter, and that he was requested by Porter to frame such a bill as would be for the best interests of Oregon. This he did after his return home in the autumn of 1843, but it was never introduced in congress, and remained forever a dead letter.
This bill asked for the establishment of "a chain of agricultural posts or farming "stations" from the Missouri to the Wallamet river in Oregon, with regulations for their management. Their avowed object was to set the example of civilized industry to the Indians; to suppress lawlessness on the frontier; to facilitate the passage of troops and munitions of war, and the transportation of mails.
It will be observed that the bill makes no mention of the necessities of emigrants, but in a letter accompanying it, Dr. Whitman dilates upon the benefits to travelers not only of protection from Indian aggression, but of being supplied with vegetable food while en route.[3]
These documents, which have only been brought to light after nearly half a century of lying perdu, serve to confirm reports concerning his troubles with the Cayuses, and his anxiety for protection.
It was said by persons about Fort Walla Walla, that Dr. Whitman, in his vexation with the Indians, before leaving for the states, threatened them with bringing back many people to chastise them. This threat has been denied by his friends as not consistent with his character as a missionary; but the tone of his letter and bill of 1843 are entirely consistent with such a proposition; his whole thought seeming to be how to repel Indian aggressions. Whatever admiration he had at first felt for the aboriginal character had been completely effaced by his experiences among them. Why then did he insist that the board should not recall him from the country, except that it was with him as with the Methodist missionaries, that the settler in him was stronger than the missionary—as missionaries were at that period understood to be.
To his disappointment the American board of commissioners for foreign missions had no stomach for territorial conquest or Indian subjugation. They reprimanded him
for leaving his station on so useless an errand, refused to pay his expenses, and left him to get back again as best he could. It is very probable they were more or less disgusted with him,—these highly proper, clean-shaven, decorous Presbyterians,—for seven years spent among sav ages, with every kind of farm labor to perform, could not have given that finish to his manner which the Bostonians "admired to see." So, they told him to go home and do the best he could without their aid. This was his reward for what he had endured for conscience' sake—for Dr. Whitman was a thoroughly conscientious man where a principle was in question.
He went to his old home in central New York, sold whatever property he had there, and started for Oregon once more, in company with his nephew, a young lad, a riding horse apiece, and a pack horse. It was characteristic of the man. He always took these desperate chances. Proceeding westward, he visited some relatives, and afterwards one or two of the missions on the border. He was sent for to address a meeting at the emigrant rendezvous in Missouri about the middle of May, but returned to Westport, and did not overtake the emigration until it had reached the Platte in June.
Dr. Whitman had wished to bring back with him some
"Christian families to settle in the vicinity of the different stations." But in that he was disappointed. These families could not be induced to take the risks he was taking, and he talked freely with some of his fellow travelers to Oregon of his want of success, and fears of the consequences. Out of the whole immigration of nearly eight hundred persons, only one family, and one unmarried man, were persuaded to remain at Lapwai, while not one person consented to give him their assistance at Waiilatpu.
This circumstance probably had a quieting effect upon the Indians, as no more of their lands were taken; but they still complained that the missionaries traded with the immigrants, acquiring wealth, while they, the owners of the land, remained as poor as before.
Again, from the above facts, we may draw these conclusions:—
First. That with the purest intentions, and with the best religious ideas of the times, the Presbyterian missionaries of the upper country found it impossible to implant spiritual religion in the minds of the aboriginal inhabitants of earth.
Second. That the influence of the contact with savagery was to unspiritualize themselves; to drive out of their minds confidence in the power of religion to change the nature of men in a low stage of their mental evolution.
Third. That the change this discovery made in themselves, being perceived by the Indians, was a cause of displeasure to them, and of danger to the missionaries.
Fourth. That the delay of the governments of Great Britain and the United States to settle the Oregon boundary greatly increased this danger by preventing an understanding between our government and the Indians concerning property in lands; rendering it also impolitic to send troops among them before our sovereignty had been acknowledged by the only power disputing it.
These circumstances left the defense of the loyal Americans holding it, to be performed by themselves. It left, in 1842, two mission colonies, and a few poor settlers, numbering altogether not more than two hundred and seventy, including children, and the party of immigrants who came with White, to contend in case of an Indian war, with many thousands of savages surrounding them on every side. To add to the apprehensions of the Americans, was a doubt in their minds as to which side, in case of a race war. would be taken by the foreigners in the country—the free Canadians and the Hudson's Bay Company.
- ↑ Mrs. Whitman wrote her mother that Mr. Pambrun, then in charge of Fort Walla Walla, lifted her from her saddle with the tenderness of a father.
- ↑ Farnham, in his Travels, speaks admiringly of these morning devotions as he saw them practiced near Whitman's station in 1839; but he took it for granted that it came from the teachings of the missionaries at that station.
- ↑ In reading the following letter and bill, it should be borne in mind that they were written after the doctor had been east, had learned the then political prospects of Oregon, and had traveled months in company with intelligent western men, with whom he talked freely, and to whom, according to their evidence, he never disclosed any political motive in going east. What he wanted both before and after going east, it is fair to assume, is set down in these documents, which are interesting as a part of the early history of Oregon, and as an indication of the character and motives of their author. They were received at Washington, June 22, 1844, probably forwarded by the Hudson's Bay Company's annual express via Montreal of that year. Nothing in either of these documents shows any political motive for Dr. Whitman's visit east; but the second paragraph of his letter, in which he says the government will learn through him of the emigration of one thousand persons, shows a singular want in him of a knowledge of the facts, the government keeping a sharp lookout, as well as the newspapers of the day:—
To the Hon. James M. Porter, Secretary of War:
Sir: In compliance with the request you did me the honor to make last winter while at Washington, 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 than —— families, consisting of one thousand persons of both sexes, with their wagons, amounting in all to more than one hundred and twenty, six hundred and ninety-four oxen, and seven hundred and seventy-three loose cattle.
The emigrants are from different states, but principally from Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and New York. The majority of them are farmers, lured by the prospects of government bounty in lands, by the reported fertility of the soil, and by the desire to be first among those who are planting our institutions on the Pacific coast. Among them are artisans of every trade, comprising with farmers the very best material for a new colony. As pioneers, these people have undergone incredible hard ships, and having now safely passed the Blue mountain range with their wagons and effects, have established a durable road from Missouri to Oregon, which will serve to mark permanently the route for larger numbers each succeeding year, while they have practically demonstrated that wagons drawn by horses or oxen can cross the Rocky mountains to the Columbia river country, contrary to all the sinister assertions of all those who pretended it to be impossible.
In their slow progress these persons have encountered, as in all former instances and as all succeeding emigrants must if this or some similar bill be not passed by. congress, the continual fear of Indian aggression, the actual loss through them of horses, cattle, and other property, and the great labor of transporting an adequate amount of provisions for so long a journey. The bill herewith proposed would, in a, great measure, lessen these inconveniences by the establishment of posts, which, while [having] the possessed power to keep the Indians in check, thus doing away with the necessity of military vigilance on the part of the traveler by day and night, would be able to furnish them in transit with fresh supplies of provisions, diminishing the original burdens of the emigrants, and finding thus a ready and profitable market for their produce a market that would, in my opinion, more than suffice to defray all the current expenses of such posts. The present party is supposed to have expended no less than two thousand dollars at Laramie's and Bridger's forts and as much more at Fort Hall and Fort Boise, two of the Hudson's Bay Company's stations. These are at present the only stopping places in a journey of two thousand two hundred miles, and the only places where additional supplies can be obtained, even at the enormous rates of charge called mountain prices; i. e., fifty dollars the hundred for flour and fifty dollars the hundred for coffee; the same for sugar, powder, etc.
Many cases of sickness and some deaths took place among those who accomplished the journey this season, owing in a great measure to the uninterrupted use of meat, salt and fresh, with flour, which constituted the chief articles of food they are able to convey in their wagons, and this would be obviated by the vegetable productions, which the posts in contemplation could very profitably afford them. Those who rely on hunting as an auxiliary support are at present unable to have their arms repaired when out of order; horses and oxen become tender footed and require to be shod on this long journey, sometimes repeatedly, and the wagons repaired in a variety of ways. I mention these as valuable incidents to the proposed measure, as it will also be found to tend in many other incidental ways to benefit the migratory population of the United States, choosing to take this direction, and on these ac counts as well as for the immediate use of the posts themselves, they ought to be provided with the necessary shops and mechanics, which would at the same time exhibit the several branches of civilized art to the Indians.
The outlay, in the first instance, would be but trifling. Forts like those of the Hudson s Bay Company, surrounded by walls inclosing all the buildings, and constructed almost entirely of adobe or sun-dried bricks, with stone foundations only, can be easily and cheaply erected.
There are very eligible places for as many of these as the government will find necessary, at suitable distances, not further than one or two hundred miles apart, at the main crossing of the principal streams that now form impediments to the journey, and consequently well supplied with water, having alluvial bottom lands of a rich quality, and generally well wooded. If I might be allowed to suggest the best sites for said posts, my personal knowledge and observation enable me to recommend, first, the main crossing of the Kansas river, where a ferry would be very convenient to the traveler, and profitable to the station having it in charge; next, and about eighty miles distant, the crossing of Blue river, where, in times of unusual freshet, a ferry would be in like manner useful; next, and distant from one hundred to one and fifty miles, from, the last mentioned, the Little Blue, or Republican fork of the Kansas; next, and from sixty to one hundred miles distant from the last mentioned, the point of intersection of the Platte river; next, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles distant from the last mentioned crossing of the South fork of the Platte river; next, and about one hundred and eighty or two hundred miles distant from the last mentioned, Horseshoe creek, which is about forty miles west of Laramie s fork in the Black Hills; here is a fine creek for mills and irrigation, good land for cultivation, fine pasturage, timber, and stone for building. Other locations may be had along the Platte and Sweetwater, on the Green river, or Black s fork of the Bear river, near the Great Soda Springs, near Fort Hall, and at suitable places down to the Columbia. These localities are all of the best description, so situated as to hold a ready intercourse with the Indians in their passage to and from the ordi nary buffalo hunting grounds, and in themselves so well situated in all other respects as to be desirable to private enterprise, if the usual advantages of trade existed. Any of the farms above indicated would be deemed extremely valuable in the states.
The government cannot long overlook the importance of superintending the savages that endanger this line of travel, and that are not yet in treaty with it. Some of these are already well known to be led by desperate white men and mongrels, who form bandits in the most difficult passes, and are at all times ready to cut oft I some lagging emigrant in the rear of the party, or some adventurous one who may proceed a few miles in advance, or at night to make a descent upon the sleeping camp and carry away or kill horses and cattle. This is the case even now in the commencement of our western emigration, and when it comes to be more generally known that large quantities of valuable property and considerable sums of money are yearly carried over this desolate region, it is to be feared an organized banditti will be instituted. The posts in contemplation would effectually counteract this; for that purpose they need not nor ought not to be military establishments. The trading posts in this country have never been of such a character, and yet, with very few men in them, have for years kept the surrounding Indians in the most pacific disposition, so that the traveler feels secure from molestation upon approaching Fort Laramie, Bridger s Fort, Fort Hall, etc. The same can be obtained without any considerable expenditure by government, while, by investing the officers in charge with competent authority, all evil-disposed white men, refugees from justice, or discharged vagabonds from the trading posts might be easily removed from among the Indians, and sent to the appropriate states for trial. The Hudson's Bay Company s system of rewards among the savages would soon enable the posts to root out these desperadoes. A direct and friendly intercourse with all the tribes, even to the Pacific, might be thus maintained, the government would become more intimately acquainted with them, and they with the government, and instead of sending to the state courts a manifestly guilty Indian to be arraigned before a distant tribunal and acquitted for the want of testimony by the technicalities of lawyers and of laws unknown to them, and sent back into the wilderness loaded with presents as an inducement to further crime, the posts should be enabled to execute summary justice, as if tho criminal had been already condemned by his tribe, because the tribe will be sure to deliver up none but the party whom they know to be guilty. They will in that way receive the trial of their peers, and secure within themselves, to all intents and purposes if not technically, the trial by jury, yet the spirit of that trial. There are many powers which ought to reside in some person on this extended route for the convenience and even necessity of the public.
In this the emigrant and the people of Oregon are no more interested than the resident inhabitants of the states. At present no person is authorized to administer an oath or legally attest a fact from the western line of Missouri to the Pacific. The emigrant cannot dispose of his property at home, although an opportunity ever so advantageous to him should occur after he passes the western border of Missouri. No one can here make a legal demand and protest of a promissory note or bill of exchange. No one can secure the valuable testimony of a mountaineer or of an emigrating witness after he has entered this, at present, lawless country. Causes do exist, and will continually arise, in which the private rights of citizens are and will be seriously prejudiced by such an utter absence of legal authority. A contraband trade from Mexico, the introduction from that country of liquors to be sold among the Indians west of the Kansas river, is already carried on with the mountain trappers, and very soon the teas, silks, nankeens, spices, camphor, and opium of the East Indies will find their way, duty free, through Oregon, across the mountains and into the states unless custom-house officers along this line find an interest in intercepting them.
Your familiarity with the government policy, duties, and interest renders it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several objects intended by the enclosed bill, and any enlargement upon the topics here suggested as inducements to its adoption would be quite superfluous, if not impertinent. The very existence of such a system as the one above recommended suggests the utility of postoffices 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 reasonable 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 country, who are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not only for themselves, but to repel lawless white men and prevent banditti, under the solitary guidance of the superintendent 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 delivery or punishment of violent, 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 interest of our growing country, I have the honor to be, honorable sir,
Your obedient servant,
Marcus Whitman.Copy of a proposed bill prepared by Dr. Marcus Whitman in 1843, and sent to the secretary of war.
A bill to promote safe intercourse with the territory of Oregon, to suppress violent acts of aggression on the part of certain Indian tribes west of the Indian territory, Neocho, better to protect the revenue, for. the transportation of the mail, and for other purposes.Section 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, that from and after the passage of this act there shall be established at suitable distances, and in convenient and proper places to be selected by the president, a chain of agricultural posts or farming stations, extending at intervals from the present most usual crossing of the Kansas river, west of the western boundary of the state of Missouri, thence ascending the Platte river on its southern border, thence through the valley of the Sweetwater river to Fort Hall, and thence to settlements of the Willamette in the territory of Oregon. Which said posts shall have for their object to set examples of civilized industry to the several Indian tribes, to keep them in proper subjection to the laws of the United States, to suppress violent and lawless acts along the said line of frontier, to facilitate the passage of troops and munitions of war into and out of the said territory of Oregon, and the transportation of the mail as hereinafter provided.
Section 2. And be it further enacted, that there shall reside at each of the said posts one superintendent having charge thereof, with full power to carry into effect the provisions of this act, subject always to such instructions as the president may impose; one deputy superintendent to act in like manner in case of the death, removal, or absence of the superintendent, and such other artificers and laborers, not exceeding twenty in number, as the said superintendent may deem necessary for the conduct and safety of said posts, all of whom shall be subject to his appointment and liable to removal.
Section 3. And be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of the president to cause to be erected at each of the said posts, suitable buildings for the purpose herein contemplated, to wit: One main dwelling-house, one storehouse, one blacksmith s and gunsmith s shop, and one carpenter shop, with such and so many other buildings for storing the products and supplies of the said posts as he may from time to time deem expedient; to supply the same with all necessary implements of mechanical art and agricultural labor incident thereto, and with all such other articles as he may judge requisite and proper for the safety, defense, and comfort thereof; to cause the said posts in his discretion to be visited by detachments of the troops stationed on the western frontier; to suppress through the said posts the sale of munitions of war to the Indian tribes in case of hostilities, and annually to lay before congress at its general session, full returns, verified by the oaths of the several superintendents of the several acts by them performed, and of the condition of the said posts, with the income and expenditures growing out of the same respectively.
Section 4. And be it further enacted, that the said superintendents shall be appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, for the term of four years, with a salary of two thousand dollars, payable out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; that they shall respectively take an oath before the district judge of the United States for the western district of Missouri faithfully to discharge the duties imposed on them in and by the provisions of this act, and give a bond to the president of the United States, and to his successors in office and assigns, with sufficient security to be approved by the said judge in at least the penalty of twenty-five thousand dollars, conditioned to indemnify the president, his successors, or assigns, for any unlawful acts by them performed, or injuries committed by virtue of their offices, which said bonds may at any time be assigned for prosecution against the said respective superintendents and their sureties upon application to the said judge at the instance of the United States district attorney or of any private party aggrieved. Section 5. And be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of said superintendents to cause the soil adjacent to said posts, in extent not exceeding six hundred and forty acres to be cultivated in a farmer-like manner, and to produce such articles of culture as in their judgment shall be deemed to be most profitable and available for the maintenance of said posts, for the supply of the troops and other government agents which may from time to time resort thereto, and to render the products aforesaid adequate to defraying all the expenses of labor in and about said posts, and the salary of the said deputy superintendent, without resort to the treasury of the United States, remitting to the secretary of the treasury yearly a sworn statement of the same, with the surplus moneys, if any there shall be. Section 6. And be it further enacted, that the said several superintendents of posts shall, ex officio, be superintendents of Indian affairs west of the Indian territory, Neocho, subordinate to and under the full control of the commissioner-general of Indian affairs at Washington. That they shall, by virtue of their offices, be conservators of the peace, with full powers to the extent hereinafter prescribed, in all cases of crimes and misdemeanors, whether committed by citizens of the United States, or by Indians within the frontier line aforesaid. That they shall have power to administer oaths, to be valid in the several courts of the United States, to perpetuate testimoney to be used in said courts, to take acknowledgements of deeds and other specialties in writing, to take the probate of wills and the testaments executed upon the said frontier of which the testators shall have died in transit between the state of Missouri and the territory of Oregon, and to do and certify all notarial acts, and to perform the ceremony of marriage, with as legal effect as if the said several acts above enumerated had been performed by the magistrates of any of the states having power to perform the service. That they shall have power to arrest and remove from the line aforesaid all disorderly white persons, and all persons exciting the Indians to hostilities, and to surrender up all fugitives from justice upon the requisition of the governor of any of the states; that they shall have power to demand of the several tribes within the said frontier line, the surrender of any Indian or Indians committing acts in contradiction of the laws of the United States, and in case of such surrender, to inflict punishment thereon, according to the tenor and effect of said laws, without further trial, presuming such offending Indian or Indians to have received the trial and condemnation of the tribe to which he or they may belong; to intercept and seize all articles of contraband trade, whether introduced into their jurisdiction in violation of the acts imposing duties or imports, or of the acts to regulate trade and intercourse with the several Indian tribes; to transmit the same to the marshal of the western district of Missouri, together with the proofs necessary for the confiscation thereof, and in every such case the superintendent shall be entitled to and receive one-half the sale value of the said confiscated articles, and the other half be disposed of as in like cases arising under the existing revenue laws. Section 7. And be it further enacted, that the several superintendents shall have and keep to their several posts seals of office for the legal authentication of their public acts herein enumerated, and that the said seals shall have as a device the spread-eagle, with the words, "U. S. Superintendency of the Frontier," engraved thereon. Section 8. And be it further enacted, that the said superintendents shall be en titled, in addition to the salary hereinbefore granted, the following perquisites and lees of office, to wit: For the acknowledgment of all deeds and specialties, the sum of one dollar; for the administration of all oaths, twenty-five cents; for the authentication of all copies of written instruments, one dollar; for the perpetuation of all testimony to be used in the United States courts, by the folio, fifty cents; for the probate of all wills and testaments, by the folio, fifty cents; for all other writing done by the folio, fifty cents; for solemnizing marriages, two dollars, including the certificate to be given to the parties; for the surrender of fugitives from justice, in addition to the necessary costs and expenses of arrest and detention, which shall be verified to the demanding governor by the affidavit of the superintendent, ten dollars. Section 9. And be it further enacted, that the said superintendents shall, by virtue of their offices, be postmasters at the several stations for which they are appointed, and as such shall be required to facilitate the transportation of the mail to and from the territory of Oregon and the nearest postoffice within the state of Missouri, subject to all the regulations of the postoffice department, and with all the immunities and privileges of the postmasters in the several states, except that no additional compensation shall be allowed for such services; and it is hereby made the duty of the postmaster-general to cause proposals to be issued for the transportation of the mail along the lnei of said posts to and from the said territory within six months after the passage of this act. Section 10. And be it further enacted, that the sum of —— thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury, not other wise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying into effect the several provisions of this act. Walla Walla Daily Union-Journal, August 10, 1891.