A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 68

Crawford (the wife of our first internal revenue collector), and Mrs. Herford, said committee.

"Mrs. Robb then introduced the following address as expressive of the sense of the meeting, to be forwarded to the army with the clothing raised by the ladies, which, on being read, was unanimously adopted:--

"'OREGON CITY, April 12, 1848.

"'The volunteers of the first regiment of Oregon riflemen will please accept from the ladies of Oregon City and vicinity the articles herewith forwarded to them. The intelligence which convinces us of your many hardships, excessive fatigues, and your chivalrous bearing also satisfies us of your urgent wants.

"'These articles are not tendered for acceptance as a compensation for your services rendered; we know that a soldier's heart would spurn with contempt any boon tendered by us with such an object; accept them as a brother does, and may, accept a sister's tribute of remembrance--as a token, an evidence, that our best wishes have gone to, and I remain with you in your privations, your marches, your battles, and your victories.

"'Your fathers and ours, as soldiers, have endured privations and sufferings, and poured out their blood as water, to establish undisturbed freedom east of the Rocky Mountains; your and our mothers evinced the purity of their love of country, upon those occasions, by efforts to mitigate the horrors of war, in making and providing clothing for the soldiers. Accept this trifling present as an indors.e.m.e.nt of an approval of the justice of the cause in which you have volunteered, and of your bearing in the service of our common country as manly, brave, and patriotic.

"'The war which you have generously volunteered to wage was challenged by acts the most ungrateful, b.l.o.o.d.y, barbarous, and brutal.

"'Perhaps the kindness which the natives have received at the hands of American citizens on their way hither, has, to some extent, induced a belief on the part of the natives, that all the Americans are "women" and dare not resent an outrage, however shameful, b.l.o.o.d.y, or wicked. Your unflinching bravery has struck this foolish error from the mind of your enemies, and impressed them with terror, and it is for you and a brotherhood who will join you, to follow up the victories so gloriously commenced, until a succession of victories shall compel an honorable peace, and insure respect for the American arms and name.

"'We have not forgotten that the soul-sickening ma.s.sacre and enormities at Wailatpu were committed in part upon our s.e.x. We know that your hardships and privations are great; but may we not hope, that through you these wrongs shall not only be amply avenged, but also that you inscribe, upon the heart of our savage enemies, a conviction never to be erased, that the virtue and lives of American women will be protected, defended, and avenged by American men.

"'The cause which you have espoused is a holy cause. We believe that the G.o.d of battle will so direct the destinies of this infant settlement, that she will come out of this contest clothed in honor, and her brave volunteers covered with glory.

"'The widows and orphans, made so by the ma.s.sacre which called you to the field, unite with us in the bestowment of praise for the valuable service already rendered by you; and he who has already proclaimed himself the widow's G.o.d, Judge, and Husband, and a Father to the fatherless, will smile upon and aid your exertions.

Fight on, then!--Fight as you have fought, and a glorious victory awaits you.'

"On motion, a vote of thanks was tendered to Mrs. Hood for her unwearied exertions in behalf of the suffering soldiers.

"Mrs. Robb moved, That when this society adjourn, it do so to meet at this place again on the 26th instant.

"On motion, it was then voted that the proceedings of this meeting, with the address adopted, be published in the Oregon _Spectator_.

"On motion, the meeting then adjourned.

"Mrs. N. M. THORNTON, President.

"Mrs. E. F. THURSTON, Secretary."

The thought and sentiment manifested in the above proceedings and address allow the reader to look right at the heart and soul of our people. No one who reads our history will have occasion to blush or be ashamed to know that his father or mother crossed the vast mountains and plains of North America, found a home in Oregon, and fought back the savages, and their more savage foreign leaders. _Oregonians_, the fact that your father or mother was a pioneer on this coast will redound to your honor,--as a reference to the deeds of our fathers and mothers, on the eastern part of our continent, strengthened and nerved our hearts, when the whole host of savage instruments of cruelty and barbarism were let loose upon us, and many of our dearest friends fell by their ruthless hordes! We know not who the author of that address is, but the sentiment--the soul--belongs alone to Oregon.

In the same paper we find the sentiment still further ill.u.s.trated in a declaration of a number of young ladies. We only regret that we have not their names; the sentiment is too good to be lost, as it shows the finer and n.o.bler sentiments of virtue and religion among the mothers and daughters of Oregon, in those trying times. The communication is as follows:--

"WALLAMET VALLEY, OREGON.

"Response by young ladies to the call of Captain Maxon for young men in the army.

"We have read with much interest the late report from the army, and feel ourselves under obligations to reply to the appeal made to us in that report. We are asked to evince our influence for our country's good, by withholding our hand from any young man who refuses to turn out in defense of our honor and our country's right.

"In reply, we hereby, one and all, of our own free good will, solemnly pledge ourselves to comply with that request, and to evince, on all suitable occasions, our detestation and contempt for any and all young men, who _can_, but _will not_, take up arms and march at once to the seat of war, to punish the Indians, who have not only murdered our friends, but have grossly insulted our s.e.x.

We never can, and never will, bestow our confidence upon a man who has neither patriotism nor courage enough to defend his country and the girls;--such a one would never have sufficient sense of obligations to defend and protect a _wife_.

"Do not be uneasy about your claims and your rights in the valley; while you are defending the rights of your country, she is watching yours. You must not be discouraged. Fight on, be brave, obey your officers, and never quit your posts till the enemy is conquered; and when you return in triumph to the valley, you shall find us as ready to rejoice with you as we now are to sympathize with you in your sufferings and dangers."

(Signed by fifteen young ladies).

Soon after the peace arrangements, as related in the previous chapter, the colonel and major left for the lower country. They arrived at the Dalles, where the colonel was accidentally shot by attempting to remove a rifle from the hind end of one of his wagons; the cap was burst, and he received the contents of the gun, which proved fatal in a few hours.

In his death the country lost a valuable citizen, the army a good soldier, and his family a kind husband and affectionate father. As a commander of the provisional troops, he succeeded probably as well as any man could under the circ.u.mstances.

_The deep schemes_ of the British fur monopoly, the baser schemes of the Jesuits, both working together, and in connection with the Indians and all the American dupes that they with their influence and capital could command, it is not surprising that, as a military man, he should fail to bring to justice the immediate or remote perpetrators of the crime he was expected to punish. In fact, but few at the present day are able to comprehend the extent and power of opposing influences. One of the commissioners informed us that from the time the colonel opened a correspondence with the priests, he appeared to lose his influence and power and control of the troops. He lacked an essential quality as a commander--promptness in action and decision to strike at the proper time, as was manifest in his whole campaign. Yet, for this he is to a certain extent excusable, as he had with his army the Indian peace commissioners, and was acting under the orders of a governor who was greatly deceived as to the prime movers in the war.

One of the commissioners was notoriously the dupe and tool of the foreign monopoly in our midst, as his own history before and since has proved. He claimed to know exactly how to deal with the difficulty. This influence was felt by the troops, and generally acknowledged, and, as we know from the best of authority, was the cause of the colonel's being ordered to report at head-quarters.

After lying at Fort Waters for a considerable time, his men becoming dissatisfied (as intimated in letters), he mounted his horse, and most of his men volunteered to follow him for a fight. He pursued what he supposed to be the correct trail of the murderers to a point on the Tukanon, and there fought a small party, and learned that the murderers were at the crossing of Snake River, some thirty miles distant. He continued his march all night. The next morning, the murderers having learned of his expedition in another direction, he came upon them and surprised their whole camp. An old man came out of the lodge and made signs of submission and pretended that the murderers were not in his camp, but that their cattle were upon the hills. This induced the colonel to order his men to gather the cattle and return to Fort Waters (while Tilokaikt was then crossing the river), instead of attacking them, as he should have done. The Indians soon gathered their best horses, which were kept separate from the common band, and commenced an attack upon his c.u.mbered, retreating column, till they came near the ford on the Tuchet, when a running fight was kept up, and an effort made to get possession of the ford by the Indians, which it required all the colonel's force to defeat; and like the crow and the fox in the fable, while the colonel was giving the Indians a specimen of American fighting, he neglected his cattle, and the Indians drove them off. But few were wounded on either side, though, in the struggle to gain the ford and bushes contiguous, there was swift running and close shooting, which continued till dark. The Indians retired with their cattle, and next day the colonel and his party, with the wounded, reached Fort Waters, and thence he obeyed the summons of the governor to return and report at head-quarters. While Major Lee is on his way with the body of Colonel Gilliam to the Wallamet, and to obtain recruits and supplies of arms and ammunition, we will see what Colonel Waters is about at Wailatpu, April 4, 1848.

In his letter of the above date, he says:--

"Since Colonel Gilliam's departure from this place, our relations with the _supposed friendly_ Indians have undergone a material change; not seeing any, either friendly or hostile, for several days, I concluded to send an express to Fort Wallawalla, and if possible to gain some information concerning their movements, as I had reason to believe from their long silence that there was something wrong; I accordingly addressed a short note to Mr. McBean on the evening of the 1st of April, and dispatched two of my men with the same, charging them strictly to remain there during the day, and return, as they went, in the night. They returned yesterday in safety, and their narrative, together with Mr.

McBean's written statements, fully confirms me in my previous views.

"The Wallawalla chief, notwithstanding his professions of friendship to Colonel Gilliam and the Bostons, now looks upon us as enemies. The law prohibiting the sale of ammunition appears to be his princ.i.p.al hobby. By refusing it to him and his people he says we place them on an equal footing with the guilty, and if this law is not abrogated, they will become murderers. This sentiment he expressed in the presence of our express bearers. [The sentiment of Sir James Douglas, as expressed in his letter to Governor Abernethy.]

"There were then at the fort some sixty lodges, and between two and three hundred warriors. Mr. McBean gave what purported to be information where the murderers had gone, stating that Ellis and sixty of his men had died in the mountains with the measles, and this had produced its effect upon our superst.i.tious friends.

"The Cayuses and Nez Perces have had a big feast, which to my mind speaks in language not to be misunderstood. Mr. McBean further states, that the Paluce Indians, Cayuses, and part of the Nez Perces, are awaiting the American forces, to fight them on the Nez Perces, or Snake River; but the signs of the times justify the conclusion that we will be attacked nearer home, and much to our disadvantage, unless soon supplied with ammunition. They know our circ.u.mstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if they act accordingly.

"Welaptulekt (an Indian chief) is at the fort, and has brought quite an amount of immigrant property with him, which he delivered to Mr. McBean; says he was afraid Colonel Gilliam would kill him, which was the reason of his not meeting him. This is the report of the men; Mr. McBean did not mention his name. My opinion is that we have nothing to hope from his friendship.

"I see by General Palmer's letter to Colonel Gilliam, that he (McBean) _refused to accept the American flag_, which was presented by his own Indians; he, of course, had nothing to fear from them.

"I have now given you the outlines of our unpleasant situation, and doubt not that you will make every exertion to forward us ammunition, and _men too of the right stripe_. I have exaggerated nothing, nor has any active cautiousness prompted me to address you upon this subject. If they do come upon us, be their numbers what they may, rest a.s.sured, while there is one bullet left, they will be taught to believe that the Bostons are not all _clochemen_ (women).

"I have succeeded in getting the mill to work, and we are grinding up the little grain we found. Mr. Taylor died on the 24th of March.

The wounded are doing well. I regret to say our surgeon talks strongly of leaving us the first opportunity. My impression is that a more suitable person could not be obtained in that capacity. His commission has not been sent on, which no doubt has its weight with him.

"I have the honor to remain,

"Your obedient servant,

"JAMES WATERS, Lieutenant-Colonel."

As to the propriety of Governor Abernethy's publishing this entire letter, there was at the time a question. With the facts since developed, it is plain that it should not have been given to the public; but, as we have before stated, the governor was one of those easy, confiding, unsuspecting men, that gave a wily and unprincipled enemy all the advantage he could ask. It was only the determined energy and courage of the settlers that enabled them to overcome their secret and open foes.

The evidence is conclusive, that Colonel Gilliam, through the influence and duplicity of Newell, McBean, and the Jesuits, was induced to withhold his men from punishing the Indians, and received and treated with bands as guilty as the murderers themselves, thus giving an impression to the Indians of weakness and cowardice on the part of the troops, as well as a want of the requisite qualities for a successful commander.

Major Lee returned to the settlement, obtained more troops and ammunition, and was appointed colonel of the regiment in place of Colonel Gilliam, deceased. This place he was justly ent.i.tled to fill by seniority in the service. He then returned to Fort Waters, and, finding the troops in the field satisfied with Colonel Waters, resigned at once, and filled a subordinate place in the army. The troops were soon put in motion. Captain McKay and his company of _British subjects_ were disbanded, after being stationed a short time at Wascopum.

The troops soon drove the murderers off _to buffalo_, "_with the propriety, decorum, and energy which the case required_," as per "Veritas." They gathered up such of the murderers' cattle and horses as were not claimed by professed friendly Indians, and retired to the Wallamet, leaving a small garrison at Fort Waters and at Wascopum.