1 
 
 F 
 890 
 
 

 
 
SPEECH 
 
 HOI. ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
 
 DELEGATE FROM 
 
 ON THE 
 
 WASHINGTON AND OREGON WAR CLAIMS. 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 MAY 31, 1858. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 FEINTED BY LEMUEL TOWERS 
 1858. 
 
pee 
 
 ,S94 
 
 X 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. ISAAC I, STEVENS, 
 
 DELEGATE FROM WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 WASHINGTON AND OEEGON WAK CLAIMS. 
 
 DELIYEEED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MA.T 81, 1858. 
 
 The House being; in committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. 
 ISAAC I. STEVENS said: 
 
 I take this occasion, Mr. Chairman, to present a few observations in regard 
 to the Washington and Oregon war claim. This is a matter certainty of some 
 little consequence, for it involves no less a sum than six millions of dollars. 
 Incident to this, however, is another question of more importance still, namely: 
 the character and honor of the people of those distant Territories, and the hon-or 
 of our whole country. One question touches the Treasury of the United States, 
 and the other the good name of the people of the United States. I shall dwell 
 upon them both. I shall endeavor to vindicate the character and conduct of 
 the people of those Territories, and the operations undertaken by the authori 
 ties of those Territories for the purpose of suppressing Indian hostilities. I shall 
 endeavor to show that those operations were necessary, that they were econom 
 ical, and that they are entitled to the confidence and sympathy of the country ; 
 and finally I shall endeavor to show by precedents, by the course of the Gov 
 ernment in regard to other portions of the country, that we have a right to 
 expect prompt and ample justice from the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, it has been often charged against us, that that war was 
 brought on by outrages upon the rights of the Indians ; that it was gotten up 
 for the purpose of speculation : and that it was the treaties which caused the 
 war. Well, sir, suppose the treaties did cause the war; suppose we did have 
 vagobonds in that country who committed outrages upon the Indians ; suppose 
 some few citizens were operated upon by the motive of making a speculation 
 out of the war; if these things be true, did they make it any less the duty 
 of the people, and of the authorities of the Territories, a war having come upon 
 them, to protect the settlements ? What account would an executive have had 
 to render, who, when he heard that the Indians were devastating the settle 
 ments, burning the houses, and massacreing the women and children, had de 
 clined to protect those settlements on the ground that here and there a white 
 man had outraged Jthe Indians, and had driven them to arms? Suppose the 
 treaties did incite the war, was it the fault of the people of those Territories ? 
 Was the appointment of commissioners, the calling together of councils, and the 
 forming of treaties their act? Not at all. It was the act of your Government. 
 It was the act of your Congress. It was done under the orders of your Presi 
 dent. The people of the Territories certainly were not responsible, nor were 
 the executives of those people, responsible. Sir, it does seem to me that it 
 would be trifling with the ^intelligence and insulting the understandings of 
 gentlemen of this Committee, if I were to undertake to defend the people of 
 those Territories from the charge of having brought about this war for purposes 
 of speculation. Who are the people of those Territories? How did they get 
 there? Were they mere vagabonds and outcasts? Did they go there without 
 
law, and give to the world an example of lawlessness and insubordination I 
 No, sir, they were American citizens, the very choice and flower of your yeo 
 manry. They went there carrying with them the arts and arms, the' laws and 
 institutions of their country, and there they planted empire and civilization. 
 How is this Government, and how are the people of these States known upon 
 that coast ? It is through the eighty odd thousand people there who have given 
 to the world from their first settlement, an example of a law-abiding, an indus 
 trious, a patriotic, a suffering ay, and a heroic people. You are known there 
 through them, and through the institutions which they have,carried there with 
 them. Sir, when men talk about vagabonds in that country, I might with 
 propriety refer them to Baltimore, and to Philadelphia, and to New York, and 
 to all your large cities, and even to this National Capital. 
 
 Have you no vagabonds? Have you no courts, no juries, no jails, no peni 
 tentiaries? Why, even here, murder stalks at noon-day, and has marched in 
 procession. It has controlled the elections of a neighboring city; and this too, 
 in your densely populated old States this too, in your cities, where civilization 
 and refinement reign. I say to gentlemen who fling the term vagabond into our 
 faces, first pull the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to 
 pull the mote out of your brother's eye. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, I most emphatically deny all these charges, and I s<peak 
 from the most abundant opportunities of personal observation. The good name 
 of .that people is dear to me. They have behaved in such a manner'as entitles 
 them not to sufferance, not simply to be passed along, but entitles them to your 
 admiration and praise. They have held high advanced, the flag of their coun 
 try's honor, and have maintained the humanity and benificence of its institutions. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the Indian tribes of those two Territories number some forty 
 odd thesusand souls. In Washington some twenty-two thousand, and in Oregon 
 some tw<enty thousand. When the war commenced in 1855, we had in Wash 
 ington only about seventeen hundred able-bodied white men. The Indian tribes 
 were all greatly disaffected, and their friendship could not be depended on. 
 They numbered in the neighborhood of Puget Sound alone, some twenty-five 
 hundred warriors ; whilst on that Sound we had not over one thousand able- 
 bodied white men. East of the Cascade the Indian tribes are rich, proud, and 
 brave. They had great chiefs, such chiefs as Kam-i-a-y-kan and Pu-pu-mux-rnux. 
 They had shown their prowess in war, at one time requiring the provisional 
 government of Oregon to exert all its strength in order to punish them for 
 the atrocities committed in the robbery and murder of Mr. Whitman and his 
 whole family. In the summer of 1855, just before the war commenced, the 
 general impression in both Territories was, that there was little or no fear of 
 war, for, Mr. Chairman, we had had rumors of this during previous years. The 
 Indians had been more or less disaffected for a long time. There were many ru 
 mors of disaffection in the spring of 1855, though they were generally discred 
 ited. In the spring of 1855, both Col. Bonneville, in command of the Columbia 
 Paver District, and Major Rains, in command at the Dalles, came to the con 
 clusion that the Walla-Walla chief Pu-pu-mux-mux ought to be seized and put 
 in confinement on the ground that he was getting up a general Indian war; and 
 he would have been seized and put in confinement, had it not been for the 
 persuasions of the Indian officers, who, equally with myself, discredited the re 
 ports, and had confidence in Pu-pu-mux-mux. Previous to my goyig to the 
 Walla- Walla council, word was sent to me by the good father Kicard, the 
 superior of the missions in the Yakima aud Cayuse country, that the Yakimas, 
 Cay uses, and Walla- Wallas would attend that council with a hostile purpose, 
 and that I would go there at the hazard of my life. I had warning from various 
 sources, but the council had been called, and I went there in good faith, in order 
 to attend to the business for which it had been called. We were in council 
 fourteen days, in friendly couucil and friendly converse with the chiefs and 
 the great body of the people of -all these tribes. All these chiefs who after 
 wards took up arms were in my camp, and sat at my table during these fourteen 
 days. I talked with them morning and evening, besides our formal talks ia 
 council; and in regard to that council this House has now in its possession an 
 official record of its proceedings a record which was taken verbatim by two 
 secretaries separately. It is not a fixed up or patched up concern. It has been 
 
charged that the Indians there were threatened, and that force was brought to 
 bear in order to get their consent to the concessions they made. Mr. Chairman 
 how ridiculous the charge! Gen. Palmer and myself were the commissioners, 
 and with the Indian agents, a few employees, and twenty-five soldiers to pre 
 serve order on the council ground, we met there fifteen hundred warriors, brave 
 and proud men; and I say it is ridiculous to talk of our using threats and. 
 bringing force to bear to get them to yield to our terms. The record speaks for 
 itself. The commissioners have no reason to be ashamed of it; nor has the 
 Government reason to be ashamed of it. 
 
 When _,the Indians separated, it was with a cordial farewell on all sides 
 Kam-i-a-y-kan was the last man I saw ; and that chief parted from me in the 
 most cordial manner, expressing the utmost satisfaction at the results of the 
 treaty. 
 
 I said to him on parting, "The agent Bolon will soon go into your country to 
 select a site for the mills, and schools, and agency ; and I wish you to advise 
 him in the matter." And he replied, " I shall be glad to see him, and will 
 point out a good place for the mill." 
 
 Pu-pu-mux-mux also parted from me in the same manner; and if ever the 
 face of an Indian expressed joy and satisfaction, it was the face of Pu-pu-mux-mux. 
 Such was the fact in reference to every Indian chief, and every Indian there 
 assembled. I may remark, in regard to Puget Sound, that it is the testimony 
 of the Indian chiefs, without exception, and also the testimony of all, well-in 
 formed and disinterested white men there, without exception, arid such is my 
 own deliberate judgment, that if we had not made these treaties, the war woulcl 
 have been general. The treaties were the controlling element in maintaining 
 peace. Had it not been for these treaties the field of war would have stretched 
 from the coast to the divide of the Bitter Root mountains. 
 
 But, sir, in the observations I submitted a few days ago, I spoke of the con 
 duct of our people, and of the conduct of the volunteers during that war. Their 
 conduct was throughout humane and meritorious. At no time during that war 
 was there an}- unauthorized killing by the volunteer forces. 
 
 The Indians, whether friendly or hostile, were sacred in the camps of the 
 volunteers, and it is this fact that we hold up in the noon-day sun to disprove 
 the accusations made against the people of those territories. 
 
 The first act of war was by the Indians. I have referred to Kam-i-y-a-kan, 
 to his cordial farewell when I feft him, and to his promise to assist the Indian 
 agent Bolon, when he went into his country. The Yakimas occupy a country 
 from the Cascades to the Columbia, one hundred and fiftj* miles east and west, and 
 some two hundred north and south. In the month of August we began to hear 
 of our citizens being murdered by the Yakimas. Finally the reports became 
 so well authenticated that a military force under Major Haller was sent there 
 by Major Rains, in command of the troops on the Columbia river to demand 
 the surrender of the murderers, or on the event of refusal, to punish the tribe. 
 
 Who were killed by these Indians? The victim of most mark was this Indian 
 agent Bolon. He wa"s killed by the Yakimas, and by the order of Kamiyakan, 
 though he went there as their agent, loving the Yakimas. He went there, and went 
 alone, unwilling to believe that the reports of their having killed our people 
 were true, and hoping that the results of his investigations would show that no 
 such killing had been done. He was much beloved by the Yakimas, was recog 
 nized by them to be their friend, but having resolved in war, they said, (referring 
 to Bolon) "we kill our friends as well as our enemies." He was one of our slaugh 
 tered citizens on the grounds of the Yakimas. We had some ten or twelve others 
 there were one or two of my own neighbors; there were two or three from 
 Pierce county, as well as several from the neighboring county of King; men of 
 sobriety, men of character men who had means at home in the settled portions 
 of the territory, but who had gone, as our adventurous American people will 
 go, into the wilderness to see whether they could not better their fortunes. They 
 were killed on their way to the mines at Colville. I submit it to the gentlemen 
 of this committee was it right that the military arm of this Government 
 should be stretched out, when a tribe of Indians in violation of the plighted 
 " .ith of treaties, guaranteeing safe conduct to all whites passing through their 
 
6 
 
 country slaughtered an officer of the republic, and citizens of the republic, 
 without cause or provocation? 
 
 I trust that I have not to pause for a reply. Such has been the general 
 policy of the Government. Such has even been the policy of the British Gov 
 ernment upon that coast, although under the control of a simple trading com 
 pany. The Hudson Bay Company owe their ascendancy over the Indians to this 
 fact more than to all things else; that the life of a Hudson's Bay employe has 
 been held sacred, and the Indians who did violence to it were held to a strict ac 
 countability. I could mention many instances when this course was pursued. 
 
 It has been alleged that the miners passing through the Yakima, violated 
 the Indian women, and committed other outrages which provoked them to 
 retaliate. I heard nothing of this on the Spokane coming in from the Missouri, 
 though I used every means to ascertain whether the war had been provoked 
 by indiscretion and wrong, conferring not only with the Indians of the Spokane 
 and neighboring tribes, but with the fathers of mission at the Coeur d'Alene and 
 at Colville, and with the officers of the Hudson Bay Company at the latter 
 place. 
 
 In consequence of these murders, Major Haller marched into the Yakima 
 country with about one hundred regular troops ; was met and attacked by a 
 force of from ten to fifteen hundred warriors, and though, for a time, entirely 
 surrounded and cut off from water, maintained his position, reached water 
 after an obstinate and protracted fight of some twenty-four hours, and finally 
 succeeded in making good his retreat and saving his command with a loss in 
 killed and wounded, of one-third of his entire force. While surrounded, he 
 was fortunate enough to get off a friendly Indian, who made his way to the 
 Dalles and gave information of the condition of Major Haller's command. There 
 was great excitement throughout both Washington and Oregon in consequence. 
 Major Rains immediately made a requisition upon the Governors of Washington 
 and Oregon for volunteers, and that requisition was promptly complied with. The 
 volunteers moved into the field, and thus this war had its origin, so far as the 
 volunteers were concerned. I have here a whole volume of requisitions and 
 orders, and correspondence, demonstrating these facts, but will not read from 
 the volume as -it will occupy time needlessly. 
 
 The volunteers, Mr. Chairman, came into sei vice in consequence of the attack 
 of an overwhelming force of Indians upon the troops of the regular service, in 
 virtue of a. requisition of the officer in command of the military district, and 
 because the regular troops were inadequate to protect the settlements and 
 bring this war to a conclusion. 
 
 On Puget Sound we had extraordinary difficulties to contend with. The war 
 first broke out by the murder of a settlement of twelve persons on White river, 
 and under circumstances of great atrocity. The settlers became alarmed in 
 consequence of the floating rumors that the Indians were bent on war, and had 
 fled from their homes to the nearest town, Seattle. The Indians who were 
 their neighbors, went to them at Seattle, and told them that they were need 
 lessly alarmed, asked them to go back to their claims, and assured them that if 
 any danger should threaten them, they would give them timely warning. They 
 returned back; but before the morning's sun had risen, they were all slaughtered 
 in cold blood, and by the Indians who had invited them back. Not men only 
 were murdered, but 'helpless women and tender children. Two children, with 
 the mangled remains of their mother, were thrown to the bottom of a well. 
 The Indians on that Sound exceeded the whites as five to two. It was time, 
 certainly, that our citizens should take up arms,, and by energy and vigor en 
 deavor to reduce to subjection the Indians engaged in this terrible massacre, 
 and prevent the other tribes joining them. It was done, and I have yet to be 
 convinced that it was not done rightly. 
 
 Why, Mr. Chairman, on that Sound, so inadequate was the force of regular 
 troops, and in such imminent danger was the whole community, that a volunteer 
 company raised for the field was detained for the defense,of Fort Steilacoom, 
 in charge of the regular troops. Lieut. Nugen, in command at that post, took 
 ther esponsibility of raising a company of forty men, under Capt. W. H. Wallace, 
 and then wrote the Adjutant General of the volunteers, trusting that the Act- 
 
ing-Governor would approve his action ; and he also wrote for cartridges to be 
 sent them, as he was deficient in amuuition. I give his letters in full, establish 
 ing these facts. 
 
 FORT STEILACOOM, W. T., October 2,1st, 1855. 
 
 SIR: I have the honor to state that I have called upon the citizens of Pierce 
 county for one company of volunteers, to act against the Indians on White river 
 and vicinity, who have been murdering our citizens, and attacked the company 
 of rangers under Captain Eaton, mustered into the service of the United States. 
 
 This call has been promptly responded to, and a company of forty are now 
 ready to take the field, under the command of Captain Wallace, who will re 
 port to you for orders. 
 
 I wish you would come down to our post, as I think your presence would 
 expedite matters. I trust you will succeed in getting another company in your 
 place, as I am of the opinion that no less than one hundred men should think of 
 taking the field, they to act together, and the work will speedily be finished. 
 I trust that the Acting-Governor will approve of my action, as I could see no 
 other way to maintain the peace of our country. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN NUGEN, 
 Second Lieutenant 4th Infantry, Com. Post. 
 
 JAMES TILTON, 
 
 Adjutant General W. T. Volunteers. 
 
 HEAD QUARTERS, FORT STEILACOOM, 
 
 November 1st, 1855. 
 
 SIR : I have detained Captain Wallace's company of volunteers to assist in 
 protecting this post, in case an attack should be made. Dr. Tolmie, just in from 
 Nisqually, informs me that one of his shepherds saw a band of some twenty 
 Klickitats, Justin rear of Nisqually, last night. 
 
 I have nearly all the women and children in the country at the post, and will, 
 of course, protect them. 
 
 I would respectfully request that all the men in this section of the country be 
 called out, as I am firmly of the belief that we are to have a general Indian 
 war in this vicinity. 
 
 Send me down cartridges at the earliest moment, as it is reported the Indians 
 are to make an attempt at taking our fort to-night. This is just a report, but 
 I wish to have plenty of amunition, and ] am rather short just at this time. 
 With great respect, I have the honor to be, your most obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN NUGEN, 
 
 Second Lieutenant 4th Infantry, Com. Post. 
 JAMES TILTON, 
 
 Adjutant General W. T. Volunteers, Olympia. 
 
 These letters show the cordial relations between the regular and volunteer 
 service in the Territory, when the difficulties first occurred. Such had been 
 our relations from the first organization of the Territory. Such they continued 
 to be until the veteran commander of the department of the Pacific pronounced 
 the war the act of unprincipled white men as having been got up as a matter 
 of speculation; denounced authorities and people as Indian exterminators, 
 refused to recognize the necessity of calling out volunteers, and endeavored en 
 tirely to ignore them when in the field. 
 
 However, this same commander did finally call upon me in March for two 
 companies of volunteers for the defense of Puget Sound, which I refused to 
 respond to for reasons given in full in the official correspondence. 
 
 It is a fact well known on that coast to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Com 
 pany, that the Indians of southern Oregon have always been so hostile that 
 the employees of that Company did not dare to trap there. Parties passing 
 through there to California never ventured to stop there for a day. I have 
 this from the chief factor of the Company, at Vancouver. I need not go over 
 the ground in southern Oregon, for it has been fully occupied by the distin- 
 giiished delegate from that Territory. 
 
Here, then, was the origin of this war a war entirely unprovoked a war 
 caused by no bad conduct of our people, but caused altogether by the feeling 
 of antagonism between the two races. The Indians there had heard of Indian 
 difficulties on this side of the Eocky Mountains, and it was a combination with 
 them to drive the whites out of the country. 
 
 Mr. CUKTIS. I wish to say to my friend, at this point, that his country, in 
 respect to this charge of the Indian difficulties having been commenced by the 
 whites, is precisely in the same situation that our whole Indian frontier has 
 been for the last ten years. Whenever there have been hostilities, there are 
 traders and others who have carried abroad the idea that the first assaults were 
 made by the whites. Never mind what atrocities have been committed by the 
 Indians, such are the reports circulated. It has been in my experience, and I 
 have no doubt that such is the case in Oregon and Washington, that the Indians 
 are always the aggressors. 
 
 And I accord my testimony to that of the gentleman, that these charges 
 against the white people of the frontier are most unjust. I had no opportunity 
 before to reply to th remarks of the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. GARXETT,) 
 who insinuated that all these Indian wars Were got up on speculation. I recol 
 lect that many years ago Indian wars were quite as common as on the frontier ; 
 and I would like the gentleman to say whether, when John Smith had charge 
 of the Virginia colony, he was not provoked by Indian warfare, and had not 
 his calamities with them as we have at this day ? 
 
 Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. They were not so expensive. 
 
 Mr. CURTIS. But they destroyed your colonies. There was nothing but 
 your bones left. Your soil was red with the blood shed in the Indian wars, 
 and the history of the country shows that that has been the character of this 
 warfare. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS, of Washington. I am greatly obliged to my friend from 
 Iowa for the remarks which he has made. I know, myself, that in 1853, I had 
 a strong feeling that there was much of outrage committed by the whites upon 
 : the Indians, and that that was the prolific cause of Indian wars. But, as I be 
 came acquainted with the frontier population, and as I came to know facts as 
 they were, my mind was changed, and I here declare, on^my responsibility, 
 that the harges are utterly unfounded. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, in regard to the military operations undertaken in these two 
 Territories, I desire to say a few words. I shall mainly confine my observa 
 tions to the operations at Walla- Walla, for that is the salient point of the whole 
 business. It is admitted on all sides that there was a war in southern Oregon 
 and on Puget sound, in the Territory of Washington, and that it became 
 absolutely necessary that the white settlers should organize for defense. But 
 it has been said that the advance of the volunteers upon Walla-Walla, drove 
 the Indians into hostility; that the Walla- Walla chief, Pu-pu-mux-mux, was 
 friendly; and that even when the volunteers reached the valley he endeavored 
 to make peace ; that he was treacherously slain under the protection of a flag 
 of truce; that the volunteers commenced the attack, and that the Indians re 
 sisted simply to get in safety their women and children. The fight of the 
 Walla- Walla was a four days' fight. I was moving at the time from the Spo 
 kane to the Nez Perces country. I was in the midst of an Indian council with 
 the Nez Perces, making my arrangements with that tribe to get the services of 
 its warriors, to force my way through the hostile Walla-Wallas, Cayuses, and 
 other tribes under the lead of Pu-pu-mux-mux, to the settlements, when the 
 news came of that fight. The Indian, who had rode one hundred miles the 
 previous eighteen hours, told all the circumstances of that fight, at one end of the 
 council lodge, to the Indians there assembled, and it was interpreted to me, sitting 
 in council, at the other end. I had previously conferred with the chiefs of the 
 Nez Perces tribe and with the chiefs on the Spokane, in order to satisfy myself 
 of the attitude of Pu-pu-mux-mux. I became satisfied it was one of unmiti 
 gated hostility. When I reached the Nez Perces country the chief Joseph, the 
 third chief of the tribe, an old man of over seventy years of age, had returned 
 but a short time from a mission of peace to the Walla- Walla. He had en 
 deavored to dissuade Pu-pu-mux-mux from going to war. But Pu-pu-mux-mux 
 
drove him away with scorn and contumely, telling him, "I ani the chief here; 
 I am like yonder mountain, above other men. I counsel with no man. Go 
 home! Perhaps your own people will listen to you." Joseph then went to 
 the Cayuses, and saw their chiefs the Young Chief the Five Crows, and Cam es- 
 pello and entreated them to continue friendly. They treated him with the 
 same scorn and contumely as did Pu-pu-mux-mux, the more significant as he was 
 allied to them by Wood, being a half-Cayuse. And Josephh went home discour 
 aged and heart-broken. These same facts I had, on reaching the Walla-Walla, 
 from the friendly Cayuse and Walla-Walla chiefs, small in number, who persisted 
 in their refusal to join the war-party. Howlishwampo, Tintemitse, and Stickas, 
 of the Cayuses, and Pierre, of the Walla-Wallas, with their followers, had main 
 tained their friendship at the hazard of their lives, having left the main camp 
 of their tribe and encamped with the settlers who remained in the valley. These 
 settlers were not attacked by Pu-pu-mux-mux and the allied chiefs, because it 
 could only be done by passing over the dead bodies of the friendly chiefs. All 
 these facts I learned before any controversy had grown up, and before I imagined 
 any controversy could possibly grow up in regard to the position of Pu-pu- 
 mux-mux and the allied tribes and chiefs. 
 
 A gentleman who has made himself conspicuous by his denunciations of the 
 volunteers and his defense of Pu-pu-mux-mux, has ad'mitted that the seizure of 
 Fort Walla- Walla was an act of hostility; that the appropriating of Govern 
 ment property there, and distributing it among the several tribes, was an act 
 of hostility ; that the burning of the houses of all the settlers in that valley 
 was an act of hostility. But that there was convincing evidence that all these 
 acts of hostility were not the acts of Pu-pu-mux-mux, but the acts of the Yel 
 low Serpent. K"ow Pu-pu-mux-mux and the Yellow Serpent are one and the 
 same man. Pu-pu-mux-mux, in the Walla-Walla tongue, Serpent Jaune, in 
 French, and -the Yellow Serpent, in English, are the several names of this re 
 nowned chief, known to all voyagers and well-informed men in that country, 
 and well known to myself. And this Indian chief, whether he be called Pu-pu- 
 mux-mux, Serpent Jaune, or the Yellow Serpent, was guilty of the acts of hos 
 tility above enumerated, and this too by the admission of Pu-pu-mux-mux's de 
 fender and apologist. 
 
 The record evidence is overwhelming and conclusive of Pu-pu mux-mux's 
 hostility. It was early reported by the Indian agent on the ground. It was 
 testified to by all the settlers of that valley, and by the factors and employees 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company posted at Walla- Walla. And the record evi 
 dence is equally overwhelming and conclusive that all the charges of Pu-pu- 
 mux-mux being entrapped by a flag of truce and treacherously killed, are 
 utterly unfounded. The officers, the Indian agent, and the interpreter, present 
 at the first conference every eye-witness, and they are men of unimpeachable 
 honor and integrity, present at his death, agree as to the essential facts. Pu- 
 pu-mux-mux did approach the volunteer camp with a flag of truce, and a con 
 ference was held. Col. Kelly, in command of the troops, refused to receive 
 him, except as a prisoner. Pu-pu-mux-mux went to his camp as a prisoner, his 
 object being to gain time in order to concentrate the Indian forces; and also 
 by cunning and management to induce the troops to occupy a position where he 
 could attack them with advantage. On his reaching camp Col. Kelly still re 
 fused to receive Pu-pu-mux-mux on any other terms except as a prisoner, and 
 offered to let him go home. Pu-pu-mux-mux continued with the volunteer?, 
 recieving from them kind treatment, and, as he stated, sent word to his people 
 to keep friendly. The volunteers marched towards the Indian camp, Pu-pu- 
 mux-mux accompanying them, when they were attacked by Pu-pu-niux-mux's 
 people. In this manner the action commenced, and while it was going on the 
 chief endeavored to make his escape, and was killed whilst furiously attacking 
 his guard. He was killed while struggling with his guard and endeavoring to 
 wrest the gun of his guard from his hands. This action lasted four days, ^re 
 sulted in a complete, victory over the Indians, and drove every hostile Indian 
 to the northward of Snake river. Its effect on the Indian mind was prodigious, 
 as I personally know from my own intercourse with the Indians of the interior 
 at the very time. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, this movement on the Walla-Walla, therefore, did protect 
 
10 
 
 our frontier. It maintained the peace of the interior for the long winter 
 of 1855-'56. In this connection I desire to refer to the general order emana 
 ting from the conqueror of Mexico, Lieut. Gen. Scott, complimenting the valiant 
 officers and men of the army, who made an expedition of twelve days against 
 the Apaches of New Mexico. It was an expedition of eight companies four hun 
 dred men moving against cue of the nomadic tribes of the far-famed Apaches. 
 In that general order, twelve officers and twenty-six men are mentioned as 
 having particularly distinguished themselves. Here are three reports, (holding 
 up the open volume containing them,) one from Col. Bonneville, a gentleman 
 well known to me ; another from Captain Ewell, a friend of my youth, three 
 years with me at the Military Academy, a most gallant and meritorious man ; 
 and the third from Col. Miles, giving all the details of this action. It was 
 not a case simply of soldiership, but of conduct. It was not enough that the 
 men were brave, but they must be well managed. It was a case of tactics and 
 strategy, of flanks, and rears, and reserves. 
 
 These reports show that eight companies of troops 400 men pursued, 
 overtook, fought and defeated how many? Forty warriors. There is your 
 feat of arms ! made the subject of a general order; in which twelve officers, and 
 twenty-six men, are reported for distinction. I speak of it with entire respect. 
 The gallant Scott knew full well that the disparity of force did not make the 
 affair ridiculous. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, go with me to the distant Territories of Washington and Ore 
 gon, and to the plains of the Walla-Walla, where 300 volunteers fought seven 
 hundred Indians, for four days, and defeated them, killing some seventy Indians. 
 Go with me to the Grande Ronde, where the gallant Col. Shaw, with one hun 
 dred and sixty y>lunteers of Washington, fought three hundred Indians, killing 
 some forty, and striking a great blow upon the hostile Indians. Go with me 
 rto the battle of Council's prairie, on the shores of Puget Sound, where one 
 hundred and sixty volunteers fought two hundred Indians, and defeated them, 
 killing thirty of their number. 
 
 This movement of ShawJs was something more than a twelve days march. 
 Three columns of troops moved simultaneously from the sound, from the Co 
 lumbia Valley, and from the Nez Perces country, meeting at the Walla- Walla, 
 within a single day, and then a vigorous movement with a portion of this force 
 was made across the Blue mountains, a forced march, some sixty miles in one 
 night and a day, when the enemy was struck and completely routed. The 
 troops from the sound crossed the Cascades, snow still on the mountains, and 
 marched some tree hundred miles to the point of rendezvouz. Of all these 
 three columns the arrangements were complete, and the means of transportation 
 ample, the column from the Dalles having in their train forty-five wagons, car 
 rying not only supplies for the troops, but a large quantity of provisions for 
 the friendly Indians. 
 
 Sir, I say, all honor to the officers and men who conquered the Indians in 
 New Mexico ; but, I ask the Committee, also, to do like honor to the volunteers 
 of Washington and Oregon, who fought the Indians, always being outnumbered, 
 and sometimes more than two to one. I ask, for the people of those Territories, 
 the same measure of justice which has been rendered to the people of New Mexico 
 and the people of Florida. There have been Indian difficulties in Florida, and, 
 within two years, you have had twelve companies of regulars there, and, at 
 least, six companies of volunteers. And, I thank God, that Florida was near 
 enough to the Federal Capital for its governor to come here, post haste, and to 
 procure the recognition of the services of the volunteers of Florida by the 
 General Government. Sir, that force was unquestionably necessary; they 
 fought the Indians, and now, when they have subdued them, it appears that 
 there were about one hundred and sixty-two Indians there, including women 
 and children. You sent that force against less than one hundred warriors, and 
 the expenses incurred by the Florida volunteers have been paid, and paid 
 'promptly, by this Federal Government. So with New Mexico: the expenses 
 of the volunteers in New Mexico have been paid by the General Government, 
 and the provision to pay them was put in the army appropriation bill. So in 
 the case of California : Congress made an appr6priation to pay the Fremont 
 riflemen, and organized a board of three army officers to inquire into the 
 
11 
 
 balance of the claims. The army officers made an examination ; they reported 
 to the Secretary of War, and, at the very next session of Congress, their 
 awards were provided for in the army appropriation bill. The army appro 
 priation bill, of the session of 1853 and 1854, contained an appropriation of 
 nearly one .million of dollars, for paying the volunteers of California, for ex 
 pense's incurred in suppressing Indian hostilities previous to 1854. 
 
 We ask the same measure of justice for the people of our Territories that has 
 been already extended to people nearer to you in Florida, New Mexico, and 
 California. 
 
 I desire now to dwell, for a few moments, on another topic. I contend that 
 the expenses were economical; that they were small; that they were m\ich 
 less than any intelligent and disinterested man, after looking into all the facts, 
 would expect them to be. We had in Washington eighteen hundred and ninety- 
 six men enlisted, and their average term of service was one hundred and twelve 
 days. The total expense of each man, exclusive of pay, was but little over 
 $500 ($507 32.) What is the expense, per man, in the regular service? It 
 was about $1,000 a year, last year, and throwing out the pay, it was about 
 $850. That is the expense of troops in the regular service a large proportion 
 of whom are stationed at the forts and depots on the Atlantic, the Gulf, the 
 Lakes, and the Mississippi river and its tributaries, at points accessible to steam 
 boat navigation. But, sir, when you come to compare the expenses of the 
 regulars with the volunteers, I shall insist that you compare them in like con 
 ditions. It will not do to compare the expenses of the volunteers in Oregon, 
 on the plains of the Walla-Walla, one hundred and fifty miles from our settle 
 ments, protecting those settlements by their gallantry and conduct throughout 
 the winter of 1855-'56, with the expenses of the regular troops lying in their 
 rear, at this very time in garrison at the Dalles, the Cascades, and Vancouver. 
 You must compare their expenses in the field with the expenses of the regulars in 
 the field. Compare the expenses of the volunteers, in their campaign of the Walla- 
 Walla, with the expenses of the regular service in its campaign of the Yaki- 
 rna, and, my word for it, you will find that our expenses were the smallest, per 
 man. In this estimate I mean to include transportation from the depots, at 
 home, as a charge upon the regular service. That is my^ deliberate judgment 
 from a careful examination of the matter. And here, in this comparison, I 
 shall have a charge to make against the regular service. I shall insist that the 
 nineteen dead bodies left on the ground at the Cascades, in consequence of Col. 
 Wright advancing upon the Walla-Walla, and leaving his rear unprotected and 
 insecure, be taken into the account. He did not leave a sufficient garrison at 
 the Cascades. It was attacked by the Indians, held in their possession, (with 
 the exception of one block-house and one house) for twenty-four hours every 
 house, except these, was burned ; nineteen persons were slain, and it compelled 
 a retrograde movement of Wright, already in march for the Walla-Walla, 
 finally caused the abandonment of that movement on the Walla- Walla, and 
 the organization of a new campaign into the Yakima country. Let all these 
 things be taken into the account in a comparison between the services, for, I 
 affirm, no such military blunder was committed in the volunteer service. 
 
 Sir, I make no point against the regular service. I was bred in that service, 
 and have given to it fourteen years of faithful service. There I have all my 
 early srieuds; there many of the warmest friends of my manhood now are, and 
 I thank heaven that through all the controversies we have had there in refer 
 ence to affairs in those Territories, those men are still my friends. They are 
 ever ready to do their duty; but during the winter of 1855 and 1856 the fron 
 tier east of the Cascade Mountains was protected by the volunteers, while 
 the regulars were in garrison. That is a fact which should stand out, and 
 which I have brought out on this occasion. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, objection has been made to the allowance, by the commission 
 ers, of two dollars a day for each enlisted man, and two dollars a day for each 
 horse. And yet I have here an official document from the Quartermaster Gene 
 ral showing that no laboring man, no packer, no teamster was employed in the 
 regular army in these Territories during that Indian war for less than sixty 
 dollars per month, and that their pay ranged from that up to $90 per month. 
 I find that for pack mules they have invariably paid three dollars a day. If, 
 
12 
 
 then, the regular service is obliged to go into expenses like these in that coun 
 try, paying on an average two dollars and fifty cents a day for common hands, 
 and paying it in cash, why should you object to the volunteers being paid two 
 dollars a day, who have already waited two years for payment? If the re 
 gular service has paid for pack mules three dollars a day, why should you 
 object to pay two dollars a day for the horses used by the volunteers? Sir, 
 these are pregnant facts. 
 
 But there is another topic which I wish to dwell upon for a moment, and 
 that is the employment of troops for short intervals. I desire to correct an 
 erroneous impression made by reports, which have emanated from the Adjutant 
 General's office. In these reports the expenses of volunteers or militia (who 
 served simply for three months or more) are compared with the expenses of the 
 regular establishment, where the expenses of recruiting and discharging are 
 distributed, over the entire period of enlistment of five years. And in these same 
 reports, also, the expenses of our volunteer service in those two Territories are 
 compared with the expenses of a regiment of infantry simply in depot, having 
 no expenses whatever in the way of movements of troops. 
 
 N"ow there are certain large contingent expenses incident to raising troops, 
 bringing them into the field, and discharging them. In militia or volunteer 
 service it is distributed over a period of three or six months. In the regular 
 service, over a period of five years. To institute a comparison, therefore, be 
 tween the expenses of the regular and volunteer service for a period of three 
 or six months, these expenses should be thrown out altogether, or the whole 
 of it in each case be included for the equal period of comparison; otherwise a 
 very heavy charge will be made upon the volunteer service and held up 
 against them to their disparagement, when the expense is not because the 
 troops are volunteers or militia, but because they are troops raised for short in 
 tervals of time. 
 
 So it is very unjust to compare the expenses of our volunteers with the expenses 
 of infantry in depot. The proper comparison is between the expenses of our 
 foot and horse in the field, in these Territories, with the expenses of the foot 
 and horse of the regular service in the field in those Territories. 
 
 But this is not all. If, in an emergency, you do not resort to volunteers, 
 what will you do ? You must institute a new military system, increase your 
 army largely, and have in depot surplus troops for any emergency which may 
 arise. And, therefore, the true and only just comparison of expense is a com 
 parison of the expenses which we incur under our military s}~stem, relying upon 
 the militia and volunteers of the country in case of emergency, and of the only 
 system that can take its place, viz : that of a large standing army. 
 
 Suppose that in our Indian difficulties you had this large standing army, and that 
 there had been a surplus of troops at the depots at home to send out there. When 
 you take the cost of transportation, the cost of recruiting, the cost of getting them 
 to the field of action you would find in the case supposed that there would have 
 been an expense of two or three hundred dollars a man, at the very point where 
 the expenses of the volunteers commence. And then when the emergency was 
 over you would have the cost of sending them home again. You, gentlemen, can 
 compute the cost for yourselves. I ask again--if you did not have the volunteer 
 service, what would you do ? You must Lave a standing army large enough for 
 any emergency, doing nothing nine years out of ten. But such statements and 
 comparisons as these, the only just and proper ones, are not made in these reports ; 
 and yet, the mere statement of it will convince the mind that they are just and 
 sound statements and comparisons. If you take the view I have presented, it 
 will be found that in our territories, the expenses of the volunteers per man is 
 much less than the expenses of regulars, if sent from the States there and sent 
 back, as must necessarily have been the case had you been obliged to rely upon 
 regulars alone. Our means of transportation were more economical. We used 
 ox-trains instead of mule-trains, and we carried fifty per cent, more freight per 
 employee than was carried in the trains of the regular service. That is a fact 
 known of all men there. We made at least as rapid trips as the regular service, 
 and we showed that oxen were the proper animals for wagons in that country. 
 
 But every effort was made to reduce expenses, and the effort was a success 
 ful one. All allowance of extra pay for fatigue service was prohibited in orders, 
 
13 
 
 and the accounts for such service were disallowed and thrown out. No such ac 
 counts were submitted to the commissioners appointed bv the Secretary of War 
 under the authority of Congress. This was deemed by many very unjust at 
 the time, as payment for fatigue service was recognised in the army, and the 
 rates established by act of Congress. Our troops did a very lar^e amount of 
 fatigue service, as shown in the block houses built by them" and Ihe roads cut 
 out by them ; one company was especially raised for fatigue duty, and was 
 called the Pioneer company ; most of its members were mechanics, or very 
 experienced axemen, and for many months they were constantly employed at 
 fatigue service. It was emphatically a company of Pioneers as "well as a com 
 pany of fighting men ; the Indians making the'first attack upon them whilst 
 cutting out a road at the battle of C.onnel'S Prairie. 
 
 I refused Mr. Chairman to allow any extra compensation for fatigue service, 
 because I expected the pay of our troops would have some relations to the price 
 of labor in the country; and for a temporary rapid service organized for an 
 emergency, I did not think the idea of extra pay for fatigue service should be 
 countenanced. 
 
 In the disposition of public property in the volunteer service of Washington, 
 every exertion was made to guard the rights of the Government. I refused to 
 allow any volunteer to retain one animal even on an appraisal by the officers 
 of the Quartermaster Department, the same to be charged upon the muster- 
 rolls against his pay, but directed every animal to be disposed of at public 
 auction. Everything was sold at public auction for the scrip issued in purchasing. 
 The sales amounted to nearly one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and to 
 this amount was the war debt reduced by these sales. The sales were at a 
 considerable advance on the original cost. Horses which cost from $250 to $400 
 brought from $200 to $600. Wagons costing $200, were readily sold at $300 ; 
 and oxen were disposed of -at thirty per cent, above cost. This too, after the 
 property had been of course deteriorated by six months active service. 
 
 The report of J. Ross Brown, Special Agent of the Interior Department, gives 
 so graphic a picture of the condition of the Territory, in 1857, the year following 
 the war, that I cannot do better than quote from his report, as follows: 
 
 " On the roiid from the Cowlitz Landing to Olympia, a distance of fifty miles, 
 the whole country bears distressing evidences of the disastrous effects of the 
 late war. In 1854, when I first passed through this region, it abounded in fine 
 farms well cultivated, and bearing luxuriant crops of grain. Immigration was 
 rapidly filling up all the vacant lands; and large herds of stock were grazing 
 upon the prairies. From the signs of prosperity then apparent, it was not un 
 reasonable to predict that in the course of three years the products and popu 
 lation would be more than doubled. But, notwithstanding this region was 
 exempt from any actual collision with the Indians, the effects are nearly the 
 same as in other parts of the Territory. All along the road houses are desert 
 ed and going to ruin ; fences are cast down and in a state of decay ; fields, once 
 waving with luxuriant crops of wheat, are desolate ; and but little, if any, 
 stock is to be seen on the broad prairies that formerly bore such inspiring evi 
 dences of life. The few families that remained, either from necessity or incli 
 nation, were forced to erect rude block-houses for their defense, into which 
 they gathered by night during the hostilities, in constant apprehension of 
 attack. These rude defenses still stand at interval? along the road. I mention 
 these facts with a view of showing that, so far, at least, the ' war speculation' 
 charged upon the settlers of Washington Territory presents an unprofitable 
 appearance." 
 
 There was erected in the Territory, during the war, thirty-one block-houses 
 by the volunteer troops, twenty-one block-houses by the citizens, without assis 
 tance; and some seven block-houses by the troops of the regular service. Some 
 of these block-houses were large establishments, there being space enougn inside 
 the pickets for small houses for the families of the neighborhood, the block 
 houses intended to protect. The name and site of each block-house, as well as 
 the roads and trails cut out by the volunteer service is given in an official docu 
 ment published by order of the Legislature of Washington. 
 
 Of the whole number of eighteen hundred and ninety-six enlisted men m the 
 Washington volunteers, two hundred aud thirty-six were friendly Indians, aad 
 
u 
 
 two hundred and fifteen citizens of Oregon, leaving fourteen hundred and forty- 
 five citizens of Washington in service from October, 1855, to September, 1856. 
 Their average term of service, as I have before observed, was one hundred 
 and twelve days. Thus it will appear that nearly seven-eighths of our citizens 
 served nearly four months during that war an amount of service that has not 
 certainly its parallel in this, and probably in any other country. 
 
 In Washington, the volunteers were nearly equally divided between foot and 
 mounted troops. There were one thousand and seventeen men who served as 
 cavalry, and eight hundred and seventy nine who served as infantry. The oper 
 ations on the sound a large portion of the country being very heavily timbered 
 and there being in the timber dense underbrush and fallen logs required that 
 the troops should be principally foot troops. The operations in the interior, it 
 being mostly a prairie country, that all the troops should be mounted. The 
 greater vigor and success .of the volunteer operations East of the Cascades, over 
 those of-the regular service, were due very much to the fact that the volunteers 
 were well mounted, whereas the greater bulk of the regular force was infantry. 
 The volunteers were, however, very superior ih all the qualities of service to th-e 
 regulars. There was scarcely a man in the volunteer service who had not 
 crossed the plains, become inmired to all the routine of camp life, and thoroughly 
 accustomed to moving in that country, either on his horse over the prairie, or 
 on foot through the dense forests. 
 
 We had no difficulty whatever in raising foot troops, nor in dismounting 
 our horse troops, when, as on the Sound, the operations extended from the 
 prairie region, at the head of the Sound, to the wooded regions eastward, where 
 horses could not be used. 
 
 The remarks, Mr. Chairman, of Mr. J. Eoss Brown as to the causes of the 
 war, are so pertinent and so just that I will give them at length: 
 
 " Kam-i-y-a-kan, the chief of the Yakimas, was bitter in his animosity. As 
 early as 1853 he projected a war of extermination against the whole race of 
 Americans within the country. It was his settled determination to make the 
 war general, and he spared no inducements to affect a coalition with the JS"ez 
 Perces, Cayuses, Walla-Wallas, and other tribes. For your information on 
 this point, showing that war actually was premeditated in 1853, I send you 
 enclosed a translation of the letter of Father Pandory, priest at the Atahnam 
 Mission, dated 'April 1858,' to Father Mesplie, at the Dalles, in which he 
 says : ' A chief of the upper Nez Perces has killed thirty head of cattle at a 
 feast given to the nation ; and this number of animals not being sufficient, 
 seven more were killed. The feast was given in order to unite the hearts of the 
 Indians to make declaration of war against the Americans. Th? ough the whole 
 course of the winter I have heard the same thing that the Cayuses and Nez 
 Percys have united themselves for war. During the course of last sping I was 
 in the Cayuse country after they had given a similar feast. I said nothing be 
 cause I thought that they had a sub-agent who would speak. * * I will 
 recount to you what they say. All the Indians upon the left (north) bank of 
 the Columbia, from the Blackfeet to the Chenook, inclusive, are to assemble at 
 the Cayuse country. All on the right bank, through the same extent of coun 
 try, are to assemble on the Simcoe, (on the Yakima,) including those from Nis- 
 qually and the vicinity. The cause of this war is, that the Americans are going 
 to seize their lands.'' 
 
 u This grave and startling information, so fearfully verified since, was promptly 
 communicated to Major Alvord, who reported it to General Hitchcock, the then 
 commanding officer of the military department on this coast. Major Alvord 
 was censured as an alarmist, and Father Pandory was treated in the same man 
 ner by his superior. 
 
 " It will be observed that the date of the letter is April, 1853. If the war, 
 therefore, was one of speculation, gotten up by the settlers of Oregon, the 
 scheme should have been frustrated then. Information that a war was actually 
 going to take place that the Indians had avowed it in council was in posses 
 sion of .the commanding officer of the military department. Why did he not 
 expose the speculation ? Why did not the departments in Washington issua 
 orders to the governors of the Territories, apprising them of their knowedge 
 of this scheme, and cause it to be then arrested ? Simply, as I conceive, because 
 
15 
 
 no such scheme was ever contemplated, either. then or since. The settlers only 
 asked protection for their lives and property ;" and after both have been freely 
 sacrificed, the charge is, for the first time, brought against them. 
 
 "But to return a moment to the combination. As no change took place in 
 the Hudson's Bay Company's posts after the treaty of 1846, and their posses 
 sions and appearance of power remained the same as before, the Indians, up to 
 a very recent date, regarded the Territory of Washington as under the influ 
 ence of ' King George.' 
 
 "The Nisqually's and other tribes of Puget Sound, whose chief inter 
 course had always been with 'King George' men, naturally shared their ani 
 mosity against the Americans. When Governor Stevens treated with them, he 
 found them in a very disaffected condition. It was with difficulty the chiefs could 
 be gotten together. Something had to be done with them, and, under the cir 
 cumstances of difficulty attending the making of these treaties, I am satisfied 
 no public officer could have done better. The treaties were not the cause of 
 the war. I have already;shown that the war had been determined upon long be 
 fore. If Governor Stevens is to blame because he did not so frame the treaties as 
 to stop the war, or stop it by not making treaties at all, then that charge should 
 be specifically brought against him. 
 
 "Leschi, the celebrated Nisqually chief, was most determined in his hostility. 
 Bold, adventurous, and eloquent, he possessed an unlimited sway over his 
 people, and, by the earnestness of his purpose and the persuasiveness of his 
 arguments, carried all with him who heard him speak. He travelled by day 
 and night, caring neither for hunger nor fatigue; visited the camps of the 
 Yakimas and Klickitats; addressed the councils in terms of eloquence such as 
 they had seldom heard. .He crossed the Columbia, penetrated to southern 
 Oregon, appealed to all the disaffected there. He dwelt upon their wrongs ; 
 painted to them, in the exuberance of his imagination, the terrible picture of 
 the 'polakly illeha,' the land of darkness, where no ray from the sun ever 
 penetrated; where there was torture and death for all the races of Indians; 
 where the sting of an insect killed like the stroke of a spear, and the streams 
 were foul and muddy, so that no living thing could drink of the waters. This 
 was the place where the white men wanted to carry them to. lie called upon 
 them to resist like braves so terrible a fate. The white men were but a hand 
 ful now. They could all be killed at once, and then others would fear to come. 
 But if there was no war, they would grow strong and many, and soon put all 
 the Indians in their big ships and send them off to that terrible land, where 
 tortue and death awaited them. 
 
 "It may readily be suposed that a rude and ignorant people, naturally prone 
 to superstition, were not slow in giving credence to these fearful stories. Each 
 tribe had its grievance from the north to the south. Common interest bound 
 them in their compact against a common enemy. 
 
 "The Mormons, at this time, had also sent their emissaries among them to 
 spread the disaffection, In the Simcoe, at a council of the tribes in 1854, a 
 chief from the Monrnon country urged them to war. The talk of this chief, as 
 detailed by a friendly Indian who was in the council, was to this effect: That 
 far in the desert there lived the greatest people on earth, who controlled the 
 sun. He had been among them and talked with them, and they had sent him 
 here to say what they were. They could strike dead anybody at any distance; 
 they could make the sun stand still; they could make powder and muskets, 
 and they were the friends oi' the Indians. The Americans were the enemies of 
 the Indians. They wanted the Indians to kill them all. They would send 
 them powder and muskets, &c. 
 
 "That the Mormons did furnish several of the tribes with ammunition is 
 proved by the narrative of Captain Shaw, of the Walla- Walla volunteers. At 
 the last battle fought up there, he found powder, muskets, balls, &c., among 
 the Indians bearing the Mormon brand. 
 
 "George B. Simpson, late interpreter and local agent at the Cascades, who 
 originally came to Salt Lake as an agent for the Salt Lake mails, states, from 
 his own knowledge, that the Mormons sent out emissaries among all the tribes 
 of Indians prior to the war, urging them to unite in exterminating the Americans. 
 
 "But the plan of operations had not been sufficiently matured. Some of the 
 
16 
 
 tribes were too impatient to wait till the proper time had arrived. In the 
 Rummer of 1855, after the discovery of the Colville mine?, a general rush took 
 place there. The first man murdered was Mattice, a miner, who was on his 
 way there with a considerable amount of money and provisions. He was tilled 
 soon after desending the Snoqualimie pass by a party of Indians supposed to be 
 Yakimas. Near the same time, Fantjoy, another miner, was killed. These 
 were both respectable men from the State of Maine. They were proprietors of 
 a coal mine on the Danamish. The murders on the White river occurred some 
 two mouths after. Agent Bolon, hearing of the Yakima murders, crossed over 
 from the Dalles to see the chief Kamiakin. Ouahi, another prominent chief, 
 was present in camp. Bolon spent the night there, no doubt remonstrating 
 with them for their acts. Next day, as he was riding back, he was overtaken 
 by two or three Indians, who rode along with him in an apparently friendly 
 manner. One lagged behind, and, while the others engaged his attention, shot 
 him in the back. He was then dragged from his horse, scalped and partly 
 burnt. One of the murderers is said to be a son of the chief Ouahi. 
 
 "On the 8th or 9th of October the Indians of southern Oregon began the 
 work of extermination. They slaughtered, indiscriminately, men, women, and 
 children. At or about the same date the war had opened in "Washington Terri 
 tory. The movement was simultaneous, and could only have been the result 
 of concert; but the Indians themselves have since freely admitted that their 
 plan embraced all parts of the country from north to south. 
 
 " I will not undertake to follow up the history of the war to a later period, 
 Its peculiar features have been represented officially on both sides, and its pro 
 gress and termination are matters of public record. 
 
 "Upon a careful perusal of all the despatches, I find nothing to sustain the 
 charge of speculation. No person can visit the Territories of Oregon and 
 Washington, converse with the people, see them on their farms and at their 
 daily labors, and consider their true interests, without coming to the conclusion 
 that such a charge is absurd and monstrous. What could they hope to gain 1 
 Few of them had anything to spare upon which to base a speculation. A 
 farmer is well off who has his fields fenced in, a few head of oxen, and three or 
 four cows. If he got treble price for his stock, the sale, upon an unlimited 
 credit, would have been a sacrifice to him. His farm must go to ruin. The 
 interests of the settlers of nearly every pursuit are nearly identical. Their 
 future prospects depend chiefly upon the prosperity of the country, the increase 
 of emigration, enhancement in the value of property, seourity of life, opening 
 of new facilities for the transportation of their products. All this was diamet 
 rically opposed to a war. No compensation that government could make 
 would atone for the murder of families, the stoppage of labor everywhere, the 
 loss of time, the suspension of emigration, and the numerous evils resulting 
 from this disastrous conflict. 
 
 "The commissioners at Vancouver have faithfully and impartially performed 
 their duty. Whatever sum they may have decided upon in estimating this 
 war debt, I hold that amount to be justly due, and trust that Congress will at 
 once provide for its extinguishment." 
 
 In conclusion. Mr. Chairman, I ask for the people of those Territories, prompt 
 and equal justice at the hands of this Congress ; I ask, in the name of their 
 patriotism and heroic services and sufferings, for the immediate liquidation of 
 their claims. A commission appointed under its authority a commission re 
 presenting this Government, and not the people of these Territories a commis 
 sion, who, if they had any bias or prejudice, were biased and prejudiced 
 against us, have investigated the whole question, have made their awards, have 
 submitted their report, 7ind that report with the approval of the War Depart 
 ment, is now before Congress. We ask firmly and emphatically for the endorse 
 ment of this report, and the payment of these awards, the present session of 
 Congress. 
 
Lithomount 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
 PAT. JAN 21, 1908