F 
 
 893 
 
 .5 
 
WAR EXPENSES OF WASHINGTON AND OREGON 
 TERRITORIES. 
 
 IM: ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
 
 OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 MADE BEFORE THE 
 
 Cammiite uf llilitarg Affairs 0f 
 
 FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1860. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 THOMAS McGILL, PRINTER 
 
 1860. 
 
. %& &jnncfaw^A0ru^ 
 
 f/ / 
 
I 4*13 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ANQROFT UBflAKY 
 
 OP 
 
 HON. ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
 
 OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 WAR EXPENSES OF WASHINGTON A.ND OREGON TERRITORIES, 
 
 MADE BEFORE THE 
 COMMITTEE OF MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE HOUSE, FRIDAY, MARCH 15m, I860 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN : Before proceeding witli my remarks, I will 
 , request that the bill providing for the payment of the war claims 
 of Oregon and Washington be first read. 
 The bill was then read, as follows : 
 
 A BILL for the payment of the war expenses of the Territories of Oregon and 
 Washington in 1855 and 1856. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
 America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, appropriated out 
 of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, whatever amount 
 may be necessary to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to defray the expenses 
 necessarily incurred by the territorial governments of Oregon and Washington 
 in the suppression of Indian hostilities therein, in the years 1855 and 1856, so 
 far as the claims growing out of said war have been adjudicated by the com 
 missioners appointed for that purpose, agreeably to the provisions of the eleventh 
 section of the act of the 18th August, 1856, entitled " An act making appro 
 priations for certain civil expenses of the government, for the year ending 30th 
 June, 1857," and have been reported to the War Department, by said commis 
 sioners, for payment. 
 
 And be it further enacted, That the amounts severally found due to the parties 
 contained in the report of the said commissioners, shall be paid to the said par 
 ties respectively, or their legal representatives, or to the assignees or attorneys, 
 duly constituted and appointed by said parties, anything in the act approved 
 July 29, 1846, or in the act of February, 1853, to the contrary notwithstand 
 ing. 
 
 This bill provides for the payment of the war debt of Oregon 
 and Washington, according to the awards of the commission. 
 This commission was appointed under the authority of an act of 
 Congress, and we hold that its decisions are binding upon Con 
 gress, unless fraud or a want of jurisdiction can be established. 
 I take it for granted that this committee do not desire me to go 
 into the origin and causes of the war ; that they will assume as 
 fundamental, that it was a necessary and inevitable war ; that it 
 was forced upon us by a most extraordinary combination of the 
 Indian tribes in those distant territories, and that the very ne 
 cessity of self-protection compelled the organization of the citizen 
 troops of those territories, and the operations which they under 
 took against the Indians. I take it for granted that the point 
 which this committee design to consider is, as to whether the 
 awards of the commission shall be sustained ? in other words, 
 
that it is simply a question as to prices, for the services of men, 
 and for supplies, transportation, &c. 
 
 Mr. STANTON. We have doubts about the very thing which 
 you take as fundamental. We do not know that it was necessary 
 to call out the troops at least, to the extent that they were called 
 out. We deem the matter still an open question, and we would 
 like some explanations about those points. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. I am perfectly ready to make those expla 
 nations now, although I came here not expecting that these points 
 would be a matter of inquiry or doubt, and have, therefore, not 
 prepared myself especially for it. Some of my authorities are 
 not here ; still I am perfectly ready at once to enter into the 
 explanations desired by the committee. 
 
 Mr. OLIN. Looking through the despatches, I find that Gen. 
 Wool and other officers make serious and weighty charges against 
 the people of the territory, and express the strongest judgment 
 that there was no necessity for calling out the volunteers. I 
 wish to ask, can you point out the official reports can you point 
 out the special affidavits rebutting and disproving these charges 
 and statements of Gen. Wool ? 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. Before replying to these questions, I have got 
 to assume certain things as conceded and established. I demand 
 that before this committee the report or statement of a civil officer 
 shall have precisely the same weight no more, no less as that 
 of a military officer. I demand that the official report or state 
 ment of the Governor of Oregon or of the Governor of Washing 
 ton shall have the same weight as the official report of Major- 
 Gen. John E. Wool, commanding the department of the Pacific ; 
 and that the reports of Indian agents, or officers in the volunteer 
 service, or of citizens of acknowledged character and integrity 
 in the two territories, shall have the same weight as the reports 
 or certificates of officers of the army or gentlemen elsewhere. 
 Now, in answer to the question of my friend, Mr. OLIN, I will 
 first call the attention of the committee to the general character 
 of the charges of Gen. W T ool against the people and the volun 
 teer service of those two territories. These charges run through 
 ail of Gen. Wool's official reports, and are notorious throughout 
 the whole country. He states that the war was a godsend to 
 the people of those territories ; that the idea of plundering the 
 public treasury had much to do with commencing and continu 
 ing the war ; that it was a scheme of plunder upon the public 
 treasury ; that the people of both territories were Indian exter 
 minators ; that the executives of both territories were Indian 
 exterminators; that these executives did not wish the- war 
 brought to an end, but desired to keep it in progress as long as 
 they could find any pretext for it. These are Gen. Wool's 
 charges, as given in his official reports. Now, these same execu 
 tives, in their official reports, most emphatically deny the truth 
 
of those charges. The people of those territories most emphati 
 cally deny the truth of those charges. The Indian officers 
 throughout the Territory of Washington, and, with but one ex 
 ception, in the Territory of Oregon, deny those charges. The 
 commission instituted by government discredits entirely those 
 charges. The special agents of the government sent out to that 
 coast for the express purpose of inquiring into Indian affairs 
 scout at those charges, and declare them monstrous and absurd. 
 We have, upon one side, Gen. Wool and some one or two officers, 
 and, upon the other side, the entire population of the two terri 
 tories, and public functionaries in all branches of the public service, 
 many of them strangers to the country and entirely disinterested. 
 More than this, Gen. Wool's own reports afford internal evidence 
 that those charges cannot possibly be true. He admits that in 
 the Territory of Washington many thousands of friendly Indians 
 were cared for, fed, and protected, during this Indian war. Now, 
 under whose charge were they ? They were under the charge 
 of the very territorial executive whom Gen. Wool denounces as 
 an Indian exterminator, and holds up to the public as one who 
 did not want the war brought to a conclusion ; for the executive 
 of Washington was also superintendent of Indian affairs. Now, 
 it is obvious every man of this comtoittee sees it that the au 
 thority which, through disaffection upon the part of the Indians, 
 and great suffering and exasperation upon the part of the white 
 people, did protect, care for, quiet, and make entirely friendly, 
 thousands of Indians, could not have been an authority in favor 
 of exterminating the Indians, and of prolonging the war. 
 
 Let us turn now to the origin of the war. Our population 
 was a population of families, who for the most part had made 
 their way over the plains, and with great toil and suffering, and 
 at great expense, had established homes upon the western shore. 
 Their interests were peace ; they were looking to the increase 
 of population, the enhancement in the value of property, and 
 especially to an overland emigration. Nothing did they desire 
 so much as peace ; nothing did they deplore so much as the 
 prospect of war. The war came upon them like a thunderbolt. 
 Every one was disposed to discredit the many rumors which ob 
 tained in that country months before the war broke out, that 
 hostilities were probable. They had few or no private arms. 
 Our miners passing through the Yakima country, some twenty 
 in number, were killed, and the regular troops under Major 
 Haller defeated. The massacres in southern Oregon and on 
 White river closely followed. Volunteers came into the service 
 in consequence of the requisition of Major Rains, who called 
 upon the executives of both territories to furnish troops, the regu 
 lar force being deemed by him to be inadequate. The defeat of 
 Major Haller, and the massacres in southern Oregon, on White 
 river, and of the miners in the Yakima country, convinced all 
 
men, both officers of the regular service and the territorial au 
 thorities, that a general Indian outbreak was upon them, and that 
 the most prompt and decisive course must be taken to prevent 
 infinite injury, and indeed the entire wiping out of the settle 
 ments. 
 
 Mr. STANTON. Will you explain why the volunteers were 
 not mustered into the regular service ? 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. I shall look to my friend from Oregon [Mr. 
 STOUT] to make the answer to this question to the committee, so 
 far as Oregon is concerned. As regards Washington Territory, 
 the troops were mustered into the regular service at first ; and 
 not only this, but the regular officers absolutely took the initia 
 tive, and received troops before the territorial executive could 
 act, and then asked his approval. But as the danger increased, 
 other companies were raised than those required by Major Rains, 
 some of which were mustered, and some of which were not mus 
 tered, into the regular service. There were on the Sound some 
 five companies in all mustered into the regular service. 
 
 Mr. OLIN. Will you explain this statement in your message 
 to the Legislature ? 
 
 "Whenever it is practicable or expedient, it is best that volunteers should 
 be mustered into the United States service. It should go to the authorities at 
 home that we endeavored to co-operate with the regular service. But there 
 has been a breach of faith. Troops mustered into service were disbanded in 
 violation of a positive understanding ; and it is now proper that the authori 
 ties of this Territory should conduct the movements of their own troops, co 
 operating with the regulars where such co-operation can be effected. I there 
 fore do not think the volunteers of this Territory should be mustered into the reg 
 ular service. I am ready to take the responsibility of raising them independent 
 of that service, and it is due to the Territory, and to myself, that the reasons 
 for assuming it should go to the President and the departments at Washing-, 
 ton." 
 
 Give all the circumstances in relation to it. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. This statement can be established by the 
 most conclusive evidence. When the war broke out I was oil 
 the Missouri river, one of the commissioners to make a treaty 
 with the Blackfeet and other tribes of Indians. The acting 
 Governor of Washington was exceedingly anxious about my 
 safety. It was believed in the settlements, not only that the Yaki- 
 mas who had defeated Major Haller, were in arms, but the 
 Cayuses and the Walla Wallas ; and even no confidence was 
 placed in the Nez Perces, the Spokanes, and the adjoining tribes. 
 There had been reports current for two months previously, that 
 my whole party and myself had been cut off by these Indians ; 
 and it was well known that I would deem it to be my duty to re 
 turn home through the country occupied by these hostile bands. 
 Acting Gov. Mason went to the Columbia river to make arrange 
 ments to send forward troops to my assistance. A company 
 was raised under the command of Capt. William McKay, and an 
 agreement was had first with. Lieut. Withers and then with Maj. 
 
, that this company should be mustered into the regular 
 service, and, under the general direction of special agent B. F. 
 Shaw, be sent to my assistance. On the arrival of Gen. Wool, 
 he absolutely refused to recognize this arrangement, and pro 
 hibited the officers in command upon the river from mustering them 
 into the regular service ; and the company was in consequence 
 disbanded. These facts I have from Major Rains himself, from 
 special agent B. F. Shaw, and also from Capt. McKay ; and 
 thus the arrangements made by the acting governor to provide 
 for my coming in, proved entirely abortive through the action of 
 Gen. Wool. This was one of many reasons why, in my judgment, 
 so long as Gen. Wool was in command, a proper self-respect and 
 regard for the public safety made it incumbent on us to manage 
 our own affairs co-operating so far as we could with the troops 
 of the regular service, but keeping the two organizations dis 
 tinct. 
 
 I will here remark that the movement of the Oregon volun 
 teers to the Walla Walla, in November, 1855, which General 
 Wool so vehemently and bitterly condemns, defeated the very 
 Indians who had sworn to cut off my party, and who absolutely 
 blocked up my road to the settlements. And this reminds me 
 of another charge made by Gen. Wool and Capt. T. J. Cram, 
 that Pu-pu-mux-mux, the Walla Walla chief, was treacherously 
 slain. Now I had the most indubitable evidence, which I collected 
 in the Indian country on my way back, that Pu-pu-mux-mux was 
 the great head and front of this Indian outbreak. I had full 
 conferences with the prominent chiefs of the Nez Perces, who 
 went on a special embassy to Pu-pu-mux-mux, and the head 
 chief of the Cayuses, to dissuade them from embarking in hos 
 tilities. I know the exact conversation of Pu-pu-mux-mux in 
 reply to these men ; all their intercessions and all their advice 
 were scorned and rejected. One of these Nez Perces chiefs 
 was Joseph, an old man of more than seventy years of age, 
 and a man of acknowledged probity and character. In re 
 gard to the circumstances of the death of Pu-pu-mux-mux, 
 we have the official report of Col. Kelly, a gentleman of the 
 highest standing in Oregon, and one of the ablest lawyers in 
 that State, corroborated by the eye-witnesses of the affair. 
 No man can or dare impeach this testimony. It establishes 
 conclusively that Pu-pu-mux-mux was a prisoner of war, and 
 that in the very height of the battle of the Walla Walla he 
 was killed in an attempt to escape from his guard. He had 
 jumped upon his guard, seized his gun, and in the midst of a 
 violent struggle he was killed. I have myself conversed with 
 the eye-witnesses of this affair, and especially with Lieut. Shep 
 herd, afterwards of the Washington volunteers, a man whose 
 word is his bond, and who is incapable of falsehood or prevarica 
 tion ; and they all go to sustain the absolute truth of the report 
 of Col. Kelly. * 
 
Speaking of Thomas Jefferson Cram, he says : there is abund 
 ant evidence to show that the chief who urged the tribes into 
 hostility, who plundered the property, and burned the houses of the 
 settlers, was not Pu-pu-mux-mux, but the Yellow Serpent. This 
 intelligent and veracious witness did not know enough of Indian 
 affairs in that country to know what everybody else did know 
 that Pu-pu-mux-mux and the Yellow Serpent were one and the 
 same man ! 
 
 At this stage of my remarks, I will call the special attention 
 of this committee to the kind of work I was at on my way home, 
 in view of the reiterated charges against my own personal and offi 
 cial character. So far from stirring up war, I came among the 
 Indians as a messenger of peace, spending whole days among the 
 Ooeur d'Alenes and Spokanes, to remove their apprehensions, to 
 soften their hostility, and to restore their good feeling towards 
 us in which, for the time being, I was completely successful, 
 if Gen. Wool's charge were true that I was an Indian extermina 
 tor, I would not have gone among these Indians in order to 
 secure their friendship, when I might have avoided them, as I 
 easily could have done. To this same point all my exertions 
 were directed in the Nez Perces country, where there was some 
 disaffection, although less than in the other tribes. 
 
 Gen. Wool was evidently laboring under the grossest misap 
 prehension as to the motives he ascribed to the public function 
 aries in those Territories and the people ; and I submit to the 
 committee whether the severest scrutiny should not be exercised 
 in reference to any charge he may make against the people and 
 authorities in regard to that war. All the facts which I have 
 mentioned to this committee in regard to my connection with the 
 Indian service are matters of official record in the Indian depart 
 ment. 
 
 Now, the gentlemen of this committee cannot begin to appre 
 ciate the distressed and heart-rending condition of the entire 
 population of Washington, and nearly the entire population of 
 Oregon, at this time. I reached the capital of the Territory of 
 Washington, on the 19th of January, the war having then been 
 in progress some three months. I found the citizens through 
 that entire territory in block houses. Everywhere the farmers 
 had been obliged to leave their homes, and with their wives and 
 children to go into block houses for protection. So large a force 
 was in the field, operating against the Indians, that this course 
 was indispensable to prevent the most shocking scenes of mas 
 sacre. It was believed by many persons that if they remained in 
 the territory they would starve. The great point was to see if 
 the war could not be brought to a close by a vigorous campaign, 
 in order that the farmers might get in their spring crops. To 
 this point we moved everything. I, myself, travelled all over 
 the territory, appealing to the citizens to stand by us, endeavor- 
 
ing to encourage them everywhere ; and I also visited all the 
 Indian tribes, in order that no exertion might be spared that 
 should tend to soothe their discontented spirits, and to restore to 
 them their former confidence in our government. The official 
 reports and records on the files of the department show that the 
 most anxious vigilance was exercised. The reports to the War 
 Department and to the Indian Department were exceedingly full 
 and minute. As Indian superintendent, I deemed it my duty to 
 report to the Indian Department every case of the unauthorized 
 killing of Indians by white men. No such case was reported for 
 the first six months of the war, because no case of unauthorized 
 killing occurred during those six months. The committee will 
 see what a triumphant and splendid vindication this fact is, of the 
 character of that people, against these cruel and scandalous 
 charges of Gren. Wool and others. Recollect, they were living 
 in block houses. They were in great suffering. Many lives had 
 been lost by massacre ; much property had been destroyed ; and 
 yet, for six months, no case of unauthorized killing occurred. 
 When the public mind became persuaded that the war might 
 be ended by a vigorous and decisive campaign, so that the 
 farmers could get in their spring crops, the idea of leaving 
 the territory was abandoned ; all persons determined to stand 
 by the territory, and they did stand by the territory. And this 
 brings me to my refusal to comply with a requisition of Col. 
 Casey, in March, 1856, for two companies of volunteers to be 
 mustered into the regular service. At the time this requisition 
 was made, our troops were actually in the Indian country, fight 
 ing the hostile Indians, with ample supplies and transportation 
 for the movements which, in our judgment, would conquer a 
 peace ; and my judgment was thoroughly convinced that the 
 safety of the territory and the public interests with which I was 
 charged, demanded at my hands that those means should be vig 
 orously applied according to the plan which had already been 
 determined on. The correspondence is given in full in this vol 
 ume which I have before me, to which I will particularly invite 
 the attention of the committee.* 
 
 Mr. STANTON. There is another point which we would be 
 glad to have you explain. We do not understand the necessity 
 of the operations of Col. Shaw east of the Cascade mountains. 
 Will you be pleased to give an account of that? 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. I will remind the committee of the fact that 
 throughout that war I took the necessary measures to get the 
 most minute and accurate information in regard to the whole in 
 terior of the country. There was organized a system of ex 
 presses, which reached every band and tribe east of the Cascades. 
 
 * Message and accompanying documents of the Governor of Washington 
 Territory, 4th session of the Legislative Assembly. 
 
Through our Indian expresses and spies \ve ascertained the de 
 signs of the hostile Indians, learned the proceedings of their 
 councils, and the steps which from time to time they took to in 
 duce Indians, before friendly, to join them in making war 
 upon the white population. In the Nez Perces country there 
 was an Indian agent of great experience and knowledge of the 
 Indians, with some white settlers, upon whom 1 relied very much 
 for information with regard to that country. A portion of the 
 Nez Perces chiefs, and the head chief Lawyer especially, were of 
 unyielding loyalty, and were determined to maintain the peace 
 of the tribe. I had message after message from the chiefs of the 
 Nez Perces, imploring me to send troops there, informing me 
 that a portion of the Nez Perces had already become hostile and 
 embittered against the whites, and that Kamiakin and the Yaki- 
 mas were coming into that country all the time to increase the 
 disaffection, and that there would be a general Indian war unless 
 troops came there. I determined that I would not send troops 
 east of the Cascades if it was a part of the purpose of the officer 
 in command of the regular troops, Col. Wright, to send them to 
 the country where they were so much needed that is, to the 
 Walla Walla country. This movement would have broken up the 
 hostile combination east of the Columbia, and have relieved the 
 Nez Perces. I first corresponded with Col. Wright, and ascer 
 tained from him that he did not intend to send troops there. 
 I advised him of my information in regard to the disposition 
 of those Indians, and the probability of an outbreak there ; and 
 then I conceived it to be my duty to send a considerable force, 
 with the view of checking it in the very bud. As Indian super 
 intendent, I sent to the Nez Perces and other friendly Indians 
 quite a large amount of provisions, clothing, and other articles 
 required for their comfort. The whole force rendezvoused at 
 Walla Walla, consisting of nearly four hundred volunteers. 
 There they met the Nez Perces in council. Everything seemed 
 to be peaceable so much so that the special agent, Robie, went 
 into the Nez Perces country with a hundred pack loads of pro 
 visions and goods for them, without an escort. So hostile and 
 disaffected and threatening did he find a large portion of the 
 Nez Perces, that it was requisite for his safety that he should 
 return immediately, and he moved one hundred miles without 
 camping. When they learned, however, of the defeat of the 
 Indians at Burnt river, and especially of the victory of Colonel 
 Shaw, at Grande Ronde, which was a most decisive and hardly- 
 contested fight, where the volunteers attacked the Indians and 
 drove them, fighting hand to hand some fifteen miles, killing 
 some forty to sixty Indians, mostly with the revolver, the Nez 
 Perces became friendly again. This brief recital will show to 
 you the exact condition of things in that interior, and that I 
 had not mistaken the signs of the times, establishing the neces 
 sity of the movement under Col. Shaw. 
 
9 
 
 Immediately on the battle of Grande Ronde, the Indians gen 
 erally, not only the Nez Perces, but the other tribes, sent mes 
 sages to me, requesting me to come to the Walla Walla and to see 
 if some general arrangement could be made. They all express 
 ed the most sincere and earnest desire that there should be a 
 total end of all difficulty. Accordingly, I went to the Walla 
 Walla and called the tribes into council. For reasons which are 
 given at length in my official report, the council did not succeed, 
 and no arrangement was made. This, however, is adduced to 
 show to your minds that there was every disposition to avail our 
 selves of any and all opportunities to end that war, either by 
 the open and manly field fight, or by the friendly conference. 
 
 At this point, I will call your attention to a matter referred 
 to in Geri. Wool's letter given in the auditor's report, wherein 
 he refers to the two companies called out by proclamation in 
 August, 1856. These companies were called out by proclama 
 tion, so as to be ready for contingencies. At the same time, I 
 communicated with Col. Wright to ascertain, for the second time, 
 whether he intended to move troops to the Walla Walla ; and 
 when I ascertained that he did intend to move troops to the 
 Walla Walla, not only did I revoke this proclamation, but I took 
 immediate steps to withdraw all the troops from the Walla Walla 
 under Col. Shaw, and actually, before the council was com 
 menced there, did send down below all but one company of about 
 75 men. So anxious was I to reduce and do away with the 
 organization, that at the very time when it might be supposed 
 that I would most of all require troops, I stripped myself of all 
 but one company, relying upon the presence of the regular troops 
 as answering every sufficient purpose. These regular troops 
 had just arrived. All these facts show that the executive of 
 Washington was acting in perfect good faith throughout all these 
 transactions. SBfiworr LIA*> 
 
 In regard to Cram's report, to which allusion has been made, 
 I will state, in general terms, that it is most grossly inaccurate, 
 and very discreditable to that officer. He has picked up and 
 endorsed the idle, ridiculous rumors which pass from mouth to 
 mouth in an Indian, and particularly in a disturbed Indian, 
 country ; gathering strength from moment to moment, and 
 assuming all conceivable shapes improbable, absurd, and con 
 tradictory throughout their various course. We have a class 
 of men in that country, and some of them very good, well-mean 
 ing men, who have lived among Indians so long that their minds 
 assimilate to those of the Indians. They will not believe any 
 thing wrong of an Indian ; if they should see an Indian kill a 
 white man before their eyes, they would not believe it. They 
 are perfect idiosyncrasists in this respect ; and it is this class 
 who have aided in giving currency to the ridiculous and absurd 
 statements which Capt. Cram endorses. The accurate knowl- 
 
10 
 
 edge of Capt. Cram, in the account he gives of the respective 
 parts played by Pu-pu-mux-mux and the Yellow Serpent is a 
 commentary, and a fit commentary, upon the accuracy and truth 
 of his whole paper, so far as Indian operations are concerned. 
 Whenever this committee desire it, I am prepared to take his 
 whole paper step by step, point by point, and to demonstrate the 
 truth of what I have stated ; but it does not seem to me that 
 it is necessary to occupy the time of this committee now by any 
 further reference to Capt. Cram. 
 
 Passing now from these questions to the proposition before the 
 committee, we ask and we demand, in the name of the people of 
 Oregon and Washington, that Congress pay our war claims ac 
 cording to the awards of the commission instituted by authority 
 of Congress. We hold that these claims have been adjusted by 
 law. We hold that they have been approved by all the depart 
 ments of the government ; first, by Congress, in instituting the 
 commission ; second, by the executive branch, which, though fully 
 advised of the operations of the volunteer service in both terri 
 tories, never sent in reply a word of reproof or remonstance. 
 The executive department manifestly sustained the ground of the 
 executives of those territories, that in time of war, invasion, and 
 peril, a discretion did vest with them to take such measures as 
 they deemed absolutely indispensable to repel invasion, arid to 
 free the country from war and peril. Will this committee take 
 the ground that the action of that commission should be vitiated 
 for fraud, or for want of jurisdiction ? Nobody will contend 
 that they did not have jurisdiction, because it was conferred upon 
 them by the very letter of the law of Congress, and by the in 
 structions, under that law, of the Secretary of War. The high 
 character of that commission is a sufficient guarantee that there 
 was no fraud so far as they were personally concerned, and that 
 they were not likely to be imposed on by the fraudulent repre 
 sentations of others. Recollect, those gentlemen were all familiar 
 with the operations in that country. They were familiar with 
 the regular service ; they were familiar with the volunteer ser 
 vice ; they knew everything about prices ; they understood the 
 character of the country ; they understood the Indians. Two 
 of them were officers of the army, having no ties to connect them 
 with the people of the territory, having no associations to swerve 
 them in the slightest degree from having the most faithful and 
 vigilant eye to the interests of the government. I would be 
 very glad if the chairman of this committee would take the 
 trouble to call upon the Quartermaster General and ascertain 
 from him the character of Capt. Ingalls, one of the officers of 
 that commission. He will ascertain that there is no officer in 'the 
 whole Quartermaster's service who is esteemed to be his superior 
 either in ability or character. He will find that Capt. Smith, 
 the president of that commission, a gentleman who served many 
 
11 
 
 years in southern Oregon, is esteemed throughout the service 
 also as a man of experience and integrity. The third gentle 
 man, Mr. Grover, was, it is true, a citizen of Oregon ; but he 
 was selected in consequence of already having had experience 
 on commissions, where his duties were discharged to the satis 
 faction of the government here. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, this committee is not left in doubt as to the 
 course taken by that commission in making their awards. They 
 state explicitly, under the responsibility of their oaths, that they 
 travelled through both territories extensively ; that they ascer 
 tained the prices current of the several markets ; that they pre 
 pared prepared, Mr. Chairman, carefully-adjusted prices cur 
 rent for these several markets, and they made their awards in 
 conformity with these carefully-adjusted prices current. This is 
 their official declaration. They state, furthermore, that in all 
 cases of doubt they took sworn testimony, and the sworn testi 
 mony of disinterested witnesses not of the parties, but of dis 
 interested witnesses. Now, I submit to this committee whether 
 they have the slighest evidence before them, in the report of the 
 ThirdjjAuditor, which I hold in my hand, and to which I will now 
 proceed to call your attention, to rebut this explicit, this forcible, 
 and this official statement of the commission itself. In touching 
 upon the report of the Auditor, I feel bound to express the 
 -opinion that the report shows that the Auditor has a very bitter 
 prejudice against our claims ; and I submit that the report itself 
 shows that this prejudice incapacitates him from making even the 
 examination which his own records would enable him to make, 
 small and fruitless as that examination may be. 
 
 The first evidence which I adduce of the bitter hostility and 
 prejudice of the Auditor, is the fact that he has not complied 
 with the resolutions of the last House of Representatives. In 
 express terms, those resolutions required him to make a report 
 of the amount due to each company and individual in the ser 
 vice. Why has he not complied with this resolution ? Why 
 has he failed to report the amount due to each individual ? 
 He has reported nothing of the kind. Why does he occupy 
 almost eleven entire pages, from page 4 to page 14, in inquir 
 ing into the causes of the war, presenting the fact that there 
 was not harmony and agreement between the territorial execu 
 tives and Gen. Wool between the regulars and the volunteers 
 speculating about the probable results, if there had been such 
 harmony and agreement quoting the opinions of Wool, Cram, 
 and others, in regard to these subjects, &c. ? Does he have any 
 warrant in the resolutions of the last House for this procedure ? 
 Do they call upon him to inquire into the causes of the war, and 
 to indulge in all these speculations, or do they exact from him a 
 report of the amount due to each company and each individual 
 engaged- in that volunteer service, according to the rules estab- 
 
12 
 
 lished in those resolutions ? He has travelled out of the record 
 without warrant, and he has failed to make the report which he 
 was required to make. I will now read to the committee certain 
 extracts from his report, as follows : 
 
 " The rank and number of the field and staff are in accordance with the 
 organization of the army of the United States in time of war, and any officer, or 
 number of officers, of higher rank, or beyond what is recognized by said organ 
 ization, has been reduced accordingly. Similar reductions have been made, in 
 a few instances, in the officers of small squads of men called companies." 
 " After the date of the discharge of the last of the volunteers, no staff or other 
 officers, except quartermasters and commissaries, have been reported for pay, 
 and after said time the quartermasters and commissaries have been allowed, 
 with their clerks, three months additional to make out and close their accounts." 
 " Quartermasters and commissaries, where they appear to have been actually 
 doing duty, and to have rendered accounts, have been recognized. The nature 
 of the service in a sparsely settled country is presumed to have required the 
 number actually on duty. Some of them have, however, been reduced in rank, 
 and of course as to pay, whilst a few others, who seemed to have performd no 
 duty and rendered no returns, have been stricken off entirely." 
 
 Now, what authority had he to take this course ? What 
 authority had he to determine, sitting in his office, how many 
 aid-de-camps the executive either of Oregon or Washington should 
 have how many staff officers were required in connection with 
 the movement of the troops what quartermasters, commissaries, 
 surgeons, and assistant surgeons, the service needed? When he 
 had ascertained from the papers the service of any individual, 
 what authority had he to go behind the record, except to apply 
 to the term of service thus reported the rules and compensation 
 laid down in the resolutions ? I will now call the attention of 
 the members,^ this committee who served upon it during the 
 35th Congress to the hearing at the last session, when we under 
 took to vindicate the employment of all these men. We were 
 going into that matter fully, and the entire committee, every man 
 of them yourself, Mr. Chairman, and all the old members who 
 were here present will recollect it you all said that you were 
 entirely satisfied about that ; you had no doubt but that every 
 one was needed, and it was unnecessary to consume time in 
 arguing that point ; but you desired us to proceed to other points 
 wherein there was doubt and difficulty. I adduce this, too, 
 as another evidence that from his prejudice and hostility, he 
 was incapable of understanding the resolutions of the house, and 
 that he went into an examination, and took action, not or\\y un 
 warranted by the resolutions, but which, if it could have been 
 anticipated, he would have been excluded from by an express 
 proviso in those resolutions. 
 
 Now, the territorial executives and the proper officers in the 
 volunteer service, absolutely certify to the actual and positive ser 
 vices of the volunteers. The commission, after full and thorough 
 investigation, give their official sanction to the fact that these 
 men were actually engaged in the public service according to 
 
13 
 
 the roll which they transmit; and I submit that it is contrary to 
 common experience and to common sense, that an auditing officer 
 in this government should go behind such record, unless he has 
 the evidence to sustain fraud, either upon the part of the com 
 mission or of the territorial authorities. Has the Auditor any 
 evidence of such fraud ? He does not pretend that he has any 
 evidence whatever, looking to anything of the kind. We 
 therefore protest against any auditor or any clerk in the depart 
 ments prescribing the numbers and the grades 6~f officers required 
 in a service, which, for the difficulty of management and the 
 extent of field over which it operated, has no parallel in the 
 history of the country. We submit that this committee can with 
 safety put more confidence in the decision of experienced men 
 who examined the whole thing at the very seat of operations, 
 than they can in the decisions of an auditor, sitting in his office 
 in the treasury building. In these remarks, I wish the committee 
 to understand I have no disposition to call in question the purity 
 of motive, or integrity of the Third Auditor. I have never 
 called it in question ; but I deem it my duty to endeavor to show 
 what I firmly believe, that the resolutions of the House referred 
 this matter to an authority which was incapable of making an ex 
 amination ; and I submit that his own report has proved that he 
 was incapable of such an examination. The examination could 
 only be made by dispatching a commission to that country, by 
 travelling over that country, by getting full and thorough evi 
 dence, by testing every case of doubt by sworn testimony ; that 
 is, by pursuing the precise course which we know, from their 
 official report, the commission itself pursued. 
 
 Now if you will look at the prices furnished by the auditor him 
 self, of purchases and employments in the regular service, you will 
 have other proofs of the unfairness of his awards in carrying out 
 the resolutions of the House. Before entering upon this, however, 
 let me protest against any inference being drawn as to prices 
 current in that country, from the purchases made in the regular 
 service. They are no criterion whatever. The prices current 
 cannot be ascertained until you know the peculiar circumstan 
 ces of each transaction. That is the largest element affecting 
 the proper price to be paid for labor or for supplies. The price 
 will be variously affected, other circumstances being the same, 
 according to the quantities required, according to the amount in 
 the market, according to the longer or shorter time in which 
 the delivery has to be made. All these circumstances have 
 the greatest influence upon prices, and all ought to be known 
 before any person should presume to lay down a price current 
 for any article. Now, in the regular service, nearly all their 
 purchases were already made ; nearly all their employments 
 were arranged. Their purchases in many things were ridicu 
 lously small, which did not especially affect the market. The 
 
14 
 
 question is, in ascertaining the prices current, not what the- 
 regular service paid, but what the volunteer service would 
 have had to pay, had it gone into the market with cash in 
 pocket instead of scrip in hand. That is what has got to be 
 ascertained. Now if the regular service, in addition to their 
 usual purchases, had been called upon to make all the purchases 
 made by the volunteers, and to make them in the country where 
 the volunteers made them, and to have gone into all the additional 
 employments of the volunteer service, I state emphatically, that, 
 with cash in hand, they would have been compelled to have paid 
 about the prices paid by the volunteer service ; and that is the 
 only way to get at the prices current. Could the Auditor do 
 this ? What did he know about the circumstances of each par 
 ticular case ? Now I will call the attention of the committee to the 
 fact that a great many of these purchases were made in pursu 
 ance of written contracts. This was especially the case on Pu- 
 get Sound. There, if the merchants entered into contracts to 
 deliver certain supplies in large quantities, and within very short 
 periods of time, they were obliged to hire money and go down 
 to San Francisco to purchase on a sudden, without having time 
 to take advantage of the market or to attend auction sales, and 
 then they had to make arrangements to ship them at once and 
 guard against delay. All these were circumstances which tend 
 ed very much to increase the cost of the supplies. I recollect 
 that at the time I thought the service had been exceedingly 
 fortunate in the favorable character of the contracts made. 
 
 But let us come to the Auditor's own figures. First, in regard 
 to the employment of persons. He states what were the prices 
 paid in the regular service for herders, packers, teamsters, 
 clerks, expressmen, &c., at each regular post in Oregon and 
 Washington, during that Indian war. You find that practically 
 the lowest price paid for a teamster, a herder, or a packer, was 
 two dollars per day, and that the price ranged from two dollars 
 per day to five dollars per day. For this very service at the 
 different posts, you will find that the average amounts to about 
 three dollars per day, and that there were several posts where 
 in no case less than three dollars per day was paid, and where it 
 rose to as high a figure as four and five dolars. The cases which 
 the Auditor quotes of labor at one dollar per day were cases of 
 the hire of Indians, as I personally know; and those cases of 
 between one and two dollars per day were either cases of Indians, 
 or of men employed for long periods, and who generally were 
 half-breeds. Now, the Auditor allows the volunteers, for this 
 same service, a uniform rate of two dollars per day. He is 
 directed to scale the prices according to the prices current in 
 the country, and his action is to give us the minimum price paid 
 in the regular service. So in the higher grades ; in the regular 
 service they pay chief packers as high as six dollars per day, 
 
15 
 
 and agents in purchasing animals as high as nine dollars per 
 day. The Auditor allows the volunteers four and five dollars. 
 In the regular service, for what mules they hired, they uniformly 
 paid three dollars per day ; the Auditor allows the volunteers a 
 dollar and a quarter per day. They paid in the regular service 
 as high as two dollars a day for horses ; the Auditor allows the 
 volunteers one dollar a day ; also rates as high as two dollars 
 and a half per day were paid for foraging and stabling horses ; 
 one dollar per day for pasturage and stabling horses ; three dol 
 lars per day for the hire of oxen per yoke ; and ten dollars per 
 day for the hire of ox-teams with driver. If these rates be 
 compared with the rates paid in the volunteer service, the differ 
 ence will be found to be comparatively inconsiderable. 
 
 The Auditor, therefore, has not given the volunteers the benefit 
 of this maximum in the regular service in the matters just referred 
 to. His own figures show that as regards the employment of men 
 or the hire of animals, he has reduced the prices in the volunteer 
 service to much below the average cash prices in the regular ser 
 vice, and has established a uniform rate, where his own figures show 
 how prices differ from market to market,and it was perfectly easy, 
 from an examination of the accounts, to tell in which particular 
 locality the account belonged. If we come to supplies, we shall 
 find that the same practical injustice has been done by the 
 Auditor to his own figures, in fixing the rates of the volunteer 
 service. In southern Oregon Lieut. Sweitzer paid as high as 
 five dollars a bushel for oats, and $150 a ton for hay. The 
 Auditor allows us two dollars a bushe) for oats, and $44 a ton 
 for hay ; and where our purchases were below this amount, he 
 leaves them as they were, without bringing them up to the aver 
 age. Now, looking to the time when Lieut. Sweitzer made these 
 purchases of hay and oats, it is evident that they were made 
 under circumstance^ very similar to the circumstances when the 
 purchases were made for the volunteer service. 
 
 The country was becoming exhausted ; that, of course, rap 
 idly increased the prices of everything, and Lieut. Sweitzer, 
 with cash, was obliged to pay as high, or about as high, as 
 the volunteers paid in scrip. Why did not the Auditor apply 
 the same rule to the volunteers as he had applied to the 
 auditing of the accounts in the regular service ? To show the 
 fallacy of applying the prices paid in the regular service to the 
 volunteer service, let me call the attention of the committee to 
 the purchase of bacon in the regular service at the Dalles. You 
 find that all the bacon bought at the Dalles cost the regular ser 
 vice in cash forty cents per pound. Is it to be inferred, there 
 fore, that forty cents was the cash price for bacon ? The volun 
 teers paid much less than that, and yet the Auditor has still 
 further reduced the price. When you go a step further and 
 look at the quantity, you find that they bought twenty pounds 
 
16 
 
 of bacon, and it was probably a side of bacon picked up by an 
 expressman for some special use. If the regulars had been called 
 upon to purchase some tons of bacon, and were not pushed for 
 time, they could undoubtedly have got it for the price paid by 
 the volunteer service, and perhaps for a little less. Perhaps 
 these instances are enough to show the whole fallacy and absurd 
 ity of the ground work of the Auditor in arriving at a price cur 
 rent. He has got no price current; he has not got the data to 
 establish a price current. He knows nothing, and does not pre 
 sume to know anything about the circumstances of each transac 
 tion, which is the controlling element in the price. On the 
 contrary, so far as we have any evidence before us, in the testi 
 mony of citizens in Oregon who knew many of these circumstances, 
 and who were familiar with the prices throughout the war, it goes 
 to substantiate the general accuracy of the conclusions of the 
 commission. Attached to this statement which I hold in my 
 hand, of the delegation of Oregon and Washington in regard 
 to this war debt, and to which I will particularly call the atten 
 tion of the committee, is a large mass of testimony, also tend 
 ing to confirm the accuracy of the conclusions of the commission 
 ers. Will you reject the testimony of persons on the spot, who 
 are familiar with the facts which go to substantiate the conclu 
 sions of the commission ? I say, will you reject all this, and fall 
 back upon the report of the Auditor, who has no means of get 
 ting at the essential facts to enable him to form a proper decision ? 
 I am satisfied that every point of objection made by the Auditor, 
 in both his first and second reports, as regards prices, can be 
 met and has been met successfully by the commission itself in 
 its investigations. 
 
 It was a great step for our people to take, when they agreed 
 to abide by the conclusions of this commission, even although it 
 reduced their scrip. Every citizen in both Oregon and Wash 
 ington who has scrip for services and for supplies, believes that 
 he is honestly entitled to payment for that scrip, dollar for dol 
 lar on its face. They have made a sacrifice, and have shown a 
 disposition to settle this matter upon equitable terms, in agreeing 
 to abide by the awards of the commission. They ask this, and 
 they will be satisfied with nothing less than this. If you refuse 
 to sanction the awards of this commission if you repudiate the 
 action of this commission, then the people of those territories will 
 fall back upon their scrip, and will demand payment for it, dollar 
 for dollar. 
 
 T. MoGiLL, Printer, Washington, D. C