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 SPEECH 
 
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 HON. J. PATTON ANDERSON, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON AND OREGU 
 
 AUGUST 6, 185G. 
 
 The House having resolved itself into Committee of the Who! 
 the state of the Union, Mr. ANDERSON said : 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN : It is not ray purpose to enter upon a discussion of any of the political 
 topics of the day. I desire to discharge a duty which could not have been performed at an. 
 earlier clay of the session, without in some measure infringing upon the parliamentary rule.-? 
 of the House. I wish to call the attention of the Committee and of the country to the con 
 dition of things as they exist in the Territories of Oregon and Washington. It is not un 
 known to the Committee, that for nearly twelve months an Indian war has been raping 
 throughout the length aud breadth of those Territories a cruel, merciless war, in whicli 
 many lives have been sacrified and whole settlements devastated. 
 
 I propose, first, sir, to inquire into the causes which led to this war; and in this connex 
 ion we may ascertain who is to blame for its inception ; second, the manner in which it hJBjj 
 been conducted, both on the part of the civil and military departments of the government 
 exercising their proper functions in those Territories ; and here we wall see what part has 
 been played by the Governors and volunteers on the one hand, and by the military com 
 mander of the Pacific department on the other. And lastly, I shall advert to the reajjfe 
 which it seems to me proper that Congress should afford at an early day. 
 
 But before I proceed to inquire into the causes of the war, I beg pardon for digressing so 
 far as to notice a few remarks which fell from the senior member from Ohio (Mr. GiDDiNCwisi 
 a few months ago, while the Army appropriation bill was under discussion. On that occaB- 
 sion he saw fit to allude to the war in Washington and Oregon in a tone condemnatory or 
 the people of those Territories, and, among other things, gave us his idea of the Indian char-. 
 acter generally, and of those west of the JKocky mountains in particular. Hear him : I read 
 from his corrected speech published in the Appendix to the Globe, page 526 : "I knew some 
 thing of the Indian character in early life; I saw them in the war of 1812 ; many of them 
 were attached to our army ; I studied their strategy of war, and learned something of theiif 
 conduct in times of peril ; they never forget a kindness, nor do they ever forgive an injury. 
 No class of people in the world are more grateful for favors * * -''- 
 
 none more docile, none more hospitable than those of Oregon,' 7 c. 
 
 Now, sir, I dislike to disturb such pleasing fancies. With all his experience and . 
 observation, he has been sadly imposed on in this particular. Such characters as he has 
 described exist only in fancy. They figure prominently in Cooper's novels and Hiawatha, 
 but they never roam the western wilds in flesh and blood. It will be news, indeed, to those 
 familiar with the Indians of the far west, to learn that they "never forget a kindness. 
 own experience is, sir, (and it is composed cf three years' constant, daily intercourse with 
 them,) that they never renumber one ; and I venture to assert that such is the experience of 
 nine-tenths of the white settlers in my Territory. Let us see how far the cxpcritn 
 
observation of a shrewd, observant, and efficient officer of the army, who has spent four or 
 five years in the midst of these tribes, correspond with that of the senior member from Ohio, 
 (Mr. GIDDINGS.) I read from the report of Captain Ingalls, as published with the " Message 
 and Documents, 1855-'6, part 2," page 162 : 
 
 " This region of country, from the lake through to California, is infested by nomadic tribes 
 of Indians, generally of the lowest order of beings. They are troublesome and dangerous 
 to stock-drivers who yearly pass over this route." 
 
 Again, on page 163 of the same document, Captain Ingalls says : " They are like the beasts 
 that roam over these wilds little removed from them in instincts and habits." And again, 
 sir, on page 165, in describing a certain spot, he says : " I was charmed with the beauties of 
 the place, though sadly reminded of the fate of poor Captain Warner (who was massacred 
 here) by the numerous telegraph-fires of the treacherous Indians." I might go on, sir, until 
 I had consumed my whole hour in reading extracts from the official reports of other officers 
 of the army and onthe Indian bureau, to show that the gentleman is altogether mistaken in 
 his estimate of the character of the northwestern Indians. I could show that, so far from 
 their " never forgetting a kindness," their whole character is composed of a subtle com 
 pound of cruelty, vindictiveness, treachery, and ingratitude. I shall not pretend to say 
 what the character of the Indians was with whom the gentleman had to deal in early life, 
 but I do say that if he is correct in his estimate of their virtues, there was a marked im 
 provement in the race from 1*776 to 1812, when the gentleman obtained his experience. 
 That instrument w r hich is so often appealed to on this floor and elsewhere to prove that "all 
 men are created free and equal " asserts, with no less emphasis, of these people, that they 
 are " merciless Indian savages, whose knotcn rule of warfare is undistinguished destruction of all 
 ages, sexes, and conditions." Such was their character in '76, and such is their character at 
 this day. What it was in 1812 I leave to the history of those times to determine that his 
 tory whose every chapter contains the bloody record of their cruel massacres. 
 
 But the senior member from Ohio (Mr. GIDDINGS) is sorely afflicted at the fate of Pee-pee- 
 mox-mox. I shall not stop here to refute the exaggerated, nay, totally incorrect account 
 (emanating from a certain quarter) of the death of that "proud and haughty chief." I 
 merely wish to state one fact, and I state it for the especial benefit of the gentleman from 
 Ohio, (Mr. GIDDINGS,) for I am sure it was unknown to him at the time he wrought his sym 
 pathies up to such a high pitch in behalf of this, and all the other chiefs who have engaged 
 in war against the whites in Washington Territory. It is this : Is the gentleman aware that 
 he has at this late hour of his political life espoused the cause of the slave-holder? Can it 
 be possible that he has, at last, abandoned all his hostility to the upholders and advocates 
 of this institution? Why, sir, there is not such a slavocracy in the Avorld as that which is 
 composed of the head-men and leading families of these hostile Indians. There does not 
 live a master who claims and exercises such absolute power over the person and services of 
 Ms slave, as these "proud and haughty chiefs." Slaveryin its most absolute form has ex 
 isted among them by a positive law of the tribes from time "whereof the memory of man 
 runneth not to the contrary." By that law the master is not only entitled to the services 
 and acquisitions of his slave, but he claims and exercises the power of taking his life without 
 being amenable to any law or custom whatever. This power, to take the life of a slave at 
 pleasure, has been actually exercised by these same chiefs within a short time back, and long 
 since the whites have settled in their midst. By these tribal laws there is no emancipation 
 nor manumission. Nor is it possible for a slave to gain his freedom by escape into the ju 
 risdiction of a neighboring tribe. No, sir, there is a fugitive slave law to return him to his 
 master, without the benefit of trial by jury or habeas corpus. It is not the slave, sir, but the 
 slaveocracy with whom the people of my country are at war. I appeal to the gentleman 
 from Ohio (Mr. GIDDINGS) if lus sympathies arc not all misplaced and his tears most sadly 
 wasted? 
 
 But I must hasten on to the causes which led to this war. I have some personal know 
 ledge myself of the commencement of these difficulties, but it is not my purpose to take the 
 witness-stand. I shall not enter into a detail of circumstances connected with the first 
 manifestations of hostilities on the part of the Indians, of which I am personally cognizant, 
 because I wish to refute the many charges which have been industriously promulgated' 
 against the people of my Territory by record evidence. A high official functionary of the 
 government no less than the commander of the Pacific department of the army has seen 
 fit, in this connexion, to prefer charges against the people of Washington and Oregon Terri 
 tories, which, if true, ought to, and will subject them to the severest animadversions of a civ 
 ilized world. And how does he do it? Now, Mr. Chairman, I have no harsh word to say of 
 General Wool, unless it be harsh to oppose unfounded assertion with official statements, un 
 less it be harsh to contradict hearsay rumor by positive record testimony. I do not enjoy 
 the honor of a personal acquaintance with General Wool, sir, but the history of his past life 
 
is not entirely unknown to me. I can read that history with pleasure ; I can recall many of 
 the stirring incidents of that life with pride as an American citizen. I know that the glory 
 of his valorous deeds illuminates many pages of his country's history, and sheds lustre upon 
 the triumph of American arms. I regret, sir, that the faithful chronicler of the present 
 times will have to add a chapter to that history which will sadly contrast with its preceding 
 pages. 
 
 I have inquired how has General Wool seen fit to appear before the public as the voluntary 
 accuser of the whole people of two Territories? Has he been satisfied, in the discharge of 
 his duties as a public officer, to confine himself to the usual official reports which the law 
 requires him to make ? Has he been called upon, by any of his superiors in office, for infor 
 mation upon points he has volunteered to elucidate ? Not at all, sir. He appears before 
 the country as a volunteer witness, and a sivift one at that. Had he confined himself to the 
 discharge of his official duties, I should not have deemed it my province to animadvert so 
 freely upon his conduct ; but as he has seen fit to lay aside all the dignity of official station, 
 and voluntarily assume the character of a scribbling correspondent of a partisan press. I 
 am sure he ought not to complain if his conduct, in this particular, should be subjected to 
 the closest scrutiu}', and his testimony to the most rigid cross-examination. Yes, sir, he 
 has doffed the proud plume of the Major-General unbuckled that sword, which, on foreign 
 fields, had carved its way to fame, and snatched up the flowing pen of a ready scribbler, and 
 appears before us in the garb of a hasty newspaper correspondent ! Unmindful of the Army 
 regulations reckless of his former fame bent on the gratification of personal spite, .and 
 that .revenge which springs from mortified pride, in hot haste he rustics into the columns of 
 the public prints, and there stoops to become the retailer of idle camp-gossip, and the ma- 
 ligner of sixty thousand American citizens ! The deep humiliation which the contempla 
 tion of such a spectacle inspires is much aggravated and increased by a perusal of his several 
 elaborate indictments. I shall only call the attention of the country to a few extracts from 
 General Wool's newspaper correspondence, for the purpose of showing how widely he differs, 
 in his statement of material facts, from every body else holding official position in the two 
 Territories. Indeed his own official correspondence might be invoked for the purpose of 
 showing his inconsistencies and errors, if better proof were not at hand. 
 
 In his letter to the National Intelligencer, dated at Benicia, California, April 2, 1856, Gen. 
 Wool, in speaking of the causes which led to the war, makes use of the following language : 
 
 " It is said that the Yakamas, having become dissatisfied with the treaty made with them 
 the summer before by Governor Stevens, determined on war. This was hastened, as it would 
 seem, by some miners forcibly carrying away and ill treating some Yakama squaws." 
 
 Now, sir, it so happens that I was in the Yakama country only a few days before hostilities 
 broke ofct. I had an interview with the chiefs of that tribe, and heard their complaints, but 
 not one word was said about -miners or any one else having " forcibly carried away and 
 ill treated their squaws." And I will venture to. assert that not a man, woman or child, in 
 either of the Territories, ever dreamed that such a charge had been made, until the National 
 Intelligencer of the 2d April, containing General Wool's letter, reached that coast some 
 seven months after the war had broken out. You may search the voluminous correspond 
 ence of Governors, Indian agents, and army officers, which has been called for by the House, 
 and not the first intimation of any thing of the kind is to be found in any of them. I wish it 
 to be borne in mind, Mr. Chairman, that in August, 1855, the first blood was shed in Wash 
 ington Territory. A miner, on his way from Puget Sound to Fort Colville, having a good 
 deal of money, provisions, &c., soon after passing beyond the limits of the Yakamas, was pur 
 sued by a party of Indians, massacred and robbed of everything he had with him. Shortly 
 after, other murders were reported to have been committed in the Yakama country. In Sep 
 tember, Indian Agent Bolon went into that country to ascertain something about these out 
 rages, and he, too, was not permitted to return. He was murdered in the most cruel manner. 
 When this occurred, there was no escaping the conviction that a general outbreak had been 
 determined upon by the Indians. What had hitherto been conjecture now gave way to a 
 sense of the fearful reality. About this time commences the official correspondence which 
 relates to this subject near three months before General Wool reached the country. Hear 
 what Captain Cain says, who was at that time acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for 
 Washington Territory, during Governor Stevens's absence in the Blackfeet country. Let us 
 see how Captain Cain's account agrees with General Wool's charge of " forcibly carrying 
 away and ill-treating of Yakama squaws." In his official report, dated October, 6, 1855, to 
 Col. Mannypenny, after referring to the particulars of Agent Bolon's death, and the manifest 
 hostility of several tribes, he says, On page 193 of the Report of the Commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs : 
 
 " I attribute the cause of the outbreaks amongst the Yakamas and Klickatats to the rumors 
 that have been afloat, and obtained credence among the Indians, that Governor Stevens 
 
and his party had been massacred by the Blackfeet, and Major Haller and his command had 
 been defeated by the Snakes, in his recent expedition against them. Believing that the 
 whites were about to be overthrown in every direction, and having for some time been dis 
 affected towards them, they deemed that the proper moment had arrived to gratify their 
 enmity." 
 
 ' 
 
 General Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon, who went to the Dalles 
 soon after the death of Bolon, for the express purpose of collecting reliable information in 
 relation to the cause and extent of hostilities, sums up the result of his observations, as to 
 the causes which led to the outbreak, in the following language, hi an official communica 
 tion to the Department, dated October 9th, 1855 : 
 
 ''There are several causes from which may be drawn reasons inducing the present state of disaffection among 
 the Indians in Washington Territory, amoug which may foe named the following: The Yakarna Indians were 
 represented in the Walla-Walla council- by four of their principal chiefs, accompanied by a number of their 
 leading men, all evidently at first opposed to entering into any negotiations for the sale of their country. After 
 more than two weeks had been spent iu trying to convince them of the importance and necessity of such a 
 course in open council, they gave a decided and pei-emptory answer in the negative. But during the next 
 week, by interviews with the chiefs separately. Governor Stevens induced them to agree to the terms of the 
 treaty ; and Kamiakin, who is declared by the treaty head chief of all the tribes and bands included in that pur 
 chase, came forward and signed the treaty, followed by the other chiefs. The head chief, however, stated at the 
 time that he would not receive any of the goods promised, but that his people might take them. 
 
 "It is pretty evident that the signing of the treaty was adverse to the will of the nation, as expressed prior 
 to the delegation's coming to the council, and that on the return of the chiefs they were beset by their people 
 and denounced as traitors to their tribe. Two of the chiefs, Owhi and Skloo, evidently signed the treaty with 
 great reluctance, and, after returning home and meeting with their friends, were easily induced to join in op 
 position to adhering to its provisions. 
 
 " The Klickatat tribe, whose country is included within the limits of this purchase, had declined attending 
 the council, and were not represented by any of their tribe; and upon the return of these Yakama chiefs and 
 ' people from the council, it is said the Klickatats were much enraged at the sale of their country without their 
 knowledge or consent, and declared they would not abide by an agreement in which they had no voice." 
 
 Again, in an official communication to the Department, General Palmer, on the 25th of 
 October, 1855, says : 
 
 "The evidences of a deep-rooted prejudice against our citizens prevail among all the tribes in middle and up 
 per Oregon the Xez T'erces excepted. How far that feeling may be fanned and kept up by aliens from other 
 rountries, and their descendants, we are not able to judge; but that it does extend to the entire exclusion and 
 occupancy of the country by our own citizens, is a fact undeniable." 
 
 Lieutenant Withers, U. S. A., who has been four years in the country, and who is well 
 acquainted with the character of these Indians, and whose knowledge and judgment of such 
 matters I would much prefer to General Wool's, in an official paper to the Adjutant General, 
 dated November 12, 1855, writes as follows : 
 
 * 
 
 " In southern Oregon the Rogue river Indians, combined with some of those on the coast, the Umquas, Pitt- 
 river, and Shasta Indians, have also broken out into a fresh war, and one of evidently intended extermination, 
 against the whites. The causes leading to this may be different from those which excited hostilities in Wash 
 ington Territory, where the motive was- altogether political, and sprung from no actual grievance ; bui its 
 result must, of course, be the same.'' 
 
 General Palmer again writes to General Wool on the 21st November, 1855, thus : 
 
 " As to the Yakamas, there is no excuse for their acts of aggression, and there is no disposition on the part of 
 those engaged in the Indian department to screen them or their confederates from the punishment they so 
 justly merit.'' 
 
 The next day (November 22) Captain Cain writes to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
 in this wise : 
 
 " There is abundant evidence to my mind that this war has been contemplated by the Indians for the last 
 three or four years, and I will take the proper steps to get the testimony in shape and submit it to your con 
 sideration nt the earliest practicable moment." 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I might multiply this testimony to a tedious extent, all going to show, 
 clearly, how utterly groundless is General Wool's charge against the miners of precipitating 
 'this war by " forcibly carrying away and ill-treating some Yakama squaws ;" but I think I 
 have read enough to satisfy any unprejudiced mind upon that point. Let it be remembered 
 that all of these officers, from whose reports I have read extracts, were present in the country 
 and well acquainted with the Indians, while General Wool was near a thousand miles dis 
 tant for three months after the first acts of hostility were committed by the Indians. 
 
 I now come to speak of the manner in which this war has been conducted. And in this 
 connexion I desire to notice an assertion which General Wool made in his official commu 
 nication, and has reiterated in his newspaper correspondence, to the effect that ''volunteers 
 were unnecessary;" that they were called into service and sent to the Walla- Walla country 
 "for no other purpose than to plunder the treasury of the United States, and to make politi 
 cal capital for somebody," &c. Now, Mr. Chairman, one would naturally suppose that a 
 
charge of so grave a nature would not be lightly made would not be caught up from the 
 baseless tales of idle rumor, and embodied in an official report by an officer commanding 
 one of the departments of our army, without the shadow of a foundation, or the first scin 
 tilla of evidence to substantiate it. Yet such is the fact, for it rests upon the naked asser 
 tion of General Wool, and is contradicted by every act of the officers, volunteers, and citi 
 zens of the Territories, and by every circumstance connected with their operations. Gen. 
 Wool has lent his once-high name, too, to a declaration as cruel and unfeeling as it has 
 proved to be untrue, viz: that " the war is a god-send." Surely General Wool did not in 
 tend to mock at the calamity of these people. A god-send, indeed, Sir ! To whom ? How ? 
 Mr. Chairman, in the name of the gallant, noble, and lamented Slaughter, I protest against 
 such cold, unmittigated calumny ! In the name of the brave and generotis Moses, I pro 
 nounce it a cruel slander. By the bleeding agony of those widowed hearts they have left 
 behind them, I protest against it. In the names of Miles, McAlister. White, Northcraft, 
 Brannan, Sinclair, Griswold. Hembree, Chinn, Lupton, and their comrades in the names 
 of twenty murdered women and babes, I protest against it. In the name of humanity I pro 
 nounce it cold, unfeeling and untrue. Whoever the author of such a sentiment may be, let 
 him go through the world with the blood of three hundred murdered citizens upon his skirts. 
 But, says General Wool, these volunteers were unnecessary. Remember, General Wool was 
 in California at the time they were called out, and it is not to be presumed that he could 
 judge of the exigency as well as those who were on the spot. At the time of the outbreak, 
 Maj. Raines was in command of the U. S. troops in this region : What did he think of the 
 necessity for volunteers ? I have time only to refer to the evidences on this point, and to state 
 the main facts : the details are contained in the official despatches before me as published 
 to the country. On the 9th of October, 1855, Maj. Rains writes to Gov. Curry that the ex 
 pedition sent to the Yakama country under command of Maj. Haller, comprised of over 100 
 men, with a mountain howitzer, had failed ; that "Maj. Haller was surrounded, and had called 
 for reinforcements ;" that he had " ordered all the United States disposable force into the 
 lield immediately ;" that as "this force was questionable to subdue the Indians," :he therefore 
 called upon him (Governor Curry) for four companies of volunteers and upon Governor 
 Mason for two. But General Wool attempts to get round this material point by asserting 
 that "the Major (Raines) partook somewhat of the alarm pervading the country." If this 
 were true, does it furnish any reasonable excuse for Congress refusing to pay the volunteers 
 thus called into service, which seems to be the main object of General Wool's extraordinary 
 publications? But was there no cause for this alarm ? Had not Agent Bolon been brutally 
 murdered by these Indians ? Is it not a fact that Mattice and other miners had been 
 massacred? And had n-ot the Superintendents of both Territories officially reported the 
 fact that there was a powerful comb' ination of several of these tribes for the " purpose of ex 
 terminating" the whites ? and that nothing short of a large military force could prevent a dis 
 astrous war? Did not Agent Olney, (who was at that time in the Walla- Walla country.) write 
 to Governor Curry that the "storm was gathering;" that it required "a large military force 
 to keep them back ;" that " the regular force in the country was insufficient for the protection 
 of the settlers;" that one thousand volunteers should be raised immediately, and sent into this 
 part of Oregon and Washington Territories? Thus called upon as Governor Curry was, by 
 the commanding officer of the United States, troops, by each of the Superintendents of Indian 
 affairs, and the Indian agent, who was personally present in the region where the troops were 
 needed, yet General Wool, affecting a patrfotic desire to protect the Treasury from "plunder" 
 and " depletion," has the hardihood, in the face of these facts, to assert that the Governor 
 "usurped his power:" that Major Raines "partook somewhat of the alarm pervading 
 the country," and that "the volunteers. were unnecessary to protect the citizens of Oregon." 
 With these unmistakeable evidences of impending peril to the whole country before him, 
 Governor Curry would have been wanting in all those qualities which so eminently befit 
 him for the position he holds, if he had not promptly responded to the call which 
 was made upon him. Read the record, sir, of the privations and hardships these volunteers 
 endured, and tell me if "plunder" could have inspired such heroism. Sir, if the commanding 
 general's physical exertions to protect the settlers, had been at all commensurate with his 
 newspaper efforts to delay Congress in taking favorable action in their behalf, he might have 
 saved the lives of at least twelve men, women and children who fell at the Cascades. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, my time admonishes me that I must omit many things that I desired to 
 say, and merely allude to others without stopping to comment upon them as they deserve. 
 General Wool has shed much ink and expended no small amount of sympathy upon 
 Fee-pee-mox-mox, the Walla-Walla chief, whom, he says, the volunteers " barbarously 
 killed." For a full and complete refutation of General Wool's charges on this point, I refer 
 the committee and the country to the official report of the gallant Col. Kelly, who com 
 manded the volunteers in the memorable fight when Pee-pee-mox-mox fell. The facts as 
 there related are simply theso : The chief had been retained by Col. Kelly as a prisoner ; his 
 
warriors in large force attacked Col. Kelly (the volunteers did not commence the attack, as 
 General Wool asserts ;) in the midst of the fight, the chief and his companions rose upon the 
 guard, wounded one them, and then it was that he was killed ; and this is what General 
 Wool calls "barbarous!" and seems to think that the fact that Fee-pee-mox-rnox came 
 into Col. Kelly's camp under a white flag, much enhances the "barbarity" of the killing. 
 Let us see what General Wool thought of similar proceedings but a short time before. I 
 will read his official account of a little affair which came off at Fort Boise, in Oregon, July 
 16, 1855. Speaking of Major Haller's expedition against the Snake Indians, he says : 
 
 "The command reached Fort Boise July 15, Mr. Oluey, Indian agent, being with it. The next day a talk was 
 held -with some two hundred Indians there collected, of whom sixty-live were warriors ; and it having been 
 ascertained that four of the murderers were present, they were seized, brought before a boavd of officers, or, as 
 Major Ilaller terms it, a military commission, and, their guilt having been clearly established, three were hung 
 on the graves of their vict.iiim, the l&th ; the fourth was shot by the guard iu endeavoring to escape. The pro 
 ceedings of the commission are herewith enclosed." 
 
 Here, sir, " a talk" was being held, four of the Indians present were " seized," " three 
 were hung" on the spot, and " the fourth was shot by the guard in endeavoring to escape." -Did 
 it then occur to General Wool that there was any thing barbarous in shooting a prisoner 
 who attempted to escape ? And it does not appear either that this prisoner made any at 
 tempt upon the life of the guard. Did it occur to General Wool then that there was any 
 thing irregular in hanging on the spot the other three prisoners who had come into the 
 fort for the purpose of having " a talk " ? Not at all. On the contrary, such conduct was 
 .to be highly applauded, and must needs be noticed in terms of praise in an official report 
 to General Scott. Hear what General Wool says about it : 
 
 " The activity and energy of Major Ilaller, and the officers of his command, deserve commendation." 
 
 It cannot be that General Wool means to imply that what is " barbarous " in volunteers, 
 " deserves commendation" in troops of the regular Army. It is true General Wool, with all 
 his knowledge and experience in every branch of his profession, was somewhat at a loss to 
 find an appropriate name for the tribunal which tried and hung the other three prisoners, but 
 he complacently adopts Major Haller's term for it, and calls it " a military commission ! ! " 
 What though it may have been somewhat irregular, yet as there were no volunteers present 
 to give it a semblance of "barbarity," why, it "deserves commendation!!!" Now, Mr. 
 Chairman, I do not wish to be misunderstood. I have not alluded to this affair for the pur 
 pose of condemning the action of Major Haller or the officers who accompanied him on that 
 expedition. On the contrary, I believe with General Wool that they " deserve commenda 
 tion," more especially for hanging these three murderers and for shooting the other when 
 he attempted to escape. I know most of the officers who were in that expedition, and I 
 believe I may safely say, if any one of them had had the control of the military operations 
 in these Territories, many lives would have been saved, and the war might now have been 
 at end. I have only referred to the matter for the purpose of exposing one of General Wool's 
 many inconsistencies. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I have no time to go into details ; I must content myself with a simple de 
 nial of General Wool's charges, and appeal to the official papers on record to sustain that 
 denial. He charges that the volunteers wantonly set fire to and burned the Atahnum mis 
 sion : the official report shows that it was " accidentally" burned. He charges that the ex 
 pedition to Walla-Walla was against friendly Indians : all the official reports show that the 
 Walla- Wallas had driven off Mr. Sinclair, plundered the fort, divided the spoils, and with a 
 force of nearly a thousand warriors, actually attacked Colonel Kelly's command before he 
 hud fired a single gun. He charges that white men violated a squaw and cruelly strangled 
 a whole family of friendly Indians at the Cascades : I defy any one to prove it, for Major 
 Haysleft that vicinity since General Wool charges the atrocity to have been committed, and 
 in the public prints pronounces the whole affair a fabrication. He charges similar outrages 
 upon Major Lupton and party, and for a complete refutation of such charges, I refer to Gen. 
 Lane's speech in the House upon that subject. He charges that the war in Washington Ter 
 ritory was brought about by " some miners forcibly carrying away and ill treating Yakama 
 squaws." He admits in the same letter that the " Yakamas are the authors of the war." He 
 charges that the war in the llogue River country is wholly to be attributed to the whites ; 
 and on the 4th of September, in an official despatch to headquarters, he admits that the first 
 blood shed was " at a council held by the Oregon superintendent, (where) an Indian shot a 
 white many At one moment the people are charged with being actuated by a desire to 
 " plunder the public treasury," and in the next to gratify a bloodthirsty revenge. In one 
 despatch we are told that the Walla-Wallas are friendly ; the next niail brings the intelli 
 gence that, for four days, they have opposed, in open field, to Colonel Kelly's command near 
 a thousand armed and painted warriors. Now they are peaceful then they plunder the fort 
 and la}* waste the adjacent country. At one time the expedition to Walla-Walla is entirely 
 
unnecessary , very soon, nay, at the very time, lie regrets that the condition of his horses are 
 such that he cannot send a force into that country. One week he has a sufficient force at 
 his command to conquer from " 150 hostlles a lasting peace" the next, he calls upon Gov. 
 Stevens for two companies of volunteers to assist him, when he knows they cannot be fur 
 nished. He denies his authority to call for volunteers, yet when it suits his purpose to do 
 so, he claims that authority, and points to the instructions of the Secretary of War, dated 
 4th December, 1855, to sustain his claim. He utterly repudiated Major Raines's call; yet 
 when no one asks it, and there are only " 150 or 200 hostlles " to be subdued, he calls for 
 two companies of volunteers to assist him. He denies the right of the Oregon volunteers to 
 pay, because they had not been mustered into the service ; yet he recommends that others 
 be paid who were similarly situated. I defy the ingenuity of man to concoct such another 
 heterogeneous medley of errors, inconsistencies, and contradictions. Truly, " whom the 
 Gods would destroy, they first make mad." 
 
 Now, sir, I charge General Wool with having violated an express regulation of the Army, 
 whereby he is liable to dismissal from the service. Here is the regulation : 
 
 "Private letters or reports, relative to military marches and operations, are frequently 
 mischievous in design, and always disgraceful to the army; they are, therefore, strictly for 
 bidden ; and any officer found guilty of making such report for publication, without special 
 permission, or of placing the writing beyond his control, so that it finds its way to the press, 
 within one month after the termination of the campaign to which it relates, shall be dis 
 missed from the service." 
 
 Lastly, I had desired to say something of the present condition of that country, growing 
 out of this disastrous war something of its physical beauties and advantages, its mild and 
 salubrious climate, its bold, pure, running streams, its magnificent forests, and broad prai 
 ries, its rich valleys and snow-capped mountains how " the earth teems with riches, and 
 heaven smiles with benificence," but the time allotted me will not permit. It is a good 
 country, sir ; one pleasant to live in ; one worth defending and protecting. Her citizens are 
 loyal, industrious, and law-abiding; they love this Union, and cling to the memories of their 
 childhood homes. Every State in this confederacy has a representative there ; every mem 
 ber of this committee has a constituent there. W T ill you abandon such a country ? Will you 
 forsake such a people ? In the infancy of their settlements, they were weak when this war 
 broke out upon them. The United States troops were too few to protect them. It takes 
 months to get reinforcements from the Atlantic border. There was no other salvation for 
 their wives and children than for the men to embody themselves in a little band for defence. 
 With the helpless families in forts and block-houses and the men in the field, all agricultural 
 pursuits were of necessity abandoned. Thus situated, their barns have been destroyed, their 
 iieldg laid waste, and their dwellings committed to the flames of the Red man's torch. Great 
 pecuniary distress absolute want has been the consequence aye, the Governor says, "star 
 vation stares them in the face." I cannot believe that the Representatives of the people of 
 ibis American Republic will withhold from their brothers in this distant land their simple 
 dues. I cannot believe that they will refuse to pay these people for services which the gov 
 ernment troops were bound to perform. If any one has been actuated by the desire of pub 
 lic " plunder," guard your bill so that the plunderer may not gain access to the Treasury. 
 Will you withhold what is right, and proper, and just, merely because human nature some 
 times developes itself in the form of depravity? 
 
 Afford the relief which the necessities of these people so loudly call for, and you will have 
 discharged a duty, for which your constituents will applaud you, and mine will ever be 
 grateful. 
 

 

 
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