# The Early Indian Wars of Oregon/Rogue/Chapter 2

CHAPTER II.
Weakness of Treaty Obligations—Renewal of Hostilities in Rogue-river Valley—Absence of Authorized Agents—The August Outbreak—Petition to the Commander of Fort Jones—Aid from Fort Vancouver, and a Volunteer Company from the Wallamet—Alden Takes Command—Volunteers from Yreka Join the Regulars—Forces Organized—Skirmish on Evans' Creek, and Death of Lieutenant Ely with Six Men—Lane Appears on the Scene—Is Offered the Command—Takes It—Alden and Lane Wounded—Cessation of Hostilities—Arrangements for a Treaty—Its Terms—The Indians go Upon a Reservation, with S. H. Culver, Agent—Troubles in Other Localities—Loss of Life and Property in 1853—Murders in 1854 by the Shastas—They go Unpunished—Troubles with the Coquilles—Their Punishment by Volunteers—The Murders of the Year—Attitude of General Wool Towards Civilians—The "Expedition to Fight the Immigrants"—The Ward Massacre—Haller's Expedition to Boise—Curry's Action—Proclamation Withdrawn.
There could hardly have been any reliance placed upon the durability of the treaty made with chief Sam. Skinner was unable to perform what was expected of him as a representative of the government, not being supplied with the means; and Sam was but an unwilling party to it from the beginning. So far as the chief was individually concerned, however, he, for the greater part of a year, observed the conditions imposed upon him by the treaty.
But a sub-chief, called Taylor, who had his range in the Grave creek country, murdered a party of seven men, during a severe storm in the hills, and reported them drowned. Other depredations were traced to him, and a rumor became current that the Rogue-rivers held white women captive at Table Rock. This rumor probably grew out of the story, already referred to, that the Modocs held captive two white girls for some time, whom they finally tortured to death. The imagination of the public, excited by the atrocities in the Modoc country, was sensitive to any suggestion of Indian malevolence, and the desire for vengeance was ill suppressed, ready to break out into action at any moment. Finally, about the first of June, a ​party from Jacksonville arrested Taylor, with three others, and hanged them; after which they proceeded to Table Rock, and not finding the captive women, attacked a village, killing six Indians.
There was at this time neither Indian agent nor military officer in Rogue-river valley to prevent the outrages of one race upon the other. Dart had been superseded in the superintendency by Joel Palmer, who had not yet supplied the place of agent Skinner, resigned. The nearest troops were at Fort Orford on the coast and Fort Jones in Scott valley. A new administration had come in, Lane having returned to Oregon with the commission of governor, only to be reflected delegate, leaving the secretary, George L. Curry, acting governor, and Lane at liberty to reside, as he preferred to do when in Oregon, at Roseburg in the Umpqua valley.
This was the condition of affairs when, early in August, the settlements in Rogue-river valley were suddenly at tacked. On the fourth, Richard Edwards was killed at his home on Stuart s creek; on the fifth, Thomas J. Wills and Rhodes Noland were killed, and Burrill F. Griffin and one Davis wounded. Hastily formed volunteer companies pa trolled the roads and warned settlers, who gathered their families into a few fortified houses, and setting over them a guard, joined the volunteers.
On the seventh of August two Shasta Indians were cap tured, one on Applegate creek and the other on Jackson creek. Both were in war paint, and on investigation were proved guilty of the murder of Wills and Noland, for which they were hung at Jacksonville. Not satisfied with this act of justice, an Indian lad who had nothing what ever to do with the murders, was seized and hung by the infuriated miners. So great was the excitement that it was dangerous for a man to suggest mercy.
Acts of this nature were not calculated to lessen hostilities on the other side, and the torch was applied to the abandoned houses of the settlers. Ten homes in as many ​
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miles were thus laid waste. On the day of the hanging, Isaac Hill and a party of volunteers from Ashland at tacked some roving Indians a few miles from that place, killing six. Ten days later the Indians attacked an im migrant camp at Ashland, and killed Hugh Smith and John Gibbs, wounding M. B. Morris, William Hodgkins, A. G. Lordyce, and Brice Whitmore. On the fourteenth, Dr. William R. Rose and John R. Hardin, members of a volunteer organization, while patrolling the line of travel towards the north, with W. G. T Vault, S. S. Wall, and David Birdseye. were shot at from ambush, Rose killed, and Hardin mortally wounded. Says L. J. C. Duncan: " The outraged populace began to slaughter right and left," after these events.
Immediately after the outbreak, and while these events were in progress, a petition was addressed to Captain Alden, in command of Fort Jones, asking for arms and ammuni tion, who at once responded by coming in person with about a dozen men. On the fifteenth, a request was sent to Governor Curry at Salem, to make a requisition on Col onel Bonneville at Vancouver, for a howitzer, rifles, and ammunition, which were immediately forwarded in charge of Lieutenant Kautz and six artillerymen, escorted by forty volunteers under J. W. Nesmith, captain, and officered by L. F. Grover, first lieutenant; W. K. Beale, second lieuten ant; J. D. McCurdy, surgeon; and J. M. Crooks, orderly sergeant.
Over two hundred volunteers were enrolled in Rogue- river valley. John F. Miller was elected captain of the first company; B. B. Griffin, first lieutenant; Abel George, second lieutenant; and Clay Westfelt, orderly sergeant. This company numbered one hundred and fifteen men. Two other companies, under Captains John K. Lamerick and T. T. Tierney, were organized about the same time, while from Yreka came eighty fighting men under Cap tains Goodall and Rhodes. These all reported to Captain Alden, who assumed the command. No pr ​ovision had
been made for the subsistence of so many men, and Alden appointed George Dart, Edward Shell, L. A. Loomis. and Eichard Dugan a military commission to constitute a gen eral department of supply; and learning that the Indians were in force near Table Rock, planned an attack for the night of the eleventh. But the volunteers learning that the Indians were in the valley killing and burning, rushed away to the defense of their homes without waiting for orders, and for several days were scouring the country, divided into small bands, as before mentioned. Before they came together again, Sam offered battle, which Alden was compelled to decline. But having recovered his force he made a movement on the fifteenth to dislodge the In dians from their supposed hiding place in a canon five miles north of Table Rock, from which, however, they had departed before his arrival, firing the woods behind them to obliterate their trial.
It was not until the seventeenth that Lieutenant Eh r of the Yreka company, with a detachment of twenty-five men, discovered the enemy s camp on Evans creek, fifteen miles from Table Rock. Knowing that the main force had returned to Camp Stuart for supplies, Ely fell back to an open piece of ground crossed by creeks, whose banks were lined with thickets of willow, where he halted and sent a courier for reinforcements. But Sam, seeing his opportunity, advanced his warriors through the creek channels under cover of the wallows, and getting within range, killed two men at the first fire. The company retreated to a pine ridge a quarter of a mile distant, but the Indians soon flanked and surrounded them, and the fight lasted three and a half hours, during which four more men were killed and four wounded. At the end of this time Captain Goodall, with the remainder of the Yreka company, came up, and the Indians retreated. The killed in this skirmish were J. Shaw, Frank Perry, F. Keath, A. Douglas, A. C. Colburn, and L. Locktirg. The wounded were Lieutenant Ely, John Albin, James Carroll, and Z. Shultz. ​
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Lane was at Roseburg when the news of the outbreak reached him, and set out at once for Rogue river, accom panied by Pleasant Armstrong of Yamhill county, and James Cluggage, who had been to the Umpqua valley in the vain endeavor to enlist the Klickitats against the Rogue-river Indians, and eleven other men. Immediately on Lane s arrival, Alden tendered him the command, which he accepted on the twenty-first, and on the twenty- second assumed his office in due form. An aggressive movement was decided upon. W. G. T Vault was ap pointed his aide, and C. Lewis, a captain of volunteers, his assistant adjutant-general, but Lewis falling ill, L. F. Mosher took his place.
The available forces were divided into two battalions, one consisting of the companies of Captains Goodall and Rhodes under Colonel Alden, with Lane at their head, to proceed up the river to where Ely had met with defeat, there to find the enemy s trail, which was known led in the direction of Evans creek. The other battalion, under John E. Ross, was directed to proceed to the mouth of Evans creek, and thence up that stream to a junction with Alden, to prevent the Indians from being driven back on the settlements.
After a day s travel, made exhausting by smoke from the burning forest, Alden s command came upon the trail of the enemy and encamped. On the following day, after another fatiguing march, he again encamped, and had hardly taken up the line of march on the twenty -fourth, when Lane, who was in advance, heard the discharge of a rifle and distinguished voices. Waiting for the companies to come up, he halted them, and outlined his plan of at tack, which was that Alden, with Goodall s company, should quietly proceed on foot along the trail and attack the Indians in front, while a detachment of ten picked men from Rhodes command, under Lieutenant Charles Blair, was to take a ridge to the left to turn the enemy s flank. Lane would himself wait for the rear guard to come up, and lead them into action. ​
Alden proceeded as directed and with so little noise that the crack of his rifles was the first intimation the Indians had of the approach of an enemy. Although surprised, they made a vigorous resistance from behind fortifications of logs, being well supplied with arms and ammunition. Their camp being surrounded by dense thickets, it was difficult and dangerous to charge them, and from this cause and the nature of the ground it was impossible for the flanking party to turn their left as designed, but it engaged them on the right. After the first fire the volun teers took cover behind trees and fought in true Indian style, the battle becoming general.
When Lane arrived on the ground he found Colonel Alden dangerously wounded, having been shot down early in the fight. Leaving him to the care of his men, 1 Lane made an examination of the ground and finding the In dians securely posted, gave the order to charge, himself leading the movement. When within thirty yards of their line, he was struck by a rifle ball in his right arm near the shoulder. Believing the shot to have come from the flank, he ordered the line extended so as to prevent its being turned by the enemy, and the men to again take cover behind trees, where they fought with cool deter mination for several hours.
Finding himself growing weak from loss of blood, Lane had retired to the rear to have his wound dressed. The Indians, meantime, having discovered his* identity, called out to the volunteers that they were tired of war, and de sired to talk with " Jo Lane." On Lane s return to the front he held a conference with his officers on the subject of holding a council with the Indians. It was evident they were well armed, and held a position nearly, if not quite, impregnable. There were two opinions advocated, one that the Indians really desired peace, and another that they were seeking an advantage. The question of allowing the Indians an opportunity to talk was put to
1 Alden died two years afterwards from the effect of this wound. ​
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vote, every man having a voice in the matter. Less than half voted for a talk, the others remaining silent. He then sent Robert B. Metcalf and James Bruce into the Indian lines to get an expression of their wishes, when they reiterated their desire to see "Jo Lane."
On entering their camp, Lane found them with many wounded, and some dead, whom they were burning. Chief Jo, with his brothers Sam and Jim, assured Lane that they were sick of war. He outlined to them a plan of treaty which included the obligation on their part to go upon a reservation, and they agreed to it. The date fixed for the treaty council was early in September, and these affairs being arranged, Lane returned to the place of dis mounting in the morning, where the wounded were being cared for, and the dead buried.
The white men killed in this battle were Pleasant Armstrong, 2 John Scarborough, and Isaac Bradley. The wounded volunteers were Henry Flasher, Thomas Hayes, and Charles C. Abbott; the latter dying of his wounds September second. The Indian loss was eight killed and twenty wounded.
Ross battalion arrived too late to participate in the battle of Evans creek, on account of which disappoint ment they inclined to renew it, but were restrained by Lane, who went into camp within four hundred yards of the enemy, where he remained for two days. Impelled by their personal regard for Lane, who had always been able to appear to them if not as a friend, at least as a magnan imous enemy, the Indian women carried water to the wounded, and the Indian men helped bear them on litters to camp. Such is the savage nature, one moment governed by animal rages, and in the next exhibiting fear, timidity, and even tenderness.
On the twenty-ninth, the Indian and volunteer forces moved down into the valley, each keeping strict watch
2 Armstrong s remains, it is said, were disinterred and cut to pieces. He was a brother of the author of Annstrong s Oregon, a descriptive work. ​
upon the other. The ground chosen for the council was on the south side of Rogue river, the Indians making their encampment on an elevation directly opposite the cliffs of Table Rock, and Lane in the valley one mile distant, on the spot where Fort Lane was soon afterwards established. Although, according to the armistice, peace should have been restored, there was some further fighting in scattered localities between independent volunteer companies and roving bands of Indians. Four days after the battle of Evans creek, a collision occurred between a detachment of Captain Owens company, under Lieutenant Thomas Fraz- zell, and a foraging party of Rogue-rivers at Long s ferry, about ten miles below the mouth of the creek, in which Frazzell and a private named James Mango were killed. After this Owens induced a party of Indians to enter his- camp on Grave creek, and treacherously shot them; at least so it is related in a public document. Robert L. Williams, captain of a volunteer company, was also re ported to have slain twelve Indians in an unfair fight, in which he lost one man, Thomas Phillips. 3 Doubtless many things were done in the exasperation of public feeling, caused by the interruption of business and loss of property and friends, which, under any other circum stances, would have seemed impossible to the actors. Martin Angell, a highly respected citizen, from his own door shot an Indian out of pure hatred of the race, which seemed to him only incarnate evil. He was, long after, shot from an ambush by one of the hated race; and this was Indian war. But now there was to be peace.
The time between the battle of Evans creek and the fourth of September was spent in preparations for the treaty council, which could not be held until the arrival of Superintendent Palmer. In the interim, there arrived Captain A. J. Smith, first United States dragoons, from Fort Orford, with his troops; Lieutenant Kautz of the
3 United States house executive documents, 99, p. 4, thirty-third congress, first ​
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artillery with the howitzer; and J. W. Neswith with his company of volunteers. The latter bore a commission from acting Governor Curry, giving Lane what he already had, the command of the forces in the field.
By that spy system which was in vogue among the natives, keeping them informed of the movements of strangers and enemies, the approach of the howitzer be came known some time before its arrival, and created a lively apprehension. They described it as a hyas (great) rifle, which took a hatful of powder to a load, and could shoot down a tree. Their fear of it was abject, and they begged not to have it fired. Who shall say how much influence it had upon the treaty?
On the fourth, a preliminary council was held. When agreeing to the armistice, Lane had exacted a hostage, and had been given a son of chief Jo; for the white men were still few in comparison with the natives, and not many had any confidence in their professed desire for peace.
The terms of the preliminan 7 council were nearly iden tical with those agreed to between General Canby and the Modocs twenty years later, and the outcome might have been the same but for Lane s precautions. The meeting place was a mile from the volunteer camp on a butte within the Indian lines on Evans creek. The white per sons present were General Lane, his arm in a sling, the volunteer captains, Colonel Ross, and interpreter Metcalf. These proceeded on foot to the council, meeting at the base of the butte an armed guard, which disarmed them before they reached the place prepared for the conference. Captain Miller, however, secreted a revolver, of which act Lane was made aware. Arrived at the council lodge, the white men were received with a sullen etiquette not easily translated into cordiality. They were assigned their places, and the chiefs Jo, Sam, and Jim of the Rogue-river tribes, with Limpy and George of the Applegate creek families, seated inside a wall of armed warriors. Notwithstanding this threatening appearance, the Rogue-river chiefs made ​
temperate speeches in favor of peace. But Limpy ad dressed the council in a torrid burst of savage eloquence on the aggressiveness of white men, and his determination not to permit his native country to become alienated to them. During this inflammatory speech, whose effect upon others could be Percéived, General Lane sat smiling thoughtfully, but whispered to Captain Miller, "Keep your eye on that d d scoundrel," which was equivalent to an order to keep his hand on his pistol. But the hostage of chief Jo s son was better security against treachery than the single revolver, and the party came safely out of a dangerous trap in which they were apparently fatally enmeshed. These appearances led Lane to require other hostages before the treaty council appointed for September eighth took place; and led also to the wearing of arms by the volunteers who assembled in the vicinity of the In dian camp, although the high contracting parties were un armed.
By the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired the whole of the Rogue-river valley, one hundred square miles on the north side of the river, in the vicinity of Table Rock, being reserved for a temporary home for the Indians. The price agreed upon was sixty thousand dol lars, fifteen thousand being deducted for indemnity for losses of property by the settlers through the war. Of the remaining forty-five thousand, five thousand was to be ex pended in agricultural implements and goods chosen by the superintendent, on or before the first day of September, 1854, and in paying for such improvements as had been made by white settlers on the lands reserved. The re maining forty thousand was to be paid in sixteen annual installments, commencing at the above date, and payable in Indian goods, blankets, stock, and farming utensils. Each of the chiefs was to have a dwelling-house erected, at a cost of not more than five hundred dollars, which houses were to be put up as soon after the ratification of the treaty as practicable. When the nation was removed ​
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to another and permanent reservation, buildings for the chiefs were again to be furnished, and fifteen thousand additional was to be paid to the tribe in five annual in stallments, commencing at the expiration of the previous installments.
The treaty bound the Indians to make their permanent residence in a place to be set apart in the future; to give up firearms, except a few for hunting; to forfeit their an nuities if they went to war against the settlers; to notify the agent of the raids of other tribes and assist in expelling them; to apply for the redress of their own wrongs to the agent put over them; to protect such agent, and to refrain from molesting white persons passing through the reserva tion. The sacredness of property was to be regarded, and all crimes by red or white men were to be tried and pun ished according to the laws of the United States. To pre vent collisions, white people, except those in the employ of the government, were forbidden to reside on the reser vation, and the Indians were required to deliver them up to the superintendent if they disregarded this prohibition. 5 A treaty was also made with the Cow creek band of Ump- quas, which through its contact with the Grave creek band of Rogue-rivers had become troublesome. This band sold eight hundred square miles, about half of which was good farming land, for twelve thousand dollars and a few pres ents.
Two circumstances must be taken into account in pass ing judgment upon treaty makers; the first, that the price offered for Indian territory is not dependent upon its ex tent, but upon its population; and, the second, that to se cure the ratification of a treaty it should not call for too large an appropriation. The whole business of Indian treaties is open to criticism, but this is not the place for it. The people of Rogue-river valley and. the contiguous
3 The names appended to this treaty were Joel Palmer, superintendent of Indian affairs; Samuel H. Culver, Indian agent; Asperkahar (Jo), Toquahear ( Sam), Anac- haharah (Jim), John, and Limpy. The witnesses were Joseph Lane, Augustus V. Kautz, J. W. Nesmith, K. B. Metcalf, John (interpreter), J. D. Mason, and T. T. Tier​ney.
mining territory must have respite from police duty, must be able to sleep by night, and attend to their affairs by day; and Palmer doubtless acted upon his best judgment in securing these blessings to both races.
After the conclusion of the treaties, Samuel 11. Culver took up his residence as Indian agent on the reservation, and Captain Smith proceeded to erect Fort Lane, opposite the lower end of Table Rock, where he went into quarters with his troop. Business and travel were resumed, and the inhabitants of the valley enjoyed once more the peace they craved, breathed freely, and slept soundly. The volunteers were disbanded, with the exception of Captain John F. Mil ler s company, which was ordered to the Modoc country to patrol the southern emigrant road, always a dangerous one to travelers. Hastily collecting provisions and ammu nition, Captain Miller proceeded to the lake country, mak ing his headquarters on Lost river, near tihe natural bridge, and marching the main part of his command as far east as Surprise valley and the Humboldt river, keeping upon the road until the immigration had all passed the points of danger.
When the volunteers were in the vicinity of Tule lake they observed smoke rising above the tules, and thinking it came from fires on inhabited islands in the lake, con structed boats of wagon beds and went out to explore them, when they found a number of canoes filled with Modoc women and children, and containing fireplaces of stone and mud, at which were cooked the fish on which they subsisted. On the Indian children was found the blood-stained cloth ing taken from murdered immigrant children. These families, hiding from the justly apprehended wrath of white men, were made to pay the penalty of blood with out process of law, or the law s delays.
About the middle of October the miners of Illinois val ley were annoyed by the frequent depredations of the ​
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coast Indians, who had been driven in upon them fyy miners on the beach, who had previously suffered from murder and robbery. It being necessary to punish them, Lieutenant R. C. W. Radford of Fort Lane, was ordered to take a few men and chastise these Indians. But rind ing them too numerous to attack, he sent for reenforce- ments, which, arriving under Lieutenant Caster on the twenty-second, pursuit was begun, and after a chase of three days among the mountains a skirmish took place, in which about a dozen Indians and two troopers were killed, and four troopers wounded. Considerable property taken from the miners was recovered, and a treaty entered into between the miners and this branch of the Rogue-river nation, which was observed until January following, when a party from Sailor diggings in pursuit of unknown rob bers, by mistake attacked the treaty Indians, some of both sides being killed. Peace was restored when the Indian agent appeared and the affair was explained.
According to the report of the secretary of war, the Indian disturbances in southern Oregon in 1853 cost the lives of over one hundred white persons, and several hun dred Indians. In making his estimate the secretary must have included the northern portion o/ California, which by reason of the unsettled boundary line was at that time pretty generally spoken of as being in Oregon. The ex pense to the general government was said to be seven thou sand dollars a day, with only from two hundred to five hundred men in the field; and the hostilities in the short period of little over a month to have cost a total of two hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars.
The loss to settlers, computed by a commission consist ing of L. F. Grover, A. C. Gibbs, and G. H. Ambrose^ amounted to a little less than forty -six thousand- dollars, nearly eighteen thousand of which was deducted from the price paid by the government for the Rogue-river lands to cover losses and pay for improvements vacated. There fore it might be said that, after all, the United States ​
paid heavily in one way and another for this portion of Oregon. 4
As to the people whose stock had been killed, whose houses and fences destroyed, and as to the widows and fatherless children left by the war, the little indemnity money to be obtained at the end of congressional deliber ation and commissioners awards counted as nothing against their losses. Many of the claimants failed to receive this pitiful payment, and, in 1872, the balance of the appropriation for this purpose was illegally turned back into the treasury, where it remained for ten years longer before, by the labor of several attorneys and an order of Secretary Fairchilds, it was placed back to the credit of the claimants. And then the commissioner of Indian affairs and the secretary and auditor of the treas ury, were unable to find the original report of the com missioners of award, refusing to pass any claim without it, or without an act of congress. However, at length, through the persistency of B. F. Dowell of Jacksonville, the origi nal report was discovered, and the claims all settled thirty years after the war.
The feeling of security which followed the treaty and the establishment *of Fort Lane was of short duration. The Indians having had time to consider the terms of the treaty in all its parts, were dissatisfied and insolent. On
4 The names of those who received a pro rata of thirty-four and seventy-seven hundredths per cent out of the fifteen thousand dollars retained from the appropria tion to carry out the treaty of 1853, were : Martin Angell, John Anderson, James Abraham, Shertack Abraham, John Agy, Clinton Barney, John Benjamin, David N. Birdseye, Michael Brennan, Wm. N. Ballard, James Bruce, Cram, Rogers & Co., The- dosia Cameron, Silas Day, Edward Day, James R. Davis, Dunn & Alluding, Sigmond Enlinger, Wm. M. Elliott, David Evans, Daniel F. Fisher, Asa G. Fordyce, Thomas Frazzell, James B. Fryer, Galley & Oliver, John Gheen, Burrill B. Griffin, Sam Grubb, Hall& Burpee, David Hayhart, John R. Hardin, Obadiah D. Harris, Henry Ham, Mary Ann Hodgkins, Elias Huntington, Wm. M. Hughes, D. Irwin, Albert B. Jen- nison, Thomas P. Jewett, Wm. Kohler, Wm. S. King, Nicholas Kohenstein, Nathan B. Lane, James L. London, John Markley, Robert B. Metcalf, John S. Miller, Tra- veena McComb, McGreer, Drury & Runnel Is, James Mooney, Francis Nassarett, Win. Newton, Edith M. Nickel, Hiram Niday, John Patrick, Sylvester Pease, John Penne- ger, Dan Raymond, Eph. Raymond, John E. Ross, Lewis Rotherend, Frederick Rosen- stock, Henry Rowland, T. B. Sanderson, Freeman Smith, Pleasant W. Stone, John Swinden, George H. C. Taylor, James C. Tolman, William Thompson, John Triplett, ​
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the sixth of October a merchant of Jacksonville, James C. Kyle, a partner of Thomas Wills, who was murdered on August fifth, was also killed within two miles of Fort Lane. Soon after followed the news of the trouble with the lower Rogue-rivers already mentioned, resulting from the murder of three white men. Although these Indians were subdued, there was again awakened a feeling of un easiness, which was the precursor of further trouble.
The change in the habits of the treaty Indians was fol lowed by sickness among them, which, being complained of, the agent allowed them greater liberty. As might have been foreseen, this liberty was abused, and the discontent on both sides deepened. The trial, conviction, and execu tion of the murderers of Edwards and Kyle in January did not tend to the cultivation of friendly relations. 5
About the eighteenth of January, a party of Rogue- rivers, Shastas, and Modocs, led by chief Bill, stole the horses belonging to a mining camp on Cottonwood creek, driving them into the mountains. A company was has tily organized to go in pursuit and recover the horses. When on the trail they were shot at from ambush, and Hiram Hulan, John Clark, John Oldfield, and Wesley Mayden were killed.
A messenger was dispatched to Fort Jones, then com manded by Captain Judah, who set out at once with twenty men, all his available force, to follow the trail of
Wm. G. F. Vauk, Weller & Rose, Samuel Williams, Charles Williams, Isaac Woolen, and Jeremiah Yarnell. The settlers who gave up their improvements on the land reserved were David Evans, Matthew G. Kennedy, John G. Cook, William Hutchin- son, Charles Gray, Robert B. Metcalf, Jacob Gall, George H. C. Taylor, John M. Silcott, and James Lesley : Report of Superintendent Palmer, in United States house exe cutive documents, 52, pp. 3-5, thirty -eighth Congress, second session.
6 The murderers, Indian Tom and Indian George, were indicted and had a fair trial. Having no counsel, the court appointed D. B. Brennan and P. P. Prim to de fend them. Agent Culver and Louis Denois acted as interpreters to the court and jury. The officers of the court were : O. B. McFadden, judge ; S. Sims, prosecuting attorney; Matthew G. Kennedy, sheriff; and Lycurgus Jackson, clerk. The jury impaneled were< S. D. Vandyke, Edward McCartie, T. Gregard, A. Davis, Robert Hasgadine, A. D. Lake, James Hamlin, Samuel Hall, Frederick Alberdine, F. Heber, and R. Henderson. The sentence of the court was that the convicted Indians should be hung on the nineteenth of February. The sentence was, however, on account of the troublesome times, carried out a few days after the trial. These were the only Indians ever punished for crime by the-authorities in southern Oregon. ​21
the Indians, which led him to a cave near the Klamath river, in which stronghold they had fortified themselves. In conjunction with a volunteer company under Greiger, captain, he reconnoitered the position, and finding it too strong to be taken without artillery, withdrew, and dis patched Lieutenant Crook and D. Sorrell to Fort Lane to bring up a mountain howitzer. Several days were occu pied in this expedition, Captain Smith arriving on the twenty-sixth with Lieutenant Ogle and fifteen dragoons. The regular force now amounted to thirty-eight, rank and file, and the volunteers numbered forty-five. Captain Judah falling ill, remained in camp with eight regulars and a few of Greiger s men, and on the twenty-seventh the attack was made.
The cave occupied by the Indians was in the face of an almost perpendicular palisade, three hundred feet above the valley, the approach being in front and easily defended. Captain Greiger, with seventeen men, took his position on top, and the remainder of the volunteers, with Lieutenant Bonnycastle, with his command and the howitzer, were stationed in front. Owing to the angle at which the howitzer was fired it had no other effect than to frighten the Indians, who now cried out for peace, a prayer which Smith, who knew less about Indian fighting than he did a year or two later, was quite ready to grant. But to this the volunteers were unwilling to consent, saying the mur derers must be punished, and Smith after moving the gun to a different position fired a few more ineffectual shells. During the afternoon Greiger was struck by a shot from the cave and killed, to the great sorrow of his company, for he was an estimable man and useful citizen.
Night coming on the forces encamped in front of the cave, and Bill sent three Indian women to ask for a talk, Captain Smith granting the request, and going to the cave the following morning with Eddy, a citizen, to hold the intervi-ew. He found, he says, 6 about fifty Shastas, who
6 United States house executive documents, p. 88, thirty-fifth congress, second session. ​
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declared that they loved peace and had lived on terms of friendship with the white people about Yreka and Cotton- wood, but that the miners at the latter place had ill-treated their women, for which reason they had left that neigh borhood. 7 Accepting this apology for theft and murder, Captain Smith advised Bill to remain in his stronghold where he would be safe from the volunteers. On learning Smith s views, and there being no further prospect of bringing the Indians to justice, the volunteers returned home with the body of their captain, taking with them some Indian ponies.
Troubles between the miners on the beaches between Port Orford and Coos bay and the Coquille Indians broke out in January, 1854. The following is a copy of the proceedings of a meeting called on the twenty-seventh of the month to consider the situation:
At a meeting of the miners and citizens assembled at the Coquille ferry-house for the purpose of investigating Indian difficulties, the following resolutions were adopted.
On motion, A. F. Soap was called to the chair, and Win. H. Packwood appointed secretary.
All persons having observed any hostile movement of the Indians were called upon to state the facts.
John A. Pension stated that he discovered, on the twenty-third instant, an Indian riding a horse up and down the beach. He went over to the Indian village to see whose horse it was. It proved to be a horse that Mr. Whike had ridden up from Port Orfoid. I ( Pen sion) took the horse from the Indian and went to the chief. He attempted to take the trappings off the horse. I would not allow him to do so, wanting them as proof of his conduct. I expostulated with them in regard to their conduct. They laughed at me and ordered me to clatawa.
Mr. Whike, being present, corroborated the above statement.
John A. Pension stated further : On the twenty-fourth instant there were three men on the other side of the river. I went over to ferry them across. They asked me the reason why the Indians wanted to drive them back ( to the mines ), and not let them cross
7 It is undoubtedly true that some men among the miners treated the Indian women brutally ; but the Indians themselves sold their wives and daughters to them without shame. ​
the river. An Indian present seemed to be in a great passion, using the words u God damn Americans " very frequently.
Mr. Thomas Lowe corroborated the above statement.
Mr. Malcolm stated that yesterday (the twenty-sixth instant) the Indian chief John shot into a crowd of men standing in front of the ferry-house at that time.
Mr. Thomas Lowe and Mr. Whike corroborated the above state ment.
Mr. Whike and Thomas Lowe state that early this morning ( the twenty-seventh ) they discovered the rope by which the ferryboat was tied up to be cut in two, having been done in the night of the twenty-sixth instant. The boat would have been lost had it not been buoyed out. 8
Mr. George H. Abbott stated : I came here yesterday evening (the twenty -sixth ), and finding difficulties existing between the whites and Indians, and having an interpreter with me, I sent for the chief for the purpose of having an explanation. He returned for answer that he would neither explain nor be friendly with the whites on any terms. I sent back the Indian the second time, insisting on an explanation. He (the chief ) sent back word that he would not come, nor give any explanation whatever, and that he would kill every white man that attempted to come to him, or go to his village; that he intended to kill the men at the ferry and destroy their houses; that he was going to rid his country of all white men; that it was no use talking to him, and that if they ( the whites ) would take out his heart and wash it, he would still be the same.
Mr. George H. Abbott, interpreter: Interpretation of the above corroborated by John Grolouise ( half-breed).
.Resolved, That the Indians in this vicinity are in a state of hos tility toward the whites from their own acknowledgements and declarations.
Resolved, That tomorrow morning, the twenty -eighth instant, as early as possible, we will move upon and attack the Indian vil lage.
By vote, Geo. H. Abbott is elected captain of this expedition, A. F. Soap, first lieutenant, and Wm. H. Packwood, second lieutenant. (Signed.) A. F. SOAP, Chairman.
WM. H. PACKWOOD, Secretary.
Continuing the narrative of the proceedings following the meeting above reported, the following is an abstract of Captain Abbott s official report to Governor Davis: The Indian village (the same where T Vault s party was attacked in 1850), was situated on both sides of the river,
8 The above-mentioned persons are the ferrymen at the Coquille river. ​
THE ROGUE RIVER WARS. 325
about one and a half miles from the mouth, one part on the north, and two on the south side, the huts on the north side being situated on open ground, and easy of approach, while those on the south were in the edge of a thicket connecting with a heavy body of timber.
It was supposed that if the Indians made a stand it would be at that part of the village occupied by the chief, namely, the lower division on the south side. Abbott divided his company into three detachments, Lieutenant Soap with one being sent to take position on a mound overlooking the village on the north side; Packwood took a circuitous route through the woods to a position close to the upper village on the south side, while Abbott ap proached the lower portion of it, also by a circuitous route. At a given signal, the firing of a rifle, a simultaneous attack was to be made. Except that Packwood did not get into position before the signal was given, all happened as had been planned, and before daylight the attack was made from three points. The Indians were completely surprised and unable to offer much resistance; some fled into the woods. Sixteen were killed and four wounded. Twenty old men, women, and children were captured, with their stores of provisions, and twelve canoes. Their huts containing their arms and ammunition were burned. " The Indians," wrote Abbott to the governor, " were thus severely chastised without any loss on the part of the whites, which will undoubtedly have a salutary effect on all the Indians inhabiting this coast from the Umpqua to Rogue river."
After the massacre, for it could not be called a battle, whatever may be said of the necessity for such measures, Abbott sent three of the captive women to invite the chief to a peace-talk. He returned for answer that a great number of his people had been killed, and he was himself wounded; all he desired was peace, and the friendship of the white people for the remainder of his band. His heart he declared was changed, and Abbott was requested to ​
send a chief of the Sixes-river band, who was in his camp, to him, with the assurance that it would be safe to do so, when he would come and talk, which he did the same day. A treaty of peace and friendship was entered into, the volunteers returning to their usual avocations.
The same evening the miners and citizens held another meeting, Mr. McNamara in the chair, when it was
Resolved, That whereas the Indians have been defeated, come in and sued for peace, and as they have met with considerable loss of life and property at our hands, we deem it suitable to return all their property, and the prisoners we have in our possession.
Resolved, That two copies of the proceedings of the meetings of the last two days held by the miners and citizens be drawn up for the purpose of forwarding one copy to the governor of this territory, and one to the Indian agent at Port Orford.
The Indian agent at Port Orford was S. M. Smith, who arrived at Coquille ferry on the day following this affair, in company with Lieutenant Kautz, and who, to quote from Abbott s report, "made every exertion to get to the scene of difficulties before hostilities commenced, but was there only in time to establish a more permanent under standing with the Indians, which he did in a manner highly creditable to himself as a public official."
Reading between the lines of this praise of the govern ment officers, we might discover a purpose to forestall the efforts of Lieutenant Kautz and the agent, which in the opinion of the miners, founded on experience, would amount to nothing.
On the thirtieth of January, in a public meeting at Ran dolph City, a short distance from Coquille ferry, H. R. Scott in the chair, and J. B. O Meally, secretary, the fol lowing proceedings were had :
COQUILLE MINES, O. T., )
RANDOLPH CITY, 30th January, 1854. j
In pursuance with the wishes of the citizens, a public meeting which was to be held yesterday was adjourned until today, when the meeting was held at Randolph City, in order to take into con sideration, and reconsider the resolutions that were passed and adopted here last Saturday, twenty-eighth instant, as well as the ​
THE ROGUE RIVER WARS. 327
resolutions and proceedings passed and adopted at a public meeting held at Coquille river (the seat of war), which were read at this meeting today, and were sanctioned and highly approved, relative to the hostilities evinced by the Indians at Coquille against whites.
Upon the meeting being called to order, H. R. Scott was ap pointed chairman, and J. B. O Meally, secretary, when the follow ing resolutions were passed and adopted :
Resolved, Whereas the Indians in this vicinity have been vei*y troublesome for some time past, i. e., ever since the discovery of the mines, on account of their many thefts, it being unsafe to leave a house alone while the inhabitants were absent at work, the Indians being in the habit of ransacking such houses, taking all the pro visions and other articles such as they could conveniently secrete, and becoming more hostile in their movements every day ; and that the threatening attitude of the Indians a few days since at Coquille river called for immediate and decisive action ; and, as it was considered necessary for the safety of the lives and property of the citizens, that prompt and energetic measures should be taken,
Resolved, That we consider the threatening and menacing aspect of the Indians at the Coquille river on the twenty-seventh and twenty -eighth, amounting to a declaration of war on their part.
Resolved, That the prompt and timely action of the citizens and miners assembled at the Coquille river on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth instants, has struck a decisive blow, which we believe has quelled at the commencement an Indian war, which might have lasted for months, causing much bloodshed and expense to the people in general, and we have also ascertained that a large quantity of secreted firearms and powder was destroyed in the burn ing of the Indian villages.
Resolved, That duplicates of the proceedings of this meeting be drawn up for publication, one copy to be sent to the Indian agent at Port Orford, and others to be transmitted to the different newspapers in Oregon and California ; and, it is further
Resolved, That a copy of the resolutions passed and adopted at the meeting held last Saturday, twenty-eighth instant, at Randolph City, shall accompany the resolutions passed and adopted here today.
Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are justly due and hereby given to our fellow-citizens who have behaved so nobly in suppressing with a small force of volunteers the Indians, on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth instants, at Coquille river, who had declared war, and from the most authentic information that we have obtained, after mature investigation, we have every reason to believe that the Indians were on the eve of commencing an out break against the whites.
(Signed.) H. R. SCOTT, Chairman.
J. B. O MEALLY, Se ​cretary.
Thus was checked, for the time being, an outbreak in this direction. Whether or not the presence of troops and a howitzer in the Rogue-river valley had the effect to restrain the rising discontent among the Indians, it is certain that in spite of it there were fewer murders by them in the summer of 1854 than for three } 7 ears previous. Edward Phillips, a miner on Applegate creek, was mur dered in his own house April fifteenth. Daniel Gage was killed on June fifteenth in the Siskiyou mountains. A man named McAmy was killed near DeWitt ferry, on the Klamath river, June twenty-fourth, and Thomas O Neal about the same time. Some time during the same month, or a little later, John Crittenden, John Badger, Alexander Sawyer, and a man named Wood, were murdered by the Modocs or Pit-river Indians on the southern immigrant road, at Gravelly ford, in the Humboldt valley; and in September, a Mr. Stewart of Corvallis, Oregon, was killed on the same road. On the second of November, Alfred French, formerly connected with the Chronicle newspaper at Independence, Missouri, was murdered by Indians near Crescent City.
The murderers in every case escaped punishment, and so far as the officers of the regular army stationed in the country were concerned, were defended rather than chas tised, owing to a prejudiced and arbitrary sentiment towards civilians entertained by General Wool, at this time in command of the division of the Pacific. Whoever has read his correspondence with Adjutant-General Thomas must have Percéived his strong bias against the people as distinguished from the army, from governor s down to the humblest citizen, and his especial dislike of volunteer organizations. The reports of the officers in command of posts in Oregon, California, and Washington, were colored by this feeling exhibited by the general of division, and their correspondence was too often distorted by their sense of what was expected of them by their chief.
The murder of the persons named on the southern im​
THE ROGUE RIVER WARS. 329
migrant road led to the fear that the Modocs might repeat the wholesale massacres of 1852. In the absence of a sufficient military force at the posts in Oregon, Governor Davis had written to General Wool for troops to perform the service of patrolling the roads both north and south, by which the immigration entered Oregon, but Wool was either unable or unwilling to furnish them. He did, how ever, reenforce Smith s squadron with a detachment of horse lately under Wright s command, which marched to Klamath lake and back, reporting no danger from Indians. The real service was performed for the southern route by a volunteer force under Jesse Walker, with the approba tion of acting Governor Curry.
The cost of this expedition, which had no fighting to do, but which was probably a useful object lesson to the Indians, was forty-five thousand dollars. Its enemies named it the " Expedition to fight the immigrants," and denounced Quartermaster-General C. S. Drew and others as thieves on account of it. The regular army officers took up the cry, and declared the expedition unnecessary and a fraud upon the government, which must foot the bills. These accusations led to investigation as to the prices charged by the merchants of Yreka, who furnished the supplies, whose testimony was corroborated by the merchants of Jacksonville, showing the current prices during that year. A mass of evidence was collected at additional cost, 8 and years of delay in the settlement of accounts resulted. Forty-five thousand dollars was a large sum, but an Indian war would have cost more, to say noth ing of the loss of life; and the people of southern Oregon considered peace at any price worth all it cost.
But the feeling of white men in Oregon who had lost friends or property, or both, were not soothed by the knowledge that General WooJ, in sending a reinforcement to Fort Lane, had declared it was not to protect the settlers and miners that troops were needed, but to protect the
8 United States house miscellaneous documents, 47, pp. 32-35, thirty-fifth congress, second session. ​
Indians against white men, and that for this latter pur pose the force in Oregon should be increased. His request to the secretary of war for more troops in his department accompanying such declarations, was as it should have been refused, and Oregon remained as it had for so many years been, undefended, except as the people to the best of their ability took care of themselves.
In his correspondence with the war department, General Wool expressed the opinion that the immigration to Cali fornia and Oregon would soon render unnecessary those posts already established, and declared that if it were left to his discretion he should abolish them, namely, Forts Jones, Reading, and Miller in northern California, and Dalles and Lane in Oregon. In their place he would have a temporary post on Pit river, another on Puget sound, and possibly one in the Snake-river country.
Of the inability of immigrants to protect themselves proof was furnished in the month of August near old Fort Boise, when a party of Kentuckians, numbering twenty- one men, women, and children, led by Alexander Ward, was attacked and massacred, only two boys being left alive, who were rescued.
The horrors of the Ward massacre called for the imme diate chastisement of the Indians in the Boise country. There was at Fort Dalles, the nearest point where a soldier could be found, only a single company of men, under Major Granville 0. Haller. With about sixty of these, and a few citizens who chose to accompany the expedition, Major Haller took the road to Boise, if only to make a show on the part of the government, for the information of the Indians, of its desire and intention to protect its people and punish their destroyers. On Haller s arrival in the Snake country, the Indians, well advised of his move ments, had retired to the mountains where it was too late to attempt following them, and he could only march back to The Dalles. ​
THE ROGUE RIVER WARS. 331
It is not necessary in this place to say more of the Boise affair than that Haller accomplished the following sum mer the hanging of the leaders of the massacre, returning to The Dalles in September, 1855, just in time to take part in a war nearer his post.
But apropo of the discord between the civil and military authorities, Governor Curry, on learning that Haller s first expedition was not likely to accomplish anything, on the eighteenth of September, 1854, issued a proclamation calling for two companies of volunteers of sixty men each, to march to Boise and punish the Indians. These com panies were to be enlisted for six months, unless sooner discharged, and to furnish their own horses, equipments, arms, and ammunition, and choose their own officers, re porting to Brigadier-General Nesmith on the twenty-fifth. The governor issued commissions to George K. Sheil as assistant adjutant-general; to John McCracken as assistant quartermaster-general; and to Victor Trevitt as commis sary and quartermaster. But Nesmith, on learning that Colonel Bonneville of Fort Vancouver had refused a re quest of the governor for arms and supplies, giving it as his opinion that a winter campaign was neither necessary nor practicable, expressed a like opinion, and the call for for volunteers was withdrawn. Meanwhile, events were marching on.