, 1856-07-25

oIhd"o.
Gen. Wool has charged that this battle
was the origin and cause Of all the subse-
quent hostilities. The squaws that Major
Lupton killed were escorted by the warr-
ors who killed the men and boy upon the
mountains, from which place he tracked
them to Butte Greek, where he attacked
them. However, the agent was notified
by these Indians that they had nothing to
do with the murder-that they were going
to the reserve. The Governor was notified,
and he issued his proclamation, as before
stated. Evans certainly had not seen
Gen. WOoPs letter, or he would have turned
the war in that direction.
Now, sir, l do not want to say more
about General Wool, and will only say,
that his letter is full Of injustice TO the
people of Oregon. l would never raise my
voice in behalf of these people if l believed
them capable of such an enormity as that
charged upon them by General Wool
the enormity, startling and revolving to
every right-minded man, Of deliberately
making war upon an innocent and unofIend-
ing people for the purpose Of enriching
themselves by robbery Of the public treasu.
ry. l know that to avoid war they would
submit, and have submitted, to many
wrongs, for the purpose Of maintaining
peace, and saving the lives of their fami-
lies. This war has brought devastation
and destruction to every portion of the two
Territories and the last letter from my
own home stated that everybody there is
terror-stricken, that dismay has taken pos
session Of everybody, and that the settlers
are now building block-houses for the pur-
pose OF protecting their families and friends,
and that they are determined to fight to
the last. And yet Gen. Wool charges,
and his letter is read as authority upon
this floor, that the people of Oregon are
guilty Of bringing on this war with the In
dians, bringing to their dwellings the torch,
and to the hearts and the heads of their
wives and children the tomahawk and
scalping-knife of the savage, whose soul,
inaamed with passion and thirsting for re-
venge, revelS with demoniac delight in
scenes Of carnage, and draws the greatest
pleasure Of which such depravcd natures are
capable from the agony Of his tortured and
"TltnlnS Nlctlm'
The Indians are literally breaking up
the whole country and l am not certain
but that large portion Of the Territory
will fall into their hands. l an in contin-
nal dread-though think am not easily
frightened-lest by the very next arrival l
shall hear something more terrible than
anything which has yet reached us. They
have burned our steamboats, they have
destroyed numerous farms and dwellings in
Oregon, and beautiful town in the south
ern part Of Washington Territory, on the
banks Of the Columbia river, and have
now access to the valleys, and l have great
fear that they will dash into the valley of
the Willamette, and do much damage. In
this state of the facts, Gen. Wool's letter
is introduced upon this floor for the pur-
pose of eliminating the people l represent,
and excuSing his blunders.
Mr. STANTON. quoted Gen Wool for
the purpose Of showing that there was o.
disagreement amongst the authorities there,
and that the President ought to remove
one Of them.
Mr.. LANE. l say that the cause of this
disagreement is so manifest that 1 have
nothing to say upon the subject. Our peo-
pie are, for their own defense, struggling
and risking their lives and alarge portion
Of Gen. WooPs letter is devoted to denun-
citation Of the volunteers who are operating
east of the Cascade mountains, in which
he charges that they are operating inI
Washington Territory. The General is
mistaken in his information. lie has not
examined the geography of the country
He has been grossly deceived. The troops
under Maj. Chinn, noble and gallant
young Kentuckian, who put up his shingle
at Portland for the purpose Of practicing
his profession, were east Of the Cascade
mountains. He constructed Fort Henri
eta twenty miles south of the line dividing
the two Territories. Walla-walla, where
he charges that volunteers had been sent
into Washington Territory to make war
upon the Indians, stands near the line of
division. The Columbia river from its
mouth to Fort Walla-walla, is the dividing
line, aud from that point, the forty-sixth
parallel, to the summit Of the Rocky noun
tains.
That great Indian chief Tor whom he
sheds so many tears, was, as he says, bar
barously murdered, and scalped. He
may have been scalped, but he was not
murdered. That indignities may have
been offered him, and wrongs pcrpetrated
upon him, may he true. Ii SO, regret it.
wish to God they had left his hair upon
his head untouched, and that no indignities
had been offered him, although he had
scalped many Of our people, and had plum
dcred Walla-walla, and the country around
the fort, and had driven the white people
out of the country. All the Indians whom
the Oregon volunteers have been operating
against are Oregon Indians.
But l rose to speak about this deficiency;
and want to say now that if the defcien-
cy asked for in this bill is to be used
against the citizens of Oregon Territory,
AGAINST A maripan citiznns nn1 for the mr.