East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-03-15

siege of the blockhouse at the Mid
die Cascades as told by Jehu Switzler
will be appreciated. The fight at the
Middle Cascades was one of the ex-
citing incidents of the early history
of oregon and Mr.. Switzler is prob
ably the only man now alive who
took part In II. He Is now at Mesa,
Ariz., and owing TO failing health will
not likely return alive to the coun-
try which he helped in making habit
able for the white man. His story Is
as follows:
Uprising of 1856.
Having been frequently requested
to write an account of my participa-
tion in the Indian war of 1856, and
particularly of the defense of the
blockhouse at the Middle Cascades,
I have consented to do so, that my
statement may be preserved My
father, John Switzler, arrived with
his family at Vancouver, in 1Si5, from
Missouri; was at that time a boy 13
years old. ] remained a resident of
Vancouver until long after the war
of 1855, and was frequently employed
by the commander of the fort in car
rylng messages for the government
through the Indian country, as l was
perfectly familiar with the language
and customs of the Indians.
on several occasions during the
winter preceding the outbreak of 1855
i became aware that the Indians were
engaged in war dancing, and many
rumors of approaching conflict reach
ed me, and II was apparent that the
Indians were restless and i'll at ease
We were expecting trouble in the
spring of 1856 and the commander
al The fort was doing all In his power
to avert It. Early in the spring of
1885 the commander started me with
dispatches to be delivered TO the COM
mander at Fort Lane.
/ started alone, and when within
about 40 miles of my destination dis
covered fires burning on all sides of
me and soon met a number of set
tiers all heavily armed, who inform
ed me that the country was full of
hostile indians that were burning and
destroying all houses and other prop
erty; | was told also that 1t would be
impossible for me to continue my
journey TO the fort, as the Indians
would murder me before / had trav-
eled one-half the distance.
Dangerous Night Ride.
Finding that / was determined to
proceed, these men kindly gave me
a fresh mule, and after resting for
several hours with them, continued
my Journey at dusk. rode all night
with my pistol in my hand. ready
for instant use, and expecting to be
attacked at any moment. / frequent
ly heard the Indians, and but for my
thorough knowledge of the country
and n familiarity with the habits OF
the Indians l would undoubtedly
have been taken that night. Just
after daybreak on the following
morning l arrived safely at the fort
and delivered the messages to the
commander.
After a thorough rest I returned
to Vancouver with a strong guard. 1
started at once from Vancouver to
The Dalles with a herd of horses for
Colonel Wright, on this trip / had a
guard of about 10 or IL men and we
safely delivered the horses. After
settling with the men, they were to
remain at The Dalles; / again started
for Vancouver in company with my
friend Tom Mcdowell. The guns,
ammunition cartridge boxes and
other property belonging to the gov
ernment and which had been nsed by
the guard on the trip up the river,
were in my possession and were by me
being returned to Vancouver
Attack on Blocllhouse.
At the Upper Cascades | left the
pruperty for shipment, and Mellow
ell and / walked on down to the Mid
die Cascades. a distance of about a
mile, and after laying down our rifles
we walked over to the office of Mr..
Grswald the agent in charge of the
portnge road and while Mr. Griswald
and 1 were talking in front of the
office the firing began. and we dis
covered that there We're Indians all
about us.
Mr.. Griswald ran toward the block
house, but was shot on the way and
died soon after reaching the house.
Mcdowell and | ran towards our
rifles. but the Indians had evidently
seen us lay them down, and intercept
ed us before we had gone far, and in
a perfect rain of rifle balls we turn
ed and made all speed for the block
house, feeling all the time that II was
our only chance. Although we ran
for some distance. the Indians firing
at us all the time, we reached the
blockhouse without n scratch. 1t was
miraculous escape, and our regret
was that Crswald and others were
not so fortunate.
In other accounts of this siege 1t is
said that there was Il third man with
us. but such was not the case. Nc
Dowell and | We're together and un-
accompanied by any other. A third
person may have arrived at the block
house at about the same time we did,
blu IL so he was not with us.
The blockhouse was being held by
Sergeant Kelly and his little band of
heroes when we arrived, and we
placed ourselves under his orders and
prepared for the siege. The dead and
wounded have been accounted for by
others, and 1t is unnecessary for me
to go over that again.
During the first day the Indians
made vicious attack upon the block
house, but we were able to beat them
Off and gave such a good account OF