REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, IN COMPLIANCE WITH A resolution of the Senate of the 21st ultimo, calling for copies of all the letters of the governor of Washington Territory, addressed to him during the present year; and copies of all the correspondence relative to the Indian disturbances in the Territories of Washington and Oregon. MAY 12, 1856.-Read, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, May 9, 1856. SIR: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st ultimo, instructing the Secretary of War" to transmit to the Senate copies of all letters addressed to him during the present year by the governor of Washington Territory, respecting the existing difficulties with the Indians in that Territory; and also all correspondence relating to Indian difficulties in the Territories of Washington and Oregon not hitherto communicated," I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of communications from the governors of Oregon and Washington Territories, and from Brevet Major General Wool, commanding the Pacific division. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JEFF'N DAVIS, Hon. J. D. BRIGHT, President of the Senate. Secretary of War. The Governor of Oregon to the President of the United States. TERRITORY OF OREGON, Portland, February 5, 1856. SIR: Herewith I have the honor to transmit a certified copy of a memorial adopted by the legislative assembly of this Territory at the late regular session of that body. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. GEO. L. CURRY, Governor of Oregon. To his Excellency the President of the United States. Your memorialists, the legislative assembly of this Territory, respectfully represent that early in October last the people of Oregon and Washington Territories were startled by a general outbreak among nearly all the Indian tribes in the western and middle portions of those Territories. These hostilities, unprovoked on the part of the whites, were characterized by the usual modes of Indian warfare, and indiscriminate slaughter of all our citizens who fell into their hands, without regard to age, sex, or condition, and by the pillaging and burning of dwellings, and the destruction of property. The people in the most defenceless parts of the country, alarmed by the dangers to which they were exposed, called upon the governor of this Territory for that protection which they had a right to ask. We are happy to say that this cry for relief was not unheeded by the governor, and that our citizens, with a promptness and a zeal which a sense of danger alone could call forth, volunteered to go out in defence of their country, leaving their homes and the various avocations in which they were engaged. They have nobly discharged their duties, under many adverse and trying circumstances, and are still in the heart of the enemy's country, combating the Indians, or holding possession of the country which they have conquered. In this distressing state of affairs, and while the Oregon volunteers were surrounded by hostile Indians, it was with no little satisfaction that your memorialists, as well as the people of Oregon, hailed the arrival in this Territory of Major General John E. Wool, of the United States army. His past services had led us to hope that he would at once have sent the forces under his command to the assistance and relief of our volunteers, who were desirous of returning to their homes. It is with regret we confess that, in this respect, our hopes have been disappointed. It is with regret that we are compelled to say that General Wool has hitherto remained inactive, and has refused to send the United States troops to the relief of the volunteers, or to supply them with arms and ammunition in their time of need; that he has gone into winter quarters and left our settlements exposed to the ravages of our enemies; that he has removed the greater portion of his troops from the Indian Territory to Vancouver, a military point remote from the scenes of war, and that too, while our volunteers were threatened by an overwhelming force of Indians; that he refused to go to the relief of a number of our citizens who had settled in the Walla-Walla valley, and who had fled from their homes for safety, and that he refused to send any of the forces under his command to protect the people of southern Oregon, whose lives and property were almost daily being destroyed or endangered by the Indians. Your memorialists would have borne all these grievances in silence, and left these public acts and omissions of General Wool to the just judgment of the people of Oregon and Washington Territories, and to the approval or disapproval of the proper officers of the United States government; but so it is, that General Wool, not content with the inactive and inefficient course which he has hitherto thought proper to pursue in this war, has departed from his inactive policy only to censure the governor and people of this Territory for their commendable zeal in defending their country, and to thwart all their efforts to procure supplies and the means of subsistence for the Oregon volunteers now in the field. Instead of offering aid and encouragement to our people, he has shown a disgraceful activity in his endeavors to persuade our merchants and those of California not to furnish ammunition and supplies for our volunteers in this trying time of their need. Instead of attending to the duties of his high office, he has become an intermeddler between the people of Oregon and the government of the United States, and publicly declared that his influence will be exerted to prevent the payment, by the United States, of the just claims incurred in prosecution of this war. Therefore, inasmuch as your memorialists, as well as the people of Oregon, have lost all confidence in the willingness of General Wool to assist and defend them in their present Indian difficulties, they most respectfully ask that he may be recalled from the command of the military department of the Pacific, and your memorialists will ever pray. Passed the Council, January 30, 1856. TERRITORY OF OREGON, 88: DELAZON SMITH, Speaker of House of Representatives. A. T. DENNISON, President of the Council. I, B. F. Harding, secretary of the Territory of Oregon, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and perfect copy of the original, now on file in my office. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and affixed [L. S.] 1856. the seal of the Territory this 31st day of January, A. D. B. F. HARDING, Secretary of the Territory of Oregon. The Governor of Washington to the Secretary of War. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, SIR Having been constantly and closely occupied since my return from the Blackfeet council, I avail myself of this my first opportunity to inform the department fully of the condition of the Territory in the existing Indian war. And in order to arrive at a full understanding of the state of affairs, it is deemed necessary to state the facts connected with my return from the Missouri, where a treaty of peace and friendship had been concluded with the Blackfeet and other tribes of Indians. On the 29th day of October, when two days march from Fort Benton on my return to this place, W. H. Pearson reached my camp with an express from Acting Governor Mason, bringing the startling intelligence that the Yakima Indians, with whom I had concluded a treaty in June last, had murdered a number of whites in their country, their agent, A. J. Bolan, and had finally broken out into open war; had defeated a detachment of United States troops, under Major Haller, and had declared their determination to exterminate all the whites in the country. It was supposed that the Cayuses, Walla-Wallas, and Umatillas, would join, and that the Spokanes and Coeur d'Alênes were disposed to hostilities. At this time my party of twenty-five men were in this condition: Our animals were poor and jaded from the constant express service in which they had been employed in the operations preliminary to the Blackfeet council, for our expresses had ranged from the Saskatchawan on the north to the Yellow Stone on the south. They possessed but few arms and little ammunition, as we had in coming up found no use for them, passing through the territory of friendly Indians. Under these circumstances I halted the train, dispatched my secretary, Mr. Doty, to Forts Benton and Campbell to procure arms, ammunition, and fresh animals; and, on October 31, I pushed forward to the Bitter Root valley, to make arrangements for fresh animals and supplies, instructing Mr. Doty to come on as rapidly as the condition of the train would permit. I reached the valley November 4, making the distance of 230 miles in four and a half days. The train left the Missouri November 4, and reached Hell Gate, in the Bitter Root valley, where I had established my camp, in eight days, a distance of 200 miles. I had overtaken, before reaching the valley, the delegation of Nez Percés chiefs, who had attended the Blackfeet council. A conference was held with them at Hell Gate. They had already heard, through Indian rumors, of the war below. I stated to them fully the state of affairs, and requested that certain of their number would accompany me, it being my determination to push forward by way of the Coeur d'Alênes pass, although it was declared to be impracticable on account of snow. The result of our conference was most satisfactory. The whole party, numbering fourteen men, among whom were Spotted Eagle, Looking Glass, and Three Feathers, principal chiefs among the Nez Percés, expressed their determination to accompany us, and share any dangers to be encountered. They expressed a desire that, after crossing the mountains, I should go to their country, whence a large force of their young men would accompany me to the Dalles, and protect us with their lives against any enemy. Having replenished my train with all the animals to be had, on November 14th we pushed forward, crossed the Bitter Root mountains the 20th, in snow two and a half to three feet deep, and reached the Coeur d'Alêne Mission the 25th, taking the Coeur d'Alênes entirely by surprise. They had not thought it possible we would cross the mountains so late in the season. With the Coeur d'Alênes I had a council, and found them much excited; on a balance for peace or for war, and a chance word might turn them either way. Rumors of all kinds met us here; that the troops had fought a battle with the Yakimas, and had driven them across the Columbia towards the Spokane, and that the Walla-Wallas, Cayuses, and Umatillas, were in arms, and that they had been joined by a portion of the Nez Percés. The accounts were of so contradictory a nature that nothing certain could be ascertained from them, excepting the evident fact that several of the tribes below were in arms, blocking up our road, and had threatened to cut off my party in any event. However, I determined to push forward, having first dispatched Mr. Craig, my Nez Percés interpreter, with all but four of the Nez Percés, who remained to accompany me, to the Nez Percés country, with instructions to collect the Nez Percés, tell them I was coming, and wished a strong party to accompany me to the Dalles; and having done this, to dispatch an express to me, at the Spokane, on the 27th November; accompanied by the four Nez Percés, we made a forced march to the Spokane, reaching it the next day. The Spokanes were even more surprised than the Coeur d'Alênes at seeing us. Three hours before my arrival, they heard I was going to the settlements by way of New York. I immediately called a council, sent to Fort Colville for Mr. McDonald, in charge of that post of the Hudson's Bay Company, and also for the Jesuit Fathers at that point. They arrived. A council was held, at which the whole Spokane nation was represented. The Coeur d'Alênes and Colvilles also were present. The Spokanes and Colvilles evinced extreme hostility of feeling, spoke of the war below, wanted it stopped; said the whites were wrong. The belief was current that Pee-u-pee-mox-mox would cut off my party, as he had repeatedly threatened. They had not joined in the war, but yet would make no promises to remain neutral. If the Indians now at war were driven into their country, they would not answer for the consequences; probably many of the Spokanes would join them. After a stormy council of several days, the Spokanes, Coeur d'Alênes, and Colvilles were entirely conciliated, and promised that they would reject all the overtures of the hostile Indians, and continue the firm friends of the whites. Having added to my party twenty men on their way from Colville to the Dalles, who had delayed some weeks at this point through fear of the hostile Indians below, I organized my party as volunteers of the Territory, and mustered them into the service. I then made a forced march to the Nez Percés country, striking the Clear Water at Lapevai. Here we found assembled the whole Nez Percés nation, excepting those in the buffalo country. Mr. Craig had received letters which informed me that the whole Walla-Walla valley was blocked up with hostile Indians, and the Nez Percés said it was impossible to go through. |