Preliminary Events
Compiled by Stephenie Flora
The era of contact between the Indians and whites in the Oregon Territory had started in 1811 when some fifteen hundred Cayuses, Walla Wallas and Nez Perce had met with representatives of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company.
With a domain that stretched from the Snake-Columbia confluence across the vast plateau to the Snake borderlands, the Cayuses were truly a majestic tribe. Much of their influence they owed to the umpreposing animal that they had ridden to power. These sure-footed horses varied in color and stood twelve to fifteen hands high. It was able to withstand hunger and rough treatment and its speed and endurance were exceptional. In the early nineteenth century a Cayuse Indian owning fifteen to twenty horses would hardly be considered affluent. Wealthier owners kept up to two thousand for recreation, travel and trading purposes.
By the late 1820's, the importance of the Cayuses, far outweighed their numbers. The deeply ingrained incursive life-style of the Cayuses had kept their numbers small. They were, in fact, the smallest tribe in the vicinity. The three largest Cayuse villages being: one under Chief Camaspelo on the headwaters of the Umatilla, another downstream on the Umatilla under two chieftain brothers, Five Crows (Achekaia or Pahkatos) and Young Chief (Tauitau), and a third on the upper Walla Walla under the aged Chief Umtippe.
Nevertheless, despite their lack in numbers, they still controlled the routes through which the fur brigades passed into the Snake Country. [McLoughlin, who was widely regarded as a stern disciplinarian of dissident Indians, handled the Cayuses with restraint.]
Cayuse trade continued to be chiefly in horses, which never ceased to be an important measure of their wealth. However, the natural simplicity of their clothing and ornaments, in which, as with their horses, they had taken great pride, was compromised by trappings and ornaments obtained from traders. In some case, they had surrendered to the white man's style by sporting trousers, shirt and cap.
The Cayuse were in a struggle to retain their supremacy among the tribes. Their population had dwindled [by 1841 one conservative estimate put their numbers at approximately 200] and their mother tongue was giving way to the more fluid speech of their more numerous neighbors the Nez Perces.
If the best their Great Spirit could offer was only Indian knowledge, they believed it necessary to find an additional powerful Supreme Being. In their contacts with the traders they had heard of a new God, a new magic. Would this new magic bring them guns, blankets, and other goods that would restore them to power and prestige?
In 1834, the Cayuse Indians met with Methodist Jason Lee near Fort Hall. Although Lee decided to establish his mission in the Willamette Valley, a new hope for a mission in their country appeared in 1836 in the form of Rev. Samuel Parker. Parker was in the area to find a site for the proposed American Board mission that was to be headed by Dr. Marcus Whitman. After several days, he selected a site twenty-five miles east of Fort Walla Walla at Waiilatpu [ "The Place of the Rye Grass"] on the lands of three chiefs: Umtippe, Waptashtakmahl, and Tiloukaikt.
In the first week of October Dr. Whitman arrived with Rev. Spalding. The meeting with the Cayuse was friendly as the Indians assessed the newcomers. A site was selected for Whitman's home, which would serve as the heart of the mission. [In later years, the controversy over whether Parker had promised to pay for these lands added to the hostility.]
Almost from the beginning the difference in cultures laid the ground work for misunderstandings and conflict. The few Cayuses who had not gone to hunt buffalo helped with the house building, but it was strange work for them. Women put up the Indians' lodges. It was noted that Narcissa, Whitman's wife, did not help with hers.
Many of the Indians in the area were suffering from sickness, primarily inflammation of the lungs. The sick accepted Whitman's medicine, but many found his cures of temporary benefit, for they did not take care of themselves and relapsed. It was Indian custom that if a prominent member of the tribe died at the hands of a medicine man, then the medicine man must give his life to avenge the loss. Chief Umtippe, "a savage creature in his day", became ill and turned to Dr. Whitman. The doctor's medicine helped the chief survive, a fate better than that of a war-chief relative who, sick only six days, died at the hands of the Walla Walla tewat [medicine man]. The day the war chief died, Umtippe's younger brother, Isiachalakia (Wet Wolf), shot the tewat dead. All were avenged. From these developments, Whitman must have gathered that a doctor in Indian country had little security.
The basic differences continued to cause conflicts. Whitman had only one wife while the Indians believed that when there were many wives they all "had more to eat". The missionaries did much of the menial tasks that the Indian wives were expected to perform which diminished their power in the eyes of the Indians. Equally contradictory was the concepts of hospitality. When Mrs. Whitman took a little Indian boy into her home, his relatives, who had abandoned him, believed that such generosity should have extended to them. It was also noticed by the Indians that the missionary lady did not welcome them into her house, not even to eat, or worse yet, to worship. Why were they scolded for looking through the windows of the house? After all, they had helped build it and it was on their land. And why did the missionaries extend their hospitality to travelers when they did not extend it to the ones they called their children?
There was no end of Cayuse anxiety. Were the American Board missionaries, from whom they had expected special magic, saving it all for themselves? Were not the missionaries rich and getting richer? Why could their horses not graze on the land near the mission? It was Cayuse land and there were no fences. And if the horses were eating corn, was that not the fruit of the earth?
Soon the Indians were not merely asking questions but striking blows, with Tilkanaik, in the summer of 1841, delivering a sharp one to Whitman's chest in the continuing argument over ownership of the land. There were numerous incidents but after a confrontation in October 1841, where several Indians stormed the mission over the issue of property, things quieted down for awhile.
The following winter Whitman left for the east to gain support for his mission. Rumors were persistent among the Indians that he was planning to return with men to fight them. When Whitman returned in late fall with a party of immigrants, the apprehension of the Indians was somewhat softened by the opportunity to trade. But, as preceding immigrations appeared they became increasingly hostile.
In 1845, due to increased tensions, Whitman rode out to warn a large company of immigrants that a large party of Cayuses and Walla Wallas was headed their way. Upon finding Whitman with the immigrants, the Indians backed off of their planned confrontation. By the fall of 1846, a fear of invasion by the Indians was felt as far south as California.
The turmoil had no chance to cool before the fall immigration arrived, bringing with it measles. The Indians took Whitman's medicine along with with some treatments he did not prescribe such as the sweat bath and cold water plunge. Deaths were rampant and the Indians blamed the deaths on the white people in general and on Whitman, their high chief, in particular.
Tensions were increased by the French Canadians, eastern Indians and others who planted the seeds of suspicion. There were rumors of whites uncorking bottles to release disease germs to kill the Indians for their land and tales that the Whitman's were plotting to poison the Indians. As the deaths continued, the Indians moved closer and closer toward an uprising and revenge.
By the fall of 1847 tensions were coming to a head. The fall immigration had brought more disease and the Indians were quick to note that the doctor's mission family were not being affected at the same rate as the Indian population. This increased the belief that they were being poisoned.
Adding fuel to the fire was one Joe Lewis. Lewis, was a half breed who was said to have been born in Canada and brought up in Maine as a Catholic. He had been in Fremont's camp in the Mexican War and had joined the 1847 emigrants at Fort Hall. He was much disliked by the emigrants and was not allowed to rejoin them after reaching Whitman mission. From almost the moment he was hired by Dr. Whitman he commenced inciting unrest among the native population by telling them that the white men were poisoning them in order to claim their lands.
By the late fall the mission house was overflowing with additional people. Josiah Osborn, a millwright who had been previously employed by the Whitmans, rushed to add an addition to the mission house. Joseph Smith and Elam Young of Missouri were sent with their families to live at the sawmill in the Blue Mountains. Rebecca Hays, a widow with a four-year-old son, was hired to help cook.
Also stopping at the mission in the late fall of 1847 was a group of emigrants led by Capt. John William Bewley. Several in the party were ill, including Crockett Bewley and his friend Amos Sales. An exerpt from a newpaper article reportedly attributed to one of the younger sons of Capt. Bewley said: "...many were sick of fever and several graves were made on the Snake river. My oldest brother became ill with mountain fever near the Whitman mission, and father, having an ardent desire to know the good doctor decided to stop there and consult him about treatment for my brother. It was late in the fall and the doctor was in the valley. Mrs. Whitman informed us that he would return in about three weeks and prevailed on us to remain to see him."
"The doctor prescribed rest and put the patient to bed. Mrs. Whitman needed help in her many cares with the sick children so it was arranged to leave my sister, Lorinda to assist her. The good doctor promised to bring these two children with him in the spring to the Willamette Valley."
My name is Stephenie Flora. Thanks for
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