Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/576

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matter. The failure to agree had resulted in two or three skirmishes, one of them at least a severe test of strength, in which the Indians had received the worst of it, and in the other the volunteers had accomplished nothing that could be accounted a success. The Cayuses, finding that no compromise could be ef- fected, abandoned their country, and most of them passed east of the Rocky mountains. Nothing was left for the volunteers but to leave the country also, which they did, and the Cayuse War had practically ended.

' ' The Cayuses, as a tribe, had no heart in the war, Joe Lewis told them imme- diately after the massacre that now they must fight, and advised them to send him to Salt Lake with a band of horses, to trade for ammunition with the Mormons. He started with a select band of animals, accompanied by two young braves; and a few days later one of them returned with the intelligence that Joe Lewis had killed his companion and decamped with the horses; and this was the last the Cayuses saw of the scheming villain. Thus matters stood until the spring of 1850, when the Cayuses were given to understand that peace could be procured by delivering up the murderers for punishment. At that time Tam-su-ky and his supporters, including many relatives who had not in any manner participated in the massacre, were hiding in the mountains at the head of John Day river. The Indians who desired peace went after the murderers, and a fight ensued, ending in the capture of nearly all of the outlawed band. In this fight 'Cutmouth John,' an Indian well known in Umatilla, while endeavoring to capture one of the murderers, received the wound which gave rise to his peculiar appellation. Only one of the five actually engaged in the bloody work at Waiilatpu (so the Whitman Indians assert) was captured, and he was Ta-ma-has, and ugly villain whom his countrymen called 'The Murderer.' It was he who commenced the work of death at Waiilatpu by biirying a hatchet in Dr. Whitman's brain. Tak- ing him and four others, several of the older men and chiefs went to Oregon City to deliver them up as hostages. They were at once thro\\Ti into prison, condemned and executed at Oregon City on June 3, 1850 ; and even the ones who had escorted them, in view of this summary proceeding, congratulated themselves upon their safe return. They believed that Ta-ma-has should have been hanged, but not the others. So that it was the peaceful Indians that finally brought the murderers to trial and the hangman's rope."

There have been recently rescued from dust and oblivion some of the docu- ments which show the manner of furnishing the first army of Oregon. Yamhill county sent the following: Andrew Hembree, 600 lbs. pork, and 20 bushels of wheat ; Eli Perkins, one horse, 2 lbs. powder, 2 boxes caps, 5 lbs. lead ; William J. Martin, 1 horse loaded with provisions; Benj. Stewart, 2 boxes caps, 2 lbs. lead, 1 blanket; John Baker, 1 horse; Thomas McBride, $5.00 cash; James Ramsey, 3 lbs. powder, 8 lbs. lead; Samuel Tustin, $5.00 cash, 5 lbs. lead, 2 lbs. powder; Joel J. Hembree, 1 horse, 200 lbs. pork, 20 bu. wheat; James McGinnis, $3.00 in orders; James Johnson, $7.75 on Abernethy, 4 lbs. lead; T. J. Hubbard, 1 rifle, 1 pistol; Hiram Cooper, 1 rifle, 1 musket, 60 rounds ammunition; A. A. Skinner, 1 blanket, 1 lb. powder; Jas. Fenton, 3 pairs shoes ; J. M. Cooper, 2 boxes caps, two gims ; James Green, 2 boxes caps, 2 lbs. lead ; C. Wood, 1 rifle ; J. Row- land, 1 outfit ; W. T. Newby, 1 horse ; Carney Goodridge, 5 bu. wheat, 100 lbs. pork; John Manning, 1 pair shoes; John Richardson, 1 Spanish saddle-tree; Solomon Allen 6 bars lead; Felix Scott. 1 gray horse; O. Risley, 1 rifle, 3 boxes