Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/763

712 west bank of the Umatilla River, of which the enemy in the beginning had boastfully said the Americans should never drink; and notwithstanding the overtures for a council, some of the horses were stolen during the night.

Crossing the Umatilla on the 26th, Gilliam marched to within three miles of the Cayuse camp, where he remained until the forenoon of the 27th. While moving, and in camp, the Indians swarmed all along the hills, the main body showing a determination to continue hostilities. From those who approached the volunteer camp the commissioners learned that their messenger to the Nez Percés had been robbed and sent back by the Cayuses, and they immediately despatched another.

The correspondence of the Cayuse war is one of its peculiar features. Governor Abernethy had prepared a communication to be presented to the Nez Percés and other tribes to prevent a coalition with the Cayuses. In it he had begun with their first intercourse with white people, reminding them that they had invited and encouraged them to reside in their country, and that their white friends had earnestly labored to do them good, but had been rewarded with death. Many Americans, he said, had passed through their country to the Willamette, at first without molestation but latterly had been robbed and assaulted. The Cayuses had accused Whitman of poisoning them, when they could see that the white people as well as the Indians died of a disease sent by the Creator. The hearts of the white people bled because of what had been done at Waiilatpu. It could not be passed by The murderers and ravishers must be given up to be punished, and peace would then be restored; but all who sheltered or assisted the criminals would be accounted equally guilty, and be subject to the wrath of the great white race, compared with which they, the tribes of Oregon, were but a handful. Should