Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/404

 372 Frederick V. Holman also of an Indian half-breed named Tom Hill. It was also feared by the Indians that their lands would be taken from them by the American immigrants, as a large num- ber of pioneers came as immigrants from 1843 to 1847. Also, there was the murder of Elijah, the son of Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox, a chief of the Walla Wallas. Elijah was murdered in California, where he went with a party of Indians. The old idea prevailed among the Indians of "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Murder should be avenged by a killing, even if the victims of the killing were innocent. As this occasion is in honor of Peter Skene Ogden, I have mentioned only incidentally the causes of the Whit- man massacre. I shall not go into the gruesome details of the mas- sacre. It is sufficient to say that Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, and eleven other white men, were killed. About forty-three white women and children and seven white men of sixteen years and over were taken captives by the Indians at the time of the massacre. As I have said, this massacre began November 29, 1847. Late in the evening, December 6, 1847, a French- Canadian messenger arrived at Fort Vancouver by canoe from Fort Walla Walla, on the Columbia River, bringing a letter from McBean, in charge of the Hudson's Bay post, Fort Walla Walla, telling of the massacre. Ogden was first informed, and immediately went into consul- tation with Douglas. A serious problem was presented. It might mean a general Indian uprising, which, of course, might be fatal to the Hudson's Bay Company's forts, posts, officers, and employes in Oregon. The Whitman mission was an American settlement. The pioneers of the Willamette Valley would doubtless seek revenge, as they did. If so, they would call on the Hudson's Bay Company for arms, ammunition, and supplies. There were no United States troops then in Oregon. The Government of the United