Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/31



INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 23

Col. Wright had a complete little army infantry, artillery, dragoons, a corps of friendly Nez Perces and his own staff. In the two divisions Wright's and Garnett's were one thou- sand men, the largest force ever assembled in Oregon or Wash- ington for hostile purposes. Wright came to California in 1852, a lieutenant colonel ; in 1855 he was promoted to colonel, and in 1861 to brigadier-general. During the war of rebel- lion he was in command of the department of the Pacific, with headquarters at San Francisco. In 1865, while on his way to Fort Vancouver, the steamer Brother Jonathan on which he was a passenger was lost and he was drowned.

The Indian Wars of Washington Territory were now ended. The two races had clashed and one been overcome by the other. The Indians were subdued. Chief Ka-mi-a-kin was driven into life exile in British Columbia; Chief Ow-hi shot while trying to escape from the troops; Chief Qual-chen hanged. The Indians had paid for the killing of the gold-miners and Agent Bolon. They had learned the lesson, learned by other Indians before them a thousand and two thousand miles to the east. No matter what their thoughts and feelings subsequently were, they were determined in Washington Territory to fight the white men no more. It was better so for them and us.

It is not always agreeable to say good things of the Indians, and not always grateful to say bad things of the whites, in contrasting them, but it is none the less true, be it said to our shame, that the most atrocious, fiendish and barbarous acts of the struggle herein briefly treated were those of our own people the cruel, cold-blooded killing of the wife and six children of Chief Spencer, the killing and mutilation of Chief Peu-peu-mox-mox, and other deeds of similar character that we all know of but shrink from mentioning.

In the preparation of this paper, the letters and reports of the territorial officials and U. S. army officers have been the only published sources of information availed of, and from them them have been drawn much the greater number of the statements made. The general matters, deductions, and com- ment obviously are those of the writer.