Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/777

 expedition, now residing in the state of Ohio. The complete history of these Indian wars prepared by Mrs. F. F. Victor, by authority of the state, contains full accounts of all persons connected with them, and of the movements of the military forces; and to which the reader is referred.

As illustrating the strenuous experience of the volunteers fighting Oregon Indians and procuring their own horsebeef rations, the following incident is given of the war with the Yaquimas and Cayuses :

On February 26, 1855, Col. T. R. Cornelius, in command of the First Regi- ment, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, in camp on Mill creek, a few miles above Walla Walla, asked Lieutenant W. H. H. Myers, if he would undertake com- mand of an expedition to go into the Nez Perces country to procure horses. The men of the regiment had been obliged to kill and eat so many of their horses, that it had become absolutely necessary to obtain a new supply. The journey into the Nez Perces country entailed a ride of some ninety miles, over a faint trail, through the hostile territory of the Cayuse tribes. Lieut. Myers accepted the undertaking, and selected as his companions Lieut. Will Wright and John Brownlee.

The three men, each with one live horse and a small quantity of dead horse, started as early as possible on the morning of the 27th, finding travel difficult on account of the soft snow underfoot. They camped that night in the deep Tou Canyon, which offered a shelter from the weather, and food for the horses.

On the next day, they swam the Snake river at Lewiston, and went to Capt. Craig, the government agent for the Nez Perces. They applied to him for as- sistance in the purchase of ponies from his peaceful Indians, for which, as pay, they could only offer Umited States government scrip. Lieut. Myers relied largely on the influence of Capt. Craig, not only to secure the horses, but also to persuade the Indians to accept the scrip in payment.

A few weeks before this time, Piu Piu Mox Mox, a Yakima chief, had been killed by the whites in the Walla Walla valley under very questionable circum- stances. The story is that the old chief came to the whites under a white flag, for a parley, and upon his refusal to accept the terms offered to him by the white soldiers, or to submit to arrest, had been shot.

Be this as it may, a son of this Piu Piu Mox Mox, learning through his wife, a Nez Perces squaw, of the presence in the camp of the three white soldiers, immediately offered the chiefs assembled for the horse market, horses and cattle to the value of $15,000, for the surrender to himself, of the white envoys. One could hardly expect much mercy from the son of Piu Piu Mox Mox, for any white captives, after the treatment accorded his father, and Capt. Craig, who learned of this offer, warned Lieut. Myers and his men to be very cautious in their movements about the camp. He used all his arguments to convince the In- dians that any harm to the three white men would be followed by a most terrible retribution at the hands of the government soldiers, but he felt that he could not answer for the conduct of any of the Indians, unless it be two or three who were relatives of his Indian wife.

The negotiations in the matter of the horse purchase went on for about ten days, and at the end of that time, Lieut. Myers started on his return, with about fifty horses, his two comrades, and thirteen Nez Perces Indians, two of whom were brothers-in-law of Capt. Craig. These Indians he had hired as escort and herdsmen, paying them scrip, as he had paid for the horses.

Starting early in the morning, they forced the horses to swim the Snake river, and after permitting them to rest until late in the afternoon, started on the ninety mile ride to the American camp.

It soon became evident to Lieut. Myers that only three of the thirteen escort- ing Indians, could be depended on. These were the two brothers-in-law of Capt. Craig, an Indian known as Lawyer, who could both speak and write English.