Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/171



It will be remembered that the prisoners in the hands of the Cayuses were not liberated until the last of Decem ber, and did not arrive until the tenth of January. Pre vious to this date all that was known of events in the upper country was what had been communicated in Mr. McBean s letter of November thirtieth, and although the determination to punish the murderers was firmly fixed in the public mind, it was not thought wise to make any warlike movement to excite the Columbia river Indians, but only to send one company to The Dalles to preserve the property of the mission at that place, and prevent the loss of immigrant property left there in charge of certain friendly Indians to await the opening of spring, when it could be removed to the Wallaraet valley. The appoint ing of peace commissioners was a measure resorted to with the purpose to disabuse the Indian mind of any prejudice against the Americans which the Cayuses were supposed to be laboring to create; and also, to prevent any coalition between the Indians east of the mountains and those still resident in the Wallamet, for there was much alarm felt among the settlers in remote sections, who watched every movement of their dusky neighbors with suspicion, and often with terror. Many of the children of pioneers still revert with horror to nights when they feared to go to sleep, and when the father of the household kept watch beside his arms, not knowing but their safety depended on his sleeplessness. The Indians took advantage of this state of things to exhibit unusual insolence, and even to make threats and circulate terrifying rumors. The object of a peace commission was to defeat any attempts to continue these mischievous influences and prevent their becoming actual hostilities.

The legislature also passed an act prohibiting the sale of firearms and ammunition to the Indians. (This act was modified by the legislature of 1849 as unjust to a peo ple which lived by the chase, and whose sustenance was being cut off by the spoilations of the superior race.)