Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/262

 should

be furnished the Indians by the Hudson's Bay Company.

Arrived at Vancouver, he found the Massachusetts about to proceed to Portland, to be loaded with lumber for the use of the government in building quarters for the troops stationed at Benicia, California, and Major Hatha way encamped in the rear of the Hudson's Bay Company s fort, with one company of artillery, while the other com pany, under Captain B. II. Hill, had been left at Astoria, in quarters built by the crew of the wrecked Shark in 1846. The whole force consisted of one hundred and sixty-one, rank and file, being companies L and M, first regiment of United States artillery. It was arranged that Captain Hill should proceed to the sound and estab lish a post near Nisqually before demanding the surrender of the murderers of the Americans.

Meantime, the government had commissioned three sub- Indian agents, namety, George C. Preston, J. Q. Thornton, and Robert Newell; but Preston not arriving, Oregon was divided into two districts, and Thornton assigned to the north of the Columbia, while Newell had charge of the Indians south of the river. Late in July Thornton visited the sound, where he spent several weeks in obtaining information which could have been obtained in a day from Dr. Tolmie, and offered a reward of eighty blankets, worth about five hundred dollars, to the Snoqualmie tribe for the surrender of the murderers of the Americans, besides having the captain of the English vessel, which trans ported Hill s company to Nisqually, arrested for giving the customary grog to the Indians and half-breeds who were hired to discharge the vessel.

These proceedings offended the governor,, whose author ity as superintendent of Indian affairs was ignored, and Thornton soon resigned, leaving Indian matters on the sound in the hands of Captain Hill, who, by the month

6 The officers, besides Major Hathaway and Captain Hill, were First Lieutenants J. B. Gibson and T. Talbot, Second Lieutenants G. Tallmadge and J. Dement, Second Lieutenant J. J. Woods, quartermaster and commissary, and Second Lieutenant J. B. Fry, adjutant.