A History of Oregon, 1792-1849

“Valuable testimony is borne to the character of the missionaries who survived Dr. Whitman, and who have been residents of Oregon to this day, as also to the fidelity and success of their labors, but there is not space for it in the present article. Suffice it to say, that, while the motives of Hon. J. Ross Browne, in appending Father Brouillet’s pamphlet to his ‘Letter,’ and the reasons of the House of Representative for publishing the same, are open to grave suspicion, facts and opinions have been elicited, which throw additional light upon the manifold bearings and uses of the missionary enterprise.”

On page 40 of Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet’s “Protestantism in Oregon” and page 33 of J. Ross Browne’s report, we find, under date of September 5, 1847, that “the Right Rev. Bishop Blanchet arrived at old Fort Wallawalla (now called Wallula), where he was cordially received by Mr. McBean, clerk in charge of said fort. He was accompanied by the superior of Oblates and two other clergymen. He had the intention of remaining but a few days at the fort, for he knew that Tawatowe (or Young Chief), one of the Cayuse chiefs, had a house which he had designed for the Catholic missionaries, and he intended to go and occupy it without delay; but the absence of the Young Chief, who was hunting buffalo, created a difficulty in regard to the occupation of the house, and in consequence of it he had to wait longer than he wished.”

The house here spoken of was erected during the summer of 1837, before any Catholic missionaries were thought of, at least among the Indians, or by the American missionaries, and it was late in the fall of 1838 that Revs. Blanchet and Demerse passed down the Columbia River. These first missionaries of the Society of Jesus, wishing to do Mr. P. C. Pambrun, then clerk of the post, a special favor, baptized the infant son of the Young Chief, for whose benefit and occupation, Mr. Pambrun said, the company had ordered that house to be built. If it was designed for these priests, who was the designer?

Mr. Brouillet, in his narrative, says: —

“On the 23d of September, Dr. Whitman, on his way from the Dalles, stopped at Fort Wallawalla. His countenance bore sufficient testimony to the agitation of his heart. He soon showed by his words that he was deeply wounded by the arrival of the bishop. ‘I know very well,’ said he, ‘for what purpose you have come.’ ‘All is known,’ replied the bishop; ‘I come to labor for the conversion of the Indians, and even of Americans, if they are willing to listen to me.’ The doctor then continued, in the same tone, to speak of many things. He attributed the coming of the bishop to the Young Chief’s influence! made a furious charge against the Catholics, accusing them of having persecuted Protestants and even of having shed their blood wherever they had prevailed. He said he did not like Catholics ⚹ ⚹ ⚹ that he should oppose the missionaries to the extent of his power. ⚹ ⚹ ⚹ He spoke against the Catholic Ladder!12 and said that he would cover it with blood, to show the persecution of Protestants by Catholics. He refused to sell provisions to the bishop, and protested he would not assist the missionaries unless he saw them in starvation.”

It is barely possible that Dr. Whitman said all that this priest says he did. In that case, did he forfeit his own and the lives of all that fell with him? This narrative of Protestantism reveals a dark page in our history, – one that should be thoroughly investigated as well as understood by all.

On the 24th page, 33d of Ross Browne’s report, this priest says: —

“After such a manifestation of sentiment toward Catholics in general and priests in particular, the bishop was not astonished in hearing some hours after that Dr. Whitman, on leaving the fort, went to the lodge of Piopiomoxmox (Yellow Serpent); that he had spoken a great deal against the priests; that he had wished to prevail upon this chief to co-operate with him, in order that by the aid of his influence with the Cayuses, Des Chutes, and Dalles Indians, he might be enabled to excite these nations against them, etc.”

That Dr. Whitman did as he is represented to have done no one acquainted with him will believe for a moment. But Bishop Blanchet’s letter to Governor Abernethy is evidence conclusive that he and his priests had done exactly what they here say Dr. Whitman attempted to do.

“During the months of October and November,” Brouillet says. “the Doctor came to the fort several times to render his professional services to Mrs. Maxwell and Mr. Thomas McKay; he was a little more reserved than at the first interview, but it was always visible enough that the sight of the bishop and his clergy was far from being agreeable to him.”

It will be remembered that Mr. Brouillet is giving this narrative and speaking of a man whose blood had been shod in the cause of “Protestantism in Oregon,” as he calls the title of his work, which he is writing to correct the impression that he and his associates were in some way concerned in bringing it about. In his allusions and statements, he seems to be anxious to prove that Dr. Whitman and all Protestants and Americans in the country are guilty of the crime laid to the influence of the priests, and by giving these statements expects everybody will believe them to be wholly innocent. J. Ross Browne, in his report, 3d page, agrees with this priest, and refers to supposed transactions (that did not occur) in 1835. At that time there was not a band or tribe of Indians west of the Rocky Mountains but was ready to give land to any white man that would come and live in their country. This land question, as stated by Brouillet and Ross Browne, or the “encroachments of a superior upon an inferior race,” had no part in the matter. It was a foreign national question, as we have already shown, and we now propose to quote these statements from his narrative, to show the intimate connection there was between the Jesuit priests, the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Indians, and the Whitman massacre.

According to Brouillet, the bishop and his priests remained at Fort Wallawalla from the 5th of September till the 26th of October (fifty days), enjoying the hospitality of Mr. McBean, and seeing Dr. Whitman occasionally, till, on the 26th, the Young Chief arrived. “The bishop wished to know of him if he wanted a priest for him and his young men, telling him that he could only give him one for the whole nation, and if the Cayuses wished to avail themselves of his services they would do well to come to an understanding together concerning the location of the mission. The chief told the bishop he wished a priest, and that he could have his house and as much land as he wanted.” So far this statement bears the natural impress of truth, but mark the words here put into the chief’s mouth, “but as a means of reuniting the Cayuses who had been heretofore divided, and in order to facilitate their religious instruction, he suggested the idea of establishing the mission near Dr. Whitman’s, at the camp of Tilokaikt.”

The previous history of this chief, as given by Revs. Hines, Perkins, and Dr. White, all goes to prove that he never made such a suggestion, and no one acquainted with Indian character will believe for a moment that he did. But the suggestion was without doubt made to him to impress upon his mind the importance of uniting with other bands of his tribe to get rid of Dr. Whitman, as shown by this priest in the council that was held on the 4th of November, by special request of the bishop sent to Tilokaikt on the 29th October, purporting to be by request of the Young Chief. The dates show, as per Brouillet, that the Young Chief was with the bishop on the 26th; on the 29th the bishop sent for Tilokaikt; and on the 4th of November the council was held, “at the bishop’s request,” who opened the meeting in the fort. At this meeting the proposition is said to have been made to the bishop to give him Dr. Whitman’s station, first driving him away. Says T. McKay, in his statement to acquit these priests, speaking of this meeting on the 4th of November: “One of the chiefs told the bishop that they would send the Doctor off very soon; they would give him his house if he wished. The bishop answered that he would not take the Doctor’s house, that he did not wish him to send the Doctor away, and that there was room enough for two missions.” This was, as understood by the Indians, “The bishop intends to have a place near Dr. Whitman’s, and he wishes us to dispose of the Doctor in some way so that he can have a place where all the Cayuses can be instructed together in his religion.”

In accordance with the understanding had with the bishop and Cayuses in this council on the 4th, this priest says (see p. 44 of Brouillet, 34 of J. R. Browne): “On the 8th of November I went by order of the bishop to Wailatpu to look at the land which Tilokaikt had offered; but he had changed his mind, and refused to show it to me, saying that it was too small. He told me that he had no place to give me but that of Dr. Whitman, whom he intended to send away. I declared to him a second time the same as the bishop had done at the meeting, that I would not have the place of Dr. Whitman. I then went immediately to the camp of Young Chief, to notify him that I would take his house, since I was unable to procure a place from Tilokaikt.” He further says he returned to the fort on the 10th, and on the 11th, an associate, Rev. Mr. Rousseau, left with his men to repair the house, which was ready by the 26th, and on the 27th of November the bishop and his party started for the house, said to have been designed for them (of which there is no doubt). On their first arrival at Wallawalla, it would have been the wiser course for them to have accepted of it, instead of attempting, through the influence of the company, to get possession of Dr. Whitman’s station, or the consent of the Indians, as they say they did, to locate near the station. But we have positive proof of the design of Mr. McBean, the agent of the company, and the bishop, as given in the testimony of Mr. John Kimzey.

He says: “On my way to this country with my family last fall (1847), I called at Fort Wallawalla to exchange my team and wagon for horses. There were at the fort two Roman Catholic priests. During my stay of about two days, Mr. McBean, in the presence of my wife, said, ‘The fathers have offered to purchase Dr. Whitman’s station, but Dr. Whitman has refused to sell.’ He said they had requested the Doctor to fix his own price and they would meet it, but the Doctor had refused to sell on any conditions, I asked him who he meant by the fathers? He said ‘The holy fathers, the Catholic priests.’ He said the holy fathers were about to commence a mission at the mouth of the Umatilla, – one in the upper part of the Umatilla, one near Dr. Whitman’s station, if they could not get hold of the station, one in several other places which I can not name. They hired Mr. Marsh, whose tools I brought, to do off a room for the priests at the fort. He said, ‘Dr. Whitman had better leave the country or the Indians would kill him; we are determined to have his station.’ He further said, ‘Mr. Spalding will also have to leave this country soon.’ As I was about leaving, Mr. McBean said: ‘If you could pass as an Englishman, the Indians would not injure you; if they do disturb you, show them the horses and the marks, and they will know my horses; show them by signs that you are from the fort, and they will let you pass.’ The Indians noticed the marks on the horses and did not disturb me.

“John Kimzey.”

“Subscribed and sworn to before me, at my office in Tualatin Plains [now Washington County], this 28th day of August, 1848.

“David T. Lenox, Justice of the Peace.”

This is fully confirmed by the oath of R. S. Wilcox, as having heard the statement from Mr. Kimzey the night after he left the fort, in camp at the mouth of the Umatilla, before the same justice of the peace. Mr. Wilcox says Mr. Kimzey was much alarmed, and really believed that it was the design of the priests’ party to kill Dr. Whitman and drive the American missionaries out of the country. His reply was, “The Catholics have not got that station yet.”

Had we not the best English testimony, Fitzgerald’s, and the statements of P. J. De Smet and Hoikin in their letters to their missionary society in Brussels, to show the connection of the Hudson’s Bay Company with this transaction, the facts above stated would fasten the conviction of a strong and outspoken determination to overthrow the Protestant missions. It will be remembered that these threats and efforts to get rid of Dr. Whitman were made before the appearance of any sickness or measles among the Cayuses.

Mr. Brouillet, on the 84th page of his narrative, says, “But I affirm that such a demand has never been made to Dr. Whitman by any one of us.” We are not disposed to dispute Mr. Brouillet’s affirmation, be it true or false. The truth is all we seek to know.

The reader will not be particularly interested in the long details of statements made by this priest to show that they had no part in bringing about the destruction of the Protestant missions and the Whitman massacre. Mr. McBean and Sir James Douglas have written extensively, together with P. H. Burnett, Esq., and this Rev. Vicar-General Brouillet, to show that nobody is responsible for that crime but the missionaries who were murdered and the Indians, while Rev. Messrs. Griffin and Spalding have attempted to fasten the whole crime upon the Roman priests alone. It appears from Mr. Spalding’s account that he met Mr. Brouillet and the bishop at Wallawalla on the 26th of November, and had a sectarian discussion with them, which he thought was friendly, yet from the fact that this priest barely alludes to the visit, and not a word of the discussion is mentioned, we infer that Mr. Spalding had the best of the argument, and that he was entirely mistaken as to the friendly manner in which they could conduct their missions in the same section of country. We will not attempt to reconcile the conflicting statements of these missionary parties, but will collect the most reliable facts and particulars of the tragic events in which these parties and the whole country became so deeply involved, – a part of them so strongly implicated.

That the massacre was expected to take place in a short time, and that all the Americans at the station, and all in any way connected with, or favoring, the Protestant missions and American settlements in the country, were to be included in the ultimate overthrow of those upper, or middle Oregon missions, there can be no doubt; as shown in the quotations we have given from our English Hudson’s Bay Company’s historian and Sir Edward Belcher, and the efforts of the company to colonize the country with English subjects from Red River, instead of encouraging them to come direct from England.

It appears from the dates and accounts we have, that Dr. Whitman was sent for to visit Five Crow’s lodge on the Umatilla, not far from the house to be occupied by the bishop and his priests; that Mr. Spalding accompanied the doctor to visit some of the Protestant Indians in that vicinity; that the same day (the 27th of November), the bishop and his priests started from Wallawalla to go to their station and occupy the house of Young Chief. They arrived at their places and learned that Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding were in the neighborhood. On the next day, Sunday, 28th, Dr. Whitman made a short call on them, and hastened home to attend on the sick about his place. While at the lodge of a French half-breed named Nicholas Finlay, the Indians were holding a council, to decide and arrange the preliminaries of the massacre, with Joe Lewis, a Canadian-Indian, and Joe Stanfield, a Frenchman. Of this last-named man, Mr. Brouillet says: “As to Joseph Stanfield, I admit that he was born and has been educated a Catholic.” He lays great stress on the fact that this fellow had been tried and acquitted. He says: “Why should we pretend now to be more enlightened and wiser than the tribunals have been, and judge him more severely than they have done.”

Dr. Whitman arrived at his station about twelve o’clock at night, attended upon the sick, and retired. That night an Indian had died. In the morning, the Doctor, as usual, had a coffin and a winding-sheet prepared, and assisted the friends in burying their dead. He observed, on returning to the house, that but two or three attended at the grave. As he returned, great numbers of Indians were seen gathering about the station; but an ox had been killed, and was being dressed, which was supposed to be the cause, as the Indians on such occasions always collected in great numbers, and often from a distance.

CHAPTER LV

Occupations of the victims immediately before the massacre. – Description of the mission buildings. – The Doctor called into the kitchen to be murdered. – Joe Lewis, the leader in the massacre. – The scene outside. – The Doctor’s house plundered. – Mrs. Whitman shot. – Brutalities to the dead and dying. – Escape of some and murder of others. – Safety of the French Papists and the servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. – Fate of Joe Lewis.

Joseph Stanfield had brought in the ox from the plains, and it had been shot by Francis Sager. Messrs. Kimball, Canfield, and Hoffman were dressing it between the two houses; Mr. Sanders was in the school, which he had just called in for the afternoon; Mr. Marsh was grinding at the mill; Mr. Gillan was on his tailor’s bench in the large adobe house, a short distance from the doctor’s; Mr. Hall was at work laying a floor to a room adjoining the Doctor’s house; Mr. Rogers was in the garden; Mr. Osborn and family were in the Indian room adjoining the Doctor’s sitting-room; young Mr. Sales was lying sick in the family of Mr. Canfield, who was living in the blacksmith shop; young Mr. Bewley was sick in the Doctor’s house; John Sager was sitting in the kitchen but partially recovered from the measles; the Doctor and Mrs. Whitman, with their three sick children, and Mrs. Osborn and her sick child, were in the dining or sitting room.

The mission buildings occupied a triangular space of ground fronting the north in a straight line, about four hundred feet in length. The Doctor’s house, standing on the west end, and fronting west, was 18 × 62 feet, adobe walls; library and bedroom on south end; dining and sitting room in the middle, 18 × 24; Indian room on north end, 18 × 26; kitchen on the east side of the house, 18 × 26, fireplace in the middle, and bedroom in rear; schoolroom joining on the east of the kitchen, 18 × 30; blacksmith shop, 150 feet east; the house called the mansion on the east end of the angle, 32 × 40 feet, one and a half stories; the mill, made of wood, standing upon the old site, about four hundred feet from either house. The east and south space of ground was protected by the mill-pond and Wallawalla Creek – north front by a ditch that discharged the waste water from the mill, and served to irrigate the farm in front of the Doctor’s house, which overlooked the whole. To the north and east is a high knoll, less than one-fourth of a mile distant; and directly to the north, three-fourths of a mile distant, is Mill Creek. In a military or defensive question, the premises could be easily protected from small-arms or cavalry.

While the Doctor was sitting with his family as above stated, several Indians, who had come into the kitchen, came to the door leading to the dining-room, and requested him to come into the kitchen. He did so, taking his bible in his hand, in which he was reading, and shut the door after him. Edward Sager sat down by his side and asked for medicine. Tilokaikt commenced a conversation with him, when Tamsaky, an Indian, called the Murderer, and the one that told the bishop at Wallawalla he would give him the Doctor’s station, came behind him, and, drawing a pipe tomahawk from under his blanket, struck the Doctor on the back of his head. The first blow stunned him and his head fell upon his breast, but the second blow followed instantly upon the top of his head, and brought him senseless but not lifeless to the floor.

John Sager, rising up, attempted to draw a pistol; the Indians before him rushed to the door by which they had entered, crying out, “He will shoot us;” but those behind seized his arms and threw him upon the floor; at the same time he received shots from several short Hudson’s Bay muskets, which had been concealed under their blankets. He was cut and gashed terribly with knives, his throat was cut, and a woolen tippet stuffed into it, – still he lingered. In the struggle, two Indians were wounded, one in the foot, the other in the hand, by each other.

Mrs. Whitman, as soon as the tumult commenced, overhearing and judging the cause, began in agony to stamp upon the floor and wring her hands, crying out, “Oh, the Indians! the Indians! That Joe (referring to Joe Lewis) has done it all!” Mrs. Osborn stepped into the Indian room with her child, and in a short time Mr. Osborn and family were secreted under the floor.

Without coming into the other rooms, the Indians left the kitchen, to aid in the dreadful destruction without. At this moment Mrs. Hays ran in from the mansion-house, and, with her assistance, Mrs. Whitman drew her dying husband into the dining-room, and placed his mangled, bleeding head upon a pillow, and did all her frightful situation would allow to stay the blood and revive him, but to no purpose. The dreadful work was done. To every question that was put to him, he would simply reply, “No,” in a low whisper. After receiving the first blow, he was probably insensible.

About this time, Mr. Kimball ran into the room through the kitchen, and rushed up-stairs with a broken arm hanging by his side. He was immediately followed by Mr. Rogers, who, in addition to a wounded arm, was tomahawked in the side of the head and covered with blood. He assisted Mrs. Whitman in making fast all the doors, and in removing the sick children up-stairs.

Joe Lewis, a Roman Catholic Indian, is asserted, by those who have traced his course, to have come from Canada with the party of priests and French that crossed the plains in 1847, and by whom it is affirmed the measles were brought into the immigrant trains that year. The priests’ party brought him to Boise, and there left him to find his way to Dr. Whitman’s. He attempted to make arrangements with an immigrant family to come to the Wallamet, but was afterward furnished with a horse and supplies, and traveled with a Cayuse Indian. While at Boise, making his arrangements with the immigrant family, he told them there was going to be a great overturn at Dr. Whitman’s and in the Wallamet. How or what the overturn was to be, the party did not learn, but supposed it might be from immigration or some change in the government of the country. He arrived at Dr. Whitman’s apparently destitute of clothes and shoes. He made himself at home at once, as he could speak English, French, and a little Nez Percé. He had been at the station but a few days, before the Doctor and the two Sager boys learned that he was making disturbance among the Indians. The Doctor finding some immigrant families who wanted a teamster, furnished him with shoes and a shirt, and got him to go with them. He was gone three days, and the second night ran away from the man he had agreed to go with, and returned about the station. He spent most of his time in the lodge of Nicholas Finlay, the common resort of Stanfield and the Indians engaged in the scenes we are relating; and was the leader in the whole affair. He was seen several times approaching the windows with a gun, but when Mrs. Whitman would ask, “Joe, what do you want?” he would ran away.

The scene outside, by this time, had attained the summit of its fury. The screams of the fleeing women and children, the groans and struggles of the falling, dying victims, the roar of musketry, the whistling of balls, the blows of the war-club, the smoke of powder, the furious riding of naked, painted Indians, the unearthly yells of infuriated savages, self-maddened, like tigers, by the smell of human blood, – the legitimate fruits of Romish superstitions faithfully implanted in the savage mind.

Mrs. Whitman remained by the side of her husband, who was pale and gasping in death. Two Americans were overpowered and cut down by the crowd under her window, which drew her attention, and gave an opportunity for an Indian, that had always been treated kindly by her, to level his gun. His victim received the ball, through the window, in her right breast, and fell, uttering a single groan. In a few moments she revived, rose and went to the settee, and kneeling in prayer was heard to pray for their adopted children (the Sager family, who had lost father and mother in crossing the plains, now again to be left orphans), and for her aged father and mother in the States, that they might be sustained under this terrible shock (made a thousand-fold more so by the infamous account of it given by Sir James Douglas in his Sandwich Islands letter), which the news of her fate must occasion. Soon after this she was helped into the chamber, where were now collected Mrs. Whitman, Mrs. Hays, Miss Bewley, Catharine Sager, Messrs. Kimball and Rogers, and the three sick children.