might join their hostile neighbors. Several smaller companies were organized among the farmer boys on the prairies around Olympia and New Market.

Owing to the difficulties of communication it was deemed prudent by the authorities to have a force in reserve to be called to action in case of an emergency. By a proclamation issued by Governor Mason of October 22, the counties of Walla Walla, Skamania and Clarke were to furnish one company to be enrolled at Vancouver; the counties of Waukiakum, Cowlitz, Pacific and Chehalis, one company to be enrolled at Cathlamet; Lewis, Pierce, Thurston and Sanamish, one company to be enrolled at Olympia; and King, Island, Jefferson, Clallam and Whatcom, one company to be enrolled at Seattle. These companies were expected to take the field only in case of necessity.

Governor Mason officially appointed James A. Tilton to be adjutant general of the volunteer forces of the territory during the war, and designated Charles Eaton, of Thurston county, as captain of the Puget Sound Rangers. To protect the families located on claims, forts or stockades were built in different parts of the Sound country.

of the

The first work planned for the troops was to capture Leshi, the chief Nesquallies, who had been preparing his band for hostilities. He was an Indian of more than ordinary wealth and power, and was in possession of a considerable amount of farming land on the Nesqually bottoms. October 24, the Rangers left Olympia and proceeded direct to

On

Leshi's headquarters, but found that he had fled to the White river valley and the troops immediately started in pursuit. At Puyallup Crossing the main body of the company halted, and Captain Eaton, Lieutenant McAllister with the hostiles, Lieutenant McAllister acting as interpreter. The Indians and a Mr. Cornell, with two friendly Indians, proceeded to have a conference professed friendship and promised not to engage in a war against the settlement, but on returning to the command the little company was fired upon from

curred

On the 28th of October, 1855. One of the friendly Indians then

rode to the McAllister claim, a short distance east of Olympia, and told the family of Mr. McAllister's death and helped them to the fort that had been built on Chamber's prairie.

When the news of Lieutenant McAllister's death reached the authorities at Olympia it aroused the people to the horrors of the situation. The number of fighting warriors was grossly exaggerated in the fears of the people. This and the defenseless condition of the community aroused the populace to the highest pitch of excitement. Straggling Indians were going through the country committing depredations upon the small herds. Claims

were abandoned and families were seeking protection and safety in the nearby villages. Olympia, the territorial capital, was the general place of refuge. A town meeting was held and the situation thoroughly discussed. The village of Olympia stood on a tongue of land extending into the water, and there were, therefore, bays on both sides of the settlement about a quarter of a mile apart. It was decided to build a stockade from bay to bay, with a block house near the center, on which was placed a cannon. In case of an attack the people were expected to seek safety inside the stockade.

In the White river valley on the 28th of October, 1855, many settlers were massacred in the most barbarous manner. Among them were H. H. Jones and wife, George E. King and wife, W. H. Brennan, wife and child, and Simon Cooper. Several escaped to Seattle. Settlers on the Puyallup river were warned of their danger by Kitsap, the elder, for whom Kitsap county was afterwards named, and they escaped in the night, whilst the Indians were waiting for daylight to attack and destroy them. The attack upon Seattle followed soon after, and upon this the Indians concentrated all their efforts. Their failure to accomplish its capture was a signal for dispersion, the return of the northern Indians to their homes and the Yakimas and Klickitats to the other side of the mountains.

Chief Leshi and his brother Queimal were induced to give themselves up to the authorities under the promise of pardon. Leshi surrendered to Colonel Casey, of the United States Army, at Fort Steilacoom, but he was subsequently indicted for murder and after three trials sentenced to be hanged. Queimal gave himself up to Governor Stevens, and while waiting in the anteroom of the Governor's office was murdered by unknown parties.

The case of Leshi was appealed to the supreme court, where it was considered for seven days. The judgment of the lower court was affirmed, but, notwithstanding, delays prolonged the Indian's life, and he did not pay the death penalty until February 19, 1858, when he was executed at Fort Steilacoom.

CHAPTER XXII.

INDIAN WAR Of 1855-6—admIRAL PHELPS' NARRATIVE.

The Indian war of 1855-6 on Puget Sound was simply a part of the preconcerted or prearranged plan of the Indians of the northwest to exterminate the white settlers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. This plan was chiefly the work of the more warlike Indian tribes east of the Cascade Mountains, but they induced many of the Indians in the Puget Sound region to join them in their murderous conspiracy. This they did the more easily because the settlers in this region were few in numbers, scattered throughout a broken, hilly and heavily wooded country, without roads or facilities for

1

easy communication except by water, and, with the exception of a single
company of soldiers stationed at Fort Steilacoom, and the occasional visit
of a revenue cutter or sloop of war, were without government protection.
The long distance intervening between this section of country and any avail-
able means of succor at San Francisco or in the eastern states, made the task
they undertook apparently an easy one, and many Indians were led into it
by these specious arguments, who under ordinary circumstances would have
remained friendly, but the prospect of plunder and the hope of retaining
their hunting and fishing grounds without intrusion of the "Bostons," as
American settlers were called, were temptations too strong to be resisted.
Having determined, therefore, to go to war, they made a strong effort to
capture Seattle, not only because of the supplies, arms and ammunitions they
were much in need of, and which they hoped to secure at that point, but
for the further reason that by its capture they believed that settlers in other
localities
would easily be driven out or murdered. Seattle, therefore, bore
the brunt of the battle, and when the attack upon that place proved a failure,
they were disheartened and the war thereafter was continued in a spiritless
Nor had they expected the white people of the Sound to receive,
as they did, material aid from the Hudson's Bay people at Victoria, but Sir
James
Douglas promptly forwarded supplies, arms and ammunition, and
the arrival soon afterwards of additional war vessels, together with rein-
forcements of the troops on the land, reduced the Indians' prospect for suc-
cess to a minimum, and they were soon willing to give up the struggle. The
northern Indians returned to their homes and those from the eastern side of
the Cascades soon found their way back to their own ranges. Before the
close of the year they were willing to make peace, and hostilities were never
afterwards resumed. The following extracts from Admiral T. S. Phelps'
'Reminiscences of Seattle," in the United Service for November, 1902,
presents a vivid picture of some incidents in connection with the siege of
Seattle, when it so narrowly escaped destruction. Admiral Phelps was at
that time an officer serving on board of the Decatur, a United States sloop
of war which took part in its defense.

manner.

The town of Seattle, in October, 1855, numbered fifty souls and

about thirty houses, including a church, hotel, boarding-house, five or six stores, and a blacksmith and carpenter shop. Within a radius of thirty miles the white population amounted to about one hundred and twenty, making a total of one hundred and seventy men, women and children in Seattle and vicinity.

'Seattle was an intelligent Flathead Indian of medium height and prominent features, chief of the nation occupying the western shore of Admiralty Inlet contiguous to Port Madison, and, coveting the rich lands and

fishing grounds of the opposite bay, waged war incessantly against the Duwamish tribe, who occupied this land of promise, until, exhausted in resources and warriors, the latter finally succumbed and acknowledged him as their

master.

"Suc-quardle, better known as Curley, the hereditary chief, accepted the fortune of war and quietly submitted to his rule, and both chiefs appeared to live on friendly terms with the Bostons,' as Americans were called in contradistinction to King George's men, which included all of English origin. Beyond furnishing a name for the new settlement, Seattle does not appear to have figured in the subsequent history of the territory, while Curley and members of his family became important factors in the annals of the colony, especially a young Indian bearing the name of Yark-eke-e-man, commonly called Jim. This native by some inexplicable instinct attached himself to the white settlers, and served their interests with unswerving fidelity until near the close of the war, when, unfortunately, he lost his life from a wound received by the accidental discharge of his gun while hunting.

"The advent of the whites was a pleasant episode in the lives of these savage people; their arms opened to receive them as superior beings, and the lands they possessed were freely offered for their acceptance, reserving for themselves only potato patches and the right to fish in the waters of the Sound.

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The early settlers, I believe, were always kind, just and considerate in dealing with the natives, and so far as I know retained to the last their friendship and good will; but as the country filled with new arrivals many rough characters, so called 'pioneers of civilization,' from the western frontier and other states, appeared, who, regardless of the rights appertaining to the natives, seized their reserved lands, drove them from the fisheries, deprived them of their just dues, surreptitiously shot some, hung others, and became ingenious in their methods of oppression, until their victims, roused from the lethargy enshrouding their faculties, began to exhibit signs of discontent, yet endured patiently, hoping for a beneficial change in their conditions, till the final blow to their anticipations came in 1854, with the delivery of some two hundred thousand dollars in presents, a preliminary measure on the part of the government to treaty stipulations with the tribes, which, being distributed by the agents in such fraudulent, unjust, and outrageous manner finally forced their eyes open to the certainties of the future, and from that moment they resolutely determined to be rid of the detestable pests fastening upon them.

"The first real symptoms of a change appeared soon after Governor I. I. Stevens became the executive; not that he had offended them, but the spirit of vengeance was abroad, and the oppressed tribes were bent upon

exterminating every white inhabitant in the territory, irrespective of age, sex or condition. The governor and people residing around the head-waters of the Sound were blind to the signs of the times, and would not, nor could they be made to see the impending dangers threatening both lives and property. And at a most inappropriate moment, early in the summer of 1855, that official departed for the country of the Nez Perces and Cœur d'Alenes, in order to negotiate treaties with these tribes, leaving his secretary, Charles H. Mason, Esq., in charge of the executive chair.

“At this period, bordering on the Puget Sound and adjacent waters were small settlements at Bellingham Bay, Port Townsend, Seattle, Steilacoom, Nesqually and Olympia, besides sawmills established at Ports Madison, Ludlow, Gamble, and other places in Admiralty Inlet and Hoods Canal. Away from the water, clearings had been made, and numerous flourishing homes dotted the forests, and the total white population of the territory was estimated at two thousand souls.

"With this brief outline of history, we reach the month of June, 1855, at which time the United States sloop of war Decatur, Commander I. S. Starrett, then at anchor in the harbor of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, received orders to cruise on the coast of Oregon and California for the protection of settlers, and by the 2nd inst. she was on the ocean, bound on a mission of incalculable importance to the inhabitants of our remote territory in the northThe orders being special, necessitated our steering for that point where the force at our command could be displayed to the best interests of the people requiring protection.

west.

“Columbia river naturally suggested itself as being pre-eminent in this respect, but after carefully considering the subject, Captain Starrett decided upon the inland waters of Washington for the scene of immediate operations, and the course was accordingly laid for the Strait of Fuca.

“This apparent deviation from the letter of our instructions proved, in the end, to be the salvation of every white inhabitant in the territory. Seventyfive days after leaving Honolulu the Strait of Fuca was reached, and an English trader at Port San Juan, Vancouver's Island, gave information of a meditated attack of many thousands of the northern Indians upon those of Vancouver's Island and Washington territory. We proceeded immediately to Port Townsend, where, casting anchor on the evening of July 19, the foregoing proved to be unfounded, but news of a more stratling nature greeted us, inasmuch as it appeared that the natives of our own soil were developing a state of inquietude which led the whites to anticipate a rupture within a few months.

"Satisfied as to the impending danger threatening the settlers and being in need of provisions and ammunition, Captain Starrett, with the ship under his command, repaired to the California navy yard for supplies, having ob