CHAPTER XXXV

STORMY COUNCIL WITH THE SPOKANES

During the next few days the Indians were gathering for the council. Garry and a party of Coeur d'Alenes came on the 29th, and McDonald with the Colville chiefs, the missionaries, and four white miners on December 2. The council lasted three days, December 3, 4, 5, and was marked by disaffected and at times openly hostile views and expressions and uncertain purposes, on the part of the Indians, and steadfast determination to hold their friendship and restrain them from war, on the part of the governor. The Spokanes openly sympathized with the hostiles. Many of their young braves had joined them. They insisted that no white troops should enter their country, and urged the governor to make peace with the Yakimas, for the rumor was current that the troops had driven them across the Columbia and into the region claimed by the Spokanes. They objected to the whites taking up their land before they had made treaties and sold it, and were much stirred up because a number of Hudson Bay Company ex-employees at Colville had staked out claims, and filed with Judge Yantis the declaratory statements claiming them under the Donation Act. Kam-i-ah-kan's emissaries had imbued them with all kinds of falsehoods concerning the war and its causes, and the purposes of the whites, particularly of Governor Stevens, and what he did and said at the Walla Walla council. They were to be driven by soldiers from their own country, and forced to go on the Nez Perce reservation without any treaty or compensation. They were to be deported west of the Cascades, and shipped across seas to an unknown and dreadful doom. Highly colored but imaginary stories of wrong and outrage inflicted by whites upon Indians were industriously circulated, and equally mythical tales of Indian victories and exploits.

Governor Stevens met their excited and hostile talk with a firm and unruffled front. He appealed to the well-known facts,--to the policy he had uniformly and consistently urged upon them and upon all the tribes since first coming to the country, the policy of peace and friendship with the whites, and of adopting the civilization of the whites, and which had been proclaimed as from the housetops, and established by treaty at the Walla Walla council, in the presence and hearing of their own head chief, Garry, and others of their number. He showed them how this policy was for their own benefit and protection, and referred to the Blackfoot council, and the peace he had there established, of which the Nez Perce chiefs present could give them full particulars. He declared he was ready to make a treaty with them on the spot, if they desired one, but in the troubled state of affairs would not himself urge it. By this firm and conciliatory treatment he at length brought them to a more reasonable state of mind, and induced them to lay aside all thoughts of war and preserve their friendship with the whites. The results of this remarkable conference are graphically stated in his own words:--

"We remained on the Spokane nine days, and I had there one of the most stormy councils for three days that ever occurred in my whole Indian experience; yet, having gone there with the most earnest desire to prevent their entering into the war, but with a firm determination to tell them plainly and candidly the truth, I succeeded both in convincing them of the facts and in gaining their entire confidence. At this council were all the chiefs and people of the Coeur d'Alenes and of the Spokanes,--the very tribes who defeated Steptoe the past season, the very tribes who have met our troops since in two pitched battles; and I feel that I can without impropriety refer to the success of my labors among these Indians, backed up simply with a little party of twenty-four men. When the council was adjourned, the Indians gave the best test of their friendship by each coming to lay before me his little wrongs, and ask redress. They came in a body, and offered me a force to help me through the hostilities of Walla Walla valley and on the banks of the Columbia, which I declined, saying that I came not among the Spokanes for their aid, but to protect them as their father."

The Spokanes preserved the friendship thus gained and confirmed, and abstained from all acts of hostility for two years after this council, and until Colonel E.J. Steptoe, against their warning and protest, entered their country with a force of two hundred dragoons. Then they flew to arms, attacked, defeated, and drove him in precipitate retreat eighty miles to the bank of Snake River, where his men were only saved from massacre by the friendly Nez Perces, who ferried them across the river in their canoes, and boldly interposed between them and the victorious Spokanes.

Soon after reaching the Spokane the governor was led to distrust Looking Glass from his changed demeanor and countenance, and set a faithful half-breed interpreter to keep watch of him. The spy saw him enter Garry's lodge late at night, and, stealing up to and lying prone beside it, overheard the talk between the chiefs, in which Looking Glass disclosed a plot on his part to entrap the governor and his party when they went among the Nez Perces, and compel him to enlarge their reservation to the bounds first proposed by Looking Glass at the Walla Walla council, and to exact such other payments and advantages as amounted to a swingeing ransom. Looking Glass strongly advised Garry to adopt a similar course, and both chiefs seemed bent upon using their advantages to the utmost. On receiving this alarming report the governor instantly, but secretly, dispatched a messenger to Lapwai, informing Craig of the plot, and instructing him how best to forestall and frustrate it by advising with Lawyer, and committing the other chiefs to a firm adherence to the treaty and active support of the governor. Thus forewarned, he was enabled to frustrate the designs of the treacherous chief without his suspecting that they had been discovered.

The following extracts from the speeches show the excited and disaffected mood in which they entered the council. Observe in Garry's second speech his artful advice in aid of his friend Looking Glass's design to enlarge the reservation:--

Garry: "When I heard of the war, I had two hearts, and have had two hearts ever since. The bad heart was a little larger than the good. Now I am thinking that if you do not make peace with the Yakimas, war will come into this country like the waters of the sea. From the time of my first recollection, no blood has ever been on the hands of my people. Now that I am grown up, I am afraid that we may have the blood of the whites on our hands....

"I hope that you will make peace on the other side of the Columbia, and keep the soldiers from coming here. The Americans and the Yakimas are fighting. I think they are both equally guilty. If there were many Frenchmen here, my heart would be like fighting. [Meaning Canadians, ex-employees of the Hudson Bay Company.] These French people here have talked too much. I went to the Walla Walla council, and when I returned I found that all the Frenchmen had gotten their land written down on a paper. [Alluding to notifications under the Donation Act.] I ask them, Why are you in such a hurry to have writings for your lands now? Why don't you wait until a treaty is made?

"Governor, these troubles are on my mind all the time, and I will not hide them. When I was at the Walla Walla council my mind was divided. When you first commenced to speak, you said the Walla Wallas, Cuyuses, and Umatillas were to move on to the Nez Perce reservation, and the Spokanes were to move there also. Then I thought you spoke bad. Then I thought, when you said that, that you would strike the Indians to the heart. After you had spoken of these nine different things, as schools, and shops, and farms, if you had then asked the chiefs to mark out a piece of land--a pretty large piece--to give you, it would not have struck the Indians so to the heart. Your thought was good. You see far. But the Indians, being dull-headed, cannot see far. Now your children have fallen. They [the Indians] have spilled their blood, because they have not sense enough to understand you. Those who killed Pu-pu-mox-mox's son in California, they were Americans. Why are those Americans alive now? Why are they not hanged? This is what the Indians think, that it will be Indians only who are hanged for murder. Now, governor, here are these young people,--my people. I do not know their minds, but if they will listen to you, I shall be very glad. When you talk to your soldiers and tell them not to cross Snake River into our country, I shall be glad."

A principal chief of the lower Spokanes said: "Why is the country in difficulty again? That comes on account of the smallpox brought into the country, and is all the time on the Indians' heart. They would keep thinking the whites brought sickness into the country to kill them. That is what has hurt the hearts of the Yakimas. That is what we think has brought about this difficulty between the Indians and the whites. I think, governor, you have talked a little too hard. It is as if you had thrown away all the Indians. I heard you said at the Walla Walla council that we were children, and that our women and children and cattle should be for you, and then we thought we would never raise camp and move where you wished us to. We had in our hearts that if you tried to move us off we would die on our land."

Stellam, Coeur d'Alene head chief: "We have not yet made friends. All the Indians are not yet your children. When I heard that war had commenced in the Yakima country, I did not believe they had done well to commence. I wish you would speak and dry the blood on that land now. If you would do that, then I would take you for a friend. You have many soldiers, and I would not like to have them mix among my people."

Schlat-eal: "Now the Yakimas have crossed the Columbia. I would not like to have the whites cross to this side. If the whites do not cross the river, the Indians will all be pleased. We have not made friendship yet. We have not shaken hands yet. When we see that the soldiers don't cross the Columbia, we shall believe you take us for your friends. When you stop that difficulty, the fighting now going on, we shall believe you intend to adopt us for your children. Then I will believe that you have taken us for your friends, and will take you for my friend."

Peter John Colville, chief: "My heart is very poor, very bad. My heart is of all nations. I never hide it. My heart is fearful. There are some who have talked bad. I am always thinking that all would be well. I wish all the whites and Indians to be friendly; but even if my people should take up arms against the Americans, I myself would not. I know we cannot stop the river from running, nor the wind from blowing, and I have heard that you whites are the same. We could not stop you. I only speak to show my heart. I am done."

Sno-ho-mish, a chief of the lower Spokanes, near the Columbia: "When you went away to the Blackfoot country, and the Yakimas commenced fighting, my heart was broken. Ever since my heart is very small. Ever since I have been thinking, How will the governor speak to us? And yesterday he did speak, and said to the Indians, 'You must keep peace;' and I have been thinking what God would say if we should spill blood on our land. I never loved bad Indians, nor war; I never believed in making war against Americans. I wish they would stop all the whites and Indians from fighting. Now I will stop. I have shown my heart."

Big Star, Spokane chief: "The reason that I am talking now is that all the Indians did not like what you said at the Walla Walla council. They put all the blame on you for the trouble since. The Indians say you are the cause of the war. My heart is very small towards you. My heart is the same as the others for you. Ever since I heard there was war, I was afraid for you. I am afraid you will be killed. You have not yet made a treaty, and you passed by us, and your people have commenced coming,--the miners,--and they will upset my land. This spring, when my people commenced talking about the ammunition, I said, 'My children, do not listen to my children who wish to do wrong.' I said to the Sun chief, 'What is the reason you are getting into trouble? Your father was good. Now he is killed by the Blackfeet.' And this summer when the governor passed here, I spoke to him again, and he would not listen. That is why my heart is small,--that young man would not listen. I left home and went to the Nez Perces, and there met Mr. McDonald. After crossing the Columbia River those two young fellows overtook me. I spoke to Mr. McDonald to give me good advice to help my children. He did speak, and I thought he gave me good help. I was glad. We had not yet arrived at the fort when that young man [a young Spokane] rushed on the whites and choked them. After McDonald and myself had talked to them, I thought they would listen. If I had not tried to make them do right, it would not have hurt my feelings so much. Since that, I am crying all the time."

Quin-quim-moe-so, Spokane chief, living at Eells's old mission: "When I heard, governor, what you had said at the Walla Walla ground, I thought you had done well. But one thing you said was not right. You alone arranged the Indian's land. The Indians did not speak. Then you struck the Indians to the heart. You thought they were only Indians. That is why you did it. I am not a big chief, but I will not hide my mind. I will not talk low. I wish you to hear what I am saying. That is the reason, governor; it is all your fault the Indians are at war. It is your fault, because you have said that the Cuyuses and Walla Wallas will be moved to the Yakima land. They who owned the land did not speak, and yet you divided the land."

Garry: "When you look at those red men, you think you have more heart, more sense, than these poor Indians. I think the difference between us and you Americans is in the clothing,--the blood and body are the same. Do you think, because your mother was white and theirs black, that you are higher or better? We are black, yet if we cut ourselves the blood will be red, and so with the whites it is the same, though their skin is white. I do not think we are poor because we belong to another nation. If you take those Indians for men, treat them so now. If you talk to the Indians to make a peace, the Indians will do the same to you. You see now the Indians are proud. On account of one of your remarks, some of your people have already fallen to the ground. The Indians are not satisfied with the land you gave them. What commenced the trouble was the murder of Pu-pu-mox-mox's son and Dr. Whitman, and _now_ they find their reservations too small. If all those Indians had marked out their own reservations, the trouble would not have happened. If you could get their reservations made a little larger, they would be pleased. If I had the business to do, I could fix it by giving them a little more land. Talking about land, I am only speaking my mind. What I was saying yesterday about not crossing the soldiers to this side of the Columbia is my business. Those Indians have gone to war, and I don't know myself how to fix it up. That is your business. Since, governor, the beginning of the world, there has been war. Why cannot you manage to keep peace? Maybe there will be no peace ever. Even if you should hang all the bad people, war would begin again, and would never stop."

In these speeches can be seen the reflection of the tales spread by the Yakima emissaries. It was afterwards learned that some of the Yakimas had really crossed the Columbia to avoid an expedition into the Yakima valley, under Major Rains with a force of regulars, and Colonel J.W. Nesmith with a detachment of Oregon volunteers, which proved abortive, except in the loss of many of the horses and mules belonging to the regulars, which were run off by the hostile Yakimas.

After the council the Indians were so friendly and well disposed that they readily exchanged their fine, fresh horses for the jaded and tired animals of the party and the Indian goods, which had been brought up for the now deferred treaty, and even sold several rifles, which were used to arm the Spokane Invincibles.

On the afternoon of the 6th, with transportation reduced to twelve days' supplies, packs to eighty pounds, the best train of the season, and the party, with the recent accessions, forty-eight strong, the governor struck out for the Nez Perce country, "in condition," he says, "that if the Nez Perces were really hostile, and I was not strong enough to fight, I could make a good run!" He moved three miles to the Spokane River, crossed it just above the falls, and encamped on the site of the present city of that name. The march thence to the Clearwater and Lapwai, a distance of one hundred and eight miles, occupied four days, and was made in the midst of a driving and continuous storm of cold rain, sleet, and snow, wetting and chilling every one to the bone. The trail was excessively muddy and slippery, and for half a day's travel the snow was ten inches deep. On the second day an express from Craig brought the cheering news that the Nez Perces were faithful, and the whole tribe ready to support the governor to the death. And on reaching camp the same day two Frenchmen or Canadians were met making their way from Walla Walla to the Spokane, who reported the valley overrun with hostile Indians, the settlers killed or driven below, and their stock swept off by the savages. Fifty miles from the Spokane they struck the same trail passed over in June on the way to the Coeur d'Alene, and pursued it for twenty miles, crossing the Palouse, where an enemy was most likely to be encountered, but no Indians were seen. The Clearwater, or Kooskooskia, was crossed just above the mouth of the Lapwai. The river was barely fordable, with a powerful current and rocky bottom, and two riding horses were swept off their feet into deep water and drowned, making no effort to swim, benumbed in the icy water, and their riders barely escaped a similar fate. Moving seven miles up the Lapwai, Craig's hospitable house, and the end of this severe march, the most comfortless and trying of the whole trip, was reached, and camp gladly made on the 11th.