While these wily Indians were thus beguiling Wright, they also tried their diplomacy on the authorities on the west side of the Cascades. In May Indian messengers from Ow-hi and Te-i-as—two of the most cunning and treacherous of the Yakima chiefs, the former second only to Kam-i-ah-kan, as well as foremost in bringing on the war—approached Colonel Simmons through friendly Indians, pretending a desire to make peace, and were sent to Olympia to the governor. After conversing with them, the latter was satisfied that they came only as spies and trouble-instigators, but directed them to return to the chiefs who sent them, bearing his invitation to all who wished to resume friendly relations to come with their women and children to the prairie above Snoqualmie Falls, and submit to the justice and mercy of the government; that only those guilty of murder and instigating the war would be punished, and all others would be pardoned and kindly treated, like the Indians on the reservations. At the same time he charged Colonel Fitzhugh, in connection with Colonel Simmons, with the mission of bringing about the surrender of the Indians in question in case they were acting in good faith. Three weeks later, June 20, Fitzhugh reported that his mission had turned out a perfect failure, that the governor was correct in his opinion, that the messengers only wanted to gain time and information, and added:—
“The Indians expected to make better terms with Colonel Wright, who had been entertaining them and making them presents on the other side of the mountains, and had told them that he was the ‘Big Dog’ in this part of the world, and had come a long distance to treat with them, and if they would only stop fighting all would be well. As things now are, they will have to be well thrashed before they will treat. From the beginning of the difficulty to the present time, the regulars, from their commander-in-chief down, have stultified themselves. They have done no fighting, and now they wish to patch up a treaty, so as to get the credit for putting an end to the war.”
Little did the cunning Ow-hi foresee the tragic fate that awaited him and his son, only two years later, at the hands of Colonel Wright.
Thus ingloriously was the war carried on, or rather paralyzed, by the regular forces in the upper country. The only blow inflicted upon the hostiles of that region during the year was struck by Shaw in the Grande Ronde, and the effect of that was dissipated by the subsequent behavior of Wool’s officers.
CHAPTER XL
THE FRUITLESS PEACE COUNCIL
It will be remembered that Colonel Wright, hugging his delusion and shutting his eyes to obvious facts, in April expressed the opinion that the hostile Cuyuses and Walla Wallas were “peaceably disposed” when declining to occupy the valley or furnish an escort for the Nez Perce train. The governor, by bringing him to attend the council and see and judge for himself, hoped to open his eyes to the real situation, and to induce him to take a more manly and aggressive course in case the Indians persisted in the war.
Accordingly, leaving Olympia August 11, Governor Stevens reached Vancouver on the 13th, and there met Colonel Wright, who informed him that he was unable to attend the council from pressure of other duties, but that he was dispatching a force of four companies of regulars under Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe in season to be present, and that the governor could rely upon that officer for support in case of need, an assurance not made good, and which involved him in no little personal peril.
As it was no longer necessary to maintain Shaw’s force in the valley, since the regulars were to occupy it, the governor now revoked his call for two hundred more volunteers.
Traveling together to the Dalles, the governor and Colonel Wright had repeated conferences en route, and at that point also met and conferred with Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe, Major Lugenbeel, and Captain Jordan, with the result, as the governor supposed and reported to the Indian Bureau, of establishing “the most cordial and effective coöperation in all the measures taken to maintain the friendly relations of the tribes east of the mountains.” It is evident that Governor Stevens, by his personal ascendency over men, and the manifest wisdom and necessity of his measures, actually compelled these officers, like Lieutenant-Colonel Casey, to a degree of coöperation incompatible with Wool’s orders, and probably repugnant to their own prejudices. It is impossible, however, to acquit Wright and Steptoe of a lack of candor in concealing from the governor the real character of Wool’s instructions, and in leading him to expect their faithful coöperation and support. For not only had Wool positively forbidden anything of the kind, but had ordered them to disarm the volunteers, if they had sufficient force to do so, and expel them from the Indian country, as appeared from Wool’s orders when subsequently published by the government. He also ordered them to exclude American settlers from the entire upper country, but not to interfere with the Hudson Bay Company people, it being his intention to make the Cascade Range a scientific frontier to the settlements.