It is noteworthy that the officers of the 4th infantry, who garrisoned the country at and before the outbreak of the war,—Alvord, Rains, Haller, Maloney, Slaughter, and Nugen,—agreed perfectly with the territorial authorities and the people as to the causes of the outbreak, and were always ready to coöperate with them. It was Major Alvord who first detected and reported the existence of the Indian conspiracy, and Major Rains who called for the volunteers.
But the officers of the 9th infantry, like Wright and Casey, were new-comers in the country, bound by Wool’s orders, and prejudiced by his infamous slanders, and undoubtedly affected by professional jealousy. They were ready to ignore the territorial authorities, and to make peace by restraining the whites instead of punishing the hostile Indian aggressors. They prolonged the war east of the mountains and kept back the settlement of the country for two years, but at last the scales were torn from their eyes by stern experience; they realized how mistaken had been their views and fruitless their policy, and found themselves obliged to adopt the views of Governor Stevens and make war in earnest. Then, under the severe blows of Wright, the hostile tribes were finally punished and subdued, and permanent peace assured.
On the day after reaching Vancouver the governor held a council with a band of Klikitat Indians, at which Colonel Wright was present, and made arrangements for removing them temporarily to their original home east of the Cascades on the Klikitat River, with the view of placing them ultimately on the Yakima reservation. He informed Colonel Wright that he would receive and care for, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, any surrendered Indians, except the Sound murderers,—Leschi, Qui-e-muth, Nelson, Sta-hi, etc.,—to whom he had already cautioned him against granting amnesty. He now made formal requisition upon Colonel Wright for the surrender of these chiefs to be tried for their crimes, and notified him that he had forbidden the Indian agents to receive them on any reservation either east or west of the Cascades. He gave full and careful instructions on all these matters to the agents on the river,—Captain J. Cain, who had general charge of the Indians on the Columbia, Mr. Field at Vancouver, Mr. Lear at the Cascades, and the agent near the Dalles,—and made the necessary arrangements to meet all exigencies. This trip affords one of many examples of the governor’s untiring zeal and energy in the public service. In a single week he travels sixty miles on horseback, thirty in canoe, and forty by steamboat to Vancouver; holds a council with the Klikitats, and arranges for removing them from the settlements; instructs five Indian agents; revokes his call for volunteers; confers with Colonel Wright; demands of him the surrender of Indian murderers for punishment; travels eighty miles farther to the Dalles; and, by repeated conferences with Wright and his officers, secures their coöperation, as he has reason to believe. Moreover, he finds time to write the most clear and detailed reports to the Indian Bureau and to the Secretary of War.
Leaving the Dalles on the 19th, and pushing forward in advance of Steptoe with a train of thirty wagons drawn by eighty oxen, and two hundred loose animals, attended only by Pearson, and without escort except the employees, Governor Stevens reached Shaw’s camp in the valley on the 23d. On the evening of the 28th a small pack-train was captured by the Indians within a few miles of camp, the packers escaping on their horses without loss, after firing away all their ammunition. The governor was much chagrined at this, the only loss of animals or supplies suffered by his volunteers during the whole war, and in orders rebuked the parties whose negligence was responsible for the mishap, and concluded:
“He desires to impress upon the troops the fact established by experience, especially in the present Indian war, that bold and repeated charges upon the enemy, even when the disparity of numbers is great, will alone lead to results. In this way only can the superiority of our race be established. In all mere defensive contests with Indians, whether behind breast-works or in the brush, an Indian is as good as a white man; few laurels can thus be won, and the result may be discreditable.”
Craig and Dr. Lansdale, the latter the agent for the Flatheads, just down from the Bitter Root valley, arrived on the 30th with some of the Nez Perce chiefs. The next day agent Montour and Antoine Plante came in from the Spokanes and reported that, although the tribe professed a friendly disposition, they would not attend the council. Captain D.A. Russell (later major-general commanding 1st division, 6th corps, Army of the Potomac) with three companies marched from the Yakima to the Columbia, opposite old Fort Walla Walla, and, being without means of crossing, the governor sent him a wagon boat guarded by twenty volunteers, by means of which he ferried his command over the river. On the 5th Steptoe reached the valley, and went into camp four miles below the governor’s camp, his force, including Russell’s, consisting of four companies. The volunteers were therefore all started for the Dalles, their term of service expiring on the 8th, except Captain Goff’s company, which cheerfully consented to remain as a guard at the camp until relieved by the regulars.
Lawyer and the bulk of the Nez Perces arrived on the 6th, and encamped four miles above. A train of Indian goods under Robie reached the camp the next day. On the 8th the governor received the Nez Perce chiefs and headmen to the number of three hundred, after which he held a conference with the chiefs, and entertained them at dinner. Father A. Ravalli, of the Cœur d’Alene mission, arrived in the evening, bringing important information. Reports the governor:—
“The Father reports having seen and conversed with Kam-i-ah-kan, Skloom, Ow-hi, and his son, and that they will not attend the council. The Spokanes also declined coming. He also saw Looking Glass, who was not well disposed, and said he would not come to the council. From Father Ravalli’s report, it became evident to me that all the Indians in the upper country, if not openly hostile, were yet far from entertaining a disposition for friendship to be relied upon. Kam-i-ah-kan had taken advantage of the cessation of hostilities against him in the Yakima to circulate the grossest falsehoods as to the objects of the government in making treaties, against the volunteers, the miners, the settlers, and Americans in general, and he declares that no settler shall live in the country. These falsehoods are universally credited by the Indians, and thus Kam-i-ah-kan, who personally visited most of the tribes, has by his intrigues been enabled to excite to a point verging upon open hostility all the tribes in the upper country, withdrawing from their allegiance one half of the Nez Perce nation. As yet, however, the Spokanes, Cœur d’Alenes, and Colvilles have not molested the settlers or miners passing through their country.”
On the 9th provisions were issued to the Nez Perces. In the evening it was reported that a party of volunteers on their way to the Dalles were being attacked by the hostile Indians, and Colonel Shaw was dispatched to their assistance with all the volunteers in camp and a detachment of Nez Perces. This left the governor with only ten men, and as he expected to open the council the next day, and had a large quantity of Indian goods on the ground, he requested Steptoe to send a company of dragoons to the council ground as early as practicable. In notes to and conversation with him the governor had repeatedly requested him to camp at or near the council ground, in order “to show the Indians the strength of our people and the unity of our councils.” In sending the wagon boat to Captain Russell he made a similar request. He well knew that the pacific and parleying attitude of the regular officers had imbued the Indians with the idea that the regular troops were a different people from the settlers and volunteers. He wished to disabuse the Indians, and moreover a guard would be indispensable for the protection of his camp and supplies as soon as the last of the volunteers moved away. Wright’s assurances, and the cordial conferences with that officer and Steptoe, fully justified him in relying upon their support.
The next morning Colonel Steptoe moved his camp farther up the valley, and on his way called at the governor’s camp with a company of dragoons. The latter, supposing that, after his repeated request and the manifest necessity of the case, Steptoe would of course encamp near by, did not reiterate his request, and the regular officer continued his march and established his camp eight miles above the council ground, leaving it wholly unprotected. Fortunately Shaw, with his small force, returned in the afternoon, the rumored attack proving a false alarm, and reported having seen Stock Whitley, chief of the Des Chutes Indians, who said his people and the Cuyuses would come to the council that day. The opening of the council was postponed to the morrow. Later in the afternoon these Indians, with the Umatillas in large force, advanced mounted to within a short distance of camp, then, without any salutation or shaking hands, wheeled and moved off to the Nez Perce camp, where they partook of a feast prepared for them, after which they encamped just above their hosts. This demeanor, with the facts that they fired the prairie when coming in, and treated some members of the party with great insolence, was indicative of anything but a friendly spirit.