Immediately on reaching the Dalles, Governor Stevens renewed his demand upon Colonel Wright for the delivery of the Sound murderers for trial. Writes Wright in reply:—
“You know the circumstances under which the Indians referred to were permitted to come in and remain with the friendly Yakimas. Although I have made no promises that they should not be held to account for their former acts, yet in the present unsettled state of our Indian relations I think it would be unwise to seize them and transport them for trial. I would therefore respectfully suggest that the delivery of the Indians be suspended for the present.”
But the governor firmly reiterated his demand, declaring:—
“If the condition of things is so unsettled in the Yakima that the seizing of these men will lead to war, the sooner the war commences the better. Nothing in my judgment will be gained by a temporizing policy.”
The result was that Colonel Wright gave an order on Major Garnett, who commanded the post in the Yakima, to deliver up to the governor, for trial before the courts, Leschi, Nelson, Qui-e-muth, and Stahi.
But any embarrassment that might be caused to the peace on the Yakima by the execution of this order was very cleverly obviated by sending these Indians, or permitting them to go, back to the Sound country, and placing them under the protection of Colonel Casey, as will more fully appear hereafter.
On the 5th Wright and Steptoe started for the Walla Walla, their force being increased one company. One of Colonel Wright’s first acts on arriving there was to hold councils with the disaffected and hostile chiefs, the same who had so recently attacked the governor and the camp of his own officer, Steptoe, at which he assured them that “the bloody cloth should be washed, past differences thrown behind us, and perpetual friendship must exist between us.” He gave ready ear to their complaints and demands, adopted their views in regard to the Walla Walla treaties, and actually recommended that they never be confirmed. Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe put forth a proclamation, by order of General Wool, forbidding all white settlers to return to the country except the missionaries and Hudson Bay Company people. Wool instructs Wright under date of October 19: “Warned by what has occurred, the general trusts you will be on your guard against the whites, ... and prevent further trouble by keeping the whites out of the Indian country.”
A month later Steptoe, who seems to have had doubts of the good faith of the Indians, and to apprehend that they might resume active hostilities in the spring, ventured to recommend that “a good industrious colony” be permitted to settle the Walla Walla valley, but Wool promptly negatived this suggestion, declaring that “the Cascade Range formed, if not an impassable barrier, an excellent line of defense, a most valuable wall of separation between two races always at war when in contact. To permit settlers to pass the Dalles and occupy the natural reserve is to give up this advantage, throw down this wall, and advance the frontier hundreds of miles to the east, and add to the protective labors of the army.” He charged Steptoe to carry out his orders strictly. Thus he joined hands with the Indian enemy to keep out American settlers from the region to which they had been especially invited by Congress by the Donation Acts, and strove to frustrate the policy of his own government of extinguishing the Indian title and settling up the country. Seldom has our history shown a more shameful betrayal of duty than this veteran officer and his subordinates making a quasi-peace by surrendering to the demands of the hostile Indians for the abrogation of the treaties they had accepted, and the exclusion of white settlers from their country, and seeking to lighten “the protective duties of the army” by abandoning the defense and protection of their own race.
Governor Stevens remained at the Dalles until the 6th, settling up the business of the expedition and the Indian service, when he proceeded down the river, and, after spending some days at Vancouver and Portland in discharge of his multifarious duties, reached Olympia on the 15th.
In his reports, both to the Indian Bureau and to Secretary of War Davis, Governor Stevens condemned with just severity this craven policy.