“the representation of Captain Lander that forty men could be spared, the fact of parties of from three to five having traveled in safety the route from the falls of the Snoqualmie to Porter’s prairie, and the reports of Mr. Yesler that but six or eight Indians are still out east of Seattle, are sufficient to warrant the leaving of the town of Seattle to the protection of the naval forces and the regulars at Fort Thomas;”
and that fifteen days would probably be occupied in cutting the road. The Massachusetts lay in the harbor of Seattle, and fifteen of her men were on shore garrisoning the town. Lieutenant Denny, in a long and argumentative letter dated June 19, reiterated his opinion that it would not be safe to withdraw the company from its post. He wrote:—
“I am extremely surprised at the opinion represented as expressed by Judge Lander. During the period of his command it was often publicly stated by him that this company was expressly organized (by private understanding with the governor and commander-in-chief) for the protection of this immediate neighborhood.”
It is hard to reconcile this with the governor’s explicit orders and letter to Judge Lander.
For such failure to obey orders Lieutenant Denny was directed to turn over his command to the next officer in rank, and was relieved from duty in the volunteer service until further orders. Lieutenant D.A. Neely, the next in rank, was ordered to assume command of the company, and detail twenty men to proceed to Camp Montgomery for work on the road. But Lieutenant Neely and the whole company proved equally recusant, and signed and transmitted to the governor resolutions fully indorsing the course of Lieutenant Denny, and declaring that they considered the course of the commander-in-chief in suspending Lieutenant Denny from his command an act of injustice and an insult to the company, wholly unjustifiable and uncalled for.
With great forbearance, regarding the company not as willfully disobedient, but as led astray by feeling and bad advice, the governor sent his aide, Colonel Fitzhugh, to endeavor to bring them to reason and due sense of duty, and gave him the following instructions:—
“You will show these resolutions to the company, and request the signers to either repudiate or modify them in such a manner as to relieve themselves from the position of disobedience to the orders which these resolutions condemn.
“You will represent to the company that the resolution disapproving of the course of the commander-in-chief, and considering it ‘an act of injustice and wholly uncalled for,’ places the company in an attitude of insubordination which will necessarily preclude the possibility of their being honorably discharged from the service until they, by their own acts, occupy different ground from that of justifying disobedience to orders.
“There is nothing improper or objectionable in Company A requesting the reinstatement of Lieutenant Denny, and a request to that effect would be properly considered, but by indorsing and sustaining that officer in his refusal to obey orders they participate in a state of indiscipline and insubordination which is destructive to efficiency, and injurious to the reputation of the volunteer service of Washington Territory.
“In the hope that the intelligent and gallant men of Company A will see the matter in the true light, and by their act in rescinding these unmilitary and insubordinate resolutions will place themselves upon the same footing as the rest of the regiment, and so enable the commander-in-chief to report as efficient and useful the whole body of troops raised from the citizen soldiery of Washington Territory, I have the honor to be,” etc.