In the meantime an express had been sent to Vancouver, the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, apprising the chief factor of what had occurred. He immediately dispatched Factor Peter Skeen Ogden, one of the most tactful men, who made all possible haste to Walla Walla to rescue the prisoners. He was successful. For about four hundred dollars' worth of blankets, beads and other trinkets the Indians delivered to him all at the fort, which was located at what is now Wallula. Negotiations were also entered into for the delivery of Mr. Spalding and family. They, under a guard of forty Nez Perces, finally rode into the fort. There little Eliza fell into her mother's arms with transports of joy too deep for utterance. The last days of December witnessed the departure of all these people from the upper country, who arrived at Oregon City December 31, 1847.
Soon after this, the provisional governor of Oregon, George Abernethy, called for a regiment of volunteers, who went up and fought the Indians. That is what is known as the Cayuse Indian war, the first Indian war in the Northwest. After a campaign of six months, the Indians were driven out of their country and large numbers of their horses were captured. Eventually, through the kind offices of the Nez Perces Indians, five of the murderers were delivered up, and taken to Oregon City, where they were tried, convicted and executed by the authorities.
Mr. Spalding then settled in the Willamette Valley, where he lived for a number of years. Governor Abernethy had issued a proclamation warning all Americans not to settle east of the Cascade Mountains, and for nearly ten years that section of the country was closed to settlement.
Three years after they went to lower Oregon, Mrs. Spalding passed away. Never a strong woman, the excitement, fatigue, and exposure, incident to the breaking up of the mission, and moving to the Willamette Valley, had been too much for her. After a lingering illness, she closed her labors for the cause of her Master, whom she so much loved.
Eliza was now left at the age of thirteen at the head of the household with the care of the family. She had one brother and two sisters. The burden was a heavy one for her young shoulders to bear. In a few years, her father having married, she also married, and for a time disappears from our narrative.
Now let us return to the Nez Perce Indians. After the close of the Cayuse war, for years they were left to themselves. They did not, however, forget the worship of the true God. The books that had been distributed among them, and which they had learned to read, were used continually, and served to strengthen them in the belief and practice of the truths that had been taught them. Seven years passed away, during which time the Territory of Oregon, and later that of Washington, were organized. Governor Isaac I. Stevens had arrived. He was also Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory. With his accustomed impetuous energy, he had made treaties with most of the Indians west of the Cascade Mountains. In May, 1855, he assembled a large council of Indians in the Walla Walla Valley, to try to make treaties with them. He had with him less than one hundred men. The Nez Perces were the first to arrive, who came, twenty-five hundred strong. While waiting for the others to arrive, Sunday intervened. Governor Stevens relates that the tribe held religious services in their camp, conducted by one of their own number. He commends the good order, interest and devotion manifested by them.
When all had assembled, it was estimated that there were five thousand present. A large proportion were opposed to selling any of their land. There was much angry discussion, and it looked as though the effort would be a failure. Late one night, Lawyer, the head chief of the Nez Perces, came unattended into the tent of Governor Stevens and disclosed to him the fact that a conspiracy had been formed to kill him and his whole party. He proposed that he move his own family into the midst of Governor Stevens' camp; and although it was now past midnight it was immediately done, and word was circulated that he was there for their protection. The plot failed by this bit of strategy, and their lives were saved.
Matters then took a turn, and in a few days the terms of the treaties were agreed upon. Lawyer was the first to sign, and the others then followed. This result was largely due to the teachings of Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, whose instructions had made Lawyer, who was the head chief, a Christian, as well as so large a following that they controlled, for the time being, the other bands who were there.
However, a few months later the general Indian war broke out, in which a large proportion of all the Indians in Oregon and Washington took part, led by many of the very Indians who had signed the treaties above mentioned. During all of these hostilities, which lasted about two years, the Nez Perces Indians remained friendly to the whites and saved many valuable lives.