"Thomahas—I did not know that I came here to die. Our chief told us to come and see the white chief and tell him all about it. The white chief would then tell us all what was right and what was wrong. Learn us (how) to live when we returned home. Why should I have a bad heart—after I am showed and taught how to live? My eyes were shut when I came here. I did not see, but now they are opened. I have been taught; I have been showed what was good and what was bad. I do not want to die; I know now that we are all brothers. They tell me the same Spirit made us all."
"Monday, 11:30 A.M.—Thomahas joined With Tilokite. My heart cries my brother was guilty, but he is dead. I am innocent. I know I am going to die for things I am not guilty of, but I forgive them. I love all men now. My hope, the priest tells me, is in Christ. My heart shall be big with good."
"(Signed)
Henry H. Crawford,
Sergeant, Co. D, R. M. R.
Robert D. Mahon,
Corporal, Co. A, R. M. R."
Following the close of the Cayuse war there was a lull in hostilities during which several white men came to the Walla Walla country or near it, with a view to locating. In Col. F. T. Gilbert's valuable history of Walla Walla and adjoining counties, published in 1882, we find the data for a summary of the earliest settlers as follows:
The first settlers of all were William C. McKay, son of Thomas McKay (who himself was the stepson of Dr. John McLoughlin) and Henry M. Chase. These men were located on the Umatilla River in 1851 at a point near the present Town of Echo. Doctor McKay later became a resident of Pendleton where he was well known for many years. In 1852 Mr. Chase went with Wm. Craig to the Nez Percé country near Lewiston where he entered the cattle business. In 1855 he went to the region of the present Dayton and a short time later to Walla Walla. He lived in Walla Walla a number of years and was well known to all old-timers. He lived upon the property now the site of St. Paul's School. Louis Raboin, a Frenchman, though an American citizen, was in the Walla Walla country a number of years beginning in 1851. In 1855 he located at what is now the Town of Marengo on the Tucanon. P. M. Lafontain came to the region in 1852 and located a claim adjoining that of Mr. Chase, near the present Dayton, in 1855. Lloyd Brooke, George C. Bumford, and John F. Noble came to Waiilatpu in 1852, and in the following year established themselves there in the cattle business. There they remained till driven out by the War of 1855. A. P. Woodward was a resident of the Walla Walla country during the same period. It is proper to name here Wm. Craig who had been a mountain man a number of years and became located among the Nez Percé Indians at Lapwai in 1845. From him Craig Mountains took their name. He was an important personage as interpreter and peace-maker among the Nez Perces during the great war later. There were several men drifting through the country employed as laborers by Mr. Chase and by the cattle-men at Waiilatpu.
There was at that time quite a settlement on the Walla Walla around what is now known as Frenchtown, about ten miles from the present city. These were Hudson's Bay Company men. We find in the list of names several whose descendants lived subsequently in that region, though they mainly left during the Indian Wars and did not return. There were two priests among them, Fathers Chirouse and Pondosa, and they were assisted by two brothers. James Sinclair had at that time charge of Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia. Though the region was then in possession of the United States, the Hudson's Bay Company had not yet delivered up its locations.