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The 'Cayuse War' was an armed conflict that took place in the northwestern United States between 1848 and 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local white settlers.

Contents

Causes: Culture Clash and the Whitman Massacre

Ensuing Violence

Aftermath

References

See also

External links

Causes: Culture Clash and the Whitman Massacre

In 1836, two missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman founded a mission among the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu, six miles west of present-day Walla Walla, Washington. In addition to evangelizing, the missionaries established schools and grist mills and introduced crop irrigation. Their work advanced slowly until in 1842, Marcus Whitman convinced the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to provide support. Returning the following year, he joined approximately 1,000 settlers traveling to Oregon Territory.
The sudden influx of white settlers led to an escalation of tension between natives and settlers, which owed much to cultural misunderstandings and mutual hostilities. For instance, the Cayuse believed that to plow the ground was to desecrate the spirit of the Earth. The settlers, as agriculturalists, naturally did not accept this. The Cayuse expected payment from wagon trains passing through their territory and eating the wild food on which the tribespeople depended; the settlers did not understand this and instead drove away the men sent to exact payment, in the belief that they were merely "beggars".
The new settlers brought diseases with them. In 1847 an epidemic of measles killed half the Cayuse. The Cayuse suspected that Marcus Whitman — a practicing physician and religious leader, hence a shaman — was responsible for the deaths of their families, causing the disaster to make way for new immigrants. Seeking revenge, Cayuse tribesmen attacked the Whitman Mission on 29 November 1847. Fourteen settlers were killed, including Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Most of the buildings at Waiilatpu were destroyed. The site is now a National Historic Site. For several weeks, 53 women and children were held captive before eventually being released.
This event, which became known as the Whitman Massacre, started the Cayuse War.

Ensuing Violence

In 1848 a force of over 500 militiamen, led by fundamentalist clergyman Cornelius Gilliam and supported by the United States Army, marched against the Cayuse and other native inhabitants of central Oregon. The Cayuse initially refused to make peace and raided isolated settlements. However, they were unable to put up an effective opposition to the firepower of their opponents and were driven into hiding in the Blue Mountains.
In 1850, the tribe handed over five members (Tiloukaikt, Tomahas, Klokamas, Isaiachalkis, and Kimasumpkin) to be tried for the murder of the Whitmans. All five Cayuse were convicted by a military commission and hanged on 3 June 1850. The hanging was conducted by U.S. Marshal Joseph L. Meek.^[1]
Kimasumpkin's final statement:
:''"I was up the river at the time of the massacre, and did not arrive until next day. I was riding on horse back; a white woman came running from the house, she held out her hands and told me not to kill her. I put my hand upon her hand and told her not to be afraid. There were plenty of Indians all about. She with the other women and children went to Wallawalla to Mr. Ogden's. I was not present at the murder nor was I any way concerned in it. - I am innocent - it hurts me to talk about dying for nothing. Our chief told me to come down and tell all about it. - Those who committed the murder are killed and dead. The priest say I must die tomorrow, if they kill me I am innocent…My Young Chief told me I was to come here to tell what I know concerning the murderers. I did not come as one of the murderers, for I am innocent. - I never made any declaration to any one that I was guilty. This is the last time that I may speak."''^[2]
This did not end the conflict, though, and sporadic bloodshed continued for another five years until the Cayuse were finally defeated in 1855.

Aftermath

As a result of their defeat the Cayuse, with their numbers much reduced and most of their tribal lands confiscated, were subsequently placed on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation with the Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples.
The war had significant long-term consequences for the region. It opened the Cayuse territories to white settlement, but wrecked relations between whites and the native tribes and set the scene for a series of fresh wars over the following 40 years.

References

1. Brown, J. Henry (1892). Political History of Oregon: Provisional Government. The Lewis & Dryden Printing Co.: Portland. p. 114
2. Washington State History Museum


★ Timeline: Native Americans in the Inland Northwest: Wars and Treaties

★ "Sacajawea's Dual Legacy: Heroine In Discovery, Catalyst In Conquest", ''The Oregonian'', July 23, 1993

★ ''The Cayuse War (Early Indian Wars of Oregon, Vol. One)'', by Frances Fuller Victor. Taxus Baccata: 2006.

See also

★ Yakima War

★ Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War

★ Okanagan Trail

★ Fraser Canyon War

★ Provisional Government of Oregon

External links

★ Whitman Mission National Historical Site

★ Guide to the Cayuse War (1847-1855)at the University of Oregon.