206 Series I Volume L-II Serial 106 - Pacific Part II
Page 206 | Chapter LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. |
the existence of a military post here and the apparent uselessness of its position, may please to cause it to be abandoned.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
WM. E. HULL,
Captain, Second Infantry California Volunteers, Commanding Post.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF OREGON,
Fort Vancouver, Wash. Ter., November 4, 1862.ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL,
Headquarters Department of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal.:
SIR: I have the honor to report my return to this post, having, as I proposed in my letter to you of the 15th ultimo, made a visit to the Nez Perce Reservation. On my way, at the Des Chutes, I heard of two murders of white men in that country having occurred, supposed to be the act of Indians, and was thus, besides the reasons assigned in my dispatch of the 15th ultimo, gratified to find myself en route to the scene of trouble. I have been compelled to establish a military post on the Lapwai, three miles above its mouth, where the Nez Perce Agency is established, and twelve miles from Lewiston, Wash. Ter., which is at the confluence of Clearwater and Snake Rivers. I have left there Major J. S. Rinearson in comand, with two companies-one, Captain Mattews' company (F), of First Oregon Cavalry, and the other, Captain Knox's (E), of First Washington Territory Infantry. You have seen by Special Orders, Nos. 76, 77, and 78, heretofore inclosed to you (duplicates sent herewith), that I have enjoined the strictest economy in the exexution of this duty, and have ordered First Lieutenant D. W. Porter, regimental quartermaster First Oregon Cavalry (daily expecting his commission as captain and assistant quartermaster), to be stationed there as acting assistant quartermaster and acting commissary of subsistence.
For taking this step, I hope to be able to assign reasons satisfactory to the general commanding the department. I have to throw myself on his indulgence, as he verbally expressed a wish before we separated at San Francisco that no new post should be established without his authority being previously obtained. I found that the motives alluded to in my letter of the 15th ultimo, which would demand its establishment next spring, imperatively demanded it now. When I assumed command of the District of Oregon on the 7th of July last, there were about 15,000 people, mostly gold miners, on the Nez Perce Reservation, in defiance of the express provisions of the treaty with that tribe which was ratified by the Senate 29th of April, 1859. The treaty was made 11th of June, 1855, and not ratified until the above date on account of the revolt of other Indian tribes, with whom treaties had been made at the same time. As the Nez Perces never shared in said revolt, but on the contrary opposed it, and assisted our troops to suppress it, it was very hard that they had to wait four years before their treaty was ratified. Even now, at the end of seven years, I can find but few evidences of a fulfillment of the treaty. Lawyer has never received but six months of his salary as head chief, and the house with which he was to be provided has but just been commenced. Few of their annuities have ever reached them. I met some now on the way I am happy to say that I think the new superintendent of Indian affairs for Washington Territory, C. H. Hale, esq., is a
Page 206 | Chapter LXII. OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. |