Cayuse War
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.
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
Whitmans' 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.
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.
This did not end the conflict, though, and sporadic bloodshed considered for another five years until the Cayuse were finally defeated in
1855.
As a result of their defeat, the Cayuse were subsequently placed on a
reservation with the
Umatilla people, with their numbers much reduced and most of their tribal lands confiscated.
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.
*
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
*
Whitman Mission National Historical Site
