![Coeur d'Alene Tribe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Coeur_d%27Alene_Tribe.jpg)
The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War, was the second phase of the
Yakima War
The Yakima War (1855–1858), also referred to as the Yakima Native American War of 1855 or the Plateau War, was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington T ...
, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the
Skitswish
The Coeur d'Alene (also ''Skitswish''; natively ''Schi̲tsu'umsh'') are a Native American nation and one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho.
The Coeur d'Alene have sovereign control of their Coeur d'Alene Reservation, w ...
("Coeur d'Alene"),
Kalispell ("Pend d'Oreille"), Spokane, Palouse and Northern Paiute against
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
forces in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
.
In May 1858 a combined force of about 1,000
Skitswish
The Coeur d'Alene (also ''Skitswish''; natively ''Schi̲tsu'umsh'') are a Native American nation and one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho.
The Coeur d'Alene have sovereign control of their Coeur d'Alene Reservation, w ...
,
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
, and
Palouse
The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, prima ...
attacked and defeated a force of 164 American troops under
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Edward Steptoe
Edward Jenner Steptoe (November 7, 1815 – April 1, 1865) was an officer in the United States Army who served in the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He is primarily remembered for his defeat at the Battle of Pine Creek during the Spok ...
at the
Battle of Pine Creek
The Battle of Pine Creek, also known as the Battle of Tohotonimme and the Steptoe Disaster,Keenan, Jerry. "Steptoe, Col. Edward Jenner." Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars 1492-1890 Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO, c1997 p. 223. was a conflict bet ...
.
"Oregon volunteers battle the Walla Wallas and other tribes beginning on December 7, 1855"
HistoryLink
HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images.
The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...
, 20 April 2008
A larger force of 601 men under Colonel George Wright George Wright may refer to:
Politics, law and government
* George Wright (MP) (died 1557), MP for Bedford and Wallingford
* George Wright (governor) (1779–1842), Canadian politician, lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island
* George Wright ...
was sent to subdue the tribes. On September 1, 1858 Wright's troops defeated the allied tribes at the Battle of Four Lakes
The Battle of Four Lakes was a battle during the Coeur d'Alene War of 1858 in the Washington Territory (now the states of Washington and Idaho) in the United States. The Coeur d'Alene War was part of the Yakima War, which began in 1855. The bat ...
and four days later (Sept. 5th) he defeated another Indian force, in the meanwhile joined by the Kalispell too, in the Battle of Spokane Plains.
After the Four Lakes battle, the army hanged seventeen Palouse along Latah Creek
Latah Creek ( ), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drain ...
which was later called Hangman Creek as a result, though the name has reverted to Latah Creek in the State of Washington. In Idaho, the stream is still named Hangman Creek. Among the hanged was a chief named Qualchan
Qualchan (died September 24, 1858) was a 19th-century Yakama chieftain who participated in the Yakama War with his cousin Kamiakin and other chieftains.
Qualchan was born into the We-ow-icht family, reputed to have come from the stars. His spiri ...
of the Yakima.
Background
Isaac Stevens
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represe ...
, who became the Governor of Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
in 1853, promoted the idea of a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific Northwest to transport the raw materials found in the region to the East. In 1851, Stevens had negotiated a series of treaties with many of the tribes in the area, with the aim of moving the Native Americans to reservations so that settlers could begin moving into the Northwest and begin railway and road building. The treaties promised the Indian tribes annuities in return and guaranteed that the US would prevent whites from trespassing on their allotted lands. The Skitswish
The Coeur d'Alene (also ''Skitswish''; natively ''Schi̲tsu'umsh'') are a Native American nation and one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho.
The Coeur d'Alene have sovereign control of their Coeur d'Alene Reservation, w ...
Indians, however, attempted to stay out of negotiations with Stevens, hoping they could retain their ancestral lands and not be moved.
Yakima War
The discovery of gold on the upper Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
drainage in the summer of 1855 brought a large influx of miners into the area, trespassing on the land that was promised (during the Walla Walla Council (1855)
The Walla Walla Council (1855) was a meeting in the Pacific Northwest between the United States and sovereign tribal nations of the Cayuse, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Yakama. The council occurred on May 29 – June 11; ...
) to many of the tribes in the area, including the Yakima
Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...
. This violation angered the tribes who felt that the promises that had been made to them by the United States government were not being honored. This led to a retaliation through the murder of the Indian agent for that area, thereby inciting the Yakima War
The Yakima War (1855–1858), also referred to as the Yakima Native American War of 1855 or the Plateau War, was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington T ...
. The local tribes were defeated, and Stevens held a peace council at Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla is a United States Army fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. The first Fort Walla Walla was established July 1856, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe, 9th Infantry Regiment. A second Fort Walla Walla was occupied Septemb ...
in September 1856 that brought an end to the Yakima War.
Causes of the Skitswish War
In 1857, Isaac Stevens was elected as the Washington territorial delegate to Congress, causing him to leave the territory. His departure angered the tribes who had not yet made treaties. The Skitwish, seeing that white settlement in the area was inevitable, feared that without a treaty, they would lose the rights to their ancestral lands and therefore have no protection against the encroaching white settlers. When the settlers actually did begin moving onto tribal lands, there were strong tensions between the white miners and the tribes, which caused small skirmishes that raised the tribes' fears of United States military intervention.
Tribe alliance
A Yakima Chief, Qualchan, who was disgruntled following the loss of the Yakima War to the U.S. Army, gathered the Colville, the Skitswish, the Columbia River, and the Kalispel
The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
tribes at a council in order to convince the tribes that the white man was encroaching on their lands and that they needed to defend them. The Skitswish and other tribes subsequently held a council discussing their concerns that the army would invade their territory as a result of the growing tensions. A line was drawn at the Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
, agreeing that if the army crossed it, they would have effectively crossed into the Indians' territory, and this would be considered a hostile action. The Skitswish tribe was split in their feelings toward war, while the Kalispell allies, old war-chief Big Canoe and younger war-chief Spotted Coyote, were ready but not longing to fight anyway. The Skitswish tribal leaders (the head chief Bassa called "Vincent", his brother-in-law "Zachariah", Stellam, and younger Kumpasket, Seltis and war-leader Lmena called "Victor") did not want war if not strictly necessary to defend their people against an attack, fearing that the consequences to their people would be devastating, while the younger warriors, led by Melkapsi, were angry and wanted to fight.
Crossing of the Snake River
Due to a miner's a death in Colville, Washington
Colville is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stevens County.
History
John Work, an agent for The Hudson's Bay Company, established Fort Colvile near the ...
, committed by unknown Indians in early 1858, Colonel Edward Steptoe
Edward Jenner Steptoe (November 7, 1815 – April 1, 1865) was an officer in the United States Army who served in the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He is primarily remembered for his defeat at the Battle of Pine Creek during the S ...
received orders to lead an expedition to the area to show the strength of the U.S. Army to convince the Indians to turn in those who were responsible. He left Fort Walla Walla in May 1858 to head for the Colville area and planned to cut through the Skitswish and Spokane territories. However, the troops that Steptoe brought numbered only 159, and they were very poorly armed. Steptoe expected cooperation from the Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
and Spokanes since in the past they had given him boats and men at the Snake River, which was the main barrier to reaching Colville. Therefore, in their attempts to reach Colville, Steptoe crossed the Snake River, unaided however, which was the previously assigned line of hostility, sparking the tribes' belief that the army was going to engage them. The Skitswish, the Palouse led by chief Tilcoax (Wolf Necklace), the Spokane, and some of the Yakima gathered in preparation of a fight. Chief Vincent of the Skitswish demanded Steptoe's reason for his trespass, and he responded that they were on their way to Colville. Vincent returned to his camp to try and calm down the young warriors who were intent on fighting, while Steptoe attempted to return to Fort Walla Walla. Steptoe's journey, however, was interrupted by the Indian leaders, who asked him to return to meet with them. The meeting ended with a handshake and a mutual agreement that Steptoe would leave their territory and travel via a different route to reach Colville. Despite this peaceful agreement, a frustrated Skitswish warrior, badly arguing with the Nimipu scouts, later started a fight shooting at them, provoking the start of fighting between Steptoe and the Skitswish, Spokane, and other tribes. Steptoe's men struggled to fight the 1000 Indian warriors, but because they were so severely outnumbered, Steptoe made the decision to escape that night, and return to Fort Walla Walla.
General Clarke's response
After hearing the news of Steptoe's clash on top of other recent unsatisfactory events, such as the Yakima War, that the Army had suffered at the hands of the Indians, General Newman S. Clarke would not tolerate another defeat. When Steptoe returned to the fort, Clarke sent a peace proposal in June 1858, demanding that the tribes surrender their weapons and those who were responsible for the fighting. The tribes, however, were divided in their opinions and could not agree upon a solution. General Clarke, determined not be defeated again at the hands of the Indians, responded by sending a strong military force. He sent orders to Army posts calling for all available regulars to be sent in to aid the fight. Clarke sent all available troops to the region, including those under the leadership of Colonel George Wright George Wright may refer to:
Politics, law and government
* George Wright (MP) (died 1557), MP for Bedford and Wallingford
* George Wright (governor) (1779–1842), Canadian politician, lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island
* George Wright ...
, who had previously been a leading figure in the Yakima War. Clarke ordered the troops to attack vigorously until they had complete submission by the Indians.
Two main battles
Wright led the United States troops at the Battle of Four Lakes
The Battle of Four Lakes was a battle during the Coeur d'Alene War of 1858 in the Washington Territory (now the states of Washington and Idaho) in the United States. The Coeur d'Alene War was part of the Yakima War, which began in 1855. The bat ...
on September 1, and was able to beat back the tribal forces. The tribes then fought back on September 5 in the Battle of Spokane Plains, where they set fire to the grass and shot at the troops through the smoke; while there was no decisive winner, the tribes were greatly weakened. At this point, the tribes were greatly divided over whether to continue fighting, as the elder leaders saw little chance of victory. Wright then killed over 800 of the Indians' horses that had been captured throughout the fighting, depriving the tribes of their means to fight and hunt, and showing the extremes that the Army would go to in order to subdue the tribes. The Chiefs of the Skitswish tribe, who realized that they would not be able to defeat the Army, especially without the aid of their horses, sent a Skitswish member to Wright's camp to present their peace proposal.
Peace negotiations
Wright arrived to meet with the tribes three days later and negotiated a peace treaty, to which the Skitswish's and the other tribes agreed to, realizing that they would not be able to defeat the United States troops. The treaty required that the Skitswish return army property and hand over the individuals responsible for the attack on Steptoe, and give permission for whites to pass through their lands without interference in the future. In return, Wright promised that there would be no more war waged against the Skitswish people. The tribes turned over those who were responsible, including Qualchan, who had been one of the main leaders throughout, and they were hanged at Latah Creek
Latah Creek ( ), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drain ...
. Wright's actions opened the mountain valley of the Pacific Northwest to settlement by whites, and forced the tribes onto reservations that consisted of only a fraction of their former lands, where they were quickly struck by disease and malnutrition as a result.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
Hubert H. Bancroft, History Of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 1845-1889, The History Company, San Francisco, 1890. Chapter VI Indian Wars 1855-1856 and V Indian Wars 1856-1858
External links
U.S. Army defeats Native Americans at Battle of Four Lakes on September 1, 1858
at HistoryLink
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spokane - Coeur D'alene - Paloos War
Conflicts in 1858
Wars between the United States and Native Americans
Native American history of Washington (state)
Pre-statehood history of Idaho
1858 in the United States
Indian wars of the American Old West
Washington Territory
Coeur d'Alene tribe