Piupiumaksmaks (alternatively spelled ''Peo-peo-mox-mox'' or ''Peopeomoxmox''; 1800 – 1855) was head chief of the

Walla Walla Walla Walla can refer to: * Walla Walla people, a Native American tribe after which the county and city of Walla Walla, Washington, are named * Place of many rocks in the Australian Aboriginal Wiradjuri language, the origin of the name of the town ...

tribe and son to the preceding chief Tumatapum. His name meant Yellow Bird, but it was often mistranslated as Yellow Serpent by Europeans.

Accounts

While residing at

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...

Jason Lee Jason Lee may refer to: Entertainment *Jason Lee (actor) (born 1970), American film and TV actor and former professional skateboarder *Jason Scott Lee (born 1966), Asian American film actor * Jaxon Lee (Jason Christopher Lee, born 1968), American v ...

was greeted by Yellow Bird who presented the missionary with two horses after a test of his medical skills.Whaley, Gray H.. Oregon and the collapse of Illahee U.S. empire and the transformation of an indigenous world, 1792-1859. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Yellow Bird later brought his eldest son, Toayahnu, to be educated at the

Methodist Mission The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee was the principal leader fo ...

, who was christened after

Elijah Hedding Elijah Hedding (June 7, 1780 – April 9, 1852) was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1824. Early life Hedding was born near Pine Plains in Dutchess County, New York to parents of English origin. He was trained i ...

.Mudge, Zachariah
''Sketches of Mission Life among the Indians of Oregon''
New York City: Carlton & Phillips, 1854 Late in 1844, Yellow Bird organised the first

Walla Walla expedition The Walla Walla expeditions were two movements of Indigenous people from the Columbian Plateau to Alta California during the mid-nineteenth century. The original expedition was organized to gain sizable populations of cattle for native peoples t ...

, with around 40

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 Cayuse men in addition to their families, reached

New Helvetia New Helvetia (Spanish: Nueva Helvetia), meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and Ranchos of California, rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California, Sacramento, California. Colony of Nueva Helvetia Th ...

to trade for cattle. After capturing horses that had been previously stolen an altercation arose with one of Sutter's employees, ending with the death of Toayahnu.Heizer, Robert Fleming. "Walla Walla Indian Expeditions to the Sacramento Valley." California Historical Society Quarterly 21, No. 1 (1942), pp. 1-7

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 Represen ...

met Yellow Bird while headed east to chart a path for a Pacific railway in 1853, finding the chief to have a "dignified manner".Elliot, T. C. "The Murder of Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox," Oregon Historical Quarterly 35, No. 2 (1934), pp. 123-130 Yellow Bird then owned "over 2,000 horses, besides many cattle" and maintained a farm outside

Fort Nez Percés Fort Nez Percés (or Fort Nez Percé, with or without the accent aigu), later known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington. Despite being named after the ...

. Despite fears by Sacramento settlers of an invasion force of a thousand Walla Wallas in early 1846, Yellow Bird returned with only 40 warriors and declared peaceable intentions. While discussing with Joseph Warren Revere, who was engaged commanding volunteers at New Helvetia, Yellow Bird stated:

I have come from the forests of Oregon with no hostile intentions ... We have come to hunt the beasts of the field, and also to trade our horses for cattle; for my people require cattle, which are not so abundant in Oregon as in California. I have come, too, according to the custom of our tribes, to visit the grave of my poor son, Elijah, who was murdered by a white man. But I have not traveled thus far only to mourn. I demand justice!

The returning party contained those infected with measles, which eventually began to spread across the

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbia ...

. The outbreak of the disease amongst the Cayuse was a major contributory factor that led to the

Whitman Massacre The Whitman massacre (also known as the Walla Walla massacre and referred to as the Tragedy at Waiilatpu by the National Park Service) was the killing of the Washington missionaries Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, along with eleven others, ...

. Yellow Bird was present during the 1855 treaty council 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 ...

period. As the war commenced, Yellow Bird had his village near the mouth of the

Touchet River The Touchet River is a tributary of the Walla Walla River in southeastern Washington in the United States. The Touchet River drains an area of about in Columbia County and Walla Walla County.Washington Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, ...

. With the advance of an American military unit, he presented himself as a hostage and insisted an end to the conflict.Gilbert, Frank T
''Historic sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and Garfield counties, Washington Territory, and Umatilla County, Oregon.''
Portland: Printing House of A.G. Walling, 1882, pp. 177-183 The nearby encamped Walla Wallas began awaiting for the appearance of Head Chief of the Cayuse

Five Crows Five Crows, also known as Hezekiah, Achekaia, or Pahkatos, was a Cayuse Indian chief. His principal rival for the role of Head Chief of the Cayuse was Young Chief (Weatenatemany). Five Crows was the maternal half-brother of Tuekakas, Old Chief J ...

, brother-in-law of Yellow Bird and maternal half-brother of Tuekakas (Old Chief Joseph) of the

, before determining to pitch a battle or not. In a meeting with one of his sons the next morning, Yellow Bird advised that a peaceful route be taken. During the first day of the

Battle of Walla Walla The Battle of Walla Walla was the longest battle fought during the Yakima War. The battle began on December 7, 1855, and ended on December 11, 1855. The battle was fought between six companies of the Oregon Mounted Volunteers and the Walla Walla ...

, on December 7, Yellow Bird was killed by the Oregon Volunteers who were holding him. Soon afterwards he was decapitated and scalped by one of the Volunteers.''Puget Sound Courier (Steilacoom)''
"Highly important news from Oregon," page 2, column 2
December 27, 1855. Accessed on 21 August 2014.

References

Notes

Sources

''Oregon volunteers invade Washington Territory and battle the Walla Wallas and other tribes beginning on December 6, 1855.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow Bird (Walla Walla leader) 1800 births 1855 deaths Murdered Native American people Native American leaders History of Washington (state) Year of birth unknown Native American people of the Indian Wars Year of birth uncertain People murdered in Washington (state) 1855 murders in the United States Walla Walla people 19th-century Native Americans