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The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised




Drew's Side
Charles Stuart Drew's accurate, but very one-sided, view of the Rogue River Indian wars. Biographical references on various Drews at the bottom of the page.


THE OREGON WAR AND ITS DEBT.
To the Editor of the N.Y. Tribune.
    Sir: In the last Weekly Tribune (July 9) I notice a letter from Daniel Newson of Oregon, which seems to have been purposely designed to strengthen the already strong and unjust prejudice that has become almost universal throughout the country, wherever the merits of the case are unknown, against the allowance of the Oregon war debt by the general government. This letter bears the evidence upon its face that it was not written in the right spirit, and it is precisely of that character of writings that, unfortunately for the people of Oregon, has rendered the proposition for the payment of the debt exceedingly unpopular with the great mass of the people east of the Rocky Mountains. As a whole Mr. Newson's letter is erroneous and unreliable, abounding in stale charges of fraud that have been legally investigated and totally refuted long ago, and from my personal knowledge of the Democratic leaders in Oregon, and their mode of electioneering, I am firmly of the opinion that the letter is, in reality, of Democratic origin. To give the Tribune false information respecting Oregon matters, and then quote it to the disparagement of Republicanism there, is no new dodge with Oregon Democrats. Perhaps you may remember the letter of your Salem correspondent concerning the organization of the Oregon constitutional convention held at Salem in September 1857. That letter was written in the office of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs by a man who does dirty work for the party, and was at that time also chief clerk in the office named. Other letters to the Tribune, I have good reasons for believing, have emanated from the same source, or have been dictated by the men who instigated the writing of that, and have been used for the purpose I have mentioned.
    I do not write with the expectation that what I thus voluntarily offer will change the position of the Tribune with reference to these Oregon claims. As a citizen of Oregon, having a thorough personal knowledge of the origin and conduct of the war on account of which this debt was created, I desire to see it paid--and paid, too, while the Democratic Party, under whose auspices it was created, and by whose management its creation became absolutely necessary, is in power. As a Republican, too, I would have Republicans examine the matter themselves--the more thoroughly the better--and not form their opinions respecting it upon mere rumor, nor be guided in their action in the premises by the false and vindictive reports that Democratic partisans have made. The subject will bear the closest investigation without loss to anyone. For whatever may be true respecting the treatment of the Indians by the people on other frontiers, it is certain that the people of Oregon have exercised a truly Christian spirit of forbearance toward the Indians of that region, either within or without their borders.
    Unlike many, or perhaps nearly all other portions of the United States when new, Oregon has been settled almost exclusively by bona fide residents and actual tillers of the soil, who went there for the sole purpose of making it their permanent home. It is mainly an agricultural country, and as such as a matter of course it was for the interest of its settlers to live on as friendly terms with the Indians as possible. This, since 1851, to my certain knowledge has been their policy. But there have been times when Christian forbearance could no longer be practiced without rendering the slaughter of the inhabitants and the destruction of the settlements absolutely certain, and it has been necessary for the settlers to organize and take the field for the sake of their own preservation, and that of their families and the country. Regular troops have never been of any utility whatever, either in keeping the Indians at peace or in suppressing actual hostilities. On the contrary, they have been an impediment in the way of keeping the Indians quiet, by harboring and protecting Indians who were known to have just committed the greatest crimes known to our laws, and allowing them to repeat their atrocities again and again. They have deceived the government, too, as well as the country at large, by not reporting the condition of Indian affairs, or the murders and other depredations committed by the Indians, and when it has been necessary for citizens to perform the soldier's duty, they have grossly misrepresented their acts and impugned their motives.
    The millions of dollars that have been expended on regular troops in California and Oregon, and in the Territory of Washington, for the protection of that extended frontier, has resulted in no practical good to the country, and millions on millions may yet be expended there with the same result. The whole policy of the government with regard to frontier protection is wholly wrong. Regular troops, as experience proves, are utterly useless as a means of protection from the Indians, even in ordinary times of peace, and are entirely worthless in an Indian campaign. In proof of this, I will give a few facts that have especial reference to the war for which pay is now asked. I could go back to an earlier date and furnish much additional proof of the unprofitable and injurious employment of regular troops on our frontiers, and could furnish more than two hundred and thirty names of citizens killed by the Indians of Oregon and their immediate allies in times of so-called peace, and could establish the fact that about forty unknown citizens have been thus killed, on in most cases the sworn testimony of the persons who found and buried the bodies. In all, nearly, or perhaps quite, 300 citizens have been wantonly murdered in cold blood by Oregon Indians. But as the Oregon war of 1855-6 is the matter under consideration, I will only refer, in detail, to the atrocities committed by the Indians after the close of the Rogue River Indian War of 1853 (August), and up to the 10th of October, 1855.

    "October 6, 1853, James C. Kyle, a merchant of Jacksonville, in Southern Oregon, while on his return from Scottsburg with goods, and when he was within six miles of home, and two miles from Fort Lane, was killed by Indians of the Rogue River tribes.
    "In January, 1854, Hiram Hulen, John Clark, John Oldfield and Wesley Mayden were killed by Rogue River, Shasta and Modoc Indians, near the Siskiyou Mountains, about halfway between Fort Lane and Fort Jones, and near the main thoroughfare between those posts.
    "April 15, 1854, Edward Phillips was killed in his own house on Applegate Creek, about fourteen miles from Fort Lane, by Rogue River Indians.
    "June 15, 1854, Daniel Gage, a trader of Yreka, Cal., while crossing the Siskiyou Mountains, on his return from Crescent City, Cal. with merchandise, was killed by Modoc Indians, and it is probable that Rogue River Indians had a hand in the matter also. Distance from Fort Lane, twenty miles.
    "June 24, 1854, Mr. McAmy was killed near Klamath River, between Forts Lane and Jones, by Rogue River and Shasta Indians.
    "August 20, 1854, Alexander Ward, Mrs. Ward and their seven children, Mrs. White and child, Samuel Mulligan, two brothers Adams, W. Babcock, John Frederick, Rudolph Shults, Mr. Ames, and a man unknown, emigrants, were killed by Indians, on Snake River, between Fort Boise (a Hudson Bay post) and the Dalles of the Columbia River, Northern Oregon.
    "September, 1854, Mr. Stewart of Corvallis, Oregon, was killed on the middle emigrant road, whither he had gone to meet some friends who were coming in via the plains, by Klamath Lake Indians.
    "May 8, 1855, Mr. Hill was killed on Indian Creek by Rogue River Indians. Like Phillips, he was killed in his own house.
    "June 1, 1855, Jerome Dyer and Daniel McKew were killed by Rogue River Indians on the road from Jacksonville to what is now Kerbyville, about sixteen miles from Fort Lane.
    "June 2, 1855, Mr. Philpot was killed near the place and by the same Indians next above mentioned. Up to this time the regular troops, particularly at Fort Lane and Fort Jones, had made little or no effort to restrain the Indians in their murderous depredation, either in the settlements or on the highways. None of the Indians had been punished except the three who were the principals in the murder of Mr. Kyle in 1853. These had been arrested through the agency of a young Rogue River chief, Jim, for which he was shot by some of the friends of the prisoners. But, on the next day after Philpot's death (June 3), about thirty United States dragoons were dispatched from Fort Lane in pursuit of the Indians who had just murdered Dyer, McKew and Philpot, and were then jeopardizing the safety of the settlements of Applegate, Deer Creek and Illinois valleys. The mountainous regions of country to which the Indians had betaken themselves rendered it almost impossible for United States troops, unused to mountain service, to pursue them with any possibility of success, and, in view of this, a company of citizens started upon the trail of the Indians, and came so near them that they left their hiding places and fled to the detachment from Fort Lane for protection. The citizens then returned home, and the Indians had the honor of a United States military escort back to the Table Rock Reservation, adjoining Fort Lane, and were there left again, unrestrained and unguarded, and allowed to roam whithersoever their thirst for white men's blood might lead them.
    "July 27, 1855, Mr. Peters was killed on Humbug Creek, Cal., by Shasta and Rogue River Indians. Distance from Fort Jones about twenty miles.
    "July 28, 1855, William Hennessey, Edward Parrish, Thomas Grey, Peter Hignight, John Pollack and four Frenchmen and two Mexicans, names unknown, were killed by Rogue River Indians at Buckeye Bar, on Klamath River, about fourteen miles from Fort Jones. Regular troops remained in quarters.
    "Sept. 2, ------ Keene, who, with a party of other citizens of Rogue River Valley, was in search of a horse that the Indians had stolen, was killed by Rogue River and Modoc Indians on the Southern Emigrant Road, about twenty miles from Fort Lane, in the direction of Fort Jones. A detachment of troops from Fort Lane reached the spot where Keene was killed either the second or third day after, but did not follow the Indians.
    "Sept, 1855, Mrs. Clark, and a young man of Yamhill County (Middle Oregon) were killed by an Indian or Indians of the Tillamook tribe. I believe that one Indian was given up by the tribe as the party who committed the deed, and I think he was hung.
    "Elisha Plummer and four other persons were killed at Grand Ronde (Northern Oregon) by Cayuse and Walla Walla Indians. Troops quiet.
    "Same month--Indian agent Bolon, ------ Matteese, and two others, whose names are unknown, were killed by the Yakima Indians, east of the Cascade Mountains.
    "Sept. 24, 1855, Calvin Fields and John Cunningham were killed while crossing the Siskiyou Mountains (Southern Oregon) by Rogue River Indians. Distance from Fort Lane about twenty miles, in the direction of Fort Jones.
    "Sept. 25, 1855, Samuel Warner killed near the same spot, and by the same Indians next above mentioned. Troops at Fort Lane and Fort Jones visited the scene of these disasters soon afterward, but returned again to their quiet quarters.
    "Oct. 9, 1855, Mrs. J. B. Wagoner, Mary Wagoner, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Haines and two children, George W. Harris, Daniel W. Harris, F. A. Reed, William Guin, J. Cartwright, Mr. Powell, Mr. Bunch, Mr. Fox, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. White and probably several others were killed by Rogue River Indians near Evans' Ferry on Rogue River, about 20 miles north of Fort Lane, and along the same thoroughfare leading from Yreka, California, Fort Jones, Fort Lane and Jacksonville, northward into the Umpqua and Willamette valleys.
    "Oct. 9, 1855, Messrs. Hudson and Wilson, traders, were killed while en route from Crescent City, California to Indian Creek, with merchandise, by Rogue River and Klamath River Indians."
    This takes me to the date I indicated at the commencement of the list of actual murders which led to the war of 1855-6. I have avoided any reference to the numerous instances where citizens have been wounded or attacked, and made good their escape; neither have I made any allusion to the vast amount of property that the Indians have destroyed. You can, in your own judgment, form some idea of the extent of this class of depredations, where actual murders have been so numerous. That they have been extensive, and grievous to bear, you cannot doubt when you have become conversant with the true history of the management of Indian affairs on the Pacific Coast for the six or eight years past.
    But I have yet something to say of the origin of the unjust and unfavorable reports respecting the Oregon war that have gained so much credence with the public, and which are sure to work a great injury to Oregon and the utter pecuniary ruin of many individuals who, by force of circumstances not under their control, were compelled to make advances of supplies and means to keep the citizen-soldiers in the field for the length of time necessary to suppress hostilities, or until they could be relieved by regular troops.
    Early in the spring of 1854, it became apparent that the Indians of Oregon--of Southern Oregon particularly--meditated a resumption of hostilities, notwithstanding the treaty of the 10th of September previous. Nothing, however, could be definitely ascertained respecting their intentions in this particular until some time in June, 1854, when a general war council was held on Klamath River, at a point about sixteen miles from Fort Jones, and perhaps thirty-five or forty miles from Fort Lane. In this council nearly every Indian tribe of Southern Oregon, and the tribes located in close proximity to the southern boundary of the Territory, but in the state of California, were represented, and it was there decided that they would prepare at once for the extermination of the citizens of that whole region of country. Their place of meeting was admirably adapted by nature for their clandestine gathering, and the public knew nothing of it until some time after their council had broken up, and probably would not have known it at all had not an Indian, who was exceedingly friendly to a citizen of Scott's Valley (Northern California), divulged the secret to his white friend just at the time that the council was to convene. This gentleman immediately notified the Indian agent for the northern part of the state of California of what the Indian had informed him, and, as some of the Shasta and Scott's Valley Indians were well disposed, the agent set about ascertaining, through them, the result of the council. In a letter on this subject, he says:
    "I was informed by several chiefs of the Scott's and Shasta valley tribes that runners had been sent to summon them to a general war council, to be held at a point on the Klamath called Horse Creek. I consulted with Lieut. J. C. Bonnycastle, U.S.A., then stationed at Fort Jones. He and myself concurred in the propriety of advising the chiefs who had reported the movement to attend the war council and report to us the whole proceedings. The chiefs returned from the council and reported the tribes of Illinois River, Rogue River, and the Upper Klamath River and their tributaries represented in the council, and that all but themselves (the chiefs who had reported the movement to me) were for combining and commencing in concert an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites.
    " * * * The Scott's Valley and Shasta Valley tribes remained steadfastly friendly, while the Illinois, Rogue and Upper Klamath River tribes commenced depredations and continued (at least a portion of them) until the latter part of the spring of 1856.
    " * * * The Upper Klamath or Klamath Lake Indians (with the exception of the tribe of which La Lakes is chief) commenced their depredations by killing whites and stealing stock, and a report was current among the friendly Indians that those hostile intended to destroy the immigrants as fast as they came from the valley of the Humboldt."
    Soon after this council had broken up, Tipsy's tribe of Rogue River Indians, who had previously murdered Phillips (April 15), started to join the other tribes, who were designated by the council to operate against the immigrants on the road leading from the Humboldt River to Rogue River and Shasta Valleys, and passing the whole distance within a few miles of Jacksonville and Yreka through an unsettled country occupied exclusively by numerous tribes of Indians who were, as they are yet, intensely hostile. Tipsy and his tribe had proceeded about fifteen miles, when, near the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains, at a point where the road between Jacksonville and Yreka and Fort Lane and Fort Jones crosses, they fell in with Messrs. Gage and Claymer's mule train, fully freighted with merchandise. They killed Mr. Gage and captured the train and loading, Mr. Claymer and, I think, another man making their escape.
    By this time the result of the council at Horse Creek had become known to the people of the vicinity, and strong fears were entertained for the safety of the immigrants on the route above indicated. And it coming to the knowledge of numerous citizens of Rogue River and of Yreka and vicinity that their friends who were then en route to Oregon and California contemplated taking this route they sought to obtain the requisite aid and protection of the military at Fort Lane, and, I think, at Fort Jones. But, failing in this, they were necessitated to look for aid in another direction--in the enrollment of a volunteer corps for this especial purpose.
    At the session of the Legislature of 1853-4, just after the close of the Rogue River Indian War of 1853, a militia law was enacted by which each council district in the Territory was constituted a regimental district for militia purposes, and under the provisions of this law, at the annual election in June (1854) the usual regimental officers were chosen by the voters of each district respectively. As a general thing, Democrats were chosen to these offices, but in the Ninth District, which included all of Southern Oregon proper, and where Indian difficulties were most likely to occur, John E. Ross, a Whig, and who had rendered eminent service on that frontier on former occasions, was elected colonel. It was on him, therefore, and on a member of the Governor's staff, who was also a Whig, residing at Jacksonville, that the citizens of Southern Oregon were compelled to depend to represent to the Territorial Executive the necessities of the case, and to procure authority for the enrollment of the requisite force to afford protection to the immigrants, whom the Indians had declared in council they would and were preparing to annihilate.
    All attempts to persuade the officers of the regular service to dispatch troops to the relief of the immigrants having proved unavailing, a messenger was dispatched to the Governor, the Hon. Jno. W. Davis, formerly of Indiana, with a statement of the condition of Indian affairs in Southern Oregon, and an inquiry whether it was in his power to render any aid in the premises whatever. He replied by conferring upon Colonel Ross full authority to enlist such a number of men and for such a length of time as he should "deem expedient and necessary," and at the same time requiring the Quartermaster General of the Territory to render all the assistance in his power in the way of mounting, equipping, arming and subsisting the command so called into service.
    Upon the receipt of this authority from the Governor, Colonel Ross ordered the enrollment of a company of mounted volunteers. A company was immediately enrolled, organized and dispatched on the service for which it was intended, but in the election of its officers a captain was chosen who, though a Democrat, was decidedly obnoxious to certain Democratic leaders, because he would not carry politics into all his affairs, whether of a business or social character, to the extent that they desired. Politics, however, had no influence in the organization of the volunteer corps, and were not even alluded to. But here were at least three men engaged in an honorable and praiseworthy service, and occupying prominent positions in the same, who had just given unpardonable offense to the Democratic Party. The two Whigs who had just been elected, one a colonel of militia, and the other (the Quartermaster General) a member of the Legislature, in direct opposition to regular Democratic nominees, and the captain whom the volunteers had chosen to command them, though having violent enemies in his own party ranks, had just been elected to the Legislature also. Of course the employment of these men in a commendable service by a Democratic Executive naturally excited the ire of some of the Democratic Party managers, and numerous were the schemes devised (in secret, because the necessity of the service being rendered was apparent to everyone) to counteract the public good will that might possibly accrue to their hated opponents for the performance of a simple and imperative duty. Here, then, is the true source of all the calumny and the maledictions that have been promulgated against the people of Oregon in connection with Indian matters, and that now weigh so heavily against the equitable liquidation of their war debt. The fountain, though small at first, with its malignant stream directed against only a few individuals, has now grown to gigantic proportions, and is directed to the injury of an entire community.
    As I have indicated, the men who had the control in organizing, commanding and subsisting the volunteer corps thus brought into the field were not at first openly denounced, nor were their motives impugned. Such a course on the part of Democratic leaders would have been highly injurious to the Democracy of Southern Oregon, where experience had so often demonstrated, and where it was universally acknowledged that armed protection to the yearly overland immigration to Oregon was a thing absolutely necessary. Subsequent events, however, rendered it safe and expedient
that, as a party measure, this service should be publicly denounced as uncalled for and unnecessary, and procured through the representations of those who were at its head for the sole purpose of speculation.
    No precaution was taken to guard the other principal immigrant road leading into Oregon, the northern, and the fact that some twenty or more persons were most cruelly murdered on that route (Aug. 20, see list) that might have been saved by a force like that employed on the southern route where the Indians were more generally hostile, but where the immigration passed unharmed, very naturally exposed the Territorial Executive to public censure and rendered the southern expedition popular with the people. In the meantime, or just after the service on the southern road had been ordered, Gov. Davis resigned and left the Territory for his home in Indiana. It was said, and generally believed, that the party leaders in Oregon, because of his impartial and just administration as Governor, and want of proscriptiveness toward men of other political views, drove him into the resignation of his office, and the recommendation, as his successor, of the Secretary of the Territory, a man whom they could use.
    When the news of the massacre just referred to reached the Executive at Salem (the Secretary of the Territory being then acting Governor), a genuine Democratic bluster was made [which], like all Democratic blusters and professions, ended in nothing but  smoke with no powder burnt. The acting Governor issued a pompous proclamation for volunteers to proceed at once to the relief of the immigration coming in by the northern route, and required the service of at least three Democratic generals, with Democratic colonels and majors to match, forthwith. Intensely patriotic speeches were made, for which there was not the slightest need, to encourage enlistments. But, to make a long story short, the whole demonstration was mere gammon. The number of volunteers called for in the Governor's proclamation enrolled themselves at once, mounted, equipped and ready for the order to march, when lo! they were told by the Governor that they might return to their homes, that it was not the proper time to go into a hostile Indian country. Many of those who enlisted had friends whom they expected by this route, who were menaced by hostile savages, and you can imagine how well this permit to go home was received by those who had confidently expected to be able to aid their friends when aid was most needed. Not only the volunteers but the people at large were disappointed at the action of the Governor, and what he had done with the aid of three of the four generals on his staff, and various other officers for the safety of the immigration on the northern road, was severely criticized by the public, and often referred to in striking and unfavorable contrast with what had been quietly done, under the authority of his predecessor, on the southern road, where the service was more dangerous and difficult, and where the immigration had been guarded and conducted to their destination unscathed and unharmed.
    Thus the matter stood until the following spring (1855), when in a caucus, preliminary to the Territorial Democratic convention for the nomination of a Delegate to Congress, a plan was arranged to draw the attention of the public from the blunders the Democracy had committed the previous year by declaring the service rendered on the southern road, and which had become deservedly popular, a fraud upon the general government, and intended as such by those who were chiefly instrumental in obtaining for it the sanction of Gov. Davis, and its endorsement by the Legislature, Democratic as it was, at its session of 1854-55. Not deeming it prudent, however, to give publicity to the offspring of their schemes in an authoritative or official manner, through fear of alienating from the party Democrats who were pecuniarily interested in the matter, the party chiefs directed some of their numerous emissaries in the southern part of the Territory, selecting such as were the most irresponsible and vindictive and whose animosity was the most bitter toward the men whom Gov. Davis had designated to direct and sustain the service in question, to give vent to their spleen through the columns of the Oregon Statesman, over anonymous and borrowed signatures. The U.S. District Judge, now Supreme Judge of the State, the prosecuting attorney, and the Indian agent of the district, and the sheriff of the county in which the parties who had become so odious to the Democracy resided, and the Quartermaster General of the Territory (the old one having been removed from office at the time this caucus programme was arranged), also a resident of the same county as the accused, and now an Indian agent, were the first whose services were required in this work of misrepresentation and malicious defamation. The honorable judge borrowed the signature of a genuine representative of border ruffianism, who could scarcely write his own name, much less a newspaper article, but who, notwithstanding, was soon after appointed Receiver of the Umpqua Land Office.
    These worthies, thus working together in complete unity, having but one object in view, devised and published, as directed, some of the vilest calumnies that it was possible for Democratic ingenuity to concoct. Charges of the most flagrant and vicious character they profusely and gratuitously promulgated against the offending parties through their local papers, and not content with the limited field that Oregon presented for their work thus begun, they fabricated additional charges against one of these political offenders concerning his connection with a former service, which had in part been paid by the general government (Rogue River War of 1853), and through the voluntary agency of the Governor had them secretly placed on file in one or more of the departments at Washington, whereby the honest dues of many a poor claimant had been, and are yet, wrongfully withheld. And not being yet satisfied with the result of their labors in this respect, and after having taken the precaution to consult with the military at Fort Lane respecting apprehended difficulties, and receiving the positive assurance that the military force there was amply sufficient and prepared to repel any Indian hostilities that might, or that were likely to, occur, nearly all the Democratic leaders in the Territory openly joined with their political comrades, and in the absence of an iota of evidence to sustain them publicly decried the two or three individuals and their particular friends, against whom the Democracy had so long directed their malignant efforts, as disturbers of the public peace, and as publicly charged them with "inciting the Indians to acts of hostility against the whites, for the sole purpose of getting another opportunity to plunder the public treasury."
    Here, then, is the beginning of the text, or rather the first of a series of allegations proceeding directly from the immaculate Democracy of Oregon, from which Gen. Wool and Superintendent Palmer doubtless drew their first impressions that the war did actually originate with the citizens of Oregon for the purpose indicated, and they so reported to their departments without knowing anything of the truth or falsity of the libelous accusations they thus placed upon the records at Washington, where they must soon find their way to the American public and weigh heavily against those thus wantonly and maliciously accused.
    Mr. Palmer is understood to have said, since he was ousted from the Indian Superintendency, that it really was this Democratic authority that misled him in the premises, and I have no doubt that if Gen. Wool would lay aside his prejudice and the supreme contempt that he has for volunteer service, he, too, would acknowledge the same thing.
    The decrial of the service of 1854 commenced as per programme in June, 1855, during an excited political canvass, but in which it is proper to state neither of the men whom this decrial was intended most to injure was personally interested. But without particular reference again to the service of '54, I quote with special reference to the service of 1855-6, from the Statesman, beginning with the number issued on the 13th of October, 1855. In alluding to the reports published in the Oregonian, an opposition paper, concerning the murders and depredations that the Indians of Rogue River Valley and vicinity had committed in that region during a short period previous (see list), the Statesman says:
    "There always will be a few enterprising spirits (meaning citizens whom it was deemed expedient to accuse with inciting the Indians in hostilities) dead broke and too lazy to work, whose voices are always for war, though not for fight, because in the confusion incident to such a state of things they have a license to go gypsying 'round the country upon Cayuse ponies, plundering honest men for a living." * * *
    "It is time these alarms about Indian massacres, wars and difficulties in Southern Oregon should come to an end. It is true Indian difficulties may occur, but in this valley it is not likely, unless some of us are very anxious for it. During the past six months peace has not been interrupted for one hour in the Upper Rogue River Valley."
    Again the same paper says:
    "There has never been any Indian difficulty in Rogue River Valley. All the stories (alluding to the murders just cited) are got up by the defunct * * * set to cover up and justify themselves. They would like to have a difficulty if they could."
    "No fears are entertained of an outbreak of the Rogue River Indians. They are peaceably and quietly disposed, as they have been all summer."
    In the next number, Oct. 20, appears the following:
    "We have private intimation that it has been the organized and deliberate purpose of some individuals south (Southern Oregon) to incite Indian hostilities, so as to create opportunities to plunder the public treasury."
    These representations, as will be seen by referring to the list of persons killed, were made immediately after several cold-blooded massacres had been committed by the Indians of Southern Oregon, by which upward of forty citizens of that vicinity had lost their lives--a fact that was well known to the parties who concocted and gave publicity to the foregoing libelous and vituperative accusations.
    The Indians having massacred eighteen persons or upward at Evans' Ferry on the 9th of October, and the fact being known that all the tribes in the vicinity had combined some time previous for hostile purposes against the whites, and the regular troops at Fort Lane, if well disposed, being inadequate to the emergency, it became apparent to everyone that a volunteer force must be raised. Col. Ross' term of office had not yet expired, and he still held his commission from the Governor as Colonel of the Ninth Militia District, wherein volunteer service was again required. Many of the Colonel's friends urged him to enroll the requisite force immediately, which he deemed it his duty to do by virtue of his commission, but knowing that the political prejudice existing against him at Executive headquarters would render an attempt on his part to procure the necessary supplies for his command an utter failure, without making his reasons known he wisely declined moving in the matter until provision should be made for the subsistence of the men whom he might call into the service. Accordingly a meeting of the citizens of Rogue River Valley convened at Jacksonville, at which supplies were contributed and resolutions passed formally requesting Col. Ross to call into service the requisite force, and to take the field forthwith. This was on the 12th of October, and on the third day after the massacre at Evans'. He issued his call for volunteers on the same day, and before the next morning had a not inconsiderable number of men under orders and stationed where danger seemed most imminent, along the highways and near the settlements. During all these preparations and the organization of the regiment, politics were not alluded to. All, even some of those who were the well-paid emissaries of the Democracy, and had been the most virulent in their denunciations of the Colonel, readily asserted that Col. Ross should take the command, and even aided in providing subsistence for the troops--being careful, however, not to stultify themselves with their political masters by retracting that which they had falsely written. Col. Ross so disposed of his force as to render the greatest amount of protection to the settlements, and at the same time to cooperate with the regular troops from Fort Lane and Fort Jones in their movements against the enemy.
    Immediately upon the organization of his regiment, Col. Ross, under date Oct. 13, reported his doings and the condition of affairs in his district to the Governor, stating what the Indians had recently done, and showing the absolute necessity for the step he had taken, but the Governor treated his report with contempt, not deigning to reply, nor even to acknowledge its receipt. This proved no barrier to the service, however, for there was no time to devote to the consideration of points of etiquette. Every man of the service was on active duty in the field, and such as had not enlisted were barricading and providing places of safety for families and their movable effects.
    Col. Ross having stationed troops at points the most seriously threatened by the Indians, whose encroachments upon the settlements had thus been suddenly checked, the local emissaries of the Democracy, feeling somewhat secure again in the safety of their persons and property, and at an intimation from their chiefs that the employment in the service, above the capacity of privates, of men who were not Democrats, was exceedingly distasteful to them and dangerous to the perpetuity of their party in power, the work of defamation was again commenced. The Colonel with some of those intimately connected with him in the conduct of the service were violently accused by the Democratic press of having "deliberately incited Indian hostilities," in order to take the lead in repelling them, and at the same time to make for themselves and their friends a profitable job. These accusations, though unsustained by even a particle of evidence, were necessary to furnish a plausible pretext for the removal of Ross' regiment from the field, and the substitution of a force organized in strict accordance with pure Democratic Party discipline. Accordingly on the 7th of November, after Ross had been in the field nearly a month, where he had done admirable service, and had got the various departments of the service in healthy working order, he received a copy of a proclamation of the Governor directing a new organization to be made, and ordering the old one from the field. This proclamation had been partially anticipated by indiscreet and overexultant Democrats who had betrayed some of the secret workings at headquarters tending to this result, and much objection was made to the infusion of politics into the conduct of the war. But either to submit to the proscription of the Democratic Party, who had thus introduced strict party discipline into the management of the war, or to see the country devastated and its inhabitants tortured and murdered by the Indians were the alternatives. The volunteers could not return to their homes, because their own safety, as well as that of their neighbors, depended upon their keeping their organization as a military body and remaining in the field. In view of these circumstances, Col. Ross issued an order for his regiment to assemble at a given point on the 9th inst., there to be discharged from the service, such as chose to do so to enlist again under the proclamation of the Governor. As many of the regiment as could possibly leave their posts without giving the Indians another opportunity to strike a blow at the settlements assembled as directed, and on the following day, Nov. 10, were discharged from the service of the regiment, some of them joining the new organization. Those who could not be discharged without involving certain destruction to some of the settlements remained at their posts until they were relieved by the new companies.
    In the selection of his chief officers, Col. Ross chose such as were the best qualified, from actual experience in service of this character on former occasions, to fill the various offices to which it was his privilege to appoint, and in doing so selected as his mustering officer and acting adjutant the man against whom the Democracy had been the most virulent, and whom for a long time they had been trying to crush.
    I now adduce a little more Democratic testimony confirmatory of all that Gen. Wool has said of the Oregon war, placing the extracts from the two authorities in juxtaposition.
What the Statesman says:     What General Wool says:
    The fear about Indians is rapidly subsiding, despite the attempt of the alarmists to keep it up. Men are returning to sober reason and to a feeling of perfect security which ought never to have been disturbed.
    (Statesman, Nov. 3, 1855.
    The facts connected with the Indian war in Oregon have been greatly exaggerated, and there is really much less danger to be apprehended from the Indians than is generally believed.
    (Gen. Wool's letter to the San Francisco Evening News, Jan. 18, 1856.
    The whites have made a great mistake in murdering three women and children, old men &c. (Indians) out South * * * Had the farmers and citizens turned out and vigilantized the blacklegs, loafers and idlers who hang about and are constantly abusing the Indians and making all kinds of trouble, they would have done themselves honor and a worthy service to our country.
    (Statesman, Nov. 10, '55.
    The whites have been trying to break out in this valley (Umpqua) but have not succeeded to any extent yet.
    (Same paper.
    The recent murders by the Indians of women and children in Rogue River Valley were literally retaliatory of and immediately succeeded the massacre by Maj. Lupton and his party of eighteen Indian women and children, out of twenty-five killed.
    (Gen. Wool's report, Jan. 19, 1856.

    Could the citizens be restrained from private war, I have no doubt peace and quiet would soon be restored to the people of that region of country.
    (Gen. Wool's report, Jan. 21, '56.
    Now * * * and others who had figured at the head of a party in this county (Jackson) have lost their grip, and something must be done to save them. Circumstances, and the acts of certain hostile bands of Indians on the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountain, favored their plans, and the idea was conceived that by throwing the firebrands among the Indians the entire blame could be saddled upon the Democracy. Hundreds of our unsuspecting citizens of this county were caught in the snare, and those horrible massacres have taken place at which our community en masse cry aloud for vengeance.
    (Statesman, Nov. 25, '55.
    The future will prove that this war has been forced upon these Indians against their will, and that, too, by a set of reckless vagabonds for pecuniary and political objects, and sanctioned by a numerous population who regarded the Treasury of the United States as a legitimate object of plunder. The Indians in that district have been driven to desperation by acts of cruelty against their people, treaties have been violated and barbarities committed that would disgrace the most barbarous nations of the earth.
    (Superintendent Palmer's report, endorsed and transmitted to the War Department by General Wool, Dec. 13, 1855.
    You will be sorry to learn that the only men killed at the first action above "Table Rock" (Rogue River Valley) was Major Lupton.
    (Statesman, Oct. 29, '55.
    If none but those who perpetrated such acts were to be affected by this war we might look upon it with indifference.
    (Same report.
    * * * is in a deplorable condition. Last spring he formed a copartnership with the Oregonian to incite Indian hostilities south * * * and opening an opportunity for another grab.
    (Statesman, Dec. 8, '55.
    The object of the war has been from the very commencement one of plunder of the Indians and the Treasury of the United States, prompted by political and pecuniary considerations.
    (Gen. Wool's report.
    These are a fair sample of the many allegations that for several months, both before and after the commencement of the war, were given publicity to by the chiefs of the Democracy of Oregon. Even as late as Dec. 8, after the war had been raging for nearly or quite two months, the charge that the war in Southern Oregon was the result of the unlawful acts of some of the citizens there, was still persisted in.
    At this time, the Legislature being in session at Corvallis, Dr. Henry, a resident of Middle Oregon, and withal a recent convert to the Democratic Party (having previously been a Whig), being now on this return from the war south, proposed that the use of the Representatives' Hall should be given him in order that he might explain the cause of the war, and show how unjust and ruinous was the policy that his party had adopted respecting it. He had left home early in October for a trip to California, overland, and had proceeded on his journey to within a few miles of Evans' Ferry (Rogue River) when the memorable massacre and general outbreak of the Indians of that vicinity took place. Being thus prevented from prosecuting his journey any further, and it being unsafe then to turn back, he joined the command of Col. Ross, and served with it in the capacity of surgeon for which there was much necessity, until this command was ordered from the field, and he had, moreover, made himself acquainted with the origin of the war and the causes which led to it.
    The use of the hall was granted to the Doctor, and as genuine a set of graceless demagogues and vile ruffians as ever crossed the borders of Missouri into Kansas were congregated to hoot him down. He made his speech, notwithstanding, and to show something of the spirit that prevailed with the Democracy, even at this time, I give a few extracts from the Democratic rendering of the Doctor's speech, and what was then said by some of those who were appointed to browbeat the Doctor into Democratic submission again. The report of the proceedings of this meeting as it appears in the Statesman of Dec. 8, 1855, is headed "Dr. Henry on Exhibition."
    "He assured the benighted audience 'on honor' that * * * were marvelously proper men, sorely abused and decried. The charge that any of that Know-Nothing, peculating faction had incited hostilities south, he said was most wicked, and he challenged any man present to prefer such a charge. Two or three most prominent and respectable citizens south responded aye, to the call, and afterward rose and stated their belief that such was the fact--that hostilities had thus been deliberately incited was the candid belief of the southern community.
    * * * "Capt. Tichenor (a member of the Legislative Assembly) in a couple of offhand speeches gave the audience much information in relation to Indian affairs south and on the coast. Among other things he stated * * * but that it was the opinion of Lieut. Kautz, U.S.A., and his own opinion that the war had been deliberately brought about by the machinations of the above-mentioned faction.
    "The Hon. Delazon Smith closed up on the Doctor with the lash of his eloquence, wit, satire and sarcasm. If ever a subject was flayed, dissected and bones hung up to dry, Dr. Henry was the individual at the end of the evening's performance. On the subject of the Doctor's crocodile appeal not to bring 'party into war matters,' Mr. Smith was cruelly severe.
    "Whatever may have been the opinion heretofore concerning the conduct of a politically, morally and pecuniarily bankrupt faction south, relative to Indian disturbances, we venture assert that every man, of whatever political faith * * *
    "Left the house satisfied that that faction were not guiltless of the accusations made, and that Dr. Henry himself was found down south, just as hostilities commenced, by previous understanding with that faction, and for the purpose of cooperating with them."
    One of the "most prominent and respectable" citizens who "responded aye" to Dr. Henry was the district judge of whom I have spoken before. The "Hon. Delazon Smith," who was so "cruelly severe" on the Doctor, is the same august personage who was recently United States Senator from Oregon, and was, at the time this speech was made, a member of the Legislative Assembly, and I think Speaker of the House.
    Almost simultaneously with the outbreak of the Indians in Southern Oregon, the Indians of Northern Oregon with those of the Territory of Washington commenced hostilities by murdering several citizens, including the Indian Agent Bolon.
    As soon as the news of the hostility of the northern Indians reached the Governor, which was before he could be made to realize the condition of Indian affairs in the southern part of the Territory, he issued a call for a volunteer force for the northern region of country, and set himself about getting his staff and accounting departments in working order. Being absent from the capital, and consequently from the clique or the Democratic guardians, who generally controlled him in all his official actions, and the emergency being so great, he thoughtlessly, perhaps, commissioned men who were not of the Democratic Party, but in most instances, if not all, were fully competent to fulfill the duties of the offices to which he had designated them. In the meantime matters had arrived at such a pitch south that, prejudiced as he was against that section of country, he could not help seeing that something must be speedily done to relieve the settlements there. Without paying any regard to the report of Col. Ross, who was already in the field with the requisite force, he issued his proclamation for the new enrollment of volunteers for service in that direction. But he had received an intimation by this time from his guardians at the capital that some of his appointments for the northern service were distasteful to them because they were not strictly Democratic; none but Democrats were appointed by the Executive to any office in the service thereafter, and means were taken to procure the discharge of those who were already commissioned and were faithfully and efficiently discharging their military duties, but who had voted at the general election in June previous against the regular nominee of the Democratic Party. The Governor not wishing to stultify himself by removing from office, without good cause, those whom he had but recently appointed, did not yield strict obedience to the mandates of his party so to do. Accordingly petitions were got up and numerously signed by members of the Democratic Party, and directed to the Governor, praying for the immediate discharge from the service of those whom he had appointed, and that their places be filled with Democrats. Here is the petition itself:
    "Please get all the names you can to the following petition, and forward it to Governor Curry as early as possible--by first mail, if can be:
    "To His Excellency Gov. Curry: The undersigned, Democratic anti-Know-Nothing voters of Oregon, earnestly petition your excellency to cause to be displaced all members of the Know-Nothing Party, or supporters of that party (and those who vote their ticket, we hold as such), holding public station directly or indirectly under you, and their places be filled by competent Democrats."
    At this time the Democracy recognized as Know-Nothings all who did not vote the straight Democratic ticket--so of course all, except Democrats, were intended to be excluded from serving in the war unless in the capacity of privates in the ranks. The petition was signed by all the leading Democrats of the Territory, including the Chief Justice, certainly, and the two Associates if they had an opportunity to sign it: Delazon Smith, our late U.S. Senator; L. F. Grover, late member of Congress; the Territorial printer &c. &c. &c.
    Every Democratic paper in the Territory, save one, the Democratic Standard, either yielded direct assent to, or did not dissent from this line of policy, and the Governor, to extricate himself from the difficulties he had got into respecting his appointments, yielded up his rights as commander-in-chief, as constituted by virtue of the organic law of the Territory, to a strongly Democratic Legislature which had then convened.
    In urging the removal of the proscribed parties from office, the following appeal is made to the Democracy and the Whigs who voted the Democratic ticket, for their signatures:
    "As an humble worker in the Democratic vineyard we ask--and we ask it as an act of right and justice, not as a favor--that every Know-Nothing, at heart, in deed, in fact, from chief to subaltern, holding Democratic appointments, be dismissed, and we will not cease to ask till this act of justice is accomplished.
*  *  *
    "We know no policy--no prudential considerations--which commands silence when violence has been done to Democratic principle and Democratic usage, though that violence has been done by Democratic hands, unintentionally it undoubtedly was.
*  *  *
    "And we urge upon Democrats--upon Whigs who voted the Democratic ticket--in every county in the Territory, to promptly petition for such removal. Give expression to your objections to these appointments by petition, and forward them to headquarters without delay. Ask for a clean sweep and thorough work, and you will have it. Gov. Curry is too true a Democrat to either desire to retain such enemies to liberal, to Republican principles--such traditional enemies of the Democratic Party--or to unheed your prayer. Send in the petitions, and send them in quickly. Let these men--all--go out of office before they realize they are in. Already is the work of petitioning going on * * * and we have yet to hear of the first Democrat who has not promptly and eagerly subscribed his name on being shown a petition."
    (Statesman, Nov. 3, 1855.
    This sort of appeal to the Democratic masses was kept up for weeks, and finally accomplished its end as I have stated, by the Governor yielding his right to appoint to the Legislature.
    The Democratic Standard, the Democratic paper I have mentioned as having opposed the proscriptive policy indicated in the petition and the foregoing appeal, comments as follows in its issue of November 15, 1855:
    "In the field are men of every political party, alike periling their lives in the defense of the country: at home, also, are men of the same parties, alike yielding up their property to the government for the necessities of this war, having common interests in its successful issue, and who will alike suffer if it fail to accomplish a lasting peace to the Territory. How, then, we ask, can it be considered a party war? * * * It is then the height of treason against the interests of Oregon to attempt to distort the objects of this war, and to make it a mere piece of machinery, grand and imposing, but only intended for the perfection of certain partisan and selfish aggrandizements."
    For these sentiments the Standard was soundly berated by its Democratic cotemporaries. It was accused of rendering aid to the enemies of the Democratic Party by being too timid to give in its support to this "bold proposition," as the Democracy styled their proscription of all who were not Democrats from serving in the war except as privates.
    The proscriptive policy was put into execution as soon as the Governor had yielded up to his party the right to appoint his staff officers, and was rigidly adhered to throughout the war, and it was not until the proscribed parties were discharged from the service, and their places filled by Simon-pure Democrats, that the war was acknowledged legitimate and just by the Democracy of Oregon.
    Soon after the petition that I have quoted was put in circulation for signatures, the chiefs of the various departments of the service gave in their adherence and subscribed to the doctrine therein enunciated, and as a pledge of their sincerity forthwith discharged from their respective departments the obnoxious parties who as a general thing were the most competent men they had employed. So thorough were these removals, that when the Legislature was ready to assume the prerogative of the Governor with respect to these appointments, only one man, a clerk, who was not a Democrat, was employed in either of these departments. And to show how rigidly they enforced obedience to their party edicts, even in matters of a strict military character, I quote from the proceedings of the Democratic nominating caucus convened with especial reference to this subject. All the chiefs of the departments, save one, having strictly complied with their party disciples and requirements, had thus secured their retention in the respective offices to which the Governor had called them. Here is the resolution respecting the delinquent in whose department the clerk just referred to was still retained.
    "Resolved, That M. M. McCarver, Commissary General, be informed that the condition of his election as chief of the Commissary Department is that he shall not employ * * * or any person of like Know-Nothing political character.
    "On motion of Mr. Smith of Linn (the Hon. Delazon, late U.S. Senator), a committee of three were appointed to call upon Gen. McCarver and inform him of the condition of his election.
    "Messrs. Grover (late member of Congress), * * * and * * * were appointed said committee."
    (Oregon Statesman, Feb. 5, 1856.
    Gen. McCarver was elected "Chief of the Commissary Department."
    I have now adduced sufficient testimony, I think, from purely Democratic records, too, to prove conclusively that the Democracy of Oregon are in reality the true source of all the prejudice which now exists in the public mind against the allowance of the Oregon war debt by Congress, and against the people of Oregon generally in connection with Indian affairs of that region. I have cited the Oregon Statesman exclusively to justify this position because it was the chief organ of the Democratic Party there, the organ of the Executive, too, and the official paper of the Territory as it is now, of the new state. These records, however, exclusively Democratic as they are, are now denied in toto by the very man that made them. They now assert in as positive terms as it is possible to express that these records never existed.
    From the very commencement of hostilities, until the organization of the volunteer army had been arranged "according to Democratic usage," the Democracy, as I have shown, were profuse and exceedingly bitter in their denunciation of the war, alleging that, so far at least as the war in Southern Oregon was concerned, it had been unjustly and "deliberately brought on" by a set of mercenary men, leaders of a "faction" that was "morally and politically bankrupt," for "purposes of speculation and political aggrandizement." These demonstrations of the war were universally indulged in by the Democracy of the Territory (with the exception named), except where it was expedient to magnify the doings of some political favorite engaged in its prosecution. Not a word was said or published by the Democracy condemnatory, contradicting or in refutation of the report that Gen. Wool and Superintendent Palmer had forwarded to the Departments at Washington until after the war had been raging for nearly or quite three months, and after the Legislature had convened and arranged the programme for introducing genuine modern Democracy into the management of the war, and had actually put their schemes in this respect into execution. Then, and not till then, did the Democracy of Oregon cease to misrepresent and distort the objects of the war, and to deem it expedient and good for the party to turn traitor to and denounce some of their former friends and associates who had aided them in their work of defamation, and whom, perhaps, they had wholly misled on the war question. General Wool and Superintendent Palmer, who, as I have shown, followed close in the wake of the champions of Democracy with regard to this matter, were among the first whom the Democracy thus repudiated and denounced. The Legislature petitioned the President of the United States for the immediate recall of General Wool from the command of the Department of the Pacific, and for the removal of Mr. Palmer from the Indian Superintendency of Oregon; preferring, in their memorials, charges of which many of the members themselves were the most guilty, who, doubtless, had been chiefly instrumental in leading General Wool and  Mr. Palmer to commit the very errors for which they were thus censured. Superintendent Palmer was removed, and General Wool, at his own request, it is said, was superseded in his command by General Clark.
    But while the Democracy of Oregon emphatically deny their own record respecting this war, at home, they are now, and have been for two years past, secretly pursuing at Washington the same proscriptive policy with regard to its payment that they inaugurated in its management. Not intending that it should affect in any manner the officers and other claimants of their own party, they have trumped up and secretly placed on file in some of the Departments at Washington charges of gross fraud and other misconduct that were calculated to affect only certain named persons whom they had proscribed and forbidden to take any part in the war except as I have specified, and in the way of furnishing supplies. But these charges, contrary to the expectations of those who created them, have proved prejudicial to the entire service; all who are in any way interested in its payment, whether Democrats or Republicans, are now made joint sufferers together. Men of the Departments in which these charges were placed, and members of Congress who were expected to aid in carrying out this policy of the Democracy of Oregon, had axes to grind too. Democratic members of Congress who made the greatest noise and talked the loudest in favor of retrenchment in the expenses of the general government found it very convenient to denounce the Oregon war debt as a swindle, an intended fraud upon the Treasury of the United States, while, at the same time, they were strenuous advocates of the $30,000,000 election fund and other measures of a like character. Mr. Faulkner, the late chairman of the Military Committee of the lower House of Congress, and to whom this war matter was especially referred by his committee, has within the last three months sought to secure his reelection to Congress by declaring the debt a stupendous fraud, and avowing his eternal hostility to its payment; and, furthermore, assuring his constituency that if they would but return him to Congress again, he would surely prevent its being paid. This was the first public and open denunciation of the debt, though all the evidence, and all the papers concerning it, had been under his exclusive control for something like eighteen months prior to the adjournment of the last Congress. But in the meantime he had seemingly made arrangements with other parties, the Third Auditor of the Treasury for one, who was known to entertain the most violent antipathy against volunteer service rendered anywhere, but more particularly that of the Pacific Coast, to forestall public opinion against the debt to the utmost extent of his power. The Auditor, apparently glad of the opportunity thus offered to give expression to his hatred and contempt for volunteer service, and being in the confidence of the Democratic leaders in Oregon, who had informed him of their desires in the premises, expecting his cooperation with them, took hold of the work assigned him by Mr. Faulkner with a will, and greatly exceeded his instructions from his Oregon correspondents by directing his efforts against the entire debt in lieu of the individual claims that they had designated. He performed his work however to the satisfaction of Mr. Faulkner and those who were with him in this scheme to stave off the payment of this debt by the present Administration. Ever since it came to the knowledge of the public that this Administration had become exceedingly profligate in its expenditure, up to the time that the recent election in Virginia took place, Mr. Faulkner had been very anxious to gain notoriety as an advocate of retrenchment and reform in the administration of the government, and hoping by this means to secure his reelection to Congress. For some time previous to the last adjournment of Congress, various articles were published in The Washington States and other Democratic papers denouncing the debt as a fraud, and highly applauding Mr. Faulkner for his perseverance in establishing that fact and "thereby saving some six millions of dollars to the United States Treasury." These puffs of course were for home consumption in Mr. Faulkner's own district, and they were evidently from his own pen, or that of some particular friend knowing the hobby he would ride in the next canvass for Congress. I cite these facts to show wherein Mr. Faulkner could be personally benefited by assuming the position he did with regard to this matter. There is no doubt, however, that this position of Mr. Faulkner, and that of the Administration on the same subject, are precisely the same; though for the sake of retaining Oregon loyal to the Democratic Party until the next Presidential race is run, the latter professes, in as quiet a way as possible, to desire an equitable and just settlement of the debt. The war, as I have shown, was inevitable, and the debt created under Democratic auspices. But this Administration intends to entail the burden of its payment on its successor, if it is possible to do so without incurring the loss of Oregon for the next Democratic Presidential candidate. The Democracy are fearful that figures will tell against the party in the next Presidential campaign, and for this reason, acknowledging in as private a manner as possible that the debt is just, dare not urge nor allow its payment. Faulkner. himself, in private conversation, has acknowledged that he considered the war legitimate, and that the debt ought to be paid. Even Gen. Lane, Oregon's own Representative, dare not urge the payment of the debt farther than to hoodwink his constituents, through fear of injuring his party and lessening his own chances for the next Presidency. He has staked his all upon the mere chance, if it amounts to that, of getting the nomination at Charleston, and he works only with that object in view, and seems to regard any measure that looks likely to promote his own personal interests as being just the thing for Oregon. For these reasons he has accomplished no good for Oregon for years past, and, if his associations at Washington indicate anything, he consorts with those who are clandestinely at work to defeat the payment of Oregon's war claim, though professedly in its favor. He has never attempted to refute the charges of Gen. Wool and Mr. Palmer by showing the facts connected with the war, which would effectually have done away with the reproach and the prejudice that those charges have produced. However, he may be partially excusable for not bringing facts to bear against the allegations of Gen. Wool and Mr. Palmer; for, in the first place, they were of a purely Democratic origin, and to have shown this would have ensured the downfall of his party in Oregon, through whose agency he expected to attain to the honors of a United States Senator--another step, as he thought, toward the Presidency; and, in the next place, he knew but little about the war himself. He had been absent from Oregon, as its Delegate in Congress, for nearly six years when the claim was presented for the action of Congress thereon, and consequently could know but very little about Oregon matters at home, except what he could learn from politicians there, whom he supposed were in his interest. But Democracy is not always true to its Democratic Representatives even, still less to the public interest. The clique to whom Lane had been twice indebted for his election as Delegate, and who had managed the war to their own liking, entertained a secret desire to oust him from the Delegateship at the next election, if Oregon had remained a Territory, and to defeat his election as a United States Senator, if it became a state. For this reason they withheld from him, as well as from Congress, much information respecting the origin and other particulars of the war that, had he been prosecuting its payment in good faith, would have been of infinite value to him. Feeling conscious that if the debt should be recognized by Congress during Lane's term as Delegate, it would endanger their party organization to attempt openly to defeat him, and not realizing that he was averse to its recognition during the continuance of the present Administration, they secretly sought to throw stumbling blocks in the way of its payment themselves, in order to obtain a plausible pretext for charging him with a gross dereliction of duty. The statistics representing the names and number of citizens killed by Indians, in times of peace, prior to the war of 1855-6, from which I have quoted, were obtained at considerable expense, and put in documentary form for some legislative endorsement, by one of the persons whom the Democracy had proscribed his part in the war. The Legislature, however, would take no action in the matter unless it should appear upon their records as a genuine Democratic production. It was a matter of much importance that it should be of record in order that it might be cited in justification of the war, and to show the Christian forbearance that had ever been exercised toward the Indians by the people of Oregon. For these reasons the author of the document had it placed in the hands of the Committee on Military Affairs, who reported it to the Legislature as the result of their own labor and investigations. It was then accepted, and attached to a joint resolution of the Assembly, requesting Lane to urge the application to pay the Oregon volunteers, and in the same manner the Secretary of the Territory was instructed to transmit copies of the same to the President, the Secretary of War and Gen. Lane. The Secretary of the Territory positively refused to comply with these instructions, and the very person who first arranged the document which the Legislature had assumed made the number of copies called for by the resolution, paid the Secretary for comparing with the original records, and for affixing his official seal. The Secretary was and is yet a prominent member of the clique who have controlled the Democracy of Oregon for years past, and is exceedingly anxious to take Lane's place in the United States Senate.
    Thus has this war matter been managed from the time of the general outbreak of the Indians, in 1855, up to the present time. The whole thing from beginning to end has been in the hands, and under the exclusive control, of leading Democratic politicians, who seek only to make it a stepping stone to political promotions, by advocating its payment where it is popular to do so and repudiating it altogether wherever this is the more popular course. Unrighteous and unjust as this policy must appear at first glance, yet it is the more to be deprecated when we take into consideration the fact that the war was precipitated upon the people of Oregon by Democratic appointments of pusillanimous and otherwise grossly incompetent Indian agents, and the like appointment of officers to command the military posts in the Indian country.
    Had the proper and just course been pursued by the Indian Department and the military at Fort Lane and Fort Jones toward the Indians of Table Rock Reserve who, in company with other Indians, committed the numerous and long succession of murders in Southern Oregon during the summer of 1855, the war in that region, though fully determined upon by the Indians, would have been obviated. But these Indians were freely permitted by both the Indian agent and the military at Fort Lane to leave their reservation at any time, and to commit any depredations they might choose upon citizens, and to return again to receive the protection of United States troops. Once only did the military of Fort Lane pursue and bring back to the reserve these Indians, and not then until they had murdered three citizens (Dyer, McKew and Philpot) and were in danger of being dealt with by the neighbors of the murdered men. But in this instance, as in all others, as soon as they had reached the reserve they were left wholly unrestrained, to go whithersoever they would, a liberty that they soon availed themselves of, as the history of the Buckeye Bar massacre before noticed will fully show.
    In view of the foregoing facts, Oregon must look to the Republicans in Congress for that justice with regard to the payment of this debt which the Democracy, whose child it is, have so long denied them. I would not, however, urge the Republicans to support the payment of the debt until they have investigated the matter thoroughly, and have become so conversant with its details as to be able to place the facts upon the records of Congress, so that the country may know the justice of the claim and the erroneous opinions that prevail respecting it. I am too thorough a Republican myself to desire that the Republicans in Congress should support the payment of this claim without showing upon the record good and sufficient reasons for so doing. But I would have them examine the subject thoroughly, and advocate the payment of the debt solely upon its merits, well ascertained and fully set forth for the information of all concerned. As I have said before, the subject will bear close examination, and no one will be the loser thereby. If the Republicans would but take the trouble to investigate this matter themselves, taking nothing for granted without the most positive proof, they would find that the employment of United States troops for the protection of frontier settlements is worse than money thrown away, and also that our Indian policy is wholly defective. More than this, it would be seen that had the Indian Department of Oregon and the military stationed there simply performed their plainest duties, the war of 1856, with all the evils it bred, might and would have been avoided.
C. S. DREW.
Lowell, Mass, July 12, 1859.
New York Weekly Tribune, September 24, 1859, pages 9-10

COMMUNICATION
FROM

C. S. DREW,

LATE ADJUTANT OF THE SECOND REGIMENT OF OREGON MOUNTED
VOLUNTEERS,
GIVING

An account of the origin and early prosecution of the Indian war in Oregon,
----
May 2, 1860.--Referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia. Motion to print referred to the Committee on Printing.
May 9, 1860.--Report in favor of printing submitted, considered, and agreed to.
----
To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United

States of America in Congress assembled.
    Believing that the rights and interests of the people of Oregon, as connected with the allowance of their war debt, now pending before Congress, are seriously endangered because of the evil reports that have been placed upon record respecting it, and the origin of the war on account of which it was created, I have thought it proper to present to you at this time a circumstantial account of the origin and the early prosecution of the war in question, for which pay is now claimed and is justly due. In the arrangement of this account, I have alluded to other Indian wars and difficulties that have occurred in Oregon, because their history, too, has been grossly perverted and then made use of in making up a case against the war under consideration. I have, however, confined myself mainly to the simple statement of facts, leaving comments to be made by those who shall hereafter discuss the subject to which these facts relate. Much that I have stated touching matters in Southern Oregon and Northern California is the result of my own observation, having resided in that section of country some seven years, commencing with the year 1851. From November, 1852, until after the closing scenes of the war of 1855-56, I was a resident of Rogue River Valley, and participated with my fellow citizens in suppressing Indian hostilities that occurred there during that period. For this reason, I have gone more into the details of Indian murders, volunteer service, &c., in that region, than in any other.

INDEX.
Page
List of actual murders from November, 1847, to January, 1857   3
Massacre by Coquille Indians--Account of the same by one of the survivors   8
Attempted outbreak of the Rogue River Indians--Massacre of immigrants by the Modoc tribes--Volunteers raised at Jacksonville and Yreka--Affair of Captain Ben Wright 10
Massacre of miners by the Rogue River Indians--Trial of the Indians before a
citizens' jury--Their conviction, confession, and execution
13
The origin of the Rogue River Indian war of 1853--Organization of volunteer
forces--List of volunteers killed and wounded--Treaty of the 10th of September, 1853--Continued hostility of the Indians
12
The murder of Gibbs, Hudgins, and others--Treachery of the Indians 16
Continuation of hostilities by the Indians of Southern Oregon in 1854--A war
council held by the tribes of Southern Oregon and Northern California--A war of extermination the theme--Volunteers ordered to the relief of the overland immigration
17
The massacre of immigrants near Fort Boise--Statement concerning it 20
Hostile demonstrations of the Southern Oregon Indians in 1855--Origin of the war of 1855-56--Organization of Colonel Ross' regiment of volunteers--Organization of the volunteer force under the proclamation of Governor Curry--List of killed and wounded of Ross' regiment--Ditto (not complete) of the first and second regiments 21
Superintendent Palmer's report relative to Indian. difficulties in the Port Orford district, &c., in 1854 35
"The Topographical Memoir and Report of Captain T. J. Cram, relative to the
Territories of Oregon and Washington,"
(H. Doc. No. 114, 35th Congress,
2nd session)
36

List of actual murders from November 1847, to January 1857.
    In 1847, November 29.--Dr. Marcus Whitman, a Protestant missionary, Mrs. Whitman, two orphan children, and thirteen other persons, eleven of them newly arrived overland from the East, were murdered by Cayuse Indians at and near the mission established by Dr. Whitman, in Walla Walla Valley. The Indians were in no manner provoked to the commission of this massacre. Oregon, at that time, had only a government of its own, the laws of the United States not having been extended over it until the following year.
    1850.--Early in the summer, eleven men, names unknown, were murdered by Indians of Southern Oregon, at what is now Port Orford. They had embarked at San Francisco for a cruise along the Oregon coast south of the Columbia River, with the view to ascertain what inducements that region of country offered to settlement. They proceeded to Port Orford Bay, where they come to anchor; and satisfying themselves that this bay possessed merits as a harbor, went on shore to make a cursory examination of the country adjacent. Hardly had they touched the beach, however, when they were attacked by a large body of Indians, and every man of them was killed on the spot. They had seen no Indians before the moment of the attack, and, therefore, could have given no provocation. The Indians were not punished.
    August.--Messrs. Spink and Cushing, packers, were murdered, and their train and loading destroyed by Indians, on Klamath River. No provocation given and none claimed. The murderers were not punished.
    In 1851, January.--James Sloan, ---- Janalshan, ---- Bender, and ---- Blackburn were killed by Indians, at Blackburn's ferry, on Klamath River. The Indians attacked this place in large numbers; but it was defended by the citizens until relief came from distant settlements, when the Indians withdrew. The Indians destroyed several thousand dollars' worth of stores and other property. No provocation given and none claimed. The Indians were not punished. The parties killed are believed to have been formerly of Ohio.
    May.--Four men, miners, names unknown, were murdered at two different places (two in each) on the road between Rogue River and Grave Creek, by Rogue River Indians. No provocation is known to have been given. The Indians claimed none. They were not punished.
    Same month.--William Mosier and ---- Reaver (or Reavis) were murdered near Yreka, California, by Rogue River and Shasta Indians. No cause known, and none supposed to exist. The murderers were not punished.
    About this time ---- Dilley, a packer, was murdered by Rogue River Indians, near a place now known as Camp Stuart, so called from it being the place where Captain Stuart, United States army, died of wounds received at the hands of those Indians in the following autumn. No provocation was given for the murder of Mr. Dilley. The Indians were not punished.
    August.--Cornelius Doherty, recently from Texas, and Jeremiah Ryan, of Maryland; John Holland, of New Hampshire; J. P. Pepper and P. Murphy, of New York, also newly arrived on the Pacific coast, were murdered by Southern Oregon Indians, at the mouth of Coquille River. Three of their five companions who escaped were severely wounded at this time. The Indians had not the slightest cause for the commission of this murder, as I shall proceed to show by and by.
    October.--Mr. Moffitt, a drover, was mortally wounded by Rogue River Indians, near Camp Stuart. No provocation given or claimed. Major Kearny, United States army, visited Rogue River Valley about this time, and obtained a promise from the Indians that they would commit no more depredations upon the whites.
    In 1852, June 2.--Calvin Woodman, a miner of Scotts River, was murdered in Scotts Valley, by Indians of the Rogue River tribes. No provocation was given. The Indian who actually fired the fatal shot was afterwards captured, as was his accomplice, by a company of volunteers of Yreka. The criminals were then tried before a citizens' jury, where, their guilt being proved beyond a doubt, the principal was hung; but, it being difficult to make the Indians understand why an accessory should be punished with the principal, the accomplice was set at liberty. Mr. Woodman was a native of Maine.
    Same month.--James L. Freaner, John Brando, ---- Jackson, ---- Warren, and a Mexican called Adobe John, were murdered in Pit River Valley, by the Indians of that name. This was a party that left Yreka to view and locate a wagon road from Sacramento Valley to the southern boundary of Oregon, for which Colonel Freaner and others had procured a charter. Nothing definite as to the fate of this party was known until some four years afterwards, when the Indians themselves boastfully disclosed the particulars. Of course they did not plead justification. Colonel Freaner was the "mustang" of Mexican war notoriety. Brando was a native of Maine.
    About this time an American, name supposed to be Lockwood, and three Mexicans, all packers, were murdered near Sugar Loaf Mountain, on the old trail between Shasta City and Yreka, by the Indians just mentioned. A German was also murdered at this place, some two days after, by the same Indians. A partner of the German, though very severely wounded, made his escape to Yreka. All these murders were entirely unprovoked, and for none of them were the Indians punished.
    August.--Mr. Coats, John Ormsby, James Long, Felix Martin, Mr. Wood, and thirty-four others, whose names are not known, were murdered by Modoc and other Indians on the Southern Oregon emigrant road.
    December.--William Grendage, Peter Hunter, Mr. Bruner, Mr. Palmer, William Allen, two brothers Bacon, and one other, whose name is unknown, were murdered by Rogue River Indians, near the mouth of Galice Creek.
    In 1853, May or June.--An American and a Mexican, miners, were murdered in their cabin, in the neighborhood of Cow Creek, by Southern Oregon Indians. No provocation, and no punishment.
    August 4.--Edward Edwards, a farmer, residing six miles from Jacksonville, was murdered at noonday at his own house by Rogue River Indians, who had secreted themselves in some brush near by. No provocation given, nor were the Indians called to an account.
    August 5.--Thomas Wills, merchant, of Jacksonville, was shot and mortally wounded by Rogue River Indians just as he was entering the town. No provocation, and no attempt at punishment.
    August 6.--Richard Nolan and another person, whose name is not known, miners, of Jackson Creek, were murdered at their claims, about a mile from Jacksonville, by Rogue River Indians--the same party, probably, who shot Mr. Wills. No provocation.
    August 17.--John Gibbs, William Hudgins, ---- Whittier, and two others were murdered by a tribe of Rogue River Indians, who were professedly friendly, and were at the time being wholly subsisted and maintained by Mr. Gibbs and other citizens at private expense.
    October 6.--James C. Kyle, a merchant, of Jacksonville, was murdered within six miles of home, and two from Fort Lane, by Rogue River Indians, belonging to Table Rock reservation. The murder was entirely unprovoked. A Mr. Bell and partner and a miner called Jack were murdered by Indians of Lower Rogue River, about this time, and, as in the other case, without any provocation.
    In 1854, January.--Hiram Hulen, J. Clark, J. Oldfield, and Wesley Mayden were murdered by Rogue River, Shasta, and Modoc Indians while looking for stock which these Indians had stolen. Distance from Fort Lane about 25 miles, and about 30 from Fort Jones. Mr. Clark formerly lived in Michigan, and Mayden in Minnesota. The Indians were not punished.
    April 15.--Edward Phillips, a miner, of Applegate Creek, was murdered in his own house by Rogue River Indians. Distance from Fort Lane about 14 miles. The murder was wholly unprovoked, and no attempt was made to punish the Indians for it. Mr. Phillips was a native of New York.
    June 15.--Daniel Gage was murdered by Modoc Indians on the road between Jacksonville and Yreka. Distance from Fort Jones about 35 miles, and Fort Lane about 20 miles. No provocation given, and the Indians were not punished. The Indians destroyed the most of Mr. Gage's (and Claymer's) pack train and a valuable lot of merchandise,
    June 24.--Mr. McAmy was killed, near De Witt's ferry on Klamath River, by Rogue River and Shasta Indians.
    Thomas O'Neil was murdered by Klamath Indians about this time. It is not known whether there was any provocation in this or the foregoing case. It is certain, however, that the Indians were never called to an account in either.
    August 19.--W. G. Perry and George Lake, emigrating from Iowa, and E. B. Cantrell from Illinois, were murdered by Indians east of Fort Boise; and.
    About the same time, John Crittenden, John Badger, Alexander Sawyer, and ---- Wood, also emigrating to Oregon, were murdered at Gravelly Ford, by the Snake Indians.
    August 20.--Alexander Ward, Mrs. Ward, and their seven children, Mrs. White and child, Samuel Mulligan, two brothers Adams, W. Babcock, John Frederick, Rudolph Shultz, Mr. Ames, and a man unknown, emigrants from Missouri and Western States, were killed by the Indians on Snake River. No provocation given.
    September.--Stewart, of Corvallis, Oregon, was murdered by Klamath Indians, on the Middle Oregon emigrant road, where he had gone to meet some friends whom he expected overland, via this route. This murder was entirely unprovoked. The Indians were not punished.
    November 2.--Alfred French was murdered by Indians of Southern Oregon, near Crescent City, California. The murder was wholly unprovoked. It is not probable that more than three of the Indians actually participated in this affair, but many were accessory to it, both before and after the fact. The particulars of the murder were not ascertained until after a jail-full or more of the Indians had been arrested for the act, when they gave such information as led to the discovery of Mr. French's body and the arrest and conviction of the principal in his murder. Mr. French was formerly connected with the publication of The Independence Chronicle, at Independence, Missouri.
    In 1855, May 8.--Hill, a miner on Indian Creek, was murdered by Rogue River Indians. The murder was entirely unprovoked, and was committed in his own house. The Indians were not punished.
    June 1.--Jerome Dyer and Daniel McKew were murdered on the road between Jacksonville and Illinois Valley, by Rogue River Indians from Table Rock reservation. Distance from Fort Lane, about sixteen miles.
    June 2.--Philpot was murdered by the Indians just mentioned. No provocation given in either case.
    July 27.--Peters, a miner, was murdered near Yreka by Rogue River and Shasta Indians. Distance from Fort Jones, about twenty miles.
    July 28.--William Hennessey, Edward Parrish, Austin W. Gay, Peter Hignight, John Pollock, four Frenchmen and two Mexicans, names unknown, were murdered at Buckeye Bar, on Klamath River, by Rogue River Indians from Table Rock reservation, aided, probably, by some of the Shasta and Klamath tribes. Distance from Fort Jones, about fourteen miles. No provocation given, either in this case or that of Mr. Peters.
    September 2.--Granville M. Keene was killed by Modoc and Rogue River Indians, near the head of Rogue River Valley. He was killed while in pursuit of a horse which these Indians had stolen.
    About this time, Mrs. Clark and her son, of Yamhill County (Middle Oregon), were murdered by Indians of the Tillamook tribe. No provocation given. One Indian was hung for this murder.
    About this time, also, Agent A. J. Bolon, ---- Matteese, Elisha Plummer, and six others whose names are unknown, were murdered by the Yakima and other Indians of Northern Oregon and Washington Territory.
    September 24.--Calvin M. Fields and John Cunningham were murdered on the road between Jacksonville and Yreka, by Rogue River Indians from Table Rock reserve, aided, probably, by Indians from the Klamath Lake country.
    September 25.--Samuel Warner was murdered near the place where Fields and Cunningham were, and by the same Indians. No provocation given in either of the cases just cited. Distance from Fort Lane to where the three last-mentioned persons were killed, about twenty-five miles.
    October 9.--Mrs. J. B. Wagoner, Mary Wagoner, Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Haines and two children, George W. Harris, Daniel W. Harris, Frank A. Reed, William Gwin, James W. Cartwright, Powell, Bunch, Fox, Hamilton, White, and probably several others, were killed between Evans' ferry (Rogue River) and Grave Creek by Rogue River Indians from Table Rock reserve; aided by Indians of the Umpqua tribes. Distance from Fort Lane about twenty miles. No provocation given.
    Same day.--Messrs. Hudson and Wilson, packers, were murdered on the road between Crescent City and Indian Creek, by Rogue River and Klamath Indians. No provocation.
    October 16.--Holland Bailey, farmer, was murdered in Cow Creek Valley by Cow Crock and Umpqua Indians, No provocation given,
    November 16.--Charles Scott and Theodore Snow, miners, were murdered on the road between Yreka and Scotts Bar, probably by runners from the Rogue River Indians to those on Salmon and Lower Klamath rivers.
    In 1856, February 23.--Indian agent Ben Wright, John Poland, H. Braun, E. W. Howe, Mr. Wagner, Barney Castle, George McCluskey, Mr. Lara, W. R. Tullus, James Seroc and two sons, Mr. Smith, Mr. Warner, John Geisel and three children, S. Heidrick, Pat. McCullough, and four others, names unknown, were murdered by a tribe of Rogue River Indians who were in charge of Agent Wright and were professedly friendly.
    March 2l.--Whiting and Bell, partners in trade, were murdered near Port Orford, by Southern Oregon Indians.
    March 26.--George Griswold, Norman Palmer, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Mr. Watkins, James St. Clair, and eleven others were killed at the Cascades (on the Columbia River) by Indians of that vicinity. No provocation given.
    June.--Charles Green and Thomas Stewart, miners, were murdered on McKinney's Creek, near Fort Jones, by Shasta or Klamath Indians. No provocation given. The Indians were not called to an account.
    In 1857, January.--Harry Lockhart, Z. Rogers, Adam Boles, D. Bryant, and a German called John were murdered by the Pit River Indians in the valley of that name. No provocation given. Mr. Rogers was a native of Maine.
    I have now proceeded with these recitals of Indian murders as far as it seems necessary for present purposes that I should, though they might still be continued. The hostility of the Modoc, Pit River and Klamath Indians has continued unabated since the date last mentioned, down to the present, and the murders and other depredations committed by them have continued in about the same ratio as before. The Rogue Rivers and other tribes of Southern Oregon, after having been repulsed in their attempt to devastate that region of country in 1855, by "Oregon volunteers," surrendered themselves into the keeping of the regularly constituted authorities of the general government, and were removed to quarters where they are subsisted at the public expense, and where it is hoped they may be forever restrained from a renewal of their bloody work of former years.
    In arranging the foregoing list, I have had recourse to H. Mis. Doc. No. 47, 2nd session, 35th Congress, which contains many of the names mentioned, and much information with regard to the service of volunteers for which pay is now claimed at the hands of Congress. None are included in the list who were killed while bearing arms against the Indians by whom they were killed. The list of actual murders foots up as follows: Total number of persons murdered between November, 1847, and January, 1857, a period of a little over nine years, as per list, 259. Twelve others, whose names are not in my possession, are known to have been killed by the Indians of Southern Oregon and their immediate allies, in 1854-55-56, and I estimate the number killed during these three years by the Indians of Northern Oregon and the Territory of Washington, that are not included in the list, at 26; and among them Colonel Moses, collector at Puget Sound. This gives a total of 297. Add to this number the 64 that were murdered at different times and various places in Oregon, prior to 1847, and it is increased to (361) three hundred and sixty-one. Of these, 237 were murdered by the Indians of Southern Oregon and their allies, the Shastas, and the Klamath, and Pit Rivers; and 124 by the Indians of Northern and Middle Oregon, and the Territory of Washington. Of the 237 charged to the Indians of Southern Oregon, &c., 169 were committed after the spring of 1852, the time when the Rogue River country commenced being settled; 119 after the establishment of Fort Orford and Fort Jones, the latter in November, 1852, and 100 after the establishment of Fort Lane, in September, 1853, while all three of these posts were garrisoned by United States troops. Of the 124 committed by the Indians of Washington Territory, Northern and Middle Oregon, 81 were committed after the first of 1854. In the remaining number, I have included the crew of the ill-fated Tonquin. But, in no other instance have I gone back to an earlier period than 1834, the date of the first efforts of Protestant missionaries to Christianize the Oregon Indians.
    I have included the murder of the Agent Wright, &c., in the list, though it occurred (February 23) some months after the war in the Rogue River country had commenced. But it was perpetrated by a tribe of Indians who were professedly friendly, and were being subsisted by the Indian Department. For similar reasons, I have included the massacre at the Cascades (March 26), and some others of lesser note, in the same category.

Massacre by the Coquille Indians--Account of the same by one of the survivors.
    As the Indians of Oregon, especially the Rogue River and contiguous tribes, are so often represented as the perfect embodiment of all that is generous and noble, I trust that a sample or two of their wonted magnanimity will not be considered out of place here. One of the survivors of the massacre by the Coquille Indians, in August, 1851, in his account of that affair, says: ''We left Port Orford with only about five days ration, and had been out twenty. We had failed to reach the settlements, and were now trying to make our way back to whence we came. On our arrival at the Coquille River, our leader, who was  also our guide, gave out from hunger and fatigue, and declared that he could proceed with us no further. Just at this time, we discovered a small party of Indians coming up the river in canoes. This was a most welcome sight, as it gave us hope that from them we might obtain something to eat. In this, however, we were sorely disappointed, for they would furnish us with nothing whatever in the shape of food.
    "After some deliberation as to what we should do, we decided to trust to the professed friendship of the Indians, and to take passage with them to the mouth of the river, as we could then keep our guide along with us. Accordingly we engaged our passage, for which we gave the Indians all our blankets.
    "We had proceeded down the river but a short distance when we came to a small Indian village, where the Indians were preparing to catch salmon. Here we made another unsuccessful attempt to obtain food. Proceeding on, not yet knowing what stream we were on, the next day, about noon, we arrived opposite a large Indian town within sight of the river's mouth. It had been our intention to proceed immediately to Port Orford via the beach the moment we should arrive at the coast; but the Indians thus far had manifested no particular hostility towards us, except to refuse us food, which our guide was anxious to make one more effort now to obtain. Against this the rest of our company remonstrated; but as all the company, except the guide, were recently arrived on the Pacific coast, and consequently knew nothing of the treacherous character of the Indians, his counsels finally prevailed, and we changed our course for the Indian town. Before reaching it, however, we perceived there were as many as one hundred warriors collected in the vicinity of where we were to land; but as they seemed to comprehend our condition, and manifested a disposition to minister to our necessities by showing us food, &c., our confidence in their friendship, which had at first been somewhat shaken, was again restored, and we prepared to disembark, determined to sell the shirts off our back for any quantity of food, however small. We had only touched the shore, however, when we were set upon by the entire body of the Indians and completely overpowered before we had time to make even a show of defense. Five of our number fell on the spot, and the other five, three of them severely wounded, barely escaped. How any of us escaped seems miraculous. We gave the Indians no cause for their attack upon us. We paid them what they required for our passage, and offered to them pay for whatever we tried to obtain of them."
    It was the neighbors of these Indians, it will be remembered, who murdered the party of eleven at Port Orford the year before. What is true with regard to the perfidy and treachery of any one of these tribes, is true of all that ever infested any portion of Southern Oregon. None ever lost an opportunity to murder a white man unless controlled by fear of punishment or the loss of annuities, and instances are very rare in which they have been controlled even by these considerations. War has ever been their most cherished passion, and in order to secure its indulgence there is, as a general rule, no present advantage that they will not sacrifice, and no future consequences that they will in the least regard. It is claimed that, in the fall of 1851, the Coquille Indians, to whom the statement I have just quoted refers, were chastised by a force of United States troops under the command of Lieut. Colonel Casey. But the action of these troops amounted to little more than a march into the country occupied by these Indians, and then out of it. The Indians were not in the least subdued, and continued their depredations as before, though fortunately with less success, because their former acts of perfidy had learned the whites to guard against them. No attempt, I believe, has ever been made to punish the Indians who murdered the party of eleven at Port Orford in 1850.

Attempted outbreak of the Rogue River Indians--
Massacre of immi
grants &c., by the Modoc tribes, &c., &c.
    The murder of Calvin Woodman, June 2, 1852, in Scotts Valley, and the escape of the murderer to Rogue River, led to a timely prevention of a general outbreak of the Rogue River, Shasta, and surrounding tribes, which must have been exceedingly disastrous to the young settlements then just planted in that region. At the time of this murder, the tribes of Rogue River Valley and the Modocs had already entered into arrangements with each other for the extermination of the whites of the Rogue River country, and also such of the overland immigration as should attempt to pass in over the Southern Oregon route. But, fortunately, the trail of the murderers of Mr. Woodman brought to the camp of the most warlike tribe of the Rogue Rivers (Sam's) a company of Yreka volunteers, under the command of E. Steele, Esq., a gentleman favorably known to the Indians, but who, now that they were bent on war, had no influence whatever over them. After some skirmishing, however, which was participated in by a volunteer company from Jacksonville, the Indians, finding themselves out-generaled, and that the loss in killed was all on their side, expressed a willingness to "make another peace." Fighting was then suspended, and the Indian agent sent for, to whom they promised they would remain peaceable in future; but it amounted to nothing but a promise after all, as subsequent events fully prove. A detailed account of this affair may be found in H. Mis. Doc. 47, second session Thirty-fifth Congress, pages 47-50.
    Though Indian hostilities in the Rogue River country were quelled for the time, unfortunately, it was not so along the Southern Oregon emigrant road, near its western terminus. The Modocs, agreeable, no doubt, to the programme arranged with the Rogue Rivers, commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of the first immigrant trains that came within their reach, and so thoroughly did they perform their hellish work, that it seems almost a miracle that one man should escape from their hands to carry the sad tidings to the settlements. But so it was. One man, out of a party of eighty, saved himself when his companions were falling and being hacked in pieces all around him, by mounting a pack horse, without saddle or bridle or other equipments, and charging directly through the Indian forces. After riding in this manner over one hundred miles, he reached Yreka, and made the acts of the Indians known. A company of volunteers was immediately organized, and under the command of Captain Ben Wright, dispatched to the scene of difficulty, where it arrived just in season to save the destruction of a train of "sixteen wagons and somewhere between forty and sixty persons." (See H. Mis. Doc. 47, second session Thirty-fifth Congress, pages 41-42.)
    A few days after Captain Wright's company had left Yreka, another company was organized, and left for the same destination, under the command of Captain Charles McDermitt, who was then sheriff of Siskiyou County (California), in which Yreka is situated; and about the same time a company from Jacksonville (Oregon), went out on the same service, under command of Colonel John E. Ross, and these volunteer forces were soon after followed by Major Fitzgerald, United States army, with a small detachment of dragoons. With all these forces in the field, the Indians were kept from the road, and were unable to commit any more depredations upon the immigration of that season. Twenty-two bodies were found by Captain Wright's company, and fourteen by the company from Jacksonville. Three others were found by other parties, making the total number of persons actually ascertained to have been killed, thirty-nine, as I have stated.
    In order to become fully assured that the last of the immigration had passed the most dangerous portions of the road, the force of Captain Wright remained upon the trail some days after the other companies had retired from the field. The Indians, now that there was little hope of more immigrants to murder and plunder, turned their attention to the few volunteers left, hardly thirty men, rank and file, and by double-dealing and treachery attempted to cut them off. By means of a squaw, they expressed a desire to make a treaty. Captain Wright, though having no confidence whatever in their professions, informed them that he was ready to hear what they had to say at any time. Accordingly, they appointed the next morning as the time for a talk, and at the same time requested that some fifty or more of them, who were to take part in the proceedings of the next day, should come into camp and remain overnight. This request, too, was granted. Unbeknown to the Indians, however, they were closely watched during the night, and there was no time that their intended victims were not ready for immediate action; that they meditated an attack in the morning when the time arrived for the proposed talk appeared evident before they had long been in camp, and by morning, Wright, who understood something of their language, knew all their plans, and had arranged his own accordingly. I need not enter into detail in alluding to this affair, but suffice it to say, the ''biters were bitten;" hence, the wails of a few pseudo-philanthropists and demagogues who pervert the truth respecting this matter, and then use their perversions to the disparagement of volunteer service subsequently rendered against the same enemy.
    Colonel Ross expended nearly one thousand dollars in this campaign, and the members of his company also contributed freely of their means, and neither he nor they have ever asked for, or received, one dime in payment, either for such expenditures or for services rendered. Captain Steele, also, who, as I have shown, ventured very material aid in suppressing the outbreak in Rogue River Valley, expended between $2,000 and $3,000 in that service, which has never been refunded to him from any source, nor have his services been paid. I cite these as instances in which "the plunder of the Indians and the federal treasury" has not been the object of "Oregon volunteers," and others of that vicinity, Oregon officials and other public functionaries to the contrary notwithstanding. It is, indeed, susceptible of the clearest proofs that, in no case, have Oregon volunteers been actuated by any such motives.
    Fort Jones was established by Major Fitzgerald after his return from this campaign; but as it was seldom garrisoned by more troops than necessary to hold possession, it was never of much utility.

Massacre of miners by Rogue River Indians--Trial of the Indians
before a citizens' jury--Their conviction, confession, and execution.
    The principals in the Galice Creek massacre were the chief "Taylor" and his tribe (Rogue Rivers), with a few individuals from other tribes in that immediate vicinity. The victims were miners. Nothing was known of the fate of these men until some weeks after the murder, when "Taylor," and others of his tribe, visited Vannoy's ferry for the purpose of trading; and exhibiting more gold dust than it was customary for any Indians to have at one time, they were suspicioned of having obtained it by foul means. They were questioned then as to the whereabout of these men. They stated in reply that the party had been washed off from an island on which they were encamped by high water, and all drowned. A further investigation led to the discovery that every one of this party had been murdered by "Taylor" and his band. "Taylor" and some of his headmen were then arrested by the citizens of the neighborhood; and there being no courts yet established in that part of the Territory, they were brought before a citizens' jury, where they were tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hung. Finding that this decree was about to be executed, and seeing no possible chance to escape, they related the particulars of the affair themselves, and boasted of the part they had taken in it. They gave a minute account of the manner in which they tortured their victims after they had disabled them, stabbing them in numerous places with knives, as they said, "just to see 'em jump." Of course, they did not plead justification; but, strange as it may seem, their white apologists now make this plea for them.

Origin of the Rogue River Indian war of 1853--Organization of volunteer troops--
List of volunteers killed and wounded--Treaty of Sep
tember 10--
Continued hostility of the Indians.

    Owing to the prompt chastisement inflicted upon "Taylor " and his band, Indian murders in the Rogue River country were less frequent during the early part of 1853, and the Indians generally were more profuse than usual in their professions of friendship. These professions, however, proved only a blind under which these same Indians matured plans for a renewal of hostilities on a larger scale. By resorting to this ruse, the Indians of Rogue River were enabled to augment their strength, unobserved by the whites, by the accession of warriors from the surrounding tribes; and, in the meantime, being allowed to visit the premises of the settlers when so disposed, they managed to steal a considerable number of guns, revolvers, &c., with more or less ammunition. The rubbish thrown into the streets they examined closely, and anything they found in the shape of lead, or other metal that they could mold into bullets, they carried away. These signs, to the few settlers in that region who knew much of Indian character, foreshadowed evil; but the greater portion of the citizens there still placed the utmost reliance in the fair professions of the Indians; and it was not until Edwards, Wills, Nolan, and others had been murdered, and the Indians had appeared in force at Table Rock again, and declared for war, that they became aware of the danger with which they were threatened. There was then no time to parley, and volunteer companies were organized forthwith, and so disposed as to hold the enemy in check until the aid of the regular troops at Fort Jones could be invoked, for which purpose messengers were immediately dispatched to that post. The messengers reached Fort Jones at noon, August 8th, and six hours after Captain B. R. Alden, Fourth United States Infantry, with a detachment of about twenty men--all his available force--was on the march for the scene of difficulty, where he arrived on the 10th.
    Meanwhile, the danger becoming more and more imminent, and it being ascertained that not more than a half score or so of regular troops could possibly be brought into the field for weeks to come, if at all, additional volunteer companies were enrolled, and the term of service of all made "for during the war, unless sooner discharged." Such of the volunteer companies as were organized when Captain Alden arrived placed themselves at the disposal of that officer, and, at his suggestion, were by him formally received into the United States service. Other companies were afterwards raised and received into the service in the like manner. What transpired subsequently, in the field, is principally of record, and need not be repeated here. For those to ponder, however, who seek to disparage the service rendered on this occasion by volunteers, and who so grossly misrepresent and distort the object of the war, I append the list of killed and wounded, which I believe has never been published.
LIFT OF KILLED--OWENS' COMPANY.
First Lieutenant Thomas Frazelle ] In affair of Lieutenant Frazelle, at
Private James Mungo ] Long's Ferry, August 28.
GOODALL'S COMPANY.
Isham P. Keith, ]
Frank Perry, ]
Asa Colborn, ] In affair of Lieutenant Ely, on Battle Creek,
Alfred Douglass, ] August 17.
L. Stockting, ]
William Neff, ]
John Scarborough, in affair on Evans Creek, August 24.
LAMERICK'S COMPANY.
William B. Rose, on detached service, August 10.
MILLER'S COMPANY.
Frank Garnett, in affair of Lieutenant Griffin, on Applegate Creek, August 10.
WILLIAMS' COMPANY.
Thomas Phillips, in affair on Applegate Creek, September 14.
LIST OP WOUNDED--COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
Brigadier General Joseph Lane, commanding, ] In affair on Evans'
Captain B. R. Allen, Fourth U. S. Infantry, ] Creek, August 24.
First Lieutenant B. B. Griffin, in his affair on Applegate Creek, August 10.
First Lieutenant Simeon Ely, in his affair on Battle Creek, August 17.
PRIVATES--MILLER'S COMPANY.
George W. Anderson, in affair of Lieutenant Griffin, August 10.
William Duke, ] In affair of Captain Miller, on the Southern Oregon
Joseph Watt, ] Emigrant road, October 4.
LAMERICK'S COMPANY.
John R. Hardin, mortally, August 10; died August 14.
John W. Hillman, by accidental discharge of gun, August 19.
Isaac Adams, by accidental discharge of gun, August 19.
GOODALL'S COMPANY.
Zebulon Sheets, in affair of Lieut. Ely, Battle Creek, August 17.
John Alban, in affair of Lieut. Ely, Battle Creek, August 17.
James Carrol, in affair of Lieut. Ely, Battle Creek, August 17.
Henry Flesher, in affair on Evans' Creek, August 24.
C. C. Abbott, mortally (died September 2), in affair on Evans' Creek, August 24.
RHODES' COMPANY.
Thomas Hays, in affair on Evans' Creek, August 24.
    Total killed and died of wounds received during the war, fifteen--including Captain Alden, who died of his wounds in 1855. Wounded, thirteen; of whom Lieutenant Ely, Anderson, Carrol, and Hillman were disabled for life. Total killed and wounded, twenty-eight.
    From the foregoing it would seem that, if the early settlers of Rogue River Valley were the "unprincipled and ungovernable wretches" they  are represented to have been--"far deeper down in the scale of human degradation than any Rogue River Indian was ever known to be," and that they provoked and instigated this war from mercenary motives, as is alleged (House Doc. 114, 2nd session 35th Congress, pages 40-43), they paid dearly for it; and it must appear surpassing strange that they should "originate" another war, so soon after as 1855, with these same Indians. These allegations and innuendos, however, to which I have alluded, both as regards the character of the difficulties of that region, are without the least resemblance of truth, and can never be sustained under oath, either in whole or in part, without subjecting the affiant to the pains and penalties of perjury. But something more of this hereafter.
    The last engagement with the Indians in this war occurred on the 24th day of August, and on the 10th of September a treaty was signed, the terms of which are well known. The Indians were well satisfied with the sale of their lands, and with the country set apart for their exclusive occupation; which, indeed, was of their own choosing, and included much of their best hunting grounds, and, what was of infinitely greater value to them, all their old fisheries. But the spirit of war was still rife in the minds of the young warriors, and the older ones, including most of the chiefs, encouraged it. But one chief only would bide the stipulations of the treaty with regard to the surrender of criminals to be tried by law, and he, for aiding in the capture of a fugitive, was killed by Indians who were bent on a renewal of hostilities whatever the consequence might be. It was in the indulgence of this passion for war that they murdered Mr. Kyle (October 6) in less than one month after the treaty had been signed. This murder was committed, it will be remembered, within about two miles of Fort Lane. In justice to the troops, however, then stationed at that post, it must be said that it was mainly through their exertions that the principal in the murder of Kyle, and the two alleged by the Indians to have been the principals in the murder of Edwards (August 4) and Wills (August 5), were arrested, and finally brought to punishment. It was for aiding in the arrest of these criminals that the chief "Jim," whom I have mentioned as being willing to fulfill his treaty obligations, was killed.
    The murder of Kyle gave a fresh impulse to the war spirit that was then pretty generally prevailing among the Indians, and for awhile it seemed very apparent that open warfare would be immediately resumed. But the action of the military just mentioned seemed not to have been anticipated by the Indians who had been taught to regard the regular troops as their especial friends and allies, and served for the moment to disconcert their schemes, and finally to remove their field of operations to a more respectful distance from the military posts. Accordingly, such as were to continue in the actual commission of depredations--and these included the chiefs John, George, and Limpy, who were parties to the treaty just signed, and Tipsy Tyee, who promised at its signing to conform to its requirements--selected the Siskiyou Mountains, towards Yreka, and other mountainous localities towards Crescent City for the scenes of their perfidious and bloody operations in the future. Such as remained upon the reserve in compliance with the treaty were under the immediate control of "Sam," the principal chief of the tribes of Rogue River Valley, who succeeded in establishing the most friendly relations with the military and the Indian departments, and at the same time converted the reservation into a rendezvous, as well as a retreat, for the Indians who were actively engaged in depredating upon the lives and property of the whites, receiving a full share of the plunder thus obtained. Thousands of dollars' worth of property--mostly stock and provisions--were thus lost to the settlers residing even in the immediate vicinity of the reserve, where it was supposed order could be maintained very conveniently by the troops at Fort Lane, for which not one dime has ever been paid by way of remuneration. In connection with the Modoc and Shasta Indians these depredations were continued across the Siskiyou Mountains into the settlements of Cottonwood and of Shasta Valley, and so seriously was life and property jeopardized in that region, especially in the district of Cottonwood, that Captain Alden, still commanding at Fort Jones, placed in the hands of the settlers there all the muskets he could possibly spare from his post in order that they might be the better enabled to defend themselves whenever necessary. That this precaution on the part of Captain Alden was imperatively demanded by the exigencies of the times appears very evident from the murders committed in that vicinity by the Indians in January, 1854, saying nothing of the depredations upon property, which were then of almost daily occurrence, and continued to be so long afterwards.

The murder of Gibbs, &c.--Treachery of the Indians.
    The killing of Gibbs, Hudgins, Whittier, and others (August 17), though occurring after hostilities in Rogue River Valley had become general, was nevertheless an outright murder, because it was committed by a tribe of Indians who were professedly friendly, and were, at the time, being wholly subsisted at the private expense of Mr. Gibbs and some of his neighbors, and provided with comfortable quarters within a stockade which the settlers of the vicinity had built for their mutual protection. The Indians being thus comfortably situated were enabled to choose their own time and mode of attack, an advantage they soon availed themselves of by murdering their immediate benefactor, and four other persons who had just arrived overland from the East, and had stopped at this place to remain a few days to avoid the dangers of the war that was raging further on. Mr. Gibbs was shot with his own rifle by an Indian whom he had often employed, oftener fed, and sometimes clothed gratuitously, and in whom he had the utmost confidence. Several persons were wounded at this time, some of them severely, and a considerable amount of property belonging to Mr. Dunn, on whose premises the stockade was built, and to other parties, destroyed. No loss whatever occurred on the part of the Indians.

Continuation of hostilities by the Indians of Southern Oregon, in 1854--
A council of war held by the tribes of Southern Oregon and Northern

California--A war of extermination the theme--Volunteers ordered to
the relief of the overland immigration.
    The murder of Hulen, Clark, Oldfield, and Mayden (in January) was no new demonstration of hostility on the part of the Indians, but a continuation of that kind of warfare which they had resumed after the close of the Rogue River war of 1853, and the military at Fort Lane had manifested a disposition to compel them to observe their treaty stipulations by taking part in the arrest and trial of the murderers of Edwards, Wills, and Kyle. Hulen and his companions, as will be seen by referring to the list, were killed while in pursuit of stock which the Indians had stolen and driven to the mountains. The troops at Fort Lane interfered with the Indians in this instance only to the extent of marching to the cave (about twenty-five miles distant), into which the Indians had retired alter accomplishing their bloody work, firing two shots from a howitzer, which served only to frighten the Indians into making another promise to behave better in future, and here the matter was dropped and the troops marched back again to Fort Lane, having accomplished simply--nothing. It was to the neighborhood in which Hulen and other victims lived that Captain Alden disbursed the arms, as before mentioned--a precaution that proved to be taken none too soon, and with good cause.
    The Indians now being assured by what had just transpired that they could settle all difficulties with the military and Indian departments by falsely accusing the whites of being "the first aggressors," and by renewing their old promise of better conduct in future, began again to prepare themselves for more extended operations. The better to conceal their intentions, however, they affected to entertain the kindliest feelings towards the whites, alleging on every convenient occasion, that they were desirous that peace and confidence should be fully restored, and that it should become permanent. But in the meantime they were very assiduous in their efforts to procure arms and ammunition, to obtain which they scrupled at nothing. It was for this purpose that they murdered Phillips (April 15), and Gage (June 15), securing in both instances that which they so much coveted.
    About the time of the murder of Gage nearly all the tribes of Southern Oregon and of Northern California met in council at a place on Klamath River, about sixteen miles from Fort Jones, and, perhaps, forty miles from Fort Lane. This council was convened clandestinely and on purpose to arrange a programme for the prosecution of the war then in contemplation. And, but for the influence exercised over the Scotts Valley Indians by E. Steele, Esq., whom I have mentioned as having acted a prominent part in suppressing Indian hostilities in 1852, the fact that this council convened at all would, probably, never have been known to the whites--at any rate, not until after its plans had fully matured and were being put in execution. The fact that this council was to convene was first made known to Mr. Steele, who immediately communicated it to Judge A. M. Rosborough, then an Indian agent for Northern California. Agent Rosborough took prompt cognizance of the matter, and ascertained precisely what the object of the council was. He says (H. Mis. Doc. No. 47, Thirty-fifth Congress, second Session) "In June, 1854, I was informed by several chiefs of the Scotts and Shasta Valley tribes that runners had been sent to their tribes to summon them to a general war council to be held at a point on the Klamath called Horse Creek. I consulted with Lieutenant J. C. Bonnycastle, United States army, then stationed at Fort Jones. He and myself concurred in the propriety of advising the chiefs who had reported the movement to attend the war council and report to us the whole proceedings.
    "The chiefs returned from the council and reported the tribes of Illinois River, Rogue River, and the Upper Klamath River, and its tributaries represented in the council, and all but themselves (the chiefs who had reported the movement to me) were for combining, and commencing in concert an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites.
    "The Upper Klamath or Klamath Lake Indians (with the exception of the tribe of which Lalakes is chief) commenced their depredations by killing whites and stealing stock, and a report was current among the friendly Indians that those hostiles intended to destroy the immigrants as fast as they came from the valley of the Humboldt."
    To frustrate the plans of the Indians with regard to the immigration, Governor Davis, of Oregon, in the absence of any action by United States troops, caused a company of volunteers to be enrolled at Jacksonville and dispatched with all possible haste to the scene of danger in the Klamath Lake country. Just in advance of this company on its march into the hostile country were a few citizens from Yreka, who were going to meet some friends and warn them of the impending danger. But on their arrival at the place where the massacre of August, 1852, took place, they found the Indians in force along both sides of the road, well prepared, and evidently with the intent to resume their bloody work of former years upon the first of the immigration that should come within their reach. After some skirmishing they fell back to the Oregon company, which they joined, and thus accomplished the purpose for which they set out. The company remained m the field for some three months, and the good that it accomplished can never be computed except by those on whose behalf it was rendered. Every individual of that year's immigration that passed the Humboldt for Yreka or Jacksonville were guarded through the hostile country, and, so far as injuries by Indians were concerned, either in person or property, reached their destination unarmed. As in all other instances, however, where volunteers have been called into the field in Oregon, the motive which actuated and sustained this service has been grossly misrepresented; by those, too, who should have removed the necessity for its rendition. This being the case, a word in its vindication may not be out of place here. I quote from the reports of officers of the Indian Department, who, be it observed, seldom acknowledge the justness or necessity of any volunteer service ever rendered in the suppression of the Indian wars and difficulties, of which Oregon has been so prolific. General Palmer, in 1854, while Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon, reports officially respecting the hostile disposition of the Modocs and Piutes, against whom this expedition was sent, as follows: They "have always evinced a deadly hostility to the whites, and have probably committed more outrages than any other interior tribe. The Modocs boast, the Klamaths told me, of having, within the last four years, murdered thirty-six whites." In a subsequent communication, not official (see House Mis. Doc. No. 47, Thirty-fifth Congress, second session), he says: "That portion of the southern emigrant road between the headwaters of Humboldt River to the crossing of the Siskiyou Mountains has ever been infested by Indians who seldom allow an opportunity to pass without stealing, plundering, and murdering emigrants, if they had the power to do so." Respecting the service of the volunteers, he adds: "In August, 1854, I visited the Indians inhabiting the country about Klamath Lake. That visit, and the presents distributed, the sending messengers to the Modocs, Mo-e-twas (Piutes), and Shoshones, together with the presence of a mounted  and well-armed volunteer force in their country, contributed to restrain those lawless bands from committing their usual depredations.
    "Previous to my expedition to the Klamath country, I had expected that a detachment of United States dragoons would be directed to scour the country between Fort Lane and Fort Boise, on Snake River, crossing the mountains on the emigrant road (the southern) and passing through the country of the Modocs and Shoshones, but from some cause this was not done. * * *
    "There can be no doubt but that the presence of the volunteer force * * * tended materially to render a safe conduct of the emigrants through the country occupied by these lawless tribes in 1854."
    Mr. Palmer visited only the tribe of Lalakes, whom Agent Rosborough represents, and doubtless correctly, as being friendly. Without an escort similar to the one he anticipated, which he mentions, it would have been the height of folly for him to have attempted to visit the hostile tribes, whom the volunteers were sent to hold in check until the immigration should pass them. Mr. Palmer was fully aware of this, and, prior to his setting out for the Klamath country, wrote to Mr. Culver, the agent for the Table Rock reserve Indians, and residing at Fort Lane, that he should anticipate the arrival in that country of troops from that post about the time he should reach it. Mr. Culver replied that no troops would be sent into that country from Fort Lane, but that "fortunately a company of volunteers had been sent out by the Governor, which would doubtless answer the desired purpose." I quote Mr. Culver from memory, as this correspondence does not appear in the regular report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. It may be found, however, on the files of the Commissioner's office. Thus it is evident that Mr. Culver, at the very time this volunteer service was called into requisition, considered it necessary, even for the protection and safety of the highest functionary of the Indian Department in Oregon, whose errand among the Indians was one exclusively of peace, or, in other words, to purchase their friendship for a valuable consideration in such goods as they most desired, and had previously obtained only by murdering and plundering the whites. Mr. Culver's report is entitled to much weight, because his location was such that it enabled him to know of his own knowledge whereof he states. His testimony, too, with regard to the disposition of the Indians at this time, in and around Rogue River Valley, is corroborative of what I have before stated. He says, in his report of July 20 (see Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, page 296:) "It was, and is now, a general belief among the settlers in the valley that a war with the Indians here this summer is inevitable, and on two or three occasions it appeared as though such a calamity was indeed near at hand. But, by prompt attention, aided by the generous forbearance of our citizens," &c., "peace has, so far, been preserved." This peace was pretty generally observed in Rogue River Valley during the remainder of the year, but only because the proceedings of the council on the Klamath had been discovered. After the Indians became aware that their plans were known to the whites, and that the service of volunteers was again called into requisition to thwart their purposes with regard to the immigration on the Southern Oregon road, those of Rogue River Valley and the immediate vicinity ceased their depredations upon the lives and property of the settlers, in a great degree, and quietly resumed the garb of friendship, which, as a general rule, they retained until the following spring. But while this was the happy result of the precautionary measures adopted by Governor Davis, with regard to the safety of the immigration via the Southern Oregon route, unfortunately no such measures were taken for the safety of that upon the northern route, and the consequences, as will be seen, were widely different.

The massacre of immigrants near Fort Boise--Statement concerning same.
    The murder of some twenty-two persons (August 19 and 20) on the Northern Oregon emigrant route, near Fort Boise, was the direct result of an overweening confidence in the Indians on the part of the military and Indian departments, and participated in, perhaps, to some extent, by the Oregon public. If the military stationed in the northern part of Oregon had gone out upon the road, instead of remaining in quarters during the summer, and warned the immigration against the perfidy and treachery of the Indians, and afforded such protection as the exigencies of the case demanded, or had volunteers been appointed to this service, as upon the southern route, the victims of the Ward massacre, at least (seventeen in number), would doubtless have been saved. But, as the fact that this massacre occurred is generally admitted, I will confine my remarks respecting it to some of its details, just to show some of the gross inconsistencies--to call them by a mild name--of the demagogues and pseudo-philanthropists who seek to disguise the real Oregon Indian by representing him as possessing such ennobling traits of character as are seldom found within the realms of civilization. I quote from a statement made to an Oregon newspaper (The Oregonian) by a gentleman who was one of a party of citizens that went to the scene of the massacre a day or two after it was committed, to rescue, if possible, any persons who might be found alive. On arriving at the place where the attack was made, they found the body of Mr. Ward and five others, and, within a short distance, the body of Mr. Ames. Proceeding along the trail the Indians had taken, about two hundred yards from where the first bodies were found, the body of Miss Ward was discovered. The correspondent says:
    "She had been shot through the head with a musket. Her person was much bruised, her hands showing signs of her having fought most desperately to resist the fiendish attacks of these savages upon her youthful person. The marks of teeth were plainly visible upon her left cheek. A hot iron had been thrust into her private parts, doubtless while she was alive, to punish her for her resistance and their (the Indians) being unable to accomplish their hellish ends upon one so young. * * *
    "The body of Mrs. White was found, stripped of its clothing. She had been scalped, her head beat in with clubs, and a musket ball had passed through it. Her person showed signs of the most brutal violence. * * *
    "Here the body of Mrs. Ward and three children were found. That of Mrs. Ward was lying in the encampment (just deserted), in front of the fire. It was robbed of all its covering and was much scarred by brutish bruises. Her face bore a deep wound, inflicted with a tomahawk, which probably caused her death. They had also violated her person; and what rendered the sight still more shocking, she was soon to have become a mother again. The children were lying on the fire, having been held there by the hair of their heads until burned to death, and the mother doubtless compelled to witness the scene. Several parts of limbs were picked up some distance from the fire, having been dragged away by the wolves or the Indians' dogs."
    This, and other cases cited, I think, is sufficient evidence that it is with the real, and not the imaginative or poetic Indian that the people of Oregon have had to deal. The author of the foregoing statement has for several years held a prominent position in one of the departments of the regular service in Oregon, and is a man of well-known integrity. His statement is corroborated, too, by Agent R. R. Thompson. (See report Com. Indian Affairs, 1854, page 278.)

Hostile demonstrations of the Southern Oregon Indians, in 1855--Origin
of the war of 1855-56--Organization of Colonel Ross' regiment of
volunteers--Organization of the volunteer force under the proclamation
of Governor Curry--List of the killed and wounded of Ross' regiment--Ditto (partial) of the first and second regiments,
    The timely discovery, in June, 1854, that the Indians of Southern Oregon and Northern California, in a council convened for the purpose, had formally declared a war of extermination against the whites of that region, and the precaution that followed on the part of the latter caused the tribes of Rogue River Valley and vicinity to delay, for the time, the execution of their part of the programme which the council had adopted. But in the meantime a more extensive combination was effected, including, it is believed, nearly all the tribes of Oregon and Washington, and Northern California. During the progress of these arrangements, comparatively few depredations were committed by the Southern Oregon tribes or their immediate neighbors. But as soon as spring set in, the more impatient among them resumed their depredations upon property, and occasionally upon life. As early as June, however, these depredations, both upon life and property, became more frequent, and were participated in by nearly all the tribes in the vicinity, those upon reservations as well as those who were not. The murder of Dyer, McKew, and Philpot (June 1, 2) was perpetrated by a party or tribe of Indians from Table Rock reserve, and within a very few miles of Fort Lane. Troops from that post went in pursuit of the murderers on this occasion, but being unable to capture them, a company of volunteers, under command of Captain Fry, and neighbors to the murdered men, started upon their trail, and soon compelled them to flee to the regulars as a means of safety. The volunteers then returned home, and the Indians were escorted back to the reserve by the troops, where, after receiving a slight reprimand from the officers in charge, they were allowed to depart again whithersoever they would, with no restraint upon them whatever.
    The murder of eleven men, July 28, on Klamath River, was also participated in by.the Indians of Table Rock reservation, to which they were traced by volunteers, enlisted for the purpose, in the vicinity of where the outrage was committed. Property was found among these Indians which belonged to their victims, and was surrendered to the volunteers through and by the advice of the military and Indian officers at the reserve; but the murderers were not surrendered, even upon an executive requisition. Two only were ever surrendered for trial, and these not until after the war, which soon followed, had commenced. Nor did the depredations of the Indians cease with the murders just cited, but, on the contrary, they became more frequent, and were committed in a more defiant and daring manner. The murder of Keene, Fields, Cunningham, and Warner soon followed, though with regard to these cases the proof is not positive against the reserve Indians--that is, it is not positively evident that they were interested in them as principals, but there can be no doubt that they were accessories after the fact, if not before, as the trail of the murderers was traced to an encampment of reserve Indians, who had gone outside their reserve limits in defiance of the proper authority, and had insolently and positively refused to return. That the reserve Indians were engaged in the massacre of October 9, near Evans' ferry, is generally admitted, even by those who apologize for the act. 
    The massacre near Evans' ferry (Rogue River), October 9, was a premeditated affair, whatever has or may be said to the contrary notwithstanding, and instigated chiefly by the Indians of Table Rock reserve, by whom it was consummated with the aid of Indians from the Umpqua and others that were not in annuity with the United States. All the chiefs (except "Sam"), with their respective tribes, were absent from the Table Rock reserve at this time, and had been off and on, at will, for a long time previous. "Sam'' remained upon the reserve even after the war that followed this massacre had become general--not, however, because he was averse to it; but to play the spy upon the regular troops, into whose confidence he had succeeded in ingratiating himself to the fullest extent, and to direct the movements of those tribes who were openly prosecuting the war accordingly. As I have already indicated, the military and Indian departments had ceased some time previous to have any controlling influence over these reserve Indians, or any others, and so far as either of these departments were concerned, the Indians were the absolute masters of the country--going when and where they pleased, murdering and plundering whom they pleased, and returning to claim and receive the protection of the authorities they had set at defiance, whenever necessitated to do so by the citizens, whom they had outraged beyond further endurance. That this was emphatically the case, is proved beyond all question, I think, by the facts I have adduced respecting the murders and other depredations these reserve Indians had previously committed, for which no punishment was inflicted, and no guarantee taken that such atrocities should not be continued. At different times and places during the four and a half months immediately preceding this massacre, be it observed, these Indians had murdered in cold blood not less than nineteen unsuspecting citizens, wounded many more, and destroyed a no small amount of property. Yet they were represented as perfectly harmless and peaceable by those having them or who should have had them in charge, and no means were taken to prevent the continuance of the atrocities just cited, on whose authors, except in the case of two who participated in the massacre on Klamath River, July 28, no punishment was ever inflicted. But to the massacre under consideration.
    For several weeks prior to the 9th of October, such of the reserve Indians and others as were afterwards found to have been designated to commence the general slaughter of the settlers in and around Rogue River Valley, were in the habit of holding nightly powwows in different parts of the country--off the reserve, of course--and generally in pretty close proximity to the settlements; so near as to be distinctly heard, and to create misgivings as to their meaning. Very frequently, too, parties of them would visit the settlers in the daytime, and very often painted and otherwise decorated in their customary war style. But when interrogated as to the meaning of these warlike demonstrations, they invariably replied that they were merely on a hunting excursion, and that their powwows were simply meetings for the purpose of gambling. These representations seemed not altogether out of character, and for the time served to allay the suspicions of the settlers. But it soon became evident that the number of the Indians was increasing at such a rate as would soon place the destruction of the settlements in their power, if such was their design. Their meetings, too, became more boisterous as they grew larger, and the parties visiting the whites became more insolent and overbearing, and wore a more warlike appearance. Such was the state of things on the morning of the 9th of October, and such had been the state of things for some time previous in the very neighborhood in which the massacre took place.
    In the execution of their bloody work, the Indians divided their force into several parties and made their attack at different points in the neighborhood almost simultaneous. The chiefs, "George'' and "Limpy," commanded in person along the road; but the leadership of the several parties designated to murder the families were delegated to such warriors as had either been in the employ of, or had been suffered to loiter about the premises of their intended victims until they had learned where and how to deal the surest and most fatal blow. Those who were foremost in the attack at Wagoner's, Jones', Haines', Harris', and so on, were well known to those families, had been in their service from time to time, and had often received favors and kindness from them when out of it. In the attack upon Jones' house, he was killed at the onset, and Mrs. Jones mortally wounded, though not utterly disabled for the moment. Seeing her husband dying, and the Indians cutting him in pieces, she fled towards some brush which was near by, whither she was immediately followed by an Indian who had been in the employ of her husband, and in whom she had placed the greatest confidence. Seeing none but this Indian following her, and thinking that perhaps he might still be her friend she awaited his approach, and then implored his protection. His reply was, "You damned b--h, I'll kill you," and thereupon fired at her with his revolver. The shot took effect only in her arm, but she fell as if dead; and he, supposing his shot had been fatal, left her and returned to his companions. Mrs. Jones escaped to Vannoy's ferry, where she died the next day. At Wagoner's, no one escaped to tell the particulars of the attack there; but the Indians themselves, even now, boast of the affair, and do not hesitate to say who were engaged in it. Their story of the matter does not conflict with what I have stated. They state, also, the manner in which they accomplished their purpose. It seems that the house was first set on fire, and Mrs. Wagoner and her daughter were then compelled to remain in it until burned to death. Their nearly consumed remains were found in the smoldering ruins of the house on the following day. The Indians were equally successful at Haines'. At Harris', however, they were suspected before they could get possession of the house, and consequently their work was less complete. Finding themselves suspicioned, they commenced the attack somewhat prematurely, and consequently succeeded in killing only three of the five they intended. Mr. Harris received a fatal wound at the first fire; but falling partially into the house, his wife and daughter, the latter severely wounded, succeeded in drawing him inside and barring the door so effectually as to keep the Indians without. While dying, Mr. Harris instructed his wife how to load and use the rifle, and bade her defend herself to the last; an order that she most heroically obeyed. For nearly twenty-four hours she defended herself against the besiegers, and was then rescued by some volunteers from Jacksonville. Master Harris and Mr. Reed were in a field close by when the attack was made, and both fell a prey to the enemy. The other victims of this massacre were mostly travelers, some of whom belonged in the Willamette Valley. Mr. Gwin was an employee of the Table Rock agency, and was killed on the reserve.
    There were circumstances preceding this massacre, and intimately connected with it, which I think it highly important that they should be understood. The people of the vicinity, in which this lamentable affair occurred, had been repeatedly warned by their friends, who resided in nearer proximity to Fort Lane and Table Rock agency, of the overt acts and the general insubordination of the reserve Indians, and the utter inability of the Indian and military authorities to restrain or control them; and that, as a consequence, a war must soon ensue. But these wholesome warnings were, in every instance, counteracted by the officials in charge at the reserve, and by politicians who sought to gain an advantage over their opponents in Southern Oregon by charging them with inciting the Indians to acts of hostility "in order to create opportunities to plunder the public treasury." Though, as the list shows, the Indians had recently committed numerous murders and other aggressions union the citizens of Southern Oregon and Northern California, and had been permitted to repeat them at will, so far as any authority of the general government was concerned, yet these politicians, orally, and through the medium of a licentious press, continued to assure the public that the Indians meditated no harm, and, at the same time, alleging that the murders, &c., that the Indians had already committed were instigated by certain white men having "plunder for their object." And officers, of both the Indian and military departments, who had been grossly derelict and had otherwise erred in the performance of their duty in the premises, found the reproduction and repetition of these false accusations very convenient to shield their derelictions and incompetency from public scrutiny.
    Mrs. Wagoner, one of the victims of the massacre, had been warned of the hostile attitude of the reserve Indians by her friends at Jacksonville, where she was visiting on the 7th (two days before her death), and where she was urged to remain until the Indians should return to the reserve, or means be taken to guard the settlements against them. She decided to go home, however, and accordingly on the morning of the 8th set out on her journey, calling at Fort Lane on her way to inquire whether, indeed, any cause existed for the apprehensions her friends had expressed, and receiving the customary assurance from the commanding officer at that post that such apprehensions were utterly groundless. Here, too, she was joined by two of the politicians I have already alluded to, who were journeying her way and accompanied her home, where they remained overnight. On reaching home, Mrs. Wagoner informed her husband of what she had been told, and stated it as her opinion that matters were much worse than the officers at the fort, and the gentlemen who came with her, would acknowledge. He then sought his guests, of whom he made inquiry respecting these matters himself, and received substantially the same answers that had been given to his wife. They represented the Indians at the agency as being perfectly quiet, when they knew that the opposite was the case, and that for weeks the Indians there had set all authority at defiance, and had murdered citizens with perfect impunity. They took this occasion also to repeat certain calumnies which they, in connection with others, had devised and promulgated against a few political offenders residing at Jacksonville, which were to the effect that these individuals were trying to incite Indian hostilities so as to gain an "opportunity to plunder the public treasury." The object of these calumnies was to bring reproach upon the parties accused by creating the public impression that they were the cause of the murders and depredations the Indians had already committed, and should be held accountable if worse results followed. In the morning Mr. Wagoner's guests departed for their homes just in time to escape the fate that on that day befell their hostess and her daughter, and all other persons in that immediate vicinity. Mr. Wagoner, from whom I received these statements, happened to be absent from his house when the Indians made the attack and therefore escaped. His first knowledge of the affair was, when, on his return to within sight of his premises, he found his house in flames and surrounded by the Indians.
    As the list of murders indicates, the treaty of September 10, 1853 with the Rogue River Indians, and the establishment of Fort Lane at that time, afforded no protection to the citizens of that region, no barrier whatever against Indian murders and depredations, which the legitimate authorities permitted to increase unatoned, until forbearance on the part of the whites could no longer be exercised without involving the loss of many lives and the total destruction of all the settlements in the Rogue River country. During the period that intervened between the close of the war with those Indians in 1853, to the open declaration of war by the same Indians in October, 1855, the people of Rogue River Valley did not molest nor interfere with them in any manner whatever, but left their management and all dealings with them wholly and exclusively to the military and Indian Department. Yet, as the list proves, the adoption of this policy served only to increase the difficulty, since Indian murders and depredations became more and more frequent, those departments proving utterly incapable of suppressing them or of bringing their perpetrators to justice. The murder of Dyer and McKew, June 1; Philpot, June 2; Peters, July 27; Hennessey, Parrish, and the nine others, July 28; Keene, September 2; Field and Cunningham, September 24, and Warner the next day; all occurring within four and a half mouths prior to the massacre of October 9, saying nothing of those committed previous to June 1, were left to be atoned for to the military and Indian authorities; but I believe that in no instance were the Indians punished for any of these offenses, or any restraint whatever put upon them. After the killing of the three first named, a detachment of regular troops belonging to Fort Lane went in pursuit of the Indians, and, after having secured them, through the efforts of citizens, however, whom the Indians had marked for their prey, let them go again without holding them to any account, or placing them under any restraint whatever. In the case of Peters, Hennessey, Parrish, &c., volunteers were raised in the neighborhood where the massacre occurred, who traced the Indians directly to Table Rock reserve, where they found property which had belonged to their murdered friends. Such of this property as could be identified was surrendered to the friends of the victims through the instrumentality of the Indian agent and the officer in charge at Fort Jones. But as to the offenders, if they were demanded at this time to be given up, by other than the volunteers, the demand was totally disregarded then, as afterwards. Two only of these Indians, out of, probably, twenty-five or thirty, directly engaged in the massacre, having for their accessories every Indian upon the reservation, were ever surrendered for trial by law; and these, not because of the justness of the demand, but to keep up a show of friendship until the plans for a general war then in contemplation should be more fully matured. Upon the promise of the authorities at the reservation that the Indians should be justly dealt with for this offense, the volunteers returned home. This promise, however, was never fulfilled. But it is due to the officer in command at Fort Lane to state that it was currently reported that he attempted to fulfill his part of the promise by trying, some weeks after the massacre took place, to arrest those who were actually engaged in it, but was forced to desist by the whole body of the reserve Indians appearing in arms against him and forcing him to retire to his post; leaving them masters of the field and exceedingly jubilant over their victory. In the case of Keene, a detachment of troops from Fort Lane reached the scene of the murder, about twenty miles distant, on the third day after it had been committed, but did not pursue the Indians. In the case of Field, Cunningham, and Warner, however, I am glad to say, there was a commendable effort made by Major Fitzgerald, United States army, who had just then arrived at Fort Lane with his troop, to trace up the murderers; and, in so doing, very gladly accepted the service of citizens, who acted as guides. The Indians, however, had too great a start to be overtaken, but were traced to within a short distance of the camp of the Butte Creeks, who, some time before, had left the reserve in defiance of the proper authority, and now, as they had repeatedly done, refused to return, and dared the Indian agent to make the attempt to compel them. He, however, made no effort to enforce his authority, either with regard to this particular tribe, or those others who had left the reserve with the same hostile intentions, and were already menacing the settlements of Illinois Valley and its tributaries, Applegate and Deer creeks, as well as those which came to be the scene of the massacre of October 9.
    From early in the previous spring up to the very moment of the outbreak in October, the Indians had been under very little restraint from either the Indian or military departments, and on this account had been active in making preparations again to carry out the programme arranged by the Klamath council in June, 1854. It was to this end that they left the reservation (all except the chief Sam and his tribe), and took up positions at different points in and around Rogue River Valley, that, in a warlike view, possessed the greatest advantages. The chief "John," with his tribe, took to the mountains between Rogue River and Illinois Valleys, where he could have easy access to both, as well as the settlements on Applegate and Deer creeks. "George" and "Limpy" took stations further down Rogue River, and in close proximity to the settlements which became the scene of their bloody operations of October 9. The Butte Creeks, in conjunction with the Modocs, occupied the country along the eastern limits of Rogue River Valley from the reservation southerly to and across the Siskiyou Mountains, thus completing a cordon of outposts around Rogue River Valley and the settlements of Applegate and Deer creeks, and partially around those of Illinois River. Some of these positions the Indians had occupied for weeks, and some, indeed, for months, prior to the 1st of October, though generally not by so large a number as at that date. These things were fully known to the military at Fort Lane, as well as to the Agent Ambrose; but yet they continued to assure the public that no danger need be apprehended.
    From the time that Major Fitzgerald traced the murderers of Field, Cunningham, and Warner, to or very near the camp of the Butte Creeks, when the purpose of the Indians that were in a state of insubordination to the regular constituted authority became too apparent to be misunderstood, a company of volunteers acted as a safeguard for the Butte Creek settlement, and for the settlements of Upper Rogue River Valley, which contained not only many families, but all the flour mills in the Rogue River country, which it was essential to the public welfare should be saved, whatever might be the result of the threatening demonstrations the Indians were making. The greater portion of this company, however, remained in the Butte Creek neighborhood to watch the movements of the hostiles there. In the meantime the Indian agent and the military made several ineffectual attempts to induce the Indians, the Butte Creeks particularly, to return to the reserve. The last effort made by the regular troops was on Saturday, October 6th; but, meeting with no better success than before, they returned to quarters, leaving the volunteers still to guard against the enemy, as he was now proved beyond all doubt to be. The Agent Ambrose, taking with him Mr. Lupton, who was well and favorably known to these Indians, made his last effort to induce them to return to the reserve on Sunday, October 7th. Their reply to him was that they would not return; that they had decided on war, and were now prepared for it; that they could easily kill all the "Boston men" (meaning citizens), because they were all cowards and would not fight, a conclusion they would very naturally come to after being permitted to go scot-free for the numerous murders they had committed during the two previous years. In this state of defiant insubordination the agent left them, and, after visiting the camp of the volunteers, where he left Lupton, returned home.
    With the termination of the last-mentioned interview with the Indians ended all hope that peace could be restored, or the settlements of Rogue River Valley preserved from destruction, unless compulsory measures were at once adopted to disperse the hostiles, and if nothing more, compel them to seek the protection of the authorities at the reservation, as had been their custom in times past when punishment for their enormities was likely to be inflicted by citizens. They were gaining, too, in strength by daily accessions from contiguous tribes who were not in annuity with the United States (the Modocs and others), and in addition to their declarations for war, had just taken possession of the house of one of the settlers of that neighborhood--its inmates, Mr. Ducker and wife, escaping under the cover of night while their would-be-murderers were approaching. Accordingly on the evening of the 7th, when the result of the agent's efforts of that day was made known to the volunteers, it was decided to delay action no longer than was absolutely necessary. The order of attack was then arranged, and the next morning put into execution. The attack was commenced while it was yet too dark to distinguish one Indian from another, and by this reason it so happened that several squaws and children were killed. None were killed after it became light enough to distinguish the sexes. I mention this fact because the action of the volunteers on this occasion has been grossly misrepresented.  They are accused of having attacked a "few squaws and decrepit old men," and murdered them with more than savage cruelty. Such, however, is not the fact. If no other testimony could be obtained to refute the accusation, the loss on the part of the volunteers would be good evidence that there were other than cripples, squaws, and children in the fight on the other side. Two of the whites, Lupton and Sheppard, were wounded, mortally, and some seven others more or less severely. It is true, as has been said, that the bodies of but few warriors were found on the ground after the action was over. But this was owing to the fact that the Indians observed their usual custom in such cases, and carried off their warriors as fast as they became disabled or killed. But few warriors escaped, and such of the tribe as remained when the affair ended, returned to the reserve somewhat wiser for their experience, if less in number, and were there properly cared for. This is the affair in which Lupton has been represented as the leader. But it is due to truth, as well as to the volunteers who served on that occasion, to state that he had no lot or part in it except in the way I have indicated. He was not even a private of the volunteer corps, had nothing whatever to do with its organization, nor had he the control of a single individual belonging to it. He came to the volunteer camp as I have stated, in company with the Indian agent, to whom, as well to the military at Fort Lane, the purpose and every movement of the volunteers from the day of their organization, about a week previous, was fully known. Even the affair itself occurred within hearing of the fort, and the agency, not over a half hour's march for dragoons from the former, and perhaps an hour's ride from the latter, and though the action last some seven hours, yet no protest against the proceedings of the volunteers came from either of those authorities, at that time, or at any time previous, and for very good reasons. The troops and the Indian agent had lost all control, little as they ever had, over the Indians, and the service of the volunteers was absolutely necessary, not only to save the settlements of the Upper Rogue River Valley from certain destruction, but also for the safety of the regular troops themselves. For the Indians, since their repeated and unsuccessful resistance to the regular military authority, held regular troops in not much higher estimation than they did citizens, upon whom they had been permitted to depredate almost unceasingly, and with perfect impunity, during the two previous years.
    The precaution taken by the people of the upper Rogue River Valley with regard to the Butte Creek Indians served to put the people of Illinois River upon their guard against that portion of the Indian force that had obtained a position in that vicinity, and thus frustrated the enemy's designs with regard to that region of country. The Indian agent, too, some time in September, had privately intimated to certain of his friends there that a general war with the Indians was inevitable, and that they had better lose no time in preparing for it. Acting upon this intimation, and in view of the hostile attitude the Indians generally had assumed, a messenger was sent to Crescent City, California, for arms. This was on or about the first of October; at any rate, it was before the affair with the Butte Creeks had taken place. Some twenty rifles, belonging to the State of California, were by this means obtained and brought into Illinois Valley, just as hostilities had become general and arms of this description much needed. By the timely precaution of the people of Illinois Valley, Deer Creek, &c., their settlements were saved, though their loss in stock was considerable.
    Unlike their neighbors just mentioned, the citizens near Evans' ferry took no measures to guard against the Indians, even those stationed in close proximity to them, and therefore were easily overcome, as I have shown in my statement respecting the massacre that occurred there (October 9), to which I need not refer in detail now. As to the report, however, that this massacre was a ''retaliatory act"--the result of the affair with the Butte Creek Indians on the 8th--I have to say, that in truth it has no foundation whatever; that it originated with a clique of politicians, who had for their object the injury of a few men whom they could not control in political matters, and for this reason sought to render them odious to the community in which they lived, by charging them with being the instigators of the various murders which the Indians had from time to time committed. I have referred to a couple of the representatives of this clique in my ''remarks" upon the massacre here mentioned; they who counseled Mr. Wagoner and his family falsely on the morning of October 9th, and had also done the same at other points along the road they traveled the day previous. It was not until this report and these accusations had gained a wide publicity in Oregon, that they were appropriated by officers of the army and of the Indian Department, and ingrafted in their reports. And it will here be observed, that the identical officers who have thus placed these misrepresentations upon record, are those who permitted the Indians to become their masters, and were solely responsible for the difficulties and enormities thereby engendered.
    On the 12th of October Colonel John E. Ross, of the ninth regimental district of Oregon, by virtue of his commission, and pursuant to a resolution of the citizens of Jacksonville and that vicinity, assumed command in his district, and commenced the organization of a regiment of mounted volunteers for the defense of the settlements in the Rogue River country against the hordes of hostile Indians by which they were menaced on every hand. On the 14th he had nine companies, consisting of about 500 men, under his command, and on duty in the most exposed portions of his district, including the settlements of Rogue River and Illinois Valleys, and those of Applegate Creek, Deer Creek, Butte Creek, Galice Creek, Grave Creek, Cow Creek (in the adjoining county, Douglas), and Sterling. Several of these companies, however, had been organized and on duty at some of the points mentioned since the day of the massacre at Evans'. The regiment, between the 14th of October and 1st of November, was increased to fifteen companies, consisting, rank and file, of about 750 men. The almost instantaneous appearance of so large a force in the field disconcerted the plans of the Indians, and those under the chief ''John" sought their mountain retreats to await a more favorable opportunity to carry out their cherished designs, but, in the meantime, continued to destroy such property, stock, &c., as they could get at without incurring too much risk. Those under "George" and "Limpy," however, who commanded at the massacre on the 9th, attacked the settlement at the mouth of Galice Creek on the morning of the 17th, but were repulsed by Captain Lewis, who had just been stationed there with a company of about forty men. The Indians kept up the attack during the day, and retired under the cover of night. The loss on the part of the volunteers was four killed and seven wounded. Among the latter was Captain Lewis himself. No whites were killed except such as belonged to the company. What the loss of the Indians was is not known; undoubtedly, it was considerable.
    On the 22nd of October the Indians attacked the settlements in Cow Creek Valley, but, as Captain Rinearson, with about sixty men, was on duty in that quarter, they were unable to effect a very great slaughter of the settlers, but they destroyed a very large amount of property. In this affair. Captain Rinearson had one man killed and one wounded. Some of the settlers were wounded, and, if I remember correctly, several were killed.
    Finding their plans for the destruction of the settlements anticipated at every point by the volunteers, the Indians concentrated the greater part of their force in the Grave Creek Hills, securing a position almost impregnable, and affording them easy access to several of the settlements. Here they were attacked on the 31st of October by a considerable force of regulars and volunteers--the former under the command of Captain Smith, United States army, commanding at Fort Lane, and the latter under Colonel Ross. In addition to these, however, there were two other companies of volunteers under the command of Major Martin, which were a part of a new organization that had been ordered by the Governor to supersede Ross in the command in his district. The Indians, however, had secured a position so well fortified by nature that, without field-pieces, which the troops did not have, it was impossible to dislodge them. The siege was kept up for nearly two days, when the troops withdrew, having in the meantime become destitute of rations and short of ammunition. The loss in this affair on the part of the volunteers was seven killed and twenty-two wounded. Of the regulars several were killed and a number wounded, among the latter Lieutenant Gibson. What the loss of the Indians was is not known. They claim to have lost in killed not more than ten. Probably their loss was much greater. When the troops withdrew it was with the intention to return and renew the siege as soon as the requisite artillery and about ten days' rations could be procured. This, however, was prevented by the promulgation of the Governor's celebrated "General Orders No. 10," which directed Colonel Ross to leave the field, so as to leave the way clear for the new volunteer organization to which I have already alluded. Some pretext for this action on the part of the Governor being considered necessary by his political advisers, it was alleged in the same document ''that armed parties (meaning Ross' regiment, cooperating with the regular troops) had taken the field in Southern Oregon with the avowed purpose of waging a war of extermination against the Indians in that section of the Territory, and had slaughtered, without respect to age or sex, a band of friendly Indians, on their reservation, in despite of the authority of the Indian agent and the commanding officer of the United States troops stationed there." Not one of these allegations, however, was true in any particular--a fact that was as well known to those who devised them as to those against whom they were directed. Never, in any instance, from the time it was set apart for the exclusive occupation of the Indians, did the whites, in any capacity, invade the reservation, or interfere with the Indians thereon, nor did they ever commence or contemplate a war of extermination.
    I have already demonstrated that the Indians, even those who were known to have been at different times active participants in highway robberies, murders, and all sorts of enormities, when upon the reservation, were perfectly secure, so far as citizens were concerned; and that they never had cause to apprehend danger when there, from any source whatever. And, so far as any contempt "of the authority of the Indian agent and the commanding officer of the United States troops'' is concerned, no such contempt was ever manifested. In confirmation of this, I will state that on the occasion referred to, arms and ammunition were supplied to these "armed parties" by the said "commanding officer of the United States troops," and the bond of indemnity given for the same by Colonel Ross was witnessed by the said "Indian agent." These arms were musketoons, about thirty in number, and such as were not returned at the close of Ross' service were paid for at the government price. On the 9th of November, Colonel Ross assembled at Vannoy's ferry such companies of his command as could be temporarily spared from their posts, and there mustered them out of the service, to wit, four companies: Alcorn's, Bruce's, Wilkinson's, and R. L. Williams', in order that they might be organized into a battalion, according to the proclamation of the Governor. The other companies he discharged, as their places could be occupied by the new corps. Things being now fixed more to the Governor's mind, and more in accordance with the aims of his advisers who conceived that by supplanting Ross in the command in his district, they had gained a political advantage, an account of the war, somewhat in detail, was now commenced and continued until the close of the service. This account, being of record, though in many particulars exceedingly erroneous, as I have instanced by citing the Governor's General Orders No. 10, is already in the possession of Congress, where, I trust, the errors I have pointed out, if no more, may be totally refuted, and that justice, simple justice, may be meted out to all concerned.
    As regards the accusation which is so often repeated, to wit: That the war was originated solely "for the purpose of speculation," it would seem as though the facts I have already adduced, ought to be sufficient to prove that charge utterly unfounded. But in further corroboration of testimony on this head, I will here remark, that the first supplies that were furnished to Colonel Ross' command were raised in the form of a contribution. That is, at the convention which passed the resolution calling upon the colonel to take the field, farmers, merchants, and others came forward and obligated themselves each to advance or furnish a stated amount; some, such a number of beeves; others, such a quantity of flour, and so on, until full rations were thus guaranteed. The people of that region had too much experience in such matters to regard this as a good opportunity for a profitable investment, and accordingly, every member of the community contributed, as he thought his means would warrant, and the necessities of the case demanded. The very great number of the bills of purchase are illustrative of this fact. Money was worth from three to five percent, a month on three and four months' paper, and, as a consequence, all articles of supply had a corresponding value. Hence, it was no object, in a pecuniary point of view, to furnish supplies at the prices specified, nor would it have been had those prices been doubled. The prices agreed upon, however, approximate very nearly to those paid in cash by the officers of the regular service at Fort Lane and Fort Jones, in the neighborhood of which, except in a few instances, supplies for the volunteers were procured. Some of the supplies for Ross' command, as well as for the subsequent service, were procured at Crescent City, California, which fact is additional proof that the charge of ''speculation," preferred with such a flourish, has no foundation in truth whatever, as, indeed, it has none.

List of killed and wounded of the ninth regiment,, Colonel Ross.
LEWIS' COMPANY.
    In affair at Galice Creek, October 17:
    Killed--Privates J. W. Pickett, Samuel Sanders.
    Wounded--Captain W. B. Lewis; Privates W. A. J. Moore, Milton Blacklige, Donald Lewis, Allen Evans, John Erixson, "Umpqua Joe" (Indian), Israel Adams, mortally, died November 17; Benj. Tufts, mortally, died November 26.
RINEARSON'S COMPANY.
    In affair at Cow Creek, October 22:
    Killed--Private Charles Johnson.
    Wounded--Private Daniel Boon.
   
    In affair at "Bloody Springs," October 31-November 1:
    Killed--Privates J. W. Miller, James Pearcy, Henry Pearl.
    Wounded--W. H. Crouch, Ephraim Yager, Enoch Miller.
WELTON'S COMPANY.
    In affair at "Bloody Springs," October 31:
    Wounded--Private John Kennedy, mortally; died November 7.
R. L. WILLIAMS' COMPANY.
    In affair at "Bloody Springs," October 31--November 1:
    Killed--Private John Winters.
    Wounded--Thomas Ryan, William Stannus.
HARRIS' COMPANY.
    In affair at "Bloody Springs" October 31--November 1:
    Killed--Private J. A. Pedigo.
    Wounded--Privates L. F. Allen, John Goldsby, Thomas Gill, C. B. Hinton, Wm. Ira Mayfield, Wm. M. Hand, Wm. Purnell, Wm. White.
BRUCE'S COMPANY.
    In affair at "Bloody Springs," October 31:
    Wounded--Private C. C. Goodwin.
    Total killed and mortally wounded during the service, eleven. Wounded more or less severely, twenty-two.

Partial list of the killed and wounded of the second regiment Oregon Mounted Volunteers.
BAILEY'S COMPANY.
    In affair at "Bloody Springs," October 31--November 1:
    Killed--Private John Gillespie.
    Wounded--Privates John Paukey, John Walden, John C. Richardson, J. Laphar, T. J. Aubrey.
    In affair January 23, 1856:
    Killed--Privates J. L. Gardner, Thomas Gage.
    Wounded--Private Jeremiah Taylor.
KEENEY'S COMPANY.
    In an affair at Little Meadows, November 27:
    Killed--Private William Lewis,
    Wounded--Private J. N. Rice,
            "           Private D. Sexton,             ]
            "           Private Robert Gammill,  ]  Williams' company.
            "           Private J. Long, Rice's company.
GORDON'S COMPANY.
    In an affair at "Bloody Springs," November 1:
    Wounded--Privates J. M. Fordyce, William Wilson, and Hawkins Shelton.
    Total, four killed and thirteen wounded.

Partial list of the hilled and wounded of the first regiment Oregon Mounted Volunteers,
CORNELIUS' COMPANY.
    In an affair in Yakima Valley, November 8:
    Wounded--Privates Stephen Waymire and G. Holmes.
    In affair of Colonel Kelley, in Walla Walla Valley, December 7, 8, 9, and 10:
    Killed--Captain Bennett and Lieutenant Barrows. Privates Henry Crow, John Kelso, S. S. VanHagerman, Jesse Fleming, and J. Sturtevant.
    Wounded--Captains Wilson, Layton, Munson, and Lieutenant Shephard. Privates F. Duval, Casper Snook, T. J. Payne, F. Crabtree, Nathan Frye, Isaac Miller, A. M. Addington, J. B. Lewis, G. W. Smith, Ira Allen, and John Smith.
    Total, seven killed and seventeen wounded.
    Total loss of the three regiments, as herein specified, twenty-two killed and fifty-two wounded. The lists of the first and second regiments, however, are quite imperfect, especially that of the second. Their loss was considerable more than is here represented, probably enough to increase the number of killed to thirty-five, and the wounded in a corresponding proportion. None of the losses, on the part of the volunteers of Washington Territory, are herein enumerated.
    The number of persons not connected with the service, who were murdered during the war by Indians openly at war, and consequently not included in any list, is not known. I estimate it at forty. It is probably more; I think it cannot be less. This increases the number of citizens killed during the war, allowing my estimate with regard to the first and second regiments to be correct, to seventy-five. A recapitulation gives the following result:
    Murdered in times of peace, and by Indians supposed to be friendly--361
    Murdered by Indians avowedly hostile--40
    Killed while in service, war 1853, 1855, and 1856--50
    Total--451
    Of this number, three hundred and eighty-seven were killed during the nine years preceding 1857.
---
Superintendent Palmer's a report relative to Indian difficulties in 1854.

    Having now alluded to some of the many difficulties which the Indians of Oregon have precipitated upon the settlers there, I will briefly allude to the official reports of Superintendent Palmer, wherein he claims, specifically, that the Indians of Southern Oregon have been ill-used by the whites. In his report, under date of September 11, 1854 (Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the same year, page 257), he alleges that "seven squaws and two children were killed and several men and children wounded" by the miners of Althouse and Sailor Diggings; that, on the 15th of February, and prior to the 8th of May, "twenty-three Indians and several squaws were killed (page 25 same report), under the direction of a Mr. Miller, at the mouth of Chetco River; that, on the 28th of January, sixteen Indians were killed, at the mouth of Coquille River (page 269), by volunteers under the command of Captain G. H. Abbott."
    Now with regard to the killing of the "seven squaws" &c., it is probable that Mr. Palmer derived his information from the Indians themselves, who hoped by such a story to elicit his sympathy and thus obtain a larger amount of presents, or that he derived it from other sources equally as unreliable; for, though it was sufficient to incorporate in his report, he did not consider it of sufficient account to cause the arrest of the alleged offenders.
    With regard to the affair at Miller's, Mr. Palmer assumes (upon Indian testimony no doubt) that the whites were wholly in the wrong. But his report in this respect is inconsistent with itself, inasmuch as he states that "Miller was subsequently arrested and placed in the custody of the military at Port Orford; but on his examination before a justice of the peace, was set at large on the ground of justification, and want of sufficient evidence to commit." (Page 259.)
    Respecting the affair of Captain Abbott, some of the most prominent and law-abiding citizens of Oregon were engaged in it, and there is no doubt but what it was absolutely necessary as a measure of self-defense. It was conducted in a deliberative open manner, and all the proceedings promptly reported to the Indian agent in that district, with the request that they should be forwarded to the Indian superintendent. (Page 274.) It is understood, too, that the agent, F. M. Smith, upon whose report of this matter Mr. Palmer relied when he reported to the Commissioner, afterwards made a counter report exonerating the citizens from all blame. That it so appeared to the government is evident from the fact that Captain Abbott has since been appointed to an Indian agency within the Oregon Superintendency.
    In the report of the Indian Commissioner of 1855, there seems to be no charges preferred by Mr. Palmer of the character just mentioned. In the Commissioner's report for 1856, Mr. Palmer has published charges against the people of Oregon similar in every respect to those preferred by General Wool, none of which can be sustained by testimony. But as the charges promulgated by each of these officers are contained in substance, in the memoir and report of Captain T. J. Cram, relative to the Territories of Oregon and Washington, and to which I shall hereafter allude, I need not refer to them here. Suffice it to say, that if Oregon's friends would but display half the effort to render a true history of these Indian matters, that her enemies make to establish a false one, neither Congress or the country could long be deceived respecting them 
----
"The Topographical Memoir and Report of Captain T, J. Cram relative to the Territories of Oregon and Washington" (House Doc. No. 114, Thirty-fifth Congress,  second session.)
    No one who has ever sought to bring reproach upon the people of Oregon, in connection with the Indian wars and difficulties--which, in their own defense, they have been compelled to suppress--has done so more unscrupulously than the author of the above-mentioned document. The following extracts, and the remarks relative thereto, will exhibit the end he had in view:
    "The discovery of gold in the Rogue River Valley attracted, with some well-disposed persons, many of the most unprincipled and ungovernable white men from all countries, * * * acknowledging no law but that of force, and in their hearts and acts far deeper down in the scale of human degradation * * * than any Rogue River Indian was known to be, before or since the discovery of gold in his valley." (Page 40.)
    Captain Cram has overdone the thing so far here, that he has evidently defeated himself. The discoverers of gold in Rogue River Valley were formerly of Ohio, and those who were "attracted" by this discovery were, as a general thing, natives of Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Kentucky, as were those also who settled upon the agricultural lands, and none of them bore the least resemblance to the "unprincipled and ungovernable wretches" our captain has described. Indeed, there was nothing in that country to call such a community of "wretches" together. The discovery of the mines led to no excitement, and was hardly known beyond the limits of Oregon and the northern tier of counties in California for months afterwards. There was no wealth in the country, except what was in the ground, where everyone had to dig for it if he got it. The Indians did not own a hoof of stock, or possess any kind of property, except a few guns, which they had obtained by murder, robbery, and theft, that could be of the least utility to the whites, even had they have been the "wretches" they are represented.
    "In the autumn of 1852, a party of citizens, under conduct of one Captain Ben Wright massacred over thirty Indians out of forty-eight, who had come into his camp by invitation, to make a peace. * * *
    " * * * As a natural result of this treachery, the tribe (Modocs) combined with the Rogue River Indians in the following summer (1853), and attacked a settlement near Jacksonville.
    "We thus have what are believed to be the provocation and beginning of the Rogue River war of 1853." (Pages 40, 41.)
    As regards the "treachery" here spoken of, it happened to be all on the other side, as I have shown in my statements respecting Indian difficulties in 1852; and as to its "result," I have to say, that the Indians referred to had no hand in the attack upon "a settlement near Jacksonville," at the time mentioned. That they were hostile, is true. So they ever had been from the time they first set eyes on a white man, and so they are even now. But in 1853 their field of operations was along the Southern Oregon emigrant road, where they had murdered not less than thirty-nine unoffending citizens the year before, and in the settlements of Cottonwood and Shasta Valley, near Yreka, California. For this reason a detachment of United States dragoons, from Fort Jones, and a company of volunteers from Jacksonville, were sent to give armed protection to the immigration passing through their country. What the "provocation and beginning of the Rogue River war of 1853" was, I have already shown by citing the facts. What the Indians themselves said was the cause of it, after it was concluded, was that a Mexican, who was temporarily residing at Jacksonville, had purchased a squaw of them, for which he had not paid the full price agreed upon.
    "The gallant general who figured as the hero of the closing scene of this three days' war was elected and took his seat in Congress as delegate from Oregon soon after. * * * The notorious Ben Wright not long after was appointed sub-Indian agent at Port Orford, and came to his death in the spring of 1855 (February 23, 1856) by treachery at the hands of Indians on Rogue River--in their view, a just retribution for his own treachery." (Page 43.)
    General Lane was elected delegate to Congress in June, two months before the Indian outbreak in Rogue River Valley occurred. He was appointed to the command of the volunteers in the war by Acting Governor George L. Curry. He superseded Captain B. R. Alden, fourth United States infantry, who had been elected colonel by the volunteers at the captain's own request. The appointment of Wright, at the instance, and during the administration of Indian Superintendent Palmer, whose sympathy for, and confidence in, the Indians was unlimited, is the most positive proof that the charge so often reiterated against him is entirely destitute of any foundation whatever. Instances are known where Superintendent Palmer took the word of a lying, thieving Indian in preference to that of one of his agents, whose statement could have been corroborated by the oaths of numerous respectable witnesses. Is it a supposable case, then, that he would have been instrumental in getting the appointment to an agency of a man who treacherously murdered Indians by the wholesale? Certainly not.
    "It was the design to gather all the bands along the coast of Oregon and place them upon it (the coast reservation), there to teach them agriculture and the arts, and to forever prevent whites from acquiring the rights of soil upon it; it is certainly not to be denied that some of the Indians, especially in the upper part of the Rogue River Valley, may have objected to the treaty, and evinced some reluctance to comply, but they had two years' time allowed in which they were to make preparations and go, and it is believed (by whom?) that had the whites shown patience, and forborne to interfere, the Superintendent would have had them all removed within the time specified, and Oregon would have been saved the shame reflected upon her by the commission of those most outrageous deeds that followed, such, for example, as that perpetrated by one Lupton and his party, 'who killed twenty-five friendly Indians, eighteen of whom were women and children,' and that perpetrated by one Hank Brown and party, at Lookingglass Prairie, in killing from eight to ten friendly Indians, invited there by the settlers for protection and safety. From such acts of cruelty can it be at all surprising that a retaliatory spirit was manifested on the part of the Indians?" (Pages 43, 44.)
    These are the grounds upon which General Wool, Captain Cram, and their associates base their charge that the war in Southern Oregon in 1855-56 originated exclusively with the people there. The utter falsity of the accusation concerning "one Lupton and his party," I have previously shown. The story about ''Hank Brown and his party" was trumped up by political demagogues who wished to oust Colonel Ross from the command in his regimental district, and first appeared in the Oregon Statesman, a paper devoted exclusively to the interests of the party in which these demagogues held prominent positions. It was nothing more than a sensation article, written for a specific purpose, and without the least regard to truth.
    "The design to gather all the bands along the coast of Oregon" upon a reservation did not include any of the tribes of Rogue River Valley, as intimated; consequently they had no occasion to "evince reluctance to comply. " These were parties to the treaty of the 10th of September, 1853, and, though failing in every particular to comply with their treaty stipulations, were still receiving their annuities. The Indians who were included in this design, however, were the same who so "treacherously murdered" the agent, Wright, and some twenty-three others, February 23, 1856, while "the whites" were exercising that same ''patience and forbearance" that Captain Cram thinks would have been so very beneficial.
    "Now, can any conscientious man believe that the intelligent, industrious officer Captain Smith (United States army), who was then (at the beginning of open hostilities in 1855), and who had been, in command at Fort Lane, in the very center of these Indians (of Rogue River Valley), during the period of more than two years previous, would not have known and reported to headquarters a. necessity, if there was one, of more military force than that of the United States already there to meet the exigency in the district of which he was the responsible commandant? No report was made by him or either of the commandants of Fort Jones or Fort Orford expressive of any such necessity." (Pages 44, 45.)
    That no such report was made by either of the officers mentioned is but too true. But if Captain Smith, "the responsible commandant" in the Rogue River district, did not think additional military force necessary, why did he furnish guns and ammunition to Colonel Ross, who was at the time in command of a volunteer regiment, and was operating against the identical Indians referred to? The fact that he did so is, I think, a. sufficient answer to the interrogatory quoted. But may there not be some hidden motive for coining and persisting in the false declaration that no additional force was necessary at this time? Major Fitzgerald, United States army, with his troop of dragoons, was at Fort Lane when the Indians threw off their disguise of friendship and commenced the open and indiscriminate slaughter of the whites, and, so far as he was permitted (he was not in command at that post), entered into the campaign that followed with a zeal never before or since manifested in that region by any officers of the regular service in command of troops. But for some reason (?) yet unknown, he was ordered from the field at the very moment when his services were of the greatest value, and directed to proceed forthwith with his company to Fort Vancouver, distant a march of 21 days (see p. 56), where, upon his arrival, he was sent into winter quarters, and his valuable services thus lost to the people of Oregon during the war. This was certainly a very great blunder, or something infinitely worse, on the part of "the commanding general" (Wool), and to own the additional "military force" necessary would be equal to an acknowledgment of his error. But there are circumstances connected with this matter that very naturally give rise to the apprehension that this act of General Wool was not wholly a blunder, but that it was in part the result of that deep-rooted prejudice which he has so often manifested in his official reports against the people of Oregon. Major Fitzgerald's policy, too, with regard to the control of the Indians, as shown by his acts, was widely different from that of the general and the commandants at the several posts mentioned. He was for enforcing treaty stipulations, and holding the Indians strictly amenable to white men's laws, as far as was necessary to the public security. They practiced the reverse of this, seeking to secure these ends by coaxing and flattery, and accomplishing absolutely nothing except in the way of ministering to the Indians' vanity and to their inherent hatred of the whites, by teaching them that the citizens were their inferiors and aggressors upon their rights. In his sympathies, too, the major was with the whites, upon whom he must have regarded this war as having been precipitated in consequence of the derelictions and the unsound policy of his brother officers commanding at the several posts in the Rogue River country, and that vicinity. He took an active part in tracing the Indians who murdered Field, Cunningham, and Warner (September 24, 25), and, along with volunteers, went promptly to the relief of the settlements that were attacked by the Indians (October 9.) After the organization of Colonel Ross' regiment he cooperated with that officer in securing and removing to Fort Lane and turning over to Captain Smith several Indians who were supposed to be spies, but against whom positive proof of this was wanting. This was the last service that he was permitted to render on behalf of the people of Southern Oregon. Having presented the material facts connected with the recall of the major from the field at the critical period mentioned, I leave it for others to form their own conclusions as to the motives that induced it.
    "The governor says he was moved to call out this force (two battalions to succeed Ross) 'by a petition,' * * * which (according to Captain Cram), if granted, would bring occupation for eight hundred men and as many horses for the ensuing winter, and they would only have to ride about and kill Indians until planting time next spring." (Page 45.)
    Evidently [he was] a little too anxious to make out a case. Planting time in Rogue River Valley is from September to about the first of April.
    "These battalions, with the title of 'southern army,' were under the command of Brigadier General John K. Lamerick, and it is not surprising that, with such an array, and the well-known hostility of many of the citizens, some of the Indians flew to their arms and others to the United States military posts for protection." (Same page.)
    ''These battalions" superseded Colonel Ross' regiment (volunteers) November 10, 1855; ''Brigadier General John K. Lamerick" was not appointed to the "command" until about the 1st of February, 1856, and did not arrive in Southern Oregon for several weeks afterwards. The Indians had "flew to their arms" certainly prior to October 31, else why was Captain Smith, with three commissioned officers and eighty-five regulars, in the Grave Creek Hills fighting them on that and the following day? So, with "the well-known hostility of many of the citizens," some of the regulars, and among them "the responsible commandant" of the Rogue River district, were a little hostile too, even at that early period! As to the Indians who "flew to" Fort Lane "for protection," it might with propriety be asked why they were away from it, and why they did not return some months sooner, at the prayerful solicitation of the commanding officer there, and of their agent? They belonged upon Table Rock reservation, and had no right off from it.
    "It has already been said that an immediate effect of the organization of the Governor's southern army was to cause some of the Indians to stand to their arms. One of their first acts afterwards was to attack the little party of ten, under Lieutenant Kautz, fourth infantry (United States), * * * on the 25th of October, 1855." (Page 46.)
    The governor's "southern army" was not fully organized until November 10, fifteen days after this affair of Lieutenant Kautz. Only two companies of this force were raised prior to October 31, and they were present at the affair of that date, in the Grave Creek Hills. This was their first appearance in Southern Oregon, and here they cooperated with the regular troops. It is true that Colonel Ross' regiment was in the field at the time mentioned, but it had been furnished with arms by the commandant at Fort Lane, with the express approbation of the Indian agent at Table Rock reservation, and had not been, and never was, recognized by the Governor. So this cannot be the force included under the title of "southern army."
    "No effort of Captain Smith could persuade the volunteers to go round and take the Indians in the rear, while the regulars would charge in front, and it seems only fifty out of two hundred and fifty of the volunteers of the Governor's southern army could be induced to take any part in the action, after coming to the point where, with resolution, they could have been instrumental in capturing the whole body of Indians in arms." (Page 47.)
    This refers to the affair in the Grave Creek Hills, October 31 and November 1, at which but two companies, Gordon's and Bailey's, of the Governor's southern army was present, and these were all that were organized of that force at that time, and the list shows that Gordon had three men wounded, and Bailey five wounded and one killed. On the part of Ross' regiment, Rinearson had three men killed and three wounded; Welton, one killed; Williams, one killed and two wounded; Harris one killed and eight wounded; Bruce, one wounded. These were all the volunteer companies that were present, and their list of killed and wounded shows that if they "could not be induced to take any part in the action," they were exceedingly reckless of danger, at least. The truth about this matter is, the Indians had selected a place so well fortified by nature that it was impossible to rout them from it without artillery, which the volunteers did not possess, and the regulars had not brought with them. In proof of this, I quote Captain Cram's own words (pages 46 and 47): "Several charges were made by the regulars, but the men were picked off so effectually by the Indian rifles that but little advance was made into the thicket. * * * The greater portion of the regulars were dragoons, and their musketoons proved utterly inadequate to cope with the rifles in the hands of the Indians." Some of Ross' regiment were armed with the musketoon also. Why was this fact omitted?
    "On the 9th of the same November (1855), while Major General Wool, United States army, in command of the department of the Pacific, was at Crescent City (about 110 miles from the scene of difficulty in Rogue River Valley), on his way to the field of Indian hostilities (which he did not reach by 250 miles) which had broken out in the preceding month in the Yakima country, to the north of the Columbia, he received the first intelligence of the fight just described, and it was then that he also first received authentic information of the Governor's declaration of war, and of the southern army of his volunteers being in existence." (Pages 47, 48.)
    This, so far as regards "intelligence of the fight" (affair in the Grave Creek Hills), and "the Governor's declaration of war," is doubtless correct. The governor's proclamation, calling for volunteers for the service in Southern Oregon, did not reach Colonel Ross' headquarters, only two miles from Fort Lane, until November 7; and it could not have reached Crescent City earlier than the 9th; and by due course of mail the report "of the fight" could not have reached General Wool's quarters, at Benicia, until some time after he had left for "the field of Indian hostilities in the Yakima country!"
    "General Wool's presence in Southern Oregon at this juncture (November 9, 1855) was exceedingly opportune.. He was personally in a position to enable himself to judge of the necessary measures to be taken for the future duties that would properly devolve on the troops under his own command in this district." (Page 48.)
    Unless he had some of it in his shoes, General Wool, I believe, never set foot on an inch of Southern Oregon soil. His presence, which was so ''exceedingly opportune," and the "position that enabled him to judge of the necessary measures to be taken" was aboard one of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's fine steamers, which touched at Crescent City, California, and Port Orford, Southern Oregon, on her trips to the Columbia River. The scene of the war then raging in Southern Oregon where troops were required, was about seventeen days' march, including time occupied in preparations after landing, from either of the towns named. In what respect, then, did the deck of a steamer off the coast of Oregon afford a better "position to judge of the necessary measures to be" adopted, than the general's own quarters at Benicia?
    But did not General Wool know long previous to the 9th of November, 1855, that the Indians of Rogue River Valley were in a state of insubordination to the military and all other authority? Did he not know of the unprovoked murder by these Indians during that part of the year 1855 which had already passed--saying nothing of previous murders--of Hill, May 8; Dyer and McKew, June 1; Philpot, June 2; Peters, July 27; Hennessey, Parrish, Gay, and eight others, July 28; Keene, September 2; Field and Cunningham, September 24; Warner, September 25; Mrs. Wagoner and seventeen others, October 9? Did he not know, too, that the people of Rogue River Valley and vicinity had been defending themselves against these Indians and their allies for nearly or quite a month previous to the 9th of November? If he did not know these things, where were those commandants of Fort Lane, Fort Jones, and Fort Orford, who should have reported them; and why did he order Major Fitzgerald with his troop to strengthen Fort Lane? If he did know them, why did he order Major Fitzgerald and his troop out of the Rogue River district, and into winter quarters, when in the very height of his usefulness? These are some of the many things connected with General Wool's administration of military affairs in the Department of the Pacific that his adulators do not care to discuss, but which they strive to screen from public observation by appropriating and hurling against the people of Oregon anathemas and calumnies coined by political demagogues, and originally promulgated against a few individuals through the columns of a malignant party newspaper.
    "On the 8th of March (1856), Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan landed at Crescent City, and in one week after had his command in motion. The force from Crescent City left on the 15th, and encamped at the mouth of Rogue River (Ord's company skirmishing there with the Indians) on the 20th of March." (Page 49.)
    This landing at Crescent City, be it observed, was not until five months after the massacre near Evans' ferry (October 9, 1855), which led to the organization of Ross' regiment of volunteers, and precisely four months after General Wool had been "personally in position to enable himself to judge of the necessary measures to be taken for the future duties that would properly devolve on the troops under his own command in that district." From this it would seem that, at the time he secured this "position," November 9, there were no present duties to perform.
    * * * "By the last of June (1856) the Rogue River war was at an end, and all the Indians that had defied the southern army' of Oregon so successfully were either at or on their way to the coast reservation in western Oregon." (Page 53.)
    No allusion is made to the service of the volunteers who remained in the field during the winter, while the regular troops were in their comfortable quarters, waiting, according to the instructions of their commanding general (p. 48), "to receive and protect from violence (!) all friendly Indians who would come in and express a willingness to go, in the following spring, to the reservation set apart for them." Nor is the fact mentioned that the Governor's "southern army" participated with the regular troops, even in the closing scenes of this war, Superintendent Palmer says (Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1856, pages 216 and 217): ''On the 9th (June), General Lamerick, in command of the volunteers, arrived at Big Bend (Rogue River), bringing the women and children (Indians) previously taken by Major Latshaw (volunteer), accompanied by sub-agent Metcalfe.  * * * On the 2nd of June, Major Reynolds and Captain Augur (United States army) were directed, with their companies, to follow down the (Rogue) river as far as the mouth of the Illinois, and retain possession of that post, and collect any scattering Indians who might be found in that vicinity. These companies were accompanied by Captain Bledsoe and his company of volunteers, who had been operating along the coast between Port Orford and Chetco. Major Reynolds was to remain at the mouth of Illinois River, Captain Augur to pass down the north, and Captain Bledsoe down the south banks of Rogue River to the Indian village below. * * * Upon arriving at the village (of the Cistocootes--not the one above mentioned) the advance of these detachments discovered a few Indians on an island in the river, who, upon being called to, attempted to flee, when they were fired upon, and three Indians and one woman killed. * * * The village was then burned. * * * On the 3rd, Captains Augur and Bledsoe proceeded as before indicated, and upon reaching the Indian encampment a few were seen in canoes, who were hailed, but sought to make their escape. A fire was opened upon them by Captain Augur' s company; and in a few minutes a general attack was made upon the encampment, the Indians fleeing into the river and attempting to cross, but were met by Captain Bledsoe's company of volunteers. Fourteen Indians were killed in this attack, and a number, men, women, and children, were supposed to be drowned. * * *  Very little resistance was made by the Indians--no one of the companies receiving the least wound from them."
    I quote with regard to the killing of these Indians merely to show how circumstances sometimes alter cases. Here is an instance where regular troops and their auxiliaries hunted and slaughtered indiscriminately unresisting and retreating Indians (according to Mr. Palmer), for which they have been highly commended by Mr. Palmer himself, as well as by General Wool and the officers in charge in that vicinity, when the service was performed. But what of the affair near Table Rock on the 8th of October previous [the Lupton massacre]. The Indians then and there brought to an account were not in their villages, as were those just mentioned, nor were they upon their reservation as has been reported. They were by no means disposed to retreat, for they openly and boldly proclaimed their defiance of the authority of the military and Indian departments, as well as of all other authority, and were almost daily committing depredations upon the lives and property of the whites, and avowed their readiness and determination for a war of extermination. They did resist, for they killed two and wounded seven of those who chastised them. And yet the citizens who were compelled to participate in the affair at Table Rock are accused by General Wool, Mr. Palmer, and others, of having made war on that occasion upon a few squaws and children, and a like number of decrepit old men, while the party who hunted and killed the Indians indiscriminately, burned their villages, and met with so "very little resistance" as not to "receive the least wound," are highly commended for the act, that is that portion of the party who were of the regular service. The action of the regulars, &c., in this instance, was perfectly justifiable under the circumstances, and it had a beneficial result. I have alluded to it only for the purposes indicated.
    But let us see what, at the least, must have been the result to the people of Southern Oregon if they had awaited the action of "the commanding general of the Department of the Pacific," if they had not taken up arms in their own defense. As the list of murders shows, the Indians of Table Rock reservation, in connection with surrounding tribes, had been in the prosecution of a guerrilla warfare against the citizens of Rogue River Valley and vicinity from the 1st of June, 1855 (I might with propriety name an earlier date), down to the general outbreak in the month of October following; the massacre near Evans' (October 9), and the hostile manifestations of the Indians in all other parts of the Rogue River country, being the occasion of the call for volunteers by Colonel Ross (October 12). General Wool must have known long previous to the 1st of October what the disposition was of the Indians in Rogue River Valley; that they were in a state of insubordination to the legitimate authorities, else why did he dispatch Major Fitzgerald and his company to strengthen Fort Lane; and he must have been advised of the general outbreak of these Indians as early as the 13th of October, and of Colonel Ross' action, by the 17th or the 18th. But the first we hear of him after this is his ordering Major Fitzgerald and his company out of the Rogue River country, away from Indian hostilities altogether. The next we hear of him is at Crescent City, November 9, where his "presence" was so "exceedingly opportune," and the deck of one of the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company's steamers afforded a "position to enable himself to judge of the necessary measures to be taken" respecting affairs in the Rogue River country. Four months after this, or nearly that, we find (p. 49, Captain Cram's memoirs) that "Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, Jr., major Fourth Infantry, was selected by the General as commanding officer to execute the plan of field operations.
    "On the 5th of March, the General himself embarked with Ord's company, Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, and a few officers of his staff * * * for the field of operations. * * * On the 8th of March, Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan landed at Crescent City, * * * and encamped at the mouth of Rogue River * * * on the 20th of March," where he was probably thirty days' march from the region of country which was the scene of difficulty when General Wool was at Crescent City on the 9th of the previous November. But if Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan had proceeded directly from Crescent City to the point where troops were required, and where the volunteers first took the field, he would not have reached it and been ready for action before April 1. This would have been five months and nineteen days after the date of the organization of Colonel Ross' regiment! And how many of the people of Southern Oregon might have been sacrificed during this period of one hundred and seventy days, if they had waited for this movement to have been made? Of course, this cannot be told precisely, but there are circumstances connected with the origin of the war upon which we can base an estimate. On the 9th of October, about one-third of the Indians then in arms, and having the day pretty much to themselves, murdered eighteen persons. On the 28th of July previous, during only a portion of the day, however, about the same number of Indians, and some of them of the same tribe too, murdered twelve persons. This would give an average of fifteen per day killed, saying nothing of the wounded, by about one-third of the number of Indians that were in the field on the 1st of October, or forty-five per day by the whole body of Indians who were then in arms in the Rogue River district. At this rate, which gives all the margin there is in favor of General Wool and his supporters, 6,615 persons would have been killed between the date of the organization of Ross' regiment (October 12) and the day on which Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan landed at Crescent City (March 8); and this number would have been increased to 7,650 before he could have reached the scene of hostilities, if the attempt had been made. Even the few regular troops who were at the several posts in the Rogue River district at the time of the general outbreak, or such of them at least as were not ordered away at that time to where the hostilities did not exist, do not appear to have been required by their commanding general to perform any other duty during the four months preceding the landing of Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan at Crescent City, than (p. 48) "to receive at their posts, and protect from violence, all friendly Indians who would come in and express a willingness to go in the following spring on the reservation set apart for them." Thus the people of that whole region of country, so far as any United States authority was concerned, were wholly at the mercy of the Indians, who, as by their own declarations and acts, were bent on a war of extermination.
    It will be observed that long before Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan arrived in the field (March 20) the hostile Indians had been driven entirely out of Rogue River Valley, down that river, at the mouth of which that officer commenced his operations. Colonel Ross, with what assistance he received from the regular troops at Fort Lane, had driven them down the river, beyond the settlements in the early part of the war; and the volunteers who succeeded him, without any aid from the regulars, had continued during the winter to press them still further on in that direction until, meeting Colonel Buchanan's command coming up the river, with a detachment of which they had one engagement (at Big Meadows, May 27-28), they were compelled to surrender.
    ''The in-moving whites sell their rifles, revolvers, and ammunition to the Indians.* * * At the battle of Big Meadows, on Rogue River, the Indians were armed with the best of Sharps rifles and Colt's revolvers, sold to them by the whites; and it was on account of the inferiority of the arms, which his men had to use by an absurd regulation, that Captain Smith came so near losing that battle."
    I believe that I am uttering the truth when I say that no Rogue River Indian was ever worth enough to purchase a Sharps rifle. And if he had have been, he could not have done so, for the simple reason that no such rifles were ever for sale in that region. The whites themselves, "incoming" or otherwise, very seldom possessed one, and those who did valued them too highly to sell them to the Indians or anybody else. To show how destitute of these rifles the people of that country were, when, if the allegation were true, the Indians must have obtained theirs, I will state, as I happen to know, that in the Rogue River Indian war of 1853, two men only were armed with these guns. One of these men was killed by the Indians, who secured his arms. When the treaty of the 10th of September (same year) was signed, the Indians gave up what worthless guns they had (they were to give up nearly all, but did not), and among them was this Sharps rifle, which they said they did not not understand or know how to use. In Colonel Ross' regiment, consisting of nearly nine hundred men, in the war of 1855-56, and in Williams', which was subsequently organized, if I remember correctly, there was not one. So far as the people of Rogue River Valley are concerned (and I believe it to have been true with regard to the people of the whole Territory, except, perhaps, in some instances near Hudson's Bay posts), I know of my own personal knowledge that from November 1852 up to the time the Indians were removed from there in 1856, they were decidedly averse to selling the Indians arms of any kind, and did not at all relish the idea that they should have them (except bows and arrows) in their possession at all. In the summer of 1854, at Jacksonville, a white man was punished with thirty lashes on the bare back and banished from the country for trafficking powder to the Indians to the value of one buckskin. Others have been treated in the like manner for the same offense, and what little clandestine trade there might have been in such articles was entirely suppressed. In other parts of Southern Oregon the sentiments of the people upon this subject were the same. In corroboration of this, I cite a resolution adopted January 28, 1854, by a meeting of the citizens of the town of Randolph and vicinity, in the Port Orford district (see p. 275, Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1854), which was then without any legally established courts:
    "Resolved, That if any person or persons shall sell, give, barter, or in any manner dispose of any gun, rifle, pistol, carbine, or other firearm, or any powder, lead, caps, or other ammunition to any Indian or Indians, such person or persons so offending shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall receive for the first offense thirty-nine lashes upon the bare back, and for the second offense shall suffer death."
    That the Indians were unable to procure guns and ammunition is evidenced by the fact that their inability to do so was made a ground of complaint by Superintendent Palmer, who petitioned the Oregon legislature at its session of 1854-55, to repeal a law enacted by a former session (I think of 1853-54), making it a penal offense to furnish arms, &c., to the Indians, in any manner, or under any circumstances. So much for the accusation that the whites of Oregon sell their guns to the Indians. That the Indians of Rogue River Valley, many of whom were engaged in the affair of Captain Smith at Big Meadows, were armed with guns, though not "Sharps rifles," is very true. But how did they get them? The list of murders committed by them tells part of the story, and the history of their robberies and thefts, apart from these, if ever written, will tell the rest.
    Having considered a few of the allegations--a fair sample of the whole--embodied in Captain Cram's memoir and report concerning the conduct of the people of Southern Oregon towards the Indians, in peace and war, with a few words more and an extract from the proceedings of the Oregon Methodist Episcopal conference, held in 1856, and having in attendance many of the early missionaries to the Indians, I draw my remarks to a close.
    However plausible the statements set forth in Captain Cram's memoir may appear respecting these matters, there are none that cannot be met and fully refuted. In a word, they are pretentious, one-sided, and wholly unreliable assertions, though it is true some of them are quoted, taking the place of proof and supposition of fact. The resolution referred to is as follows:
    "Whereas, our Territories have been the theater of a disastrous Indian war during the past year; and whereas an impression has, by some means, been made abroad that the people of Oregon and Washington have acted an unworthy part in bringing it on: Therefore, Resolved, That though there may have be occasional individual instances of ill-treatment of the Indians by irresponsible whites, it is the conviction of this body of ministers whose fields of labor have been in all parts of the Territories, at the beginning and during the continuance of the war, that the war has not been wantonly and wickedly provoked by our fellow-citizens, but that it has been emphatically a war of defense, and that that defense was deferred as long as Christian forbearance would warrant."
    Respectfully submitted,
        C. S. DREW,
            Late Adjt. Second Reg't., Oregon Mounted Volunteers
Miscellaneous Documents of the Senate, Thirty-Sixth Congress,
Document No. 59, 1860


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Boston, Decr. 19th 1855.
Friend Mosher,
    Although I hear from you occasionally through Ben Drew & other friends in Jacksonville, I have never had that pleasure directly, so presuming that you are in good health & condition, and plodding along towards that eternal fortune we used to talk about, I will proceed at once to business, for I suppose you are anxious to know what all this row is about. I will give you a short history, and you can find out the rest by the documents. This Gardiner is supposed to be a wealthy man and a damn scoundrel, has made his money by cheating & swindling whenever he can find a loophole; that is his reputation here, at home and wherever he is known. In 1850 when I was in San Francisco he was then with his brother-in-law (Mr. Turner), and wishing to get him into business he proposed to me to go to Oregon with Turner; Gardiner (who was then owing me $1000 for services on the barque Bostonian) agreed to give us $3000 to start us, building stores &c., and he further agreeing to send us a cargo of goods from Boston and an unlimited credit from San F'co.
    He did furnish us with the $3000, and we traded until we built two stores costing $3600; in the meantime I continued urging him to fulfill his agreement, but as Turner was drowned in the summer of 1851, he backed out of his bargain, and all I got out of him was about [illegible], which I drew out of his agent in San F'co. Business was almighty poor, and in July 1852 schr. Nassau's wreck cleaned us out, and left the institution in debt. We had the store, a very few old traps left, and an invoice of 
[illegible] (of poor quality, sent by Gardiner) all [of] which were consigned to MacTavish at Scottsburg for sale for the liquidation of the debts of the concern. (The houses & axes yet remain unsold.) I then started, dead broke, for Jacksonville with Ben Drew, working my passage in Nov. 1852; Decr. I bought my team, and by dint of [illegible] good freight made out of the Jews I paid for my team, after which we packed the goods on our own acct. It is a notorious fact that we were short on money, as the first bill we ever paid was [illegible] on our curtain in the office for a specimen.
    I came home to collect my government a/c, buy goods and return again to Jacksonville; as soon as I arrived I saw Gardiner, told him that I had come home without a red cent. I had some accounts against govmt., but did not know as they were worth anything (this was the act of Congress authorizing their payment).
    I went to Washington & remained some time. Every time that I met Gardiner, he professed the utmost friendship for me, never mentioned any claim he had on me, and I supposed all was on the square. Meantime, he conjured up an idea that the copartnership had not been properly dissolved (because there was no newspaper within 150 miles of Scottsburg and I had not published it) also that I could not prove when I got my money to pay for my mules, nor when I got so large an a/c against govmt. in so short a time, and without saying a word to me, just as I was to be paid, he jumped on. Damn his soul.
    His idea was undoubtedly that for the sake of going away I would give him $1000 or so to settle it, but I preferred fighting him at a much greater delay & expense. My counsel are J. M. Carlisle, Washington; W. E. Partmenter, Boston, A. C. Gibbs in Scottsburg & yourself in Jacksonville, all good men & true, and as I am fully armed with the right, I have no doubt of my success. I want to go to as little expense as possible, but of course want to go thorough.
    I send copy of bill & answer, also of questions that have been submitted to the court & answers that I expect to get. Of course I could not communicate with my witnesses, so take this method as some of them may have forgotten the circumstances of my business, so long ago, but, when reminded by you, through these copies, will find that I have got it all about right, and will be willing to give these or similar answers without feeling any stretch of conscience. The original questions & documents will be sent from the court at Washington to some commissioner in Jacksonville with proper orders and if the commissioner should happen to be yourself and you cannot attend to my business, please depute some good fellow. Of course the papers must be kept secret from the enemy.
    With confidence in your ability to conduct this as it should be, and hoping to hear from you soon, I remain, as ever,
Truly your friend
    Geo. L. Snelling
    If Gard Chism is in your town, Gibbs will send you a copy of his ques. & ans. He is the principal witness, and being a crooked stick, although a good fellow at heart, you will have to be careful with him and help him through somewhat.
    There is nothing in any of the answers but what I could swear to, knowing it to be the full truth.
Yrs.
    G.L.S.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections. Some words are lost in the binding and have been extrapolated.


George L. Snelling In Chancery
                    Deft. Cr. Ct. D.C. No. 1054
ads for Wash. Co.
Henry D. Gardiner
    The answer of George L. Snelling to the Bill of Complaint of the above named Henry D. Gardiner against him exhibited in the above entitled cause.
    This defendant saving and reserving to himself all and all manner of benefit of exception to the manifold errors, uncertainties and imperfections in the said Bill of Complaints contained; Nevertheless for answer thereunto or to so much as he is advised it is at all material that he should make answer unto doth now answering say:
    That on or about the month of September in the year 1850 your respondent went to the Territory of Oregon in company with Briggs A. Turner mentioned in the said bill and who is a brother-in-law of the said Complainant.
    That the said voyage to Oregon was made in the Barque Bostonian belonging to Complainant and others with a cargo also belonging to him and others and that your respondent was the Supercargo in said voyage. The said Barque was wrecked at the mouth of the Umpqua River. That he thence proceeded to San Francisco, California, and there met the Complainant in or about the latter part of December 1850, and then and there settled and accounted in the premises with said Complainant to whom your the entire satisfaction of the said Complainant, in so much that the Complainant to whom your respondent had theretofore without adequate compensation rendered valuable services of a like character, and who expressed and your respondent believes sincerely felt at that time a warm interest in the welfare and advancement of your respondent, then and there proposed to your respondent that he your respondent should return to Oregon in company with the Complainant's said brother-in-law Turner and establish there a commercial business the three days  before mentioned viz Gardiner, Turner and your respondent to be jointly and equally interested in the same. The said Complainant proposed and agreed to furnish the capital necessary to the first instance and also from time to time the necessary supplies of goods, the other two partners giving their time and attention to the business. This being agreed to the said Complainant then furnished to respondent and said Turner the sum of $2,700 or thereabouts and afterwards, to wit in the latter part of 1851, added thereto $1,000 through his agent at San Francisco. That no other or further advances whatsoever were made by Complainant to this respondent nor so far as he knows or believes to said Turner for the use of said concern nor in any other manner to or for the use of said concern for this respondent. And this respondent admitting the advances aforesaid to the amount of $3,700 or thereabouts denies the allegation in the bill contained that advances were made and goods furnished, or either, to said concern or for its use, to the amount of $7,000 or to any other amount than as above admitted.
    Your respondent further says: that the said original advance of $2,700 was made for, and dedicated to, the express purpose of procuring and erecting suitable places of business which were in fact procured and erected as agreed between Complainant and said Turner and this respondent, the one of said places of business at a place called Gardiner which was located by this respondent and called after the Complainant and is situate near the mouth of the Umpqua River, and the other at Scottsburg in said Territory, the first of which cost about $1,200 and the other about double that sum, $2,400, and also a small store made of zinc which cost $400 at said Scottsburg. That in the meantime your respondent and said Turner carried on their trading in a tent and afterward in said zinc store while the buildings were going up and used the said capital of $2,700 in said business as the same could be used apparently with advantage and otherwise would have lain idle until the payments should mature for said buildings. That the said buildings were paid for out of the said proceeds of aforesaid business, to wit the amount of $3,600 or thereabouts, and your respondent and said Turner continued to carry on said business together until the month of July 1851 when said Turner was accidentally drowned in the River Umpqua--and thereafter your respondent continued said business until the month of October 1852, when the said business was finally closed, as hereinafter more particularly set forth. In the month of July 1852 your respondent went to San Francisco to purchase goods for said concern and did in fact make purchases there to the amount of about [illegible] for said concern, all which were paid for in [illegible--cash or coin] by your respondent at the time of purchases. The goods were shipped for said port of Gardiner on the Umpqua River in the Schr. Nassau. That it was impossible to effect any insurance upon shipments to that river at this time because there had been no survey of the river and Insurance companies were unwilling to take any risk thereon. That the said Schr. was wrecked on going into the said river and was a total loss, and the shipment by your respondent (being of the prime cost of $3000 as aforesaid) was also a total loss, with the inconsiderable exception of goods saved to an amount of about $200. Your respondent had previously to the wreck of the Nassau made repeated applications for further advance and supplies, as well to the agent of said Gardiner at San Francisco as by letters to the Complainant addressed to him at Boston without success and immediately after the said wreck of the Nassau your respondent notified said Gardiner thereof by letter addressed to Boston (of which he has no copy) and amongst other things told him that the business must stop unless advances and supplies should be promptly made. Finally in the month of October 1852 the whole value of the remaining stock was about four hundred dollars. Respondent not having been able to purchase any goods after the loss of the Nassau, and when that vessel reached the mouth of the river there was but a very trifling amount of goods remaining in the stores. At this time above referred to, to wit, Oct. 1852, the whole concern was indebted to Gardiner Chism a cousin of the Complainant for services as clerk about $1200 besides other debts to the amount of several hundred dollars. The concern after available means [omission] was utterly insolvent, its whole assets being the goods aforesaid (about $400) and proceeds on hand about as much more, together with the said two stores which remained their property except one undivided moiety of the store at Gardiner which he had sold to D. A. [sic] McTavish for $400 in the spring of 1852, the concern being then indebted to said McTavish in a larger sum upon an account current of goods &c. between them and which remaining interest in said stores your respondent at the time of closing said concern attempted to sell but could obtain no reasonable offer whatever for them. And which said stores except the moiety aforesaid in the store at Gardiner remain so far as respondent is informed and believes still unsold, they having been left by respondent in charge of said D. H. [sic] McTavish (of Scottsburg) for sale for account of the concern. Respondent turned over the whole amount of goods aforesaid and the whole of the proceeds aforesaid, amounting in all to about $800, as aforesaid to the said clerk Chism, on account of the debt due to him as aforesaid and did not reserve one cent for himself. The aforegoing is a faithful and true statement of the concern. Your respondent owes not one cent on account thereof to said Gardiner, but having devoted all his energies to the success of said Business now found himself in Octo. 1852 with nothing but his character and credit and his own energies to rely on to begin life again. On or about the 17th November 1852 your respondent, who had been acquainted with Benjamin J. Drew, a packer (and carrier of goods) and trader joined at Scottsburg the said Drew's train and worked his way up to Jacksonville, which is about 200 miles distant. The business of packing and trading was very profitable. Your respondent determined to engage in it if possible. At Jacksonville, where he was well known, he made arrangements for the purchase of 30 mules for $3,000--$2,000 to be paid in cash on delivery and $1,000 on credit. At this time your respondent had not a dollar to apply to said purchase, but he had character and energy and friends, he explained his place and situation to several persons and obtained from them the required means as follows, to wit--from said Drew he borrowed between eight and nine dollars, from McVerry about $300 and several other sums from other persons. Said Chism agreed to go into the purchase to the amount of one third and put in about $900. And so your respondent was able to comply with the purchase by paying $2,000 and taking his mules, but he owed money all along the road for loans and afterwards for supplies to his men and mules. He started as a packer or carrier by mules on the 8th Dec. 1852 from Jacksonville, having engaged to bring a full freight from Marysville (about 220 miles) at the rate of 24 cts. per pound of goods, and around. On delivering this freight he took another from Scottsburg to Jacksonville at 24 cts. per pound. With these two freights he bought out Chism's interest, paid up his borrowed money and debts on the road and made a payment on account of the deferred $1,000 of purchase money of train. He then went into trading, being the carrier of his own goods. He purchased his first stock at Scottsburg, flour being bought there at 8 cts. per pound brought him at Jacksonville 40 cts. per pound, and other articles in proportion. Respondent joined his mule train with said Drew's of about equal force and they packed and traded together as partners. The Rogue River War broke out in July 1853. Respondent and said Drew furnished supplies to the U.S. Troops at very large profits and the claim referred to  the Bill arose in that manner, it being Respondent's portion on settlement with said Drew. Respondent avers that not one dollar of the Complainant's money or credit entered at all into the business of packing or trading so as aforesaid carried on by him (respondent) and by him and Drew. And he avers that Complainant has not a particle of interest in the same or in the said claim, and he avers that the said claim is wholly and exclusively the result of his own energy and credit as herein before stated and the said Complainant has no manner of concern or interest or right or claim whatsoever at law or in equity or in conscience directly or indirectly of, in, or to the said claim or any part thereof. Respondent states to your honor that the hardships and expense of said business of packing and trading, especially in that climate in winter, the danger from Indians, the scarcity of mules and other circumstances which might be referred to if necessary, and finally the breaking out of said war made the profits very great to which as engaged in said business and he submits herewith as part of this answer the affidavits of Governor Lane and of John A. Miller to confirm the statements herein before made in that behalf.
    After the close of the Rogue River War, Respondent and said Drew settled and closed their concern, Respondent taking in full of all his interest in said concern and all his rights, credits and property, except his riding animal [and] the said claim against the U.S. To pay this there was no authority or means. An Act of Congress was necessary. Your respondent sold his horse for $362 and came to Boston, and on arriving there he in fact had no money. He arrived there in May 1854. He went to see said Gardiner before he had seen any of his own family except a brother, and they two proceeding together to see said Gardiner met him on the street. Said Gardiner met with great friendliness and told him he was as glad to see him as if he had made money for him instead of a failure. Respondent never deceived said Gardiner nor made any false representations to him in all the premises. He told him had come back with all he had in his claim against the Government. He does not remember having told him the precise amount of it but he spoke of it without any intention to conceal and without any reserve. And he remembers well that he had communicated the amount and nature of the claim to Wm. Wally Thompson, the aforementioned agent of Complainant at San Francisco. Defendant again denies more specifically the allegation or recital in said Bills, that the said claim is for or on account in any degree or to any extent of goods and merchandise of said firm of Snelling, Turner & Co. or that the said firm had any concern or interest in the transactions out of which the said claim arose. He denies that he furnished to officers of the Army of the United States or in any way for the use of the U.S. and article of subsistence or forage or any other articles, out of the goods, merchandise and stock in trade of said Snelling Turner & Co. or out of the proceeds of any goods, merchandise, stock or assets of said firm, directly or indirectly, proximately or remotely. He admits that he is prosecuting said claim for his own account and avers that it is absolutely false that this is in fraud of the Complainant or that the Complainant has any concern therein. He denies that there was ever any amount due to Snelling, Turner & Co. or to anybody for them or either of them as a member of that Concern or while that concern was in existence directly or indirectly from the U.S.
    And having now fully answered he prays to be here discharged with cost.
Geo. L. Snelling
J. M. Carlisle
    For Deft.
   

    In open Court this 16th Decr. 1854 personally appears George L. Snelling the Respondent in the aforegoing answer and made oath that the facts stated therein as of his own knowledge are true as stated and so forth as stated on information and belief he believes them true as stated.
Test. Jno. A. Smith 
True Copy
Test. Jno A. Smith Clerk
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections. Some words are lost in the binding and have been extrapolated.


    To the honorable the judges of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia in equity--
    The bill of complaint of Henry D. Gardiner of the city of Boston in the state of Massachusetts humbly represents--That about the years 1850 to 1853 your orator at the request of one George L. Snelling and Briggs A. Turner furnished to said Snelling and Turner a stock of goods and merchandise with which to commence business in the Territory of Oregon. That afterwards said business was commenced in said territory under the name and style of Snelling, Turner & Co., your orator being a silent partner in said firm and furnishing all the capital upon which it traded, until the advances which it made reached the sum of about $7000 or upwards. That sometime in the year 1851 the aforesaid Turner died and the management of said business was entrusted to said Snelling alone. That sometime in the year 1852 the said Snelling represented to your orator that the affairs of said firm were in a declining state and that unless a much larger amount of funds should be advanced by your orator said firm could not compete in business with other and larger ones, and that it would be finally a failure. But your orator declined making any larger advances although he still made advances. Your orator further shows that sometime afterwards the said Snelling returned to the city of Boston and upon meeting your orator declared and represented that all of the stock in trade and assets of said firm were utterly gone, that the real estate and store of said firm had been conveyed for the payment of the debts of said firm, and that nothing was left and that he the said Snelling after two or three years of industry and toil was left without one cent of his own. And your orator, having confidence in said Snelling and believing in his representations, considered the advances which he had made and the interest he had in said business as an entire loss until it so happened that your orator was informed that said Snelling had fraudulently misrepresented to your orator the true state of the affairs of said firm and was actually endeavoring to obtain a sum of money for his own individual use, which was due for goods and merchandise of said firm, sold by said Snelling as the active business man of said firm for the use of the army of the United States, and your orator charges that in the year [blank] the said Snelling did furnish to the proper officers of the army of the United States, then engaged in what was called the Rogue River War in Oregon aforesaid, out of the goods, merchandise and stock in trade of said Snelling, Turner & Co. [illegible] subsistence and forage to an amount of about $9,500, and that he is now actually prosecuting a claim on the government for that amount for forage and subsistence so furnished, and the same is about to be allowed, although he had represented that the affairs of said firm were in a hopeless condition, and that he himself was not worth one cent in the world, and your orator further shows that the said Snelling is prosecuting said claim in his own individual name and if the same is paid to said Snelling (as your orator is apprehensive that it will be unless prevented by the intervention of this honorable court) it will be totally lost to your orator and to said company and that said Snelling will immediately leave the country, taking said sum of money with him, as your orator is informed he intends doing, and your orator charges that said Snelling has from first to last deceived your orator, that he falsely represented the affairs of said company to be ruinous, when in fact there was a large amount due to said company from the United States over and above all the liabilities of said company. That he represented himself to be penniless while at the same time he was claiming and is on the eve of obtaining near ten thousand dollars from the government in his own name, and that he is fraudulently endeavoring to get into his own hands money belonging to said company with the design of carrying it beyond the reach of the other members of said company. Your orator prays that a subpoena may be issued commanding the said George L. Snelling to appear in this honorable court at some day to be therein named and that he answer the several matters and things herein alleged as if they were again repeated and he thereto interrogated. May it please your honors to grant unto your orator the writ of injunction against the said George L. Snelling, his attorney, agent or assignee prohibiting him and them from receiving the aforesaid sum of money from the government of the United States, and for such other and further relief as to your honors may seem meet.
(signed) A. H. Lawrence
    Solicr. for Complt.
Circuit Court of the
District of Columbia
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


Interrogatories to Ben. J. Drew, of Jacksonville, O.T.
----
Int. 1.

    What is your name, age, residence & occupation?
Int. 2.
    Do you know G. L. Snelling, late of the firm of Snelling, Turner & Co., & did you know him in the fall of 1852? What was your business in that year?
Ans. 2.
    I did know him in the fall of 1852. I was a packer.
----
Int. 3.

    State whether or not in that year he joined your pack train at Scottsburg & went with it to Jacksonville; if yea, in what month was it?
Ans. 3.
    He did join my pack train at Scottsburg in November 1852 & went to Jacksonville.
----
Int. 4.

    How were his expenses paid? Did he pay them himself or did he work his way?
Ans. 4.
    His expenses were paid by me; he worked his passage as a hand on my train.
----
Int. 5.

    State whether or not he purchased by himself or with others a train of mules at or about that time, or an interest in a train, or if yea, state when the purchase was made, of whom, with whom, whether for cash or on credit, how the credit was given, the amount paid or to be paid, and all other particulars of the transaction.
Ans. 5.
    He did buy a train of 30 mules in Dec. 1852 of Bowman & Winchell, at $100 a head. Gardiner Chism was somehow interested with him. Snelling bought for $2000 cash & $1000 his note at 4 months. Bowman agreed to travel with the team until Snelling could raise the amount of $2000.
----
Int. 6.

    If any money was paid by said Snelling in said purchase, when did he procure the same? Did he borrow of you & how much? Of W. P. Perry how much? Of any other persons, how much?
Ans. 6.
    Chism furnished about $1000 in cash for his interest and Snelling borrowed $825 of me, every cent I had, $300 of Mr. Perry on Deer Creek. I do not know if he borrowed of any others in the purchase, but he borrowed small sums along the road for supplies.
----
Int. 7.

    Were you connected with him as partner or otherwise in the business of packing goods on mules? When did the connection commence and end? How many mules did each contribute?
Ans. 7.
    We formed a connection in the packing business a few days after Snelling's purchase, which continued until the fall of 1853; each contributed 30 (thirty) mules.
----
Int. 8.

    In the early part of said connection was or was not said Snelling destitute of funds? How did he manage to pay his expenses along the road?
Ans. 8.
    He was entirely destitute of funds, excepting what he borrowed. We both got trusted for all our expenses along the road.
----
Int. 9.

    When you dissolved business connection with said Snelling, what was your settlement? What did you take and what Snelling?
Ans. 9.
    I took the mules, rigging & assets of the firm in Oregon & part of a claim against government. Snelling took the principal part of our claim against government, amounting to about $9600, out of which he was to pay some liabilities.
----
Int. 10.

    For whom did you carry while the connection lasted; name the persons. What were the profits of carrying, great or small? How many trips were made or about how many?
Ans. 10.
    We carried full loads for S. Ettlinger & H. Aaron & Co. and a little freight for Mr. Rosenburg & for Solomon & Brother, Dr. E. H. Cleaveland, Jesse Robinson. The profits were quite large. We also carried goods on one more acct. We made two trips exclusively for freight. Afterward made six trips with a little freight, but mostly with goods on our own account.
----
Int. 11.

    Had Snelling any money to your knowledge when he first joined your train or when he purchased, except what he borrowed?
Ans. 11.
    He had none whatever, either when he joined the train at Scottsburg, nor when he purchased.
----
Int. 12.

    Were or not any goods at any time furnished for his train by Snelling, belonging to Snelling, Turner & Co.? Were your first trips with your own goods or with others? Were not said first trips for freight & how many?
Ans. 12.
    None whatever. I have already answered.
----
Int. 13.

    What was the amount of the net proceeds of the first trips? To what were said proceeds applied? To whom were they so applied?
Ans. 13.
    About $5000, applied as follows: $1700 towards purchase of goods on our own a/c for 3rd trip; $2000 drawn by Snelling to cancel debts incurred by him in purchase of train & expense of his part of train, while he was blocked up by snow, about six weeks; $1000 to buy a rough small building for a store for Drew & Snelling in Jacksonville; $100, used by myself (to pay O'Neil)--& the balance towards paying for some seed oats, barley & wheat, which I had bought on credit in January.
----
Int. 14.

    Do you know of a claim which said Snelling has against the government of the United States with reference to the Rogue River War? When & how did this claim arise? State particularly. Had you at any time any connection with the transactions out of which said claim arose? If yea, state what. What were some with regard to this claim when you dissolved with said Snelling?
Ans. 14.
    I do know of the claim. The claim was for goods & forage furnished by us, for the use of mounted troops mustered into the service of the U.S. in the Rogue River War, during the summer of 1853. All the transactions relating to said claim were on the joint account of said Drew & Snelling. The greater portion of it was assigned to said Snelling, as his share of the assets.
----
Int. 15.

    Do you know of transactions by said Snelling in regard to forage? What composed said forage? By whom was it grown & on what terms? To whom was this forage sold?
Ans. 15.
    This firm had transactions in regard to forage. It was procured by contracts made by us with farmers on the way; we furnished wheat, oats & barley for seed; the farmers furnished land, all plowed, fenced &c., also labor & harvested the grain, cleaned & bagged it, and delivered one half the crop at our store in Jacksonville. This was harvested in July 1853 & sold to government for the use of mounted troops in the Rogue River War.
----
Int. 16.

    What were the profits in said forage transactions, great or small? Do said transactions appear in said Snelling's account against government before referred to?
Ans. 16.
    The profits were great, about tenfold. One man to whom we furnished $35 worth of seed returned us $400 worth of grain at the market prices & sold. Said forage transactions form a part of Snelling's claim against government.
----
Int. 17.

    Were or not said forage transactions on your partnership account?
Ans. 17.
    They were, but the claim was assigned to said Snelling on our dissolution, as I have already answered.
----
Int. 18.

    When did said Snelling leave Oregon for Boston, what funds had he then & how were they procured?
Ans. 18.
    He left Oregon for Boston the 26th day of March 1854. The only money he had was $350, the proceeds of sale of his riding animal.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


Interrogatories to Wm. Winchell, of Jacksonville, O.T.
----
Int. 1.

    What is your name, age, residence & occupation?
Int. 2.
    Do you know H. D. Gardiner & G. L. Snelling, the parties to this suit?
Int. 3.
    Where did you reside in the fall of 1852 & winter of 1852/53 & what was then your business? With whom were you connected in business & what was the name of your firm?
Ans. 3.
    I was in Oregon near Jacksonville. I had been a packer, at that time was a drover, connected with [blank] Bowman, our firm was Bowman & Winchell.
----
Int. 4.

    Did you know said Snelling at that time & where was he?
Ans. 4.
    I met him at Mr. Perry's on Deer Creek.
----
Int. 5.

    State whether or not your firm sold to said Snelling a train of mules; when the same was sold; of how many mules it consisted; what amount paid; how paid; if by note when was the same paid; whose note was taken? State all particulars of the transaction.
Ans. 5.
    Our firm sold a train of 30 mules to Mr. Snelling in Dec. 1852; the bargain was concluded at Mr. Perry's on Deer Creek Christmas Day; Snelling arranged with my partner in Jacksonville on the 8th of Dec. & Mr. Bowman came with him to Deer Creek when we met. $2000 was to be paid in cash, which was not paid at once, but along in the course of six weeks, as fast as Snelling could raise it, & $1000 by note at 4 months from Jan. 1st 1853, signed by George L. Snelling. One half the amount of the note was paid at its maturity & the other half along at different times from June to the following September.
----
Int. 6.

    Had you knowledge of Snelling's means of payment at the time of his purchase? What were they? If any cash was paid, do you know where he obtained this?
Ans. 6.
    I know he had no money only what he borrowed of different persons. I was with him when he borrowed all the money he paid our firm. Of Drew. Of Perry. Of Gardiner Chism & of Martin & Barnes.
----
Int. 7.

    What was said [of?] Snelling's personal credit at the time apart from his connection with any firm or other person?
Ans. 7.
    He had no money, but he was a good business man and was enterprising, and his credit was good on that account.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


Interrogatories to Geo. Pierson, Richd. Dugan, T. McF. Patton, R. B. Morford, Benj. Davis and John D. Mason of Jacksonville, O.T.
----
Int. 1.

    What is your name, age, residence & occupation?
Int. 2.
    Do you know H. D. Gardiner & G. L. Snelling, the parties to this suit?
Int. 3.
    Where did you reside & do business in 1852 & 1853?
Int. 4.
    Where did said Snelling do business in 1852 & what was his business? Where in 1853 & what was it; with whom was he connected in each of those years?
Ans. 4.
    He did business in Scottsburg in 1852 as a trader until Novr., when he came to Jacksonville & went into the packing business, in which he continued until the fall of 1853. At Scottsburg he was in the firm of Snelling, Turner & Co. In 1853 he was connected with B. J. Drew, firm of Drew & Snelling.
----
Int. 5.

    Do you know of said Snelling changing his business during these years? If yea, when was it?
Ans. 5.
    I do--it was in November 1852.
----
Int. 6.

    Do you know of his purchasing a mule train; when & where did he do this?
Ans. 6.
    He purchased a mule train in Decr. 1852, of Bowman & Winchell.
----
Int. 7.

    To your knowledge, what were his means & what [was] his credit at the time of said purchase?
Ans. 7.
    It was understood in Jacksonville that he had lost all he possessed at Scottsburg; I knew he had no money; his credit was good; he had no difficulty in borrowing.
----
Int. 8.

    With whom was said Snelling associated in the carrying business?
Ans. 8.
    With Benjamin J. Drew.
----
Int. 9.

    What do you know of their business, whether profitable or otherwise; state what you know apart from what they have told you?
Ans. 9.
    It was very profitable; they made two of the best freight trips ever made on the road.
----
Int. 10.

    How were they off for money, whether were they short or otherwise?
Ans. 10.
    They were always short--noted for being short.
----
Int. 11.

    What was the character of said Snelling for [illegible], energy and integrity as a business man?
Ans. 11.
    He was a good business man, energetic, industrious, &c., &c.
----
Int. 12.

    State fully what you know with regard to the forage transactions of said Snelling & Drew. How the same was contracted for? To whom was it sold & what were the profits on the same to said Drew & Snelling, whether great or small?
Ans. 12.
    They contracted in the winter of 1852/53 for the raising of grain on halves, with different farmers in this valley, Drew & Snelling furnishing seed alone and the farmers returning them half their crop; this resulted in large profits; it was sold to government.
----
Int. 13.

    State your means of knowledge in the respect apart from what said Drew or Snelling may have told you.
Ans. 13.
    I was acquainted with all the parties interested. I was trading in Jacksonville, and everyone's business was usually talked over.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


    I became acquainted with him in Nov. Dec. 1852. He came to Jacksonville with my brother's pack train. He was in no business at that time. He had previously been a trader at Scottsburg, O.T. He then formed a connection with my brother in the packing business which continued till the fall of 1853.
    I am his brother.
    The connection was formed as I have stated in Dec. 1852 Feby. 1853 for carrying goods, at first on freight afterwards on their own acct. They acted under the name of Snelling & Drew.
    I acted as their agent in Jacksonville.
    My brother had a train of thirty mules which he furnished as his share and Snelling furnished a train of thirty mules which he purchased of Bowman & Winchell.
    I do know of such purchase. He purchased 30 mules of Bowman & Winchell and paid for them partly in cash and partly by note.
    The money, he borrowed of different individuals for that purpose.
    He had no money; his credit was good.
    On freight.
    Two trips exclusively on freight.
    About $5000 applied to payment of debt for Snelling's purchase, building store in Jacksonville and purchasing seed wheat, oats &c. applied by both of them and by myself as agent. The store was built by under my superintendence.
    At Scottsburg, O.T.
    They did not. The bills of all the goods from the different traders of whom they purchased were sent to me as their agent. The goods were examined by me by the bills and the bills checked by me.
    Very large.
    About nine months--eight trips.
    I do know of the forage transactions of said Drew & Snelling; how the contracts for the raising of the same were made? Who made them! What said forage
    I do know of the forage transaction. They contracted with several farmers; Drew & Snelling furnished the seed, the farmers furnishing land all plowed and fenced, harvested, cleared, and bagged the grain and delivered one half the crop in Drew and Snelling's store. Some hay was also purchased by me on their acct. It was sold to govt. The profit on raising grain was very great, and it always sold at good prices.
    He had none other than what came from the business of Drew & Snelling.
    Snelling had the most of the claim against govt. My brother had the train and stored the rest of the assets of the firm.
    He had no money at the time of the dissolution. He left for Boston in March 1854; in the meantime he acted as my assistant in my office of Auditor of Jackson County, and his only income was what he received in fees which he used for his expenses.
    He then sold his horse for $362.50 in my presence, with which money he went to Boston.
Undated deposition notes,
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections.  The deponent was Charles S. Drew; his brother Benjamin J. Drew was George L. Snelling's packing partner; it was Snelling who left for Boston in 1854. The edited, finished deposition is immediately below.


Interrogatories to Chas S. Drew, of Jacksonville, O.T.
----
Int. 1.

    What is your name, age, residence & occupation?
Int. 2.
    Do you know H. D. Gardiner & G. L. Snelling, the parties of this suit?
Int. 3.
    Did you know said Snelling in the year 1852? What was then his business? In 1853? What was his business in that year?
Ans. 3.
    I became acquainted with him in Dec. 1852; he came to Jacksonville with my brother's pack train. He was in no business at that time; he had previously been a trader at Scottsburg. He then formed a connection with my brother in the packing business, which continued till the fall of 1853.
----
Int. 4.

    Are you a relative of B. J. Drew; if yea, what relation?
Ans. 4.
    I am his brother.
----
Int. 5.

    Do you know anything with regard to a connection between said B. J. Drew & said Snelling in the carrying business? If yea, what was said business & when was the connection formed? Under what name did they act?
Ans. 5.
    The connection was formed as I have stated in Dec. 1852 for carrying goods, at first on freight, afterward on their own a/c; they acted under the name of Drew & Snelling.
----
Int. 6.

    Were you in any way connected with their business; if yea, in what capacity?
Ans. 6.
    I acted as their agent in Jacksonville.
----
Int. 7.

    State what you know as to the contribution of each, said B. J. Drew & said G. L. Snelling, upon commencing said business. What did each contribute?
Ans. 7.
    My brother had a train of 30 mules (thirty) which he furnished as his share & Snelling furnished a train of 30 mules which he purchased of Bowman & Winchell.
----
Int. 8.

    Do you know of your own knowledge of said Snelling's purchasing mules at or about the time of commencing business with said B. J. Drew? If yea, how many did he purchase? of whom? and in what way did he pay for the same? Where did he procure his means for payment?
Ans. 8.
    I do know of such purchase; he purchased 30 mules of Bowman & Winchell & paid for them partly in cash & partly by note. The money he borrowed of different individuals for that purpose.
----
Int. 9.

    What were said Snelling's pecuniary circumstances at that time? Had he money? What was his credit?
Ans. 9.
    He had no money. His credit was good.
----
Int. 10.

    What were said Drew & Snelling's first trips, whether on freight or with their own goods?
Ans. 10.
    On freight.
----
Int. 11.

    How many trips did they make on freight & were or not said freight trips exclusively for freight?
Ans. 11.
    Two trips, exclusively on freight.
----
Int. 12.

    What was the amount of net proceeds of first two trips? To what was this amount applied? By whom was it so applied?
Ans. 12.
    About $5000. Applied to payment of debts for Snelling's purchase, building store in Jacksonville and purchasing seed wheat, oats &c. Applied by both of them & by myself as agent. The store was built under my superintendence.
----
Int. 13.

    Where were the goods procured which they packed on their own account?
Ans. 13.
    At Scottsburg.
----
Int. 14.

    Did any of said goods belong to the firm of Snelling, Turner & Co.? If you say they did not, state how you know that fact.
Ans. 14.
    They did not. The bills of all the goods from the different traders of whom they purchased were sent to me as their agent. The goods were examined by me by the bills and bills checked by me.
----
Int. 15.

    What were the profits of said carrying business of said Drew & Snelling--whether were they large or small?
Ans. 15.
    Very large.
----
Int. 16.

    How long did said Drew & Snelling continue in business together? How many trips were made? State as near as you are able.
Ans. 16.
    About nine months. Eight trips.
----
Int. 17.

    State whether you know of the forage transactions of said Drew & Snelling; how the contracts for raising the same were made; who made them; what said forage was; to whom was it supplied; who supplied the seed; what the profits on said forage were; whether great or small.
Ans. 17.
    I do know of the forage transactions; they contracted with several farmers; Drew & Snelling furnished seed, the farmers furnishing land, all plowed & fenced; harvested, cleaned & bagged the grain & delivered one half the crop in Drew & Snelling's store. Some hay was also cut under my superintendence. The contracts were made by Drew & Snelling and sometimes by myself on their account. It was all sold to government. The profit on raising grain was very great, and it always sold at good prices.
----
Int. 18.

    What were said Drew & Snelling's pecuniary resources during the continuance of said packing business? When did he claim his funds? Had he means other than the proceeds of said business?
Ans. 18.
    He had none other than what came from the business of Drew & Snelling.
----
Int. 19.

    When said business of Drew & Snelling ended, what division was made? What did Snelling have as his part?
Ans. 19.
    Snelling had the most of the claim against government; my brother had the train, the store & the rest of the assets of the firm.
----
Int. 20.

    Had said Snelling any money at the time of disposition? How soon after did said Snelling go to Boston? What money had he? How did he procure the means of going to Boston?
Ans. 20.
    He had no money at the time of dissolution; he left for Boston in March 1854; in the meantime he acted as my assistant in my office of Recorder of Jackson Co. His only income was what he received in fees, which he used for his expenses. He then sold his horse for $362.50 in my presence, with which money he went to Boston.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


    Lewis W. Ward, aged [omitted] years, a citizen of Jackson County, Oregon, makes oath that he was employed by C. S. Drew, the Quartermaster General for Oregon, ninety-six days in 1854, to pack supplies for the use of Captain Jesse Walker's company and that during the time he rode a good horse, the property of B. F. Dowell; that the said Dowell was employed during the same time as pack master, and the said Dowell during the same time used his riding horse and his pack train four wagon mules and his pack train consisting of one bell horse, two pack horses and twenty-three pack mules in active service; that affiant was informed at the time the said Dowell was to get for his own services eight dollars per day and for each animal four dollars per day; that affiant was also informed and still believes the said Dowell had several other riding animals in active service during the whole time and that he furnished a large amount of supplies for the use of said company; that he furnished to the knowledge of the affiant two thousand pounds of flour
Undated affidavit fragment,
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


Territory of Oregon  )
Josephine County      )
    Personally appeared before me, the undersigned a justice of the peace within and for said county, Jacob Solomon, a resident of said county, who after being duly sworn says that in 1854 he was merchandising in Jacksonville, Oregon, and that on or about the 3rd day of August 1854 B. F. Dowell purchased of him sixteen hundred pounds of good flour for the use of a company of volunteers commanded by Captain Jesse Walker; that afterwards this affiant delivered the said flour to C. S. Drew, the acting Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence for the company; that the said Dowell paid me fifteen cents per pound for the flour, in cash. And that on the same day the said Dowell and Jesse Walker purchased of this affiant about one hundred and fifty pounds of beans, fifty pounds of sugar, four hundred pounds of coffee, and that he was selling at the time all of these articles at from 35 cents to forty cents per pound but don't recall the price. All these articles were for the use of said company, and they were taken on pack animals out on the southern emigrant road, and this affiant is informed and believes the articles were all used up by the company and indigent immigrants, and that all the latter articles were divided between said Dowell and Walker at the time the bills were made out against the government by said Drew, at the request of the said Dowell and Walker.
Jacob Solomon
Althouse, O.T.
Jan. 15th 1858
   

    The above affidavit was sworn to and subscribed before me on the day and date above written, and I certify that I know the said Jacob Solomon to be the person he represents himself to be and that he is a man of good character and a credible person.
Charles E. Brunner, J.P. [sic--Charles E. Bruner]
   

Territory of Oregon  )
Josephine County      )
    I, James Walton, clerk of 3rd District Court of said territory, certify that Charles E. Brunner, before whom the foregoing acknowledgment was taken, is and was at the time of taking the same an acting Justice of the Peace in and for said county, duly appointed, commissioned and sworn to office, and that his signature to the same is genuine.
Witness my hand and seal of
said court the 18th day of January
A.D. 1859.                                                                    [seal]
James Walton, clerk
By R. B. Morford, Depty.
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


State of California   )
County of Siskiyou  )
    Personally appeared before me, Edward M. Anthony, a Justice of the Peace in and for Yreka township, county and state aforesaid, Eber Emery, Vincent H. Davis, [blank] Kennedy and Lieutenant Isaac Miller, all residents of said county, who after being duly sworn to tell the truth and the whole truth, make the following affidavits about the claims of B. F. Dowell for services and supplies furnished Captain Jesse Walker's company of the Oregon Militia [in] 1854, to wit:
    Eber Emery, aged thirty-eight years, of the late firm of Hillman & Co., states that he was a resident of Jackson County, Oregon in 1854 and one of the owners of the Ashland Mills of Rogue River Valley and that sometime in October 1854, B. F. Dowell purchased of this affiant two thousand pounds of good flour for the use of Captain Walker's company to fulfill a contract which the said Dowell had with C. S. Drew the acting quartermaster and commissary of subsistence for the company and that the said flour was paid for by the said Dowell and taken out immediately from the mill on the Southern Oregon emigrant trail to Captain Walker's company.
    Affiant has no interest in any of the claims of said Dowell against the government but makes this affidavit that justice may be done.
Eber Emery
    Vincent H. Davis, a resident of Yreka, California, aged twenty-eight years, makes oath that he is the identical Vincent H. Davis that was in the employ of C. S. Drew, commissary of subsistence and quartermaster, from the third day of August to the sixth day of November 1854, making ninety-six days, as blacksmith and farrier for Captain Jesse Walker's company; that this affiant was employed by said Drew at six dollars per day amounting to five hundred and seventy-six dollars; that the horse which this affiant rode during the time was the property of the affiant, but this affiant hired the said horse to B. F. Dowell of Jacksonville, Oregon, and the said Dowell hired the said horse to the said acting quartermaster for four dollars per day; that the said Dowell paid this affiant the said sum of five hundred and seventy-six dollars for his services and for the services of his horse in one bay mule and two black mules and thirty or forty dollars worth of iron, and this affiant receipted up the same sum of five hundred and seventy-six dollars to the said Drew and directed him according to the contract to make out the amount in cash to the said Dowell. That six dollars per day is reasonable, just and equitable for the services of this affiant, that good blacksmiths could not be hired in the vicinity for less money and that the said Dowell is justly entitled to the six dollars per day for the services of this affiant, also to four dollars per day for the services of the said horse according to the contract with the said acting quartermaster.
    Affiant further states that he is informed and believes that the said Dowell furnished several other riding animals for the quartermaster's hands and for some belonging to the said company and that this affiant knows of his own knowledge that the said Dowell had four mules that worked in the wagon during the whole time that the said company was in active service; that the said wagon was actively engaged transporting the camp equipage and baggage and wood for the company and that the said Dowell had during the whole time the said company was in active service one bell horse, two pack horses and about twenty-three pack mules and the said pack animals were employed transporting subsistence and supplies for the use of the said company, and that the said mules returned to Jacksonville, O.T. with the company and with the last of the emigration on the 6th of November 1854, and were immediately discharged from service.
    Affiant further states that he has no interest in any of the claims of the said Dowell against the government but makes this affidavit in order that justice may be done.
V. H. Davis
    Isaac Miller, aged twenty-four years, makes oath that he is the identical Isaac Miller that was second lieutenant in Captain Jesse Walker's company, called into active service to suppress Indian hostilities on the Southern Oregon emigrant trail in 1854; that this affiant was in the service with a horse from the 3rd day of August to the sixth day of November 1854, making ninety-six days; that the horse which this affiant rode during the time was the property of this affiant, and that he hired the said horse during the time to B. F. Dowell of Jacksonville, Oregon and that the said Dowell hired the said horse during the time he was in the service to the acting quartermaster C. S. Drew, and this affiant gave a written request to Captain Walker and Col. John E. Ross to muster the said horse in the name of said Dowell, and this affiant is informed and believes that the said horse is correctly reported on [the] muster roll and that there is also a charge on the muster roll of Captain Walker against this affiant for the sum of [blank] dollars, and in favor of said Dowell, and that in consideration of these two items and for the wages of this affiant in Captain Miller's company during the Rogue River War in 1858 [sic], this affiant received from the said Dowell one good gray Spanish horse, one fine  American bay horse, and one fine American sorrel horse; that this affiant afterwards in accordance with the above agreement receipted to Major Alvord, the paymaster, for his wages in Captain Miller's company and paid the money immediately to said Dowell; that the wages of the riding horse of this affiant during the time he was in service in Captain Walker's company and the charge on Captain Walker's muster roll against this affiant is justly due the said Dowell. Affiant further states that the said Dowell with four wagon mules and a pack train consisting of one bell horse, two pack mules and about twenty-three pack mules were in the service during the same time; that the said Dowell acted as packmaster; that four wagon mules were engaged transporting the camp and garrison equipage, baggage and wood for the company; that the pack mules were engaged transporting subsistence, ordnance and supplies for the use of the company--all or nearly all of the camp equipage for the company was purchased by the said Dowell and Captain Walker of [blank] Kennedy and they were delivered to the acting quartermaster C. S. Drew, and affiant is informed, and believes, that the said Dowell furnished other riding animals, and a large amount of supplies, but does not know it of his own knowledge except a little vinegar and molasses furnished a detachment of said company while they were encamped on the Humboldt River. All of said animals were actually necessary for the use of said company, and affiant was informed at the time that the said Dowell was hired at eight dollars per day for his own services, and four dollars per day for each animal, that being the lowest price that good and suitable animals for the service could be obtained at the time. Affiant further states that he is well acquainted with Eber Emery, Vincent H. Davis and [blank] Kennedy and knows them to be good and reliable men and that he has no doubt of the truth of the statements made in their affidavits. Affiant has no interest in any of these claims, but makes this affidavit that justice may be done.
Isaac Miller
   
State of California   )
County of Siskiyou  )    ss.
    I, E. M. Anthony, a Justice of the Peace in and for said county, hereby testify that the foregoing affidavits were made before me, that the affiants are credible persons and that I have no interest in the claims herein mentioned.
    Given under my hand this 4th day of October A.D. 1857.
E. M. Anthony
Justice of the Peace
   
State of California   )
County of Siskiyou  )    ss.
    I, F. A. Rogers, clerk of the county court, in the county and state aforesaid, hereby certify that E. M. Anthony, whose genuine signature is affixed to the foregoing affidavit, was at the time of signing the same a Justice of the Peace, duly authorized by law to administer oaths and to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and that full faith and credit are due to all his official acts as such.
Given under my hand and the seal
of said court this 20th day of November
A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven                        [seal]
F. A. Rogers
Clerk
Oregon Indian Wars vol. 3, B. F. Dowell papers Ax031, University of Oregon Special Collections


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For the Oregonian.
FOREST DALE, Jackson Co., O.T.,
    June 15th, 1855.
    FRIEND DRYER: The news of the result of the election in this county has, doubtless, reached you ere this. The Whigs are beaten but not whipped.
    The Durhams and their allies have carried the county by a small majority. Lane's majority is only 142; against convention, 422; Briggs (Whig) is elected to the assembly by a handsome majority; Carter (Whig) is elected assessor. The foreign vote here decided the election--this is undeniable--so far as I am able to learn, every uneducated man of foreign birth supported the Durham ticket. The English and Scotch, the most of whom are men of education and intelligence, voted as do Americans, some with the Whigs and some with the allies, a large majority, however, with the former. The result of this election has created a strong American feeling here, which forebodes a change in the political aspect of the county. It would have been far better, however, for the interests of this section of country if the American portion of her citizens could have been aroused to a sense of danger before the election transpired. Three of the four representatives elected in this county are of the Durham stripe. By this choice we shall no doubt lose the university, and suffer a reduction in the number of our members of assembly; both are Durham measures, consequently the Durhams of our own county are bound to obey the mandates of their leaders.
    The Indian difficulties of which I wrote you last week are not yet settled, and difficulties of the same character are anticipated in another quarter. I have not been able to obtain full particulars concerning the new disturbance, but will give you such items as I have been able to gather from the most reliable reports.
    It appears that some two or three days since the body of an Indian was found on or near the reserve; but how or by what means the body came there was then, and is still, a mystery. The Indians, however, aver that the act was committed by a Mr. Carrol, who lives in the neighborhood where the body was found, and that nothing but his death will appease their wrath.
    Mr. Carrol is no doubt innocent of the offense charged, if an offense it is; but with men at the head of Indian affairs in this territory whose sympathy is wholly enlisted in behalf of the Indian, it will not be surprising at any time to hear that the life of Mr. Carrol, if not sacrificed, is placed in jeopardy, merely to gratify the passions of the very Indians by whose hands so many citizens have fallen, and an almost incalculable amount of property destroyed. Comment upon the subject of Indian affairs in this territory is unnecessary; let the reader draw his own inference,
Respectfully yours,
    CLARENDON.
Oregonian, Portland, June 30, 1855, page 2


From Southern Oregon.
Forest Dale, Jackson County,
    Southern Oregon, Aug. 25, 1855.
    Editor of the Oregonian:--I have but little news to send you this week. The trial of Oldham for the murder of Dr. Alexander is over, and has resulted in an acquittal. There has been another stampede of Indians from the reserve, and the troops are in the field endeavoring to persuade their naughty pets to return to their friends, in order that the "fatted calf" may be killed, and that there may be much rejoicing thereat.
    The Indians engaged in the late bloody tragedy on the Klamath are still at large, and the probability is that they will be suffered to go unpunished, unless the citizens of northern California shall rise in their might and with their own hands inflict the punishment these "red devils" so richly deserve. Thousands of dollars have already been expended by her citizens in an honest endeavor to avenge the death of so many of their friends and comrades; they traced the perpetrators of these foul deeds through the mountains to the reserve in this valley, whither the guilty had fled for protection, which was immediately offered them by the military at Fort Lane, and, as a matter of course, the pursuing party was compelled to return without having accomplished their designs.
    In the event, however, that the Indians are not soon given up, the volunteers who enlisted in this cause at the commencement will return with the requisite reinforcement, and will, with renewed vigor, prosecute the object of their mission to the bitter end, and, if necessary, assistance will be rendered them by citizens of this valley, notwithstanding we are compelled in a measure to obey the mandates of "a secret political organization" known as "Durhams," whose chief has proclaimed to the world that no expedition against their particular favorites--the Indians--shall receive the sanction of his office, or, in other words, the sanction of the executive of this Territory.
    Those of our citizens who are so often compelled to act on the defensive, and to make the rifle their constant companion, who have lost relatives and friends, and perhaps the fruits of years of toil, can best judge of the position in which we are placed by such manifestations on the part of those in power in Oregon.
    The same line of policy should be adopted here with regard to Indians that is pursued by our companions on the other side of the Siskiyou--viz.: to commence a war of extermination, which would at once compel the military to keep the Indians garrisoned, and if the government is particularly desirous of propagating the species, would also compel them to furnish the Indians such nourishment as in such cases is required.
CLARENDON.
    Note--Since writing the above, information has arrived that the Indians have robbed several houses on Applegate Creek, twelve miles from Jacksonville.
Oregonian, Portland, September 8, 1855, page 2


(From the Oregon Statesman.)
The "Expedition to Fight the Emigrants."
DEER CREEK, DOUGLAS CO.,
    July 5, 1855.
    A. Bush, Esq.--Dear Sir: In the last Oregonian I notice a letter from B. F. Dowell, commonly known in the southern country as "collar-mouthed Dowell" (horse collar) or the "man with the cracked voice." It is said that Dowell ruined his voice in the winter of 1852-53 while he was crying, flour for sale at a dollar and a quarter per lb. During those memorable starvation times, Dowell arrived in Jacksonville with a load of flour, and commenced to sell it out at fifty cts. per lb., but soon increased his extortionate demands until he raised it up as high as a dollar and [a] quarter, when he broke down; his voice failed him, and he has not recovered it to this day.
    In the recent political canvass, Dowell stated in a speech in Jacksonville that the "time had been when a Whig daren't open his mouth in this Territory," which was true so far as he was concerned, for until he became sanguine of the Know Nothings and the election of Gaines, he was professedly neutral in politics, but like many other neutrals, he claimed to be as good a Democrat as could be found in Oregon.
    Last summer when Chas. S. Drew, then Quartermaster General of the Oregon Militia, was organizing his expedition to "fight the emigrants" on the southern road, Dowell was among the first to invest in that infamous speculation. It is now generally conceded that this expedition was unnecessary and wholly uncalled for--no hostility existed on the southern route--indeed the whole affair was gotten up for the purpose of speculating off the general government. The greater portion of the forage, transportation, provisions, hospital and ordnance stores, &c., for the expedition were furnished either by the quartermaster himself or some of his partners in business, or relations. Indeed the report of Gen. Drew shows that he has allowed the claim of his brother, B. J. Drew, for the use of pack mules in that service, amounting to the enormous sum of $9,876! No more than thirty pack mules belonging to B. J. Drew were ever in the service at any one time, and consequently the claim amounts to more than $250 per animal. Again, Drew claims and is allowed $2,360 for flour furnished for that service at the low rate of forty cents per lb., while 75 cts. is allowed for coffee, and the same or bacon; 50 cents per lb. is charged and allowed for sugar and salt. Yet Chas. S. Drew, quartermaster, "certifies that all these articles were purchased at the lowest market price, and that he was in no way interested in the purchase." Messrs. Pearson and Hunter, supposed partners of the quartermaster, have also large claims of a similar character.
    It appears that Mr. Pearson was paid and is allowed $50 per month for rent for four months of office for the quartermaster, while it is well known in Jacksonville that C. S. Drew kept his office on his own house, and that Pearson owned no interest in the house unless by virtue of his copartnership with Drew.
    Mr. Hunter, another partner in this enterprising firm of Drew, Dowell & Co., is allowed $3 per lb. for powder, 50 cts. per lb. for lead; 75 cts for shot; $10 per thousand or percussion caps, &c. Dr. Cleaveland, late of the Council, and as a member of which body he voted for the resolution asking Gen. Lane to get an appropriation to pay these bills, another personal and political friend of the distinguished Gen. Drew, is allowed $20 per oz. for quinine, also $2 per oz. for cubebs, copaiba, and paregoric; charges for other hospital stores furnished by Dr. Cleaveland are of a similar character. Among the rest, $8 per gallon is allowed for brandy. The miscellaneous items of the expenses of this service include many very singular and interesting stores for a campaign in the mountains--$12 per ream is charged for foolscap paper; $4 per bottle or ink; large amounts are allowed for soap, candles and other extras.
    Perhaps Dowell's bill is a fair specimen of the rest, and for the edification of the good Democrats who read the Statesman, and believe in the economical administration of the government, we will subjoin Dowell's account against the United States in full. Comment is unnecessary when we consider that Quartermaster General Drew has certified that all these extravagant demands are just--that the articles furnished were purchased at the lowest market price, and that he is in no way interested in the purchase.
B. F. DOWELL'S ACCOUNT:
30  animals 90 days at $4.00  each per day
80  lbs. lash rope, at 1.50  per lb.
2  black rasps, 3.00  apiece,
1  hatchet, 4.00
4  balls twine, 1.00  apiece,
2  sail needles, 0.50  apiece,
2  saddler's awls, 0.50  apiece,
3  axes with helves, 10.00  apiece,
1  coffee mill, 5.00  apiece,
2  camp kettles, 6.00  apiece,
28  frying pans, 4.00  apiece,
13  bread pans, 3.00  apiece,
20  tin cups, 1.00  apiece,
33  saddle blankets, 4.00  apiece,
6  lbs. powder, 3.00  apiece,
18  lbs. lead, .50  apiece,
10  lbs. shot, .75  apiece,
3  boxes percussion caps, 5.00  per box,
1  box steel pens, 4.00
1  bottle ink, 3.00
4  quires of paper, 1.00  apiece,
2  dozen pencils, 1.30  apiece,
1  spring balance, 4.00
50  lbs. loaf sugar, .75  per lb.,
25  lbs. rice, .62½  per lb.,
34  lbs. soap, .75  per lb.,
70  lbs. beef, .30  per lb.,
269  lbs. pork, .75  per lb.,
3650  lbs. flour, .40  per lb.,
75  lbs. sugar, .50  per lb.,
329  lbs. coffee, .75  per lb.,
116  lbs. beans, .50  per lb.,
5  gals. vinegar, 6.00  per gal.
    I would like to accompany the above with some extracts from the quartermaster's report to Gov. Curry. It is a rich specimen of military eloquence, and taken in connection with the accompanying accounts is quite an amusing product indeed; it is couched in the latest style of official reports, and is such a model of its kind as you have never before met with. But I will not trespass further upon your space at this time.
W. J. MARTIN.
    The Statesman editor comments as follows upon the above communication:
    In the letter of Capt. Martin, which we publish today, and to the astounding disclosures of which we invite the attention of the public and the authorities at Washington, will be found the bill of Mr. Dowell, on account of the "expedition to fight the emigrants."
    The items of this bill, as given, are correct, or we have caused them to be compared with the bills on file in the Governor's office, made out and certified by C. S. Drew, late quartermaster general. The other bills on file there, on account of this scheme to "fight the emigrants" and plunder Uncle Sam, are of the same character, exorbitant beyond degree or parallel. We subjoin a few items which we have copied ourself from the report of the late quartermaster general, Drew. We copy from the medicine bills:
Capsules, per oz., $1.
Balsam copaiba, per oz., 1. 50
Cubebs, per oz., 1. 50
Sweet spirits [of] nitre, per oz. 1.
Blue mass, per oz., 3.
Cholagogue, per bottle, 10.
Quinine, per oz., 20.
Seidlitz powders, per box, 2.
Paregoric, per oz. 2.
    Some of these are queer articles or an expedition of that kind, unless they expected to take sick Indians prisoners. And those prices are all rather refreshing for hard times and dull sales. All these articles Gen. Drew certifies "on honor were purchased at the lowest cash price"--sometimes at the "lowest market price."
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, August 9, 1855, page 2


Letter from the South.
Forest Dale, Jackson Co., O.T.
    Sept. 28th, 1855.
    Friend Dryer:--I have but little news to send you this week. Business is somewhat dull, though apparently improving. Farmers are busily engaged marketing their wheat and other products, and our merchants are laying in their winter supply of goods. The miners in this vicinity are preparing for a good winter's work--an abundance of water being anticipated.
    Three excellent flouring mills are in active operation in this valley, and a large portion of the flour manufactured is being sent to Yreka and sold or placed in storage. The past has proved an exceedingly prolific harvest, paying but a small remuneration however to the farmer, on account of the low prices for which he is compelled to sell his produce.
    A young man by the name of Thomas Low, some few days since, caught his foot in the gearing of a threshing machine and so fractured the leg as to render amputation necessary. The operation was performed by Dr. C. B. Brooks of Jacksonville, under whose judicious treatment the patient is doing well.
    A zealous opposition to the chastisement of Indians who have, and still are, committing depredations upon the citizens of this section of country in the settlements and on the highway is manifest on the part of several official dignitaries residing south of the California mountains, all of whom belong to the Durham herd. It is the opinion here that every one of the correspondents of the Oregon Statesman, and its echo the Umpqua Gazette, aside from the conductors of those sheets, are office holders. Such being the case, it seems to be a candid observer that no other evidence is required to establish the fact that a mutual sympathy does exist between the Indians here and the so-called Democracy of this Territory, especially as these communications have been freely endorsed by the leading stars of that secret political organization, known as the Salem clique. To the impartial reader, however, let these matters be submitted; one thing is certain, that the depredations which the Indians are constantly committing has created a violent antipathy against the entire Indian race in the minds of the majority of the citizens of both Southern Oregon and Northern California which cannot easily be eradicated, and these feelings are kept alive by the Indians visiting, whenever their own safety will admit it, the relatives of those who have suffered from their hostilities, and boasting of the tortures they have inflicted on their relatives and friends.
    Notwithstanding the oft-repeated declarations made by the Indian sympathizers, as heralded forth to the world through their hireling presses, that the utmost harmony exists between the two races, a system of warfare has been carried on by the Indians here that has within the last five months in this section of country alone brought no lesser number than twenty-two of our citizens to an untimely grave. To make up this number I am compelled to note the massacres which have occurred during the present week.
    On Tuesday last, as a small party of men with teams were crossing the Siskiyou Mountain on the road to Yreka, they were attacked by Indians, and two of their number, Calvin Field and John Cunningham, killed. The Indians also killed thirteen head of oxen on the spot, drove off several more, and carried away a considerable quantity of merchandise. This was not enough, however, to satisfy their savage thirst for blood, for on the following day they succeeded in killing another citizen, making the third [death], and wounding the fourth. Who is to be the next victim time alone can tell; occurrences of this kind have become so numerous within the past few months that I cannot but believe that the extirpation of every Indian tribe infesting this section of country particularly is a sacrifice due to the glory of God and the security of the lives and property of our citizens.
CLARENDON.
Oregonian, Portland, October 13, 1855, page 2


Rogue River Correspondence of the Statesman.
Jacksonville, Sept. 22nd, 1855.
    Mr. Editor.--Naturalists give us an account of a molluscous animal called the cuttlefish. He sustains himself by preying upon other fish, and has a small bladder near the mouth, from which, when pursued, he emits an inky fluid that darkens the water around him, and thus enables him to escape. In many of his peculiar traits, and especially the latter, this little bandit of the waters is the type of a class of men not unfrequently met with. The thief who breaks from his captors, artfully mingles with the crowd in pursuit, and takes up the hue and cry of stop thief, darkens the waters that he may escape. The ingenious pettifogger who in defense of a bad cause, misleads the witnesses, confounds the testimony and mystifies the minds of the jury, darkens the waters that the guilty may escape. And to illustrate by the circumstances that have suggested this cuttlefish to my mind, when it became a matter of public notoriety that the firm of Dowell & Drew had spread their nets for a haul upon the United States Treasury by means of the now celebrated "expedition to fight the emigrants," straightaway these worthies commence to distort the public mind from the subject, and to darken the waters with their ink "bladder," in the columns of the Oregonian, over the pompous signature of "Clarendon," from the rural shades of "Forest Dale, Jackson County." About the paternity of this modern "Clarendon" there can be as little doubt as that of Chancellor Hyde who first gave the name literary celebrity. They are all stamped with the device of the Dowell & Drew mint. From end to end they teem with wars and rumors of wars (but particularly the rumors). Besides, the most casual observer cannot fail to see at a glance that they are a mere rehash of the late Qr. Mas. Gen'l.'s report of his late military operations on the southern emigrant trail, in the fall of 1854, and allowing for the difference in quantity, they contain more pure unmixed fiction than even that celebrated document, and an equal amount of pathos, bathos and hifalutin.
    For instance, take the communication of the 11th of Aug. By a necessary implication it conveys, and was intended to convey, a false impression in the very first paragraph, in asserting that there had been a "resumption of Indian hostilities in this vicinity," that is, in the vicinity of "Forest Dale, Jackson County." Not a word of truth in it, although sometime prior there had been a fight in California, some sixty or seventy miles from the peaceful shadows of "Forest Dale." Yet a stranger in reading this politico-military dispatch might very reasonably conclude that "Forest Dale" was at that time besieged by the Indians, that Dowell was preparing the match to fire the magazine, as a last resort rather than surrender, while Drew in the true heroic style, stripped to the cuff [sic], and begrimed with powder, was indicting this dispatch upon a drumhead. All these letters are full of insinuations, utterly unfounded, against Capt. Smith, the commander at Fort Lane, and Dr. Ambrose, the Indian agent. It is probable that if Capt. Smith had have sanctioned this speculating "expedition to fight the emigrants," as Drew desired him to do, his name would not occur so frequently, but particularly if he had not reported to Genl. Wool that the whole thing was unnecessary, and got up for speculation. How an honest man and a faithful officer could have said anything else about it, I don't see, but at all events this accounts "for the milk in the coconut." From personal knowledge I affirm that Capt. Smith and Dr. Ambrose acted correctly in the matter of the Applegate Indians upon the reserve, who were demanded by the volunteers from California. The volunteers themselves, or those who spoke for them, expressed the opinion, and I don't think "Clarendon" can induce them to come back and retry the experiment, "of apprehending and punishing certain Indians upon the reserve," of their own will and pleasure without law or evidence. Nearly every citizen in Rogue River Valley who has a home and a permanent interest in the country approved of their action, and were at the time ready to back it by force if necessary. Opposed to these might be found--and there always will be--a few enterprising spirits "dead broke" and too lazy to work, whose voices are always for war (though not for fight), because in the confusion incident to such a state of things they have a license to go gypsying round the country, upon Cayuse ponies, plundering honest men for a living.
    Again, "Clarendon" complains of "the emissaries of a partisan press," that "they have misled the public mind by denouncing men as traitors, cutthroats, swindlers &c. who have used every endeavor to promote the public good, and have spent their fortunes, however small they might be, in the service of their country." Now be it known that these generous souls who have so suffered and died for their country, and have been so abused by "the emissaries of a partisan press" are merely the firm of Dowell & Drew. They have omitted the fact, and for fear a grateful public might never discover their benefactors, I mention it. But, gentlemen, your sufferings are not real. Your imaginations are distracted. These "emissaries" never called either of you "traitors." If you are traitors they have not said it, nor do they think it. They never called you "cutthroats"--the very idea is preposterous. You are both as harmless as sucking doves. Nor do I think they ever called you "swindlers." The name sounds harsh and ugly, and the politeness of the present age delights to describe such speculations as yours by the historic names of Galphinism and Gardnerism. But in this way you seek to get up false issues, to keep the public mind upon the wrong scent, and to darken the waters so that your real iniquities may escape the public eye.
    To speak of men's private fortune, or the manner in which they use it, is not the proper subject of a newspaper correspondence. But when the subject is lugged before the public with such barefaced impudence as in this last paragraph it becomes a different matter. Before the firm of Dowell & Drew can ask the credit of having "spent a fortune in the service of their country," we would like to know how and when they done it. If Drew ever "spent a fortune" it was in fast living--drinks not excepted--and not "in the service of his country." But if he did it would have been in quite as good taste to have been just before he was generous--to have spent it in repaying those poor fellows from whom much of it was borrowed.
    As for Dowell when his country gets anything from him better than pack mules at four dollars per day, or flour at a dollar and a quarter a pound, it will be time to boast of a "fortune spent in her service." As it is, upon strict principles of justice and right it is not improbable that he is the gainer and his country the loser some thousands, by his valuable "endeavors for the public good."
    In the letter of the 25th of Aug. "Clarendon" speaks warmly "of our citizens who are so often compelled to act on the defensive, and to make the rifle their constant companion," patrolling round "Forest Dale" I suppose, acting "on the defensive," or marching to relieve the distant settlement. Nothing of it, not a word. All imagination. They are peaceful fellows and love not the smell of villainous saltpeter, perhaps never shouldered a rifle in the valley, and if so merely in a trade. But they have got into trouble about some little speculations on account "of their country" and they wish to darken the waters until they can get out.
    But here is a paragraph in which D. and D. lay aside their "constant companion their rifle" and drive the pen of the politician. I would advise them to continue the change, as the latter character is not only more congenial to their tastes, but vastly nearer the truth. But to the paragraph--"we are compelled in a measure to obey the mandates of a secret political organization known as Durhams, whose chief has proclaimed to the world that no expedition against their particular favorites--the Indians--shall receive the sanction of his office, or, in other words, the sanction of the executive of the Territory." Who ever heard before that the executive had proclaimed anything to the world upon the subject? No one. All pure fiction. But Gov. Curry did turn Drew out of the Qr. Mas. Gen'l.'s office, and that is Dowell and Drew's revenge. But then these "Durhams." Aye! there's the rub. They have ruthlessly exposed our little military speculations before we got an appropriation from Congress to foot the bills. Besides they are "a secret political organization," and we K.N.s don't like that at all.
    But seriously, Dowell and Drew, it is time these alarms about Indian massacres, wars and difficulties in Southern Oregon should come to an end. It is true Indian difficulties may occur, but in this valley it is not likely without some of us are very anxious for it. During the past six months peace has not been interrupted for one hour in the upper R.R. Valley. One or two men have been killed in the valleys or mountains towards the coast. As many have been killed or wounded in the same time in drunken brawls between whites. Yet during all this time you have labored over the signature of "Clarendon" and otherwise to make the impression that there has been continual skirmishing and fighting with the Indians in Rogue River Valley and "Forest Dale." This is unjustifiable; persons at a distance are deterred from coming to the mines; emigration is turned away in some other direction, and the settlers are kept in a continual alarm and uneasiness. Now, Charley, let me say a friendly word in conclusion. If the firm of Dowell & Drew must keep up a clamor--if they must play the cuttlefish, and darken the waters, take some other subject. Have done with these false alarms about Indians. Cease trying to raise a fuss with them, but pitch into the "Durhams." They are real foes and worthy of your steel; you may hack away at them until doomsday without harming them or anybody else.
ANTI-HUMBUG.
Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, October 13, 1855, page 1


For the Oregonian.
Letter from the South.
Forest Dale, Jackson Co., O.T.
    October 6th, 1855.
    Editor Oregonian.--Rogue River Valley is again reaping the benefit arising from imported sympathy for the "poor Indian."
    The entire community here has become alarmed, and if coming events ever cast their shadows before them, then we are to have a second edition of the war of '53 and the predictions of many of our citizens fully realized. Many of the residents here are removing their families to places of safety, and are shouldering their rifles in defense of their inalienable rights--the peaceful possession of homes and firesides; even men who have heretofore sustained the policy pursued by those having authority in this Territory, with regard to Indian affairs in Southern Oregon particularly--and who have ever been on the alert to mislead the public mind relative to the many expeditions and engagements of which the Indians here have been productive--and who have even come so far as to prefer false charges against men who have taken an active part in such expeditions and engagements, have signified a willingness to espouse the cause of the white man by taking up arms against the very beings (if beings they are) whose virtue, honor, integrity and loving kindness have ever been the burden of their songs--the objects of their happiest dreams.
    Since the massacre of Fields, Cunningham and Warner on the 25th of September just past, I have received no positive information of the loss of any more lives, although report says that fifteen men have just been killed on Beaver Creek, on the opposite side of the Siskiyou Mountains. This does not seem incredible, as it is known that a large number of Indians are prowling about in that vicinity. On Thursday last, a party of Indians fired upon Mr. Myers and Mr. Fisk, near the residence of the former and but a short distance from the Eagle Mills, but fortunately missed both of their intended victims. On the same day another party killed several head of cattle at Vannoy's ferry on Rogue River, below the reserve, and on the following day a party of about forty miners proceeded from the Reserve to the residence of Mr. Decker, near the mouth of Butte Creek, and drove the family from the house; this I think is the third time within the last two months that Mr. Decker and family have been compelled to leave home and seek the more populous section of the settlement for protection against those government pets. On Applegate some stock has been taken, but of the amount I am not advised. Capt. Bob Williams is in that vicinity, and I expect soon to hear of the effects of his unerring rifle.
    A company of volunteers, under the command of Capt. A. G. Fordyce, is already in pursuit of Indians in the vicinity of Mr. McLaughlin's, and if there is anything in the general appearance of men, this company is bound to render a good account of its stewardship.
    The supplies for the volunteers already in the field have been raised by contributions; I predict, however, that in the event of a general war, as now seems inevitable, that the procurement of supplies will be almost an impossibility, for the coffers of our citizens have already been drained to such an extent, for like purposes, that they are wholly unable to furnish supplies without a fair remuneration, and it is generally thought that the Governor of Oregon, with his best of advisers, will report against such prices being paid, as they have done in other instances, where volunteer service has been rendered under similar circumstances. In the event that my prediction proves correct, or perhaps if otherwise we might with seeming propriety address the executive of this Territory, in the language of Jefferson to the British king, "open thy breast, sire, to liberal and extended thought." The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader, to peruse which requires not the aid of many councilors.
    If however we are to judge of the future by the past, quotations from their favorite authors will be of no avail. Political supremacy instead of principles of justice has too long been the basis of a great part of the policy pursued by the champions of Durhamism relative to Indian affairs in Southern Oregon.
Respectfully yours,
    CLARENDON.
Oregonian, Portland, October 20, 1855, page 2


Latest from the South.
Forest Dale, Jackson Co., O.T.
    October 20th, 1855.
    Editor Oregonian.--Since my last, the greater portion of the enemy have taken to the mountains, and have carried with them a large amount of stock and other property. Thirty persons have been buried between Jewett's ferry on Rogue River and Turner's on Cow Creek. The news of the massacre of Mr. Haines and family, of which there were some doubts when I wrote to you last, has been confirmed.
    I have not ascertained that the lives of any more citizens have been lost since the time of the general massacre. One Chinaman has been killed in Illinois Valley, and rumor has it that two citizens were wounded at the same time.
    A pack train with cargo was taken, and two men killed on the new trail leading from Yreka to Crescent City, about the time of the general outbreak here. In this operation the Indians secured a large amount of ammunition. Nine companies of volunteers, composed of men thoroughly acquainted with Indian service, and commanded by officers well skilled in Indian warfare, are in the field and are rendering excellent service.
    Major Fitzgerald and Lieut. Switzer of Fort Lane, and Captain Judah of Fort Jones, are also in the field with about two hundred and fifty regular troops. It is due to these gallant officers to state that they have ever shown themselves ready to cooperate with the citizens here in effectually checking the manifold depredations committed by the savages.
    These officers with their several commands and the volunteer companies of Capt. Harris and Capt. Bruce, together with a detachment of Capt. Williams, under the command of Lieut. Stone, are in pursuit of a large body of Indians that are supposed to be lodged in the mountains on the west fork of Applegate Creek. Col. Ross has so disposed of the several companies under his command, as to render the protection of the settlement complete, and at the same time to ferret out and punish the enemy. Captains Harris, Bruce and Williams are for the present detailed for the particular service already alluded to. To Capt. Rinearson (of Oregon City) is assigned the Grave Creek, Cow Creek and Rose Creek district; to Capt. Lewis, that of Galice and lower Rogue River; to Capt. Alcorn, that of Butte; to Capt. Wilkinson, the vicinity of Jacksonville; Capt. Trye [Fry?], Illinois Valley--Capt. Welten [Walker?] has been dispatched to Umpqua in pursuit of some of the Umpqua tribe who participated in the murder of Mrs. Wagoner and child and Mr. Harris and son.
    A messenger has just arrived, bringing the intelligence that the forces sent out in the direction of Applegate Creek, were on the trail of the Indians.
Yours in haste,
    CLARENDON.
Oregonian, Portland, November 3, 1855, page 2


Rogue River Correspondence of the Statesman.
JACKSONVILLE, Nov. 10, 1855.
    A. BUSH--DEAR SIR: I am sorry that I have not better news to send you today in relation to our Indian difficulties in the south. I am informed that recent acts on the part of his premiership, Charley Drew, develops some strange and astounding transactions. Enclosed I send you a copy, of an order issued on the 7th by John E. Ross and Charley, who, it seems, had called the militia into service, and who, it seems, had done everything in their power to prevent the organization of the battalion in this county as called for in the Governor's proclamation, this man, Drew, charging that the Durham Democracy, the Democrats, and also those having control of the Indian Department in Southern Oregon, were the blamable parties for all the Indian depredations in the south. You recollect his (Drew's) "Clarendon" letters in the Oregonian. Now this man Charley is as cunning as a fox, and is chief of the Know Nothings in this county. He knows that if he could bring about hostilities, that Ross was colonel of the militia, and he could be adjutant. All those difficulties of which he prophesied in those "Clarendon" letters were not the result of accident, as the happening of Dr. Henry at Cow Creek at the particular hour of the commencement of hostilities was! Now Charley Drew and others who had figured at the head of a party in this county had lost their grip, and something must be done to save them. Circumstances, and the acts of certain hostile bands of Indians on the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountain, favored their plans, and the idea was conceived that by throwing the firebrand among the Indians, the entire blame could be saddled on the Democracy. Hundreds of our unsuspecting citizens of this county were caught in the snare, and those horrible massacres have taken place, at which our community, en masse, cry aloud for vengeance. But what does Charley say? Why, he's trying to prevent an organization under the proclamation of the Governor. The volunteers will not elect Ross major, therefore Drew cannot be adjutant. If they do not organize under the proclamation, Ross is colonel of the militia, and Drew is adjutant, and thus Drew's plans can be carried out; then Drew & Dowell's expedition to Klamath Lake, in the fall of 1854, will stand a better chance to be paid by the general government.
    I stop to report better news. The battalion of four companies has been mustered into service by Capt. Lamerick, assistant adjutant general, and James Bruce, elected major. Drew & Co. refused to let the newly organized battalion have supplies until they saw that Capt. Lamerick and Major Bruce were preparing to take such portion as they needed, even without consent. Drew left Vannoy's when the organization took place, and quite a number of Ross and Drew's Indian lighters have backed out, and gone home.
WALLACE.
(COPY.)
HEAD QUARTERS, 9TH REG'T. O.M.
    Camp Stuart, Nov. 7, '55.
REGIMENTAL ORDER.
    The several companies composing the 9th Regiment O.M. will assemble at Vannoy's ferry on Friday next (Nov. 9th) for the purpose of mustering into service agreeable to the proclamation of the governor of Oregon, i.e., to form a battalion of volunteers and elect a major to command.
    It is required that a return of muster tolls, appraised lists, &c. &c., pertaining to the present service (that of the militia) be made as soon as practicable, and forwarded to this station, in order that the affairs of said service may be closed.
By order,
    Col. JOHN E ROSS.
Per C. S. Drew, Adj't. 9th Reg't. O.M.
Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, November 24, 1855, page 1


For the Oregonian.
More Indian Disturbances on Rogue River.
SALEM, O.T., Aug. 11, 1857.
    FRIEND DRYER:--Herewith I send you an extract from a letter dated at Galice Creek, Rogue River, on the 23rd ult.
    "On last Tuesday morning (21st inst.) five Indians entered the cabin of Messrs. Walker & Co., about five miles below this place, on Rogue River, and commenced rifling it of its contents, among which were two guns, which they secured. Mr. Walker, who was in the cabin, sick and alone, when the Indians entered it, succeeded in getting hold of his revolver at about the same time the Indians got possession of the guns, and ordered them from the premises. One of the Indians immediately drew up and snapped one of the guns at Walker, but fortunately it was not loaded. The Indians then retreated, Mr. Walker following them out of the cabin, where they immediately attacked him with bows and arrows. Some of the arrows came very near hitting him, but fortunately he escaped being hurt.
    "Some three days previous to this occurrence the cabin of Messrs. Coarser & Heverlow, on the right-hand fork of the creek, was entered by Indians, in the absence of its occupants, and robbed of its entire contents. Not one dime's worth of anything was left.
    "On Wednesday, 23rd inst., the miners of the creek held a meeting to take into consideration the necessity and expediency of ferreting out the aggressors, and also to ascertain the extent to which danger might be apprehended. The matter was turned over to Capt. Mike Bushey, who, with a small company of volunteers, well armed and equipped, were in pursuit of the Indians. Will you do us the favor to write immediately, whether any Indians have left the reserve?
    "The miners here are doing well."
    From the foregoing and other indications, it appears evident that Southern Oregon is to be again scourged by the resumption of Indian hostilities which have visited that portion of Oregon every year since its first settlement, and that her citizens are again compelled to exchange the quiet avocations of citizen life for the more arduous, rude and dangerous duties of the soldier in the field. It is in the manner above described that all the Indian difficulties that have ever occurred south have originated--the assertions of Wool and various official dignitaries of Oregon to the contrary notwithstanding. In almost every instance where Indian depredations upon property have been submitted to by citizens, loss of life from the same cause has been the invariable result.
CLARENDON.
Oregonian, Portland, August 15, 1857, page 2


Removal of the Remains of Col. Baker.
    The remains of Col. E. D. Baker were yesterday placed on board the steamship Northern Light, which left New York for Aspinwall. The body will be taken direct from Aspinwall to San Francisco. The Governor's Room of the City Hall, where the remains lay in state, was on Saturday visited by many thousands of citizens. The coffin was uncovered from 11 o'clock in the forenoon to a quarter past four in the afternoon, and during that period several thousands availed themselves of the opportunity to view the features of the lamented soldier. Probably the number could not have been less than ten or twelve thousand.
    Yesterday morning the remains were exposed to view but a few moments; but the public were not admitted. Punctually at eleven o'clock the Seventy-First Regiment appeared in front of the City Hall and were drawn up in line. The committee having the body in charge, citizens of California, and the division officers, with General Sandford at their head, had assembled at the Governor's room; and shortly before half-past eleven the coffin was borne by six pallbearers to the vestibule of the City Hall.
    A great crowd, embracing several thousand persons, assembled to witness the solemnities of the occasion. When the coffin, wrapped in the American flag, appeared on the steps of the Hall, the Seventy-First presented arms and the band played a dirge. The march of the procession down Broadway was witnessed by many thousands of persons.
    The procession proceeded down to Battery Place, and thence to Pier 3 North River, and shortly after twelve o'clock the remains were placed on board the Northern Light, which sailed soon afterwards.
    The remains will be carried free of expense by the three California lines, and will be accompanied by Charles S. Drew, specially appointed to superintend their conveyance to San Francisco, and by Col. Havestry and Abel Guy, of San Francisco, appointed to assist by the Californians resident in New York.
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 12, 1861, page 8


  
    PERSONAL.--We have now on a visit to our town Maj. C. S. Drew, after quite a protracted absence to the Atlantic States. Maj. Drew is now in the volunteer service of the United States, and is stationed at Rogue River Valley. His appearance among us at this time is for a friendly visit to his old friends and acquaintances this side of the line. Maj. Drew, formerly and familiarly known by the old settlers here as Charley Drew, was one of the earliest settlers in this county and removed from here to Jacksonville in 1852, has been quite conspicuous in the early settlement and in the advancement of the interests of Southern Oregon and Northern California by influence and exertions both at home and abroad. His appointment to the office of major was received with pleasure by his numerous friends, and his station in this district gives the most entire satisfaction. We, among others, feel a hearty pleasure in once again taking him by the hand.
"Home Intelligence," The Semi-Weekly Union, Yreka, California, November 1, 1862, page 3


    MILITARY.--Major Drew has received instructions from General Wright that the new company being raised here will be mounted, and attached to the command for Klamath Lake. Each private who furnishes his own horse and horse equipments will receive twelve dollars per month for their use and risk--making his total monthly pay $25. To this also will be added $100 bounty at the end of enlistment. This bounty will be paid, however, at any time when the soldier is mustered out of the service after the expiration of six months.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, April 1, 1863, page 2


    Col. Drew left for San Francisco yesterday morning for the purpose, it is understood, of hastening and perfecting arrangements to proceed with the erection of a military post in Klamath country, on the eastern boundary of the county. It is hoped that success will attend him; and we have every confidence that if he is continued in this section, this much-needed move will be consummated at an early day, and that adequate protection will be offered to the frontier and to travel.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, April 8, 1863, page 2


    It is stated that Major Drew has received instructions from Gen. Wright that the new company now being raised at Jacksonville shall be attached to the command for Klamath Lake. Each private who furnishes his own horse and horse equipments will receive $12 per month for their use and risk--making his total monthly pay $25. To this also will be added $100 at the end of enlistment.
Morning Oregonian, Portland, April 22, 1863, page 3


The Trip to Klamath Lake.
    Colonel Drew, with an escort of thirty soldiers, members of Co. C, Oregon Cavalry, and Lieutenants White and Underwood, accompanied by a number of the residents of the valley, left on the 22nd day of June, for the purpose of visiting the Klamath Lake country, preparatory to the location of a post.
    Our first camp was at Tolman's place, above the soda springs; second at Long Prairie; third at the mouth of the creek entering Klamath River below the falls, and the fourth on the upper Klamath Lake.
    This lake is said to be about thirty miles long and eight or ten wide, and is fed, at the upper end, entirely by springs and streams, which have their source in the snow peaks. It is surrounded almost entirely by tule marsh, with little or no tillable land on the lower side. We were much disappointed in the appearance of country, having been led to suppose that we should find a rich valley, with good water and timber. The only land available for ranch purposes is said to be situated at the upper end of the lake. Being desirous of returning through Dead Indian Prairie, the Colonel decided leaving the examination of this portion of the country, and the final location of the post, for another trip.
    On the morning of the 27th we took the return trail as far as the bend in the river, striking to the right at this point, and following the ridge in a northwesterly direction, recamped at the head of a lake, which is the source of the stream entering the Klamath below the falls. The cold springs supplying the lake proved so great an attraction as to detain us over Tuesday. On the evening of the 29th we camped on Dead Indian Prairie, on the 30th on Grubs Prairie, reaching home the next day.
    The numerous little accidents and funny circumstances of frequent occurrence, the recital of pioneer experience and wonderful stories, only to be appreciated around a campfire, spiced with the novelty of mountain life, made our trip a pleasant one.
E.C.S.
    Col. Drew and escort left on Tuesday the 7th, to explore the head of the lake and vicinity.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 8, 1863, page 2


(Communicated.)
Trip to Klamath Lake.
    Col. Drew, with an escort of thirty-three men, under command of Lieut. White, and a number of citizens of Jackson County, left Camp Baker on the 7th instant, for the purpose of exploring the country east and north of Mount McLoughlin, and for the purpose of finding a suitable situation for establishing a military post. Our first camp was on Butte Creek, fifteen miles from Camp Baker. Here Judge Prim came very near being bitten by a huge rattlesnake. This camp we named Rattle Snake.
    July 8th we camped on Rancheria Prairie, near the place where the Ledfords' party were murdered by the Indians in the spring of '59. The distance we came today was about twenty miles.
    July 9th we crossed the mountain on the trail taken by the Pathfinders in the spring of 1862, under command of Col. Ross, and soon come upon places where they had done considerable work, in the way of building bridges and sinking mining holes. Four miles from the summit, on the west side, we came to a beautiful lake, on the north side of which we camped. This is called Summit Lake, and is about four miles long. It reminded me somewhat of the description given of the "Lake of Como.'' The distance traveled today was about fifteen miles.
    July 10th we traveled down the west side of the lake and continued descending towards Klamath Lake Valley. From our camp at Summit Lake, to the foot of the mountain, it is about ten miles. We continued along the west side of the lake, traveling in a northerly direction, for about eight miles, and camped. The distance traveled today was about eighteen miles. In descending the mountain we occasionally caught a glimpse of the lake and valley below; the scenery was beautiful.
    July 11th traveled about twelve miles north and then changed our course to the east, across the head of the lake. Here we crossed a bridge over Martin's Creek, built by Col. Ross' party; eight miles further we came to Wood's River, where we camped.
    July 12th we had a fine mess of fish for breakfast; built a raft this morning and by eleven o'clock we were all on the east side of the river, safe and sound; four miles further and we came to the east side of the valley, where we camped on a beautiful stream of pure, cold water. Col. Drew crossed the stream and traveled down some four or five miles further, where they found La Lake's camp, but the old man was not at home. It appears from what we could learn from the Indians who were left in charge of the camp that they were holding a council of all the tribes in the valley east of where we were, making preparations for declaring war against the Pit River Indians. The Colonel continued his investigations down the east side of the valley until he struck the alkali soil, when he returned to camp.
    July 13th we have fish in "copious effusions." Mount Shasta could be seen very plainly from this point. It lay directly south of us. We traveled along the valley in a northerly direction, crossed several branches running into Wood River, the banks of which were high and dry, and camped in a fine grove of trees near the center of the valley. Here we left a number of men who had taken the mumps.
    July 14th crossed the head of the valley and struck an Indian trail running west over the mountain, and thinking that it might be a shorter cut through the mountains towards Rogue River Valley and that it might possibly connect with the wagon road, we ascended the mountain and camped about eight or ten miles from the valley. So far the trail has been very good.
    July 15th after following the trail a number of miles it gave out entirely and we traveled for some time on our own hook until we brought up all standing by a deep canon. We retraced our steps a few miles and camped.
    July 16th we continued our retreat in "good order." Our citizen friends, being anxious to return home, concluded today to take a shortcut and left us at the place we camped on the 14th. We have since learned that they had a hard time of it, and at last were compelled to beat a retreat and take the old road.
    July 17th we rested on our oars and caught fish.
    July 18th we turned our faces towards home and camped at the foot of the mountain.
    July 19th we crossed the mountain and camped on Lick Prairie.
    July 20th we reached Camp Baker.
    Klamath Lake Valley is one of the finest grass countries I have ever seen. The water is pure and cold; the fish are splendid. Game does not appear to be plenty at this season of the year. The soil is light and dry, and appears to be formed of pumice stone, of which the entire upper part of the valley is covered. The Indians are good looking, treacherous, bloodthirsty and thieving. They are a noble specimen of "Lo, the poor Indian!" Persons wishing to visit the valley should be very cautious and keep a close lookout for their "har."
W.M.H. [William H. Hand]
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 22, 1863, page 2


    The Jacksonville Intelligencer says that Col. Drew has lately located a military post in the valley to the north and east of Klamath Lake. He found the valley of sufficient extent for two or three counties, and the soil very rich.
"Domestic Items," Oregon Statesman, Salem, August 3, 1863, page 2


    COL. DREW, ET AL.--Human depravity is an unpleasant subject for meditation even when viewed as a generality. But when we investigate isolated cases--individual instances of minds naturally low cramped by ignorance; warped by association and dishonest from principle, the subject becomes doubly painful. There are many of this stamp in the world and they sometimes band themselves together in leagues and communities for the better carrying out their designs. These loyal gentlemen never act as men by denouncing to the world a man's principles or his acts. That is not their forte. They are honorable men who strike you in the back by writing anonymous letters or sending petitions in which they make assertions that their gentle natures will not permit them to give utterance in the presence of the man they seek to slime over and traduce.
    We have been led to these reflections after a careful perusal of a long article in a late number of the Jacksonville Sentinel, which the writer doubtless intended as an indictment against Col. C. S. Drew. An indictment in which he was simply acting as district attorney in drawing up the document, but in the finding of which the Republicans of Rogue River Valley, and of course the little rest of the world, acted as jury. You, Charley Drew, Colonel, in the pay of Uncle Samuel, have built a fort too far away from the potato patch of some of us; you let a contract, which none of us would have because you could not pay us in anything but greenbacks, to a mean secessionist--we mean by the term secessionist any man who does not believe in carrying on the war until every one of our "cullud brudren" is free and placed on an equal footing with ourselves, socially and politically. You renewed this contract, you know you did, with these same secessionists, and we don't know whether you had instructions to do so or not. You let another contract, this time to one of us, but he had not the means to fulfill it and was compelled to sublet his contract to a man who is not one of us and consequently a secessionist, and we don't like you for that. You have done these and other things which we don't like. In fact, Charley, we doubt if you are an abolitionist, a doubt by which we mean to prove you a secessionist. This is why we frantic loyalists have written letter after letter, sent petition after petition, in our usual secret league manner, to your superiors below, until they, to get rid of our yelping, were compelled to put the government to the expense of sending an officer up here to see if there could be any truth in the statements of fellows who would stoop to the means we have to injure an active and efficient officer, against whom, in fact, we can produce no well-grounded cause of complaint.--Yreka Union.
Oregon Intelligencer, Jacksonville, October 7, 1863, page 2


    THE Jacksonville Sentinel says a military commission is about to inquire into the official conduct of Lieut. Col. Drew, in command at Camp Baker. One of the charges preferred against the Colonel is that of awarding contracts to avowed secessionists to the exclusion of Union men.
Marysville Daily Appeal, Marysville, California, November 8, 1863, page 1


    CHARGES PREFERRED.--Sub-Indian Agent A. E. Rogers, in Oregon, has preferred charges against Colonel Drew, in command at Camp Baker and Fort Klamath. An officer was sent to Jacksonville to inquire into the truth of the charges, and to make a critical examination into the military transactions in that section, and also to report upon the propriety of building the new fort in the locality selected by Colonel Drew. The objection to the new fort at Klamath Lake appears to be that it is too remote from the immigrant road and civilization; while the advantage claimed for the location is that the Indians, once "corralled" there, will never be able to find their way to the white settlements!
Sacramento Daily Union, November 9, 1863, page 2


More of Drew's Operations.
    Col. Drew, doubtless having received orders to advertise for his supplies, according to law, and being either afraid to advertise in the Intelligencer, or determined to keep his contracts an entire secret to the farmers of Rogue River Valley, sends the following advertisement to the Yreka Union, a Copperhead paper published in another state, and having no circulation whatever in this county:
NOTICE
    Sealed proposals to furnish the troops at Fort Klamath with fresh beef during the next fiscal year, ending June 30th, 1865, will be received by the undersigned until 12 o'clock M., June 20th, 1864.
    The beef to be of a good marketable quality, in equal proportion of fore and hind quarters, necks, shanks and kidney, tallow to be excluded and breast trimmed down. To be delivered in such quantities as may be from time to time required, and on such days as shall be designated by the commanding officer.
    Payment to be made monthly for the quantity of beef accepted, or as soon after as funds may be received for that purpose.
    Proposals to be directed to Lieut. D. C. Underwood, A.C.S., Fort Klamath, via Jacksonville, Oregon.
D. C. UNDERWOOD.
    1st Lieut. Co. C, 1st Cav. O.V., A.C.S.
        Camp Baker, Oregon, May 26, 1864.
    How do you like that, farmers of Rogue River Valley? Haven't got any beef to sell at all? Drew has to go to Copperheads of California to get them to furnish Fort Klamath "via Jacksonville"? Where is the boasted market at Fort Klamath that these Drewites have been stuffing you with? Drew don't want your beef; wouldn't have it at any price. How will you feel to see the Siskiyou Copperheads driving their stock to Fort Klamath "via Jacksonville," and returning with the greenbacks?
*    *    *
    If Drew don't want to patronize the Copperheads, why did he not send his advertisement to the Yreka Journal, a Union paper of large circulation in Siskiyou County and Northern California?
    It won't do, professing Union men. You can't hold Drew up much longer.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 11, 1864, page 2


    HUNG IN EFFIGY.--By late advices from Fort Klamath, we learn that the indignation of the soldiers at Colonels Ross and Drew reached such a pitch that they actually hung Ross in effigy. [See contradicting article of July 16, below.] We are glad to see these brave boys express their contempt for Copperhead officers so decisively. Being thoroughly loyal and true to the Union themselves, they feel mortified at being compelled to submit to the leadership of secessionists. They can see, too, easily enough that it was Drew that removed the last man of them from this county prior to the election, in order that their votes could not be polled for the Union county ticket here. No wonder that they feel justly indignant.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 18, 1864, page 2


    JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON.--"It seems that victory perches upon the Union banner everywhere in Oregon except in Jackson County, Southern Oregon, which has given the Copperheads 50 majority. The Sentinel charges the defeat to the influence of aid and comfort afforded the rebels and Copperheads by Col. Drew. The secesh of Siskiyou are also great admirers of the Colonel, but, alas, the Copperhead Colonel has no influence here, even if he does advertise for Copperhead bids to supply Fort Klamath. Drew wants to divide his favors with the Copperhead and secession press, and has given the Siskiyou vilifier of the Administration a benefit. If a man is judged by the society he keeps, Drew must be a secessionist, for he is very thick with them on his visits to Yreka, and seems to shun Union men. The secesh here get very hostile about Union men doubting Colonel Drew's loyalty, but then that is nothing new--they feel equally indignant about calling Jeff Davis disloyal."--Yreka Journal.
    The Journal, on the assertion of another about as truthful as itself, willfully or ignorantly publishes an untruth. It is well known that there was a split in the abolition party of Jackson County immediately after the Oregon Republican state convention, and there were numerous "soreheads" who would not be comforted. The Sentinel, if it will admit the truth, knows this. Feigned or real ignorance alone prevents the Journal from acknowledging it. An Independent ticket was run in Jackson County, and doubtless Democrats voted it, as the party made no nominations. The Journal says Colonel Drew must be a secessionist "for he is very thick with them on his visits to Yreka, and seems to shun Union men." Doubtless if Col. Drew, when it became necessary for him to visit Yreka on business, would immediately hunt up that pink of intelligence and good breeding, the Journal
man, closet himself with the sapient hombre, disclose all his plans and ask his advice as to whom he should drink with, what hotel he should put up at, the Colonel would no doubt be a "good Union man." It is well known that the abolition organ of Southern Oregon has carried on a relentless war against those in charge of this military department. That Colonel Drew has been exonerated, after a full investigation, from all the charges preferred against him; that it is through his advice and the concurrence of General Wright we now have a military post established at Klamath Lake for the protection of emigration and immigration. In all the newspaper discussion of this important question and the necessity of protecting our northeastern frontier by the establishment of military posts, not one single paragraph, so far as we can now recollect, has ever appeared in the Journal favoring the proposition. If we are wrong in this that paper can easily correct us by hunting up its record on the subject. As to the Journal's assertion that we are a "vilifier of the Administration," it is simply a falsehood. We have strenuously opposed its unconstitutional and detrimental conduct of affairs, giving it due credit for what good it has done, and shall continue to do so, the Journal and its kind, nolens volens.
The Semi-Weekly Union, Yreka, California, June 18, 1864, page 2


    ARGUING WITH THEM.--Our Fort Klamath letter states that when the soldiers unanimously petitioned Col. Drew to dismiss the Copperhead Ross, he (Drew) undertook to "argue" with them. "Argue" with these soldiers, indeed! Force them to follow the lead of this "pathfinding" shouter for the Jeff. Davis party! Mortify them by compelling them to follow a man who rejoices over the defeat of the cause of the Union! A fine thing, indeed! If Drew had his deserts he would be sent for Fort Alcatraz to pack sandbags for six months. That would doubtless take some of the Copperhead arguments out of him. Such treatment had a wonderfully good effect on old Chipman. It cured him of his arguments in short order, and it ought to be administered to Drew until he becomes loyal.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 18, 1864, page 2


    JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON.--It seems that victory perches upon the Union banner everywhere in Oregon except in Jackson County, Southern Oregon, which has given the Copperheads about 50 majority. The Sentinel charges the defeat to the influence of aid and comfort afforded the rebels and Copperheads by Col. Drew. The secesh of Siskiyou are great admirers of the Colonel, but, alas, the Copperhead Colonel has no influence here, even if he does advertise for Copperhead bids to supply Fort Klamath. Drew wants to divide his favors with the Copperhead and secession press, and has given the Siskiyou vilifier of the Administration a benefit. If a man is judged by the society he keeps, Drew must be a secessionist, for he is very thick with them on his visits to Yreka, and seems to shun Union men. The secesh here get rather hostile about Union men doubting Colonel Drew's royalty, but then that is nothing new--they feel equally indignant about calling Jeff. Davis disloyal.--Yreka Journal.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 18, 1864, page 3


Honor to the Brave Boys of Co. "C."
A COPPERHEAD HISSED OUT OF CAMP.

FORT KLAMATH, Oregon,
    June 11th, 1864.
    Ed. Sentinel: Having seen no communications in your paper from this paper for some time, I thought that the relation of a few things that have transpired here within the last few days might be of interest to the readers of the Sentinel.
    The election passed off quietly, and out of ninety votes there was but one secesh vote cast, and that was by Col. J. E. Ross, who was here in government employ as guide and interpreter. The boys did not mind his voting as he did, but when the news of the Copperhead triumph in your county reached here, he exhibited his joy by bursting into a loud and boisterous hurrah, the company determined that, if there was any regard for their feelings, the nuisance to them should be abated by removal. Accordingly, within an hour, Col. Drew was handed a petition, signed by the whole company, requesting the immediate dismissal of Ross from government employ. This was a stunner to both Colonels Drew and Ross. Col. Drew tried to argue the boys out of it, and said the expedition would have to stop if Ross was discharged, but the boys were firm, and the portly satellite must take his departure. He no doubt will find sympathy among his coppery friends in Jacksonville.
    Times are quite lively here now. We were paid off a few days since, and greenbacks are circulating freely. The steam sawmill has commenced operations, and the sound of the mechanic's hammer, mingled with the notes of the bugle, the clang of sabers, and the tramp of horses, gives things an air of thrift and life, after our long and monotonous winter. The weather is quite cool, and overcoats are comfortable.
MIWALETA.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 18, 1864, page 7


    Capt. Kelly requests us to contradict the report that Col. Ross, or any other man, was hung in effigy by the soldiers at Fort Klamath.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 16, 1864, page 2


    COL. DREW, the particular friend and chum of the Copperheads and Secessionists of Southern Oregon, says the Yreka Journal, has been removed from command of the expedition to the Owyhee. The Secesh organ at Jacksonville will probably be draped in mourning next week.
Marysville Daily Appeal, Marysville, California, July 16, 1864, page 2


    JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON.--It seems that victory perches upon the Union banner everywhere in Oregon, except in Jackson County, Southern Oregon, which has given the Copperheads about 50 majority. The Sentinel charges the defeat to the influence of aid and comfort afforded the rebels and Copperheads by Col. Drew. The secesh of Siskiyou are also great admirers of the Colonel, but alas, the Copperhead Colonel has no influence here, even if he does advertise for Copperhead bids to supply Fort Klamath. Drew wants to divide his favors with the Copperhead and secession press, and has given the Siskiyou vilifier of the Administration a benefit. If a man is judged by the society he keeps, Drew must be a secessionist, for he is very thick with them on his visits to Yreka, and seems to shun Union men. The secesh here get rather hostile about Union men doubting Colonel Drew's loyalty, but then that is nothing new--they feel equally indignant about calling Jeff. Davis disloyal.--Yreka Journal.
Oregon State Journal, Eugene, July 23, 1864, page 1


COL. DREW AND CAPT. KELLY.
    "We are informed that after proceeding some fifty miles on the expedition to the plains, Captain Kelly was peremptorily ordered back to Ft. Klamath, by Col. Drew, bearing sealed orders to be opened at that post. On arriving at the Post, he opened his orders, and found instructions for him to proceed immediately to Portland on recruiting service, with special orders not to assume command at Ft. Klamath.
    "Company C is one of the largest companies in the regiment, and there now remains but one officer in it.
    "We learn from outside sources that a difficulty sprang up between Col. Drew and Capt. Kelly as to whether the Klamath Lake Indians are guilty or innocent of participating in the attack on Richardson's party. It is said that among a number of Indians who visited the command, two were recognized by citizens as having been engaged in the fight near Silver Lake. The Captain wished to see the Indians punished then and there; the Colonel desired to proceed with the expedition, and because of this difference of opinion, it is claimed that the Captain is ordered to Portland. This leaves Col. Drew the only officer with the expedition.
    "Such is the statement of facts in the case, as we received them. We are anxious to know the truth of this whole matter, and will furnish our readers with whatever facts may come to hand."
    The above is from the Jacksonville Sentinel; we have confirmatory statements from an intelligent and reliable correspondent in Jackson County. The same gentleman alleges that prospecting for gold and silver is the main object of the expedition and not any design to punish the Indians. There is much feeling in Jackson County upon the matter, and the facts will probably all come out soon. It seems incredible that Col. Drew would consign so valuable and efficient an officer as Capt. Kelly to the recruiting service, when his services in the field are so urgently needed. We observe that T'Vault's Intelligencer is loud in defense of Col. Drew. That is strong presumptive evidence of Drew's culpability. If the management of military affairs in Jackson County has been what it should be, Drew ought to somehow stop T'Vault's mouth. His praise is fast raising a prejudice against Drew which no loyal man ought to incur.
Oregon Statesman, Salem, July 25, 1864, page 1


    The following is an extract from a letter received from Mr. E. C. Sessions, sutler to Drew's expedition on the plains. The letter was dated Surprise Valley, July 23rd, 1864:
    "So far we have had a fine natural road. We have had fifteen loaded wagons in our own train, some of them carrying five and six thousand pounds of flour, which indicates the nature of the road. This valley is distant only fifteen miles from Goose Lake, and is occupied for stock ranches by some forty or fifty men. The way ahead we know nothing of yet. Our numbers have been increased somewhat by addition of emigrant trains. We must now have at least 150 men, 1,000 head of cattle, 250 or 300 horses and mules, 20 horse and ox teams. I expect to be back in September, and will give you such items as I can. All hands are well and hearty."
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 6, 1864, page 2


Letter from Col. Drew.
    We are permitted to publish the following, which will no doubt be read with considerable interest:
    Camp at Northwest Corner Nevada Territory, July 18, 1864.
    Hon. A. M. Rosborough, Yreka, Cal.: I am moving slowly, partly on account of threatened Indian difficulties in the rear, and partly because I am exploring a new route nearly all the way.
    Mr. Richardson continues with me. Allen's train from Rogue River Valley left me in Surprise Valley, taking the old Lassen route to the Humboldt. Frans, from Klamath River, below Humbug, and Morgan and Taylor from the vicinity of Humboldt Bay, with cattle, are with me, and will remain with me until I reach Puebla. I shall try hard to open a wagon road from Lassen's Pass over the Sierras via the head of Surprise Valley and the Puebla District to the Owyhee. My route now is north of east, about the right direction, but obstacles in the shape of rocky ridges and deep canyons may compel me to vary my course temporarily, but I think not to any great extent. The route from Jacksonville and Fort Klamath to this point is a good one, with an abundance of good grass and water, and wood enough for road use. The distance from Jacksonville via Fort Klamath to Surprise Valley is 240 miles. From Fort Klamath, 154 miles.
    The formation of the country begins to change to the eastward of Surprise Valley from a purely volcanic formation to slate, with now and then a boulder of quartz. Specimens of quartz, silver, copper and iron have reached me from the Puebla District that are really rich no doubt. The quartz from the Vicksburg mines, 15 miles south of Puebla, seems the best.
    I have had some trouble on account of the acts of some of Charley Delaplain's party from the Owyhee. A man by the name of Parker and three others--one by the name of Burton--attempted to murder some unarmed Indians whom I had directed to come into camp to give information respecting their numbers, country &c. &c. As the Indians were returning home from my camp they were waylaid and fired upon by this party and required to give up their horses. By some means, it does not appear how, Parker & co. got possession of two of the Indians' horses when other armed Indians came up and fired upon the white party, killing Burton and Parker's horse. This was distant from camp probably about three miles. Parker & co. laid no claim whatever to the horses, neither for themselves nor anybody else, but state to their comrades before they left camp that to take the horses from the Indians was a "good thing" and they meant to do it. In a word it was a direct attempt at robbery and murder in which the aggressors came off second best. I mention this because it is reported that the horses belonged to his (Delaplain's) party, and that the Indians made the attack, etc. etc. He will doubtless find newspapers to advocate his side of the story, and for this reason I mention the matter to you in advance of any publication from him or any of the thieves who brought on the unfortunate difficulty.
Yours truly,
    C. S. DREW.
The Semi-Weekly Union, Yreka, California, August 17, 1864, page 2


Letter from Col. Drew.
    We are permitted, says the Yreka Union, to publish the following, which will no doubt be read with considerable interest.
CAMP AT NORTHWEST CORNER NEVADA TERRITORY, July 18, 1864.
    Hon. A. M. ROSBOROUGH, Yreka, Cal: I am moving slowly, partly on account of threatened Indian difficulties in the rear, and partly because I am exploring a new route nearly all the way.
    Mr. Richardson continues with me. Allen's train from Rogue River Valley left me in Surprise Valley taking the old Lassen route to the Humboldt; Frans, from Klamath River, below Humbug, and Morgan and Taylor from the vicinity of Humboldt Bay, with cattle, are with me, and will remain with me until I reach Puebla. I shall try hard to open a wagon road from Lassen's Pass over the Sierras via the head of Surprise Valley and the Puebla District to the Owyhee. My route now is north of east, about the right direction, but obstacles in the shape of rocky ridges and deep canyons may compel me to vary my course temporarily, but I think not to any great extent. The route from Jacksonville and Fort Klamath to this point is a good one, with an abundance of good grass and water, and wood enough for road use. The distance from Jacksonville via Fort Klamath to Surprise Valley is 240 miles. From Fort Klamath, 154 miles.
    The formation of the country begins to change to the eastward of Surprise Valley from a purely volcanic formation to slate, with now and then a boulder of quartz. Specimens of quartz, silver, copper and iron have reached me from the Puebla District that are really rich no doubt. The quartz from the Vicksburg mines, 15 miles south of Puebla, seems the best.
    I have had some trouble on account of the acts of some of Charley Delaplain's party from the Owyhee. A man by the name of Parker and three others--one by the name of Burton--attempted to murder some unarmed Indians whom I had directed to come into camp to give information respecting their numbers, country, &c., &c. As the Indians were returning home from my camp they were waylaid and fired upon by this party and required to give up their horses. By some means, it does not appear how, Parker & Co. got possession of two of the Indians' horses, when other armed Indians came up and fired upon the white party, killing Burton and Parker's horse. This was distant from camp probably about three miles. Parker & Co. laid no claim whatever to the horses, neither for themselves nor anybody else, but stated to their comrades before they left camp that to take the horses from the Indians was a "good thing" and they meant to do it. In a word it was a direct attempt at robbery and murder in which the aggressors came off second best. I mention this because it is reported that the horses belonged to his (Delaplain's) party, and that the Indians made the attack, etc., etc. He will doubtless find newspapers to advocate his side of the story, and for this reason I mention the matter to you in advance of any publication from him or any of the thieves who brought on the unfortunate difficulty.
Yours truly,
    C. S. DREW.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, August 20, 1864, page 3


    COL. DREW'S EXPEDITION.--By the courtesy of a gentleman of this town, we have been permitted to glean the following items from a letter, written 15 miles beyond Surprise Valley, dated July 28th:
    The body of the man who was killed at Goose Lake was dug up by the Indians and stripped of his clothes.
    Col. Ross and party had been out looking after the road; they report it very rough ahead.
    A man came into camp from the Puebla district, on his way to Shasta, with a very fair specimen of the croppings of copper ore, showing fair indications of gold and silver.
    Allen, with his wagons, left the command on the 26th, and started around the lower end of Surprise Valley. Being very heavily loaded, he could not travel the route by which Colonel Drew intended to move. He expects to travel five times as far to reach his destination as he would could he go with the expedition. Their present camp is on a lake, with plenty of good water and grass. It is surrounded by a mineral country, containing a great deal of iron, and good indications of gold and silver. The country in that vicinity is volcanic.
    The command was to move again on the 29th. All are in good health and spirits.--Sentinel.
Oregon Statesman, Salem, August 22, 1864, page 2


CAMP BARRY, Foot of Steens Mtn., Or.,
    August 31st, 1864.
    ED. NEWS--In my last I promised you a brief description of this country, as well as my individual views upon the location of a military post either in this or some other suitable valley which may be found in this region. I now find that this promise was more easily made than complied with, under existing circumstances, and shall have to defer until a more suitable time--doubtless to the gratification of yourself and readers.
INDIANS AGAIN.
    Little did we think, when penning our last, that in less than two days' time, Indians would be seen in plain view of the camp, yet such has been the case. About noon on the 20th inst.,a large party of horsemen were descried coming across the valley and bearing directly for this camp. Of course we all took them to be soldiers, no one for a moment entertaining the least idea that the redskins were going to pay the cavalry a visit in open day. The surprise was mutual--ours being as great on learning that the party were really reds, as theirs was on finding out that they were unintentionally visiting a soldiers' camp. Truth is said to be sometimes stranger than fiction, and proves itself so in this instance, for, before we got our horses into camp, saddled up, and the machine placed in running order, the red had effected his escape, fled to the mountains, vanished, apparently, "into the air," and, true to the cunning instincts of his race, had either fled (as only a redskin can) over the rough craggy mountain, or else most effectually concealed themselves in the many holes and ravines. However, our charge was not, after all, an entirely fruitless one. In addition to the pleasures of the ride, we captured four old, decrepit, broken-down cayuses--four old crop-eared fellows, unable, by reason of age and the want of wherewith to replenish the inner cayuse, to "wag on," and were consequently left by their red masters by the trail side. We also effected the capture of their valuable commissary, consisting of a large stock of dried berries, seeds, etc.
ARRIVALS IN CAMP.
    On the 26th, Lt.-Col. Drew of the 1st Or. Cavalry arrived here from Klamath Lake. His command is composed of 39 men, all told. The object of his expedition is, I am told, to survey and locate a road from the above point to the Owyhee. Accompanying Drew was some fourteen families and several hundred head of stock, hailing from Rogue River and Northern California and bound to the Owyhee and Boise mines. In conversation with both Drew's men and a number of the immigrants, I was told that the route over which they traveled from Klamath Lake to this point was far from good, and by many it was thought that the location of a road over the proposed route is not at all practicable. Col. Drew brought the report into camp that, to the southwest of this, some sixty miles, a large party of Indians were encamped, but, owing to the insufficiency of his force, and the protection necessary to ensure the safety of his own and the immigrant trains, he deemed it advisable not to attack the Indians, and so passed on. In consequence of this bit of news, a detachment of eighty cavalry and twenty infantry will leave here tomorrow for that vicinity. The opinion is prevalent in camp that this is the same band of Indians encountered by us on the South Fork of John Day river in July last. Should such be the case, the likelihood is that "fight" will be the word with this command. Reports further say that the Indians are in a strongly entrenched position on a mountain. Colonel Drew also reports that in the same direction, about 150 miles from here, he struck a broad Indian trail, over which a large number of stock had been recently driven, and not less than from four to five hundred Indians had passed that way. Judging from the bearings of the trail, the Col. thought that the Indians intended going to Pyramid Lake, or somewhere in that neighborhood. Being possessed, when I came into this breathing world, of a rambling nature, I purpose to accompany the scout that leaves here tomorrow morning, partly through my own desire, and because--coming down to the very letter and truth of it--I can't help myself if I chose to. Though my quill-tracks are not as brilliant as they might be, yet if anything in the way of smoke and battle should occur, your correspondent will not--should circumstances permit--allow the time to slip idly by until you are duly informed of events thereof. The sanitary condition of this camp is, just now, anything but good. Many of the men are on the sick list, and others in a fair way to follow suit. To add to the calamity, the fact is that our medical outfits very scant and poor, and our worthy surgeon, Cochrane, is the sickest of them all, but is, happily, so I bear, convalescent, and will soon be around again, to the gratification of sick men. The autumnal showers are just setting in with us, and the supposition is that this will greatly tend to alleviate sanitary matters in camp, at all events it is earnestly hoped so.
Yours, JAMES.
Boise News, Bannock City, Idaho, September 24, 1864, page 3


    Col. C. S. Drew arrived in town yesterday. He reports a good wagon road from here to the Owyhee mines by the way of Ft. Klamath. We will give more particulars next week.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, November 12, 1864, page 3  Read Drew's official report of the expedition here. A printed report, attributed to A. H. Miller, is in the collections of the University of Oregon, presumably printed by the Sentinel from the same type used in the weekly newspaper.


    RESIGNATION.--On the 28th of last month, Lieut. Col. C. S. Drew, 1st Oregon Cavalry, sent in his resignation, to take effect on the 31st of January. Colonel Drew has been identified with the interests of Southern Oregon from its earliest settlement. He has made a very active, energetic officer, and his loss to the service will be materially felt. He planned and conducted the exploring expedition to the Owyhee last summer, which promises to be of lasting benefit to Southern Oregon. He starts for San Francisco in a few days, where he expects to be absent several weeks.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, February 18, 1865, page 3


    QUARTZ MILL.--Col. Drew and others are fitting up the quartz mill on Jackson Creek, for the purpose of testing the quartz ledges in this county. The Colonel has sent to San Francisco for improved machinery, and the prospect is that the thorough test these gentlemen will be enabled to give the various quartz lodes in this county will develop many ledges that will be of vast importance and add greatly to the wealth of the country. The company have also commenced prospecting for the lead from which the silver specimens, spoken of in another column, came. It can only be the sincere wish of all that all the ledges prospects ma prove rich.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, October 7, 1865, page 2


    SILVER BRICK.--A few days since Major Glenn showed us a specimen of silver ore and also a piece of pure silver from a similar specimen. The ore assayed weighed an ounce, and the silver obtained was worthy seventy cents. When the fact is taken into considerationi that a silver dollar weighs but an ounce, this a very rich specimen. The pieces of ore found were float, but they show conclusively that there is more where they came from, and if the lead is ever found it will prove as rich as Potosi. The specimens were found on Jackson Creek, about one and a half miles from town.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, October 7, 1865, page 2


    LABOR OMNIA VINCIT.--The truth of this proverb was forcibly brought to mind as we were strolling up Jackson Creek last Thursday morning. When in sight of the forks of the creek, a terrible thumping and pounding startled the ear accustomed only to the surrounding stillness. We looked up and saw jets of steam issuing from the steam pipe of the old quartz mill. Our footsteps were greatly accelerated by this fact. On arriving at the interior of the mill, we found Colonel Drew, shovel in hand, feeding the hungry-looking mouth of the battery. The machinery seems to work well. The quartz being crushed that day was from a lead on Evans Creek. The Colonel is running a tunnel in a lead on Jackson Creek, known as the Davenport lead. The tunneling is being done in a very substantial manner, and if former trials are taken as a criterion we should judge that it will by no means be labor lost. They are running the tunnel so as to strike this lead below the water line. Nine men are at work at it at present. The tailings from the mill are being preserved until the company can procure an amalgamator from San Francisco, which they have already ordered.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, November 11, 1865, page 2


    Col. Drew exhibited to us a specimen of quartz this week from the Howard and Paine lead, which is very rich, and gold is visible in all parts of it. This lead is not far from the celebrated mine of W. W. Fowler and company, on Applegate--to the south. It was discovered about three years since, and a considerable amount of quartz quarried but, some difficulty arising, work was for the time discontinued. The recent excitement about quartz led to further prospecting which resulted in the discovery of quartz which compares very favorably with Gold Hill and the Fowler lead. Claims have been located and a company organized for the working of it.
"Southern Oregon," Morning Oregonian, Portland, February 13, 1866, page 2


    Col. Drew left for San Francisco yesterday morning, for the purchase of machinery for the reduction of quartz. He took with him a finely assorted cabinet of specimens from our various gold- and silver-bearing quartz ledges, which he intends having thoroughly tested ere his return. He will probably be absent six or eight weeks, and we are anxious to know how the various ledges will stand the test.
"Southern Oregon," Oregon Statesman, Salem, February 26, 1866, page 3


State of California                            )
City and County of San Francisco   )  ss.
    Charles S. Drew, being duly sworn, deposes as follows:
    My permanent residence is at Jacksonville, Oregon but am residing now temporarily in the city and county of San Francisco, California. I recently held the position of lieut. colonel of the 1st Regiment of Oregon Cavalry. My business now is quartz mining.
    I was well acquainted with U.S. Indian Agent William Logan of the Oregon Indian Superintendency in his lifetime and was a fellow boarder with him at the "Russ House" in San Francisco from an early date in June 1865 until the morning of the 28th day of July 1865. I last saw the said William Logan on the 28th of July 1865 on board of the California Steam Navigation Company steamship Brother Jonathan after said vessel had left her pier, "Broadway Wharf," and was headed for the Golden Gate en route to Oregon. My intercourse with said William Logan during our stay at the "Russ House" aforesaid was of the most friendly character. I went with him early in the month of June aforesaid to the office of the U.S. Sub-Treasurer when he presented one or more checks or drafts upon the same and received currency therefor. At the same time he exhibited to me two or perhaps three other checks or drafts upon the said Sub-Treasury, remarking as he did so that they were for funds to be taken to Oregon on his return and that he would not draw them until he should so return. I think that he mentioned fifteen thousand dollars as the aggregate of the amount of the public funds for which these checks were drawn, a portion of which were for use at his agency, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. After having gone on board of the Brother Jonathan, where I was with him up to the moment of her casting off at her wharf, he mentioned of having these funds in his possession and remarked in the same connection that he had only forty dollars in coin of his own with which to bear his expenses to Portland, Oregon, but that he could get funds to defray his expenses from that point to his agency. I inferred from his conversation on the steamer at the same time that he had a greater amount of Treasury notes than fifteen thousand dollars in his possession but do not recollect that he spoke of them as public funds.
    The steamship Brother Jonathan was lost at sea on the 30th day of July 1865 while on the trip to Portland, Oregon, as before mentioned, and there can be no doubt that the said William Logan came to his death at that time and in consequence thereof and that the loss of whatever funds public or otherwise he then had in his charge is equally certain.
Signed C. S. Drew
Subscribed and sworn to
before me this 16th March A.D. 1866
Geo. D. Knox
    Notary Public
NARA Series M234 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs 1824-81, Reel 616 Oregon Superintendency, 1870-1871, frames 208-211.


    We learn, says the Jacksonville Reporter, that the new quartz mill of the Occidental company, on Jackson Creek, will be completed on or about the 20th of next month, when they will commence crushing rock from the Davenport lead. We hope they may soon crush out a fortune as a fitting reward for their enterprise and energy.
"State Items," Morning Oregonian, Portland, August 29, 1866, page 3


    The Sentinel has an article on the quartz interests of Jackson County from which we extract: Early last spring, Col. Drew, being in San Francisco, represented to various parties what we had up here in the shape of quartz, and the want of proper machinery to work it, and that in his opinion and in that of others a first-class mill, well built, and of the best known pattern, would be a success. The result was Mr. Hogan, a practical mill man, and one who has had experience in quartz mining, came up from San Francisco early in the season. After looking about for several weeks he came to the conclusion that a mill would do well here. Steps were immediately taken to form a mill company, which in due time resulted favorably, and the "Occidental Quartz Mill Company" was organized. This company immediately proceeded to work, and after various hindrances the mill has been placed on the Davenport lead, on Jackson Creek, and is almost ready to commence running; probably steam will be raised on Monday next. A finer piece of machinery we never have seen. Everything about the engine and mill is of the most approved patterns and styles. The engine is 24 horsepower, running five stamps and two concentrators--Hungerford's Improved Prater Patent. Everything about the mill is in tiptop order, and everything needed for running is at hand. Water runs into the mill from ditches on the sidehill above; wood will not have to be drawn forty yards, and the quartz will be taken from the mouth of the tunnel to the mill in cars, a distance of about 150 feet.
"State Items," Morning Oregonian, Portland, September 27, 1866, page 2


    SHERIFF'S SALE.--On Thursday last the personal property of the Occidental Quartz Mining Company was sold at public auction by the sheriffs to satisfy the demands of the tax collector on the property of the company. The real estate of said company will be sold at auction, under execution, by the Sheriff, on the 27th inst. See advertisement.
Southern Oregon Press, Jacksonville, April 6, 1867, page 3



    STILL AT IT.--The indefatigable Col. Drew, together with two others, are still driving their tunnel above the forks of Jackson Creek, and hope to strike a good thing yet. The Col. has overhauled his mill and is putting in the latest improved condensing or saving apparatus.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 7, 1867, page 3


    ON JACKSON CREEK.--This week we had occasion to take a trip up Jackson Creek, where we found everybody and everything snowed in. At the Occidental Quartz Mill the snow was about one foot deep, and up the creek about a half mile further the snow is said to be two feet deep. Col. Drew has got the Occidental Quartz Mill about ready for running again. He has put about $1,200 worth of improvements on the mill. Some entirely new pieces of machinery have been added, and it is the belief of the owners of the mill that they can save all the gold. A contract for crushing a hundred tons of quartz has been closed and the mill will proceed to work as soon as the quartz is delivered.

Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, January 11, 1868, page 3


    QUARTZ ROAD.--A road is being made from the Occidental Quartz Mill to the Holman lead. It is the intention to proceed as soon as the rock can be transported to the mill to commence crushing. The mill has been carefully repaired and the defective parts made new, so that it is almost certain that all the gold can be saved.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, February 15, 1868, page 3


    QUARTZ MILL RUNNING.--Col. Drew started the machinery of the Occidental Quartz Mill on Sunday last. We will give a full description of the improvements and hope to record a good cleanup next week.
Oregon Sentinel,
Jacksonville, April 18, 1868, page 3


    QUARTZ MINING AND MILLING.--The Occidental Quartz Mill has been running the past week, and we understand that as soon as the "cleanup" from the run just made is completed the mill will be set in motion again. The amount of quartz crushed last week was 94 tons, from the Timber Gulch ledge owned by Messrs. W. A. Johnson and Louis Ballou. The mill is driven by a thirty-horsepower engine. The crushing and reducing machinery consists of two high mortar batteries, five stamps each, two Rettinger boxes, two Hungerford's improved concentrators and one seven-foot amalgamating tub, arranged similar to an arrastra. The machinery, it will be remembered, was put up two years since, but it has been left in excellent condition, works to a charm and reflects great credit upon its manufacturers, Messrs. Howland, Angel & King, of San Francisco. The saving process of the mill is near about perfect, and thus far gives satisfaction. The Rettinger boxes are a new thing in American mining, the ones in the Occidental mill being the only ones that are known to be in use on the American continent. A milling company in Grass Valley, Cal., talked at one time of adopting them, but we have never heard whether they did or not. The quartz crushed at the run just made paid 10 dollars per ton. The lead from which the rock is quarried is about a half mile from the mill and at this rate will pay well for working.
Oregon Sentinel,
Jacksonville, April 25, 1868, page 3


    QUARTZ CRUSHING.--The work lately done by the Occidental was an experiment on the part of those owning the rock. It has proved satisfactory, leaving a good profit, after paying expenses of quarrying and crushing, and the mill will resume work as soon as sufficient rock can be got out to commence on. The Occidental mill may now be regarded as a permanent institution that will bring considerable wealth from our undeveloped ledges. Success to it.
Oregon Sentinel,
Jacksonville, May 2, 1868, page 3


    QUARTZ MILL.--We were up at the Occidental mill this week, and found everybody busy. Col. Drew has been running night and day for about thirteen days. The quartz being crushed now is from Timber Gulch lead, and has the appearance of being very rich. The last run paid ten dollars to the ton, and it is confidently expected that it will run over this amount this time. The mill is in splendid running order, and when small amalgamating pans shall have been added, it will be the best gold mill in either California or Oregon. Col. C. S. Drew is deserving of great praise for the manner in which he has stuck to the work. We want more men of the same kind, that when they take hold of an enterprise, they will not quit until they have succeeded, or the thing is demonstrated to be a failure.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, May 23, 1868, page 3


    Jackson Creek, where the principal mining is, runs through the town. About three miles up the north fork is the Occidental quartz mill, the main dependence of this mining district at present. This mill was built about three years ago, at an expense of $15,000, yet by some mismanagement the original company failed, and it has recently fallen into the hands of Capt. L. L. Drew [sic], one of the former stockholders, who was then engaged in making some considerable improvements at an additional expense of about $2,000 more, with the intention of testing the new quartz ledges that have recently been discovered here, there being some seven or eight ledges that are quite extensive. The mill has since been put in good running order, and the ledges have turned out to be profitable. The mill has ten 600-lb. stamps, with Rutger's English Concentrating Boxes--the only mill, I believe, that has adopted them excepting the Eureka Mills, at Grass Valley--also, Hungerford's Patent Concentrating and Amalgamating Tubs, on the principle of those used in Washoe. "Notes of a Trip to Oregon," Daily Alta California, San Francisco, June 18, 1868, page 1


    NEW ROAD.--The road to the quartz mill was finished this week. A trip to the quartz mill is now one of the most pleasant drives in this vicinity.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 11, 1868, page 3


    ROAD TO THE QUARTZ MILL.--This highway has been completed, and is one of the finest grades in the county. From Kanaka Flat a distance of one and a half miles to the quartz mill, the road is surveyed on a level, and the steep hillside graded down so as to make a smooth pass. Three substantial bridges have been built across as many mining cuts. When a small amount of work shall have been put on the road running over the Flat, there will be no nicer drive in the vicinage of Jacksonville.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 18, 1868, page 3


    WORK PROCEEDS.--Col. Drew commenced work on the Holman lead on Wednesday morning last. Four miners are employed in taking out quartz.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, July 18, 1868, page 3


    NEW SAW MILL.--The machinery of the saw mill on Jackson Creek has been purchased by Messrs. Drew, Dillon & Salmon. They intend to build a new mill to be driven by the engine of the Occidental Quartz Mill.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, September 19, 1868, page 3


    AT WORK.--The new sawmill of Drew & Co.'s, adjoining the Occidental Quartz Mill, is hard at work, and turning out the best lumber to be found in the market.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, December 5, 1868, page 2


    HEARD FROM.--We learn from the Sacramento Reporter that Col. C. S. Drew has started with a small party of prospectors for the White Pine region. They are backed by San Francisco capital, and will probably extend their explorations down the Colorado.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, May 1, 1869, page 2


    Col. Drew, G. M. Banks and John McLaughlin, three old citizens of this place, have been heard of at White Pine. They are traveling with a splendid outfit and having a nice time on the money of some San Francisco capitalists.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, May 22, 1869, page 2


    QUARTZ.--Dillon & Bowden will commence crushing next week, and we expect to record the best run that has ever been made at the Occidental Mill.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 12, 1869, page 2


    Col. C. S. Drew, formerly of the United States army, with a party of prospectors, has lately discovered rich gold and silver mines on the headwaters of the South Fork of Owyhee River.
"General News Items," Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, June 26, 1869, page 1


    SHORT OF WATER.--The quartz mill is only crushing rock every other day, on account of scarcity of water. The company are still getting out rock, which is said to look very well.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, September 25, 1869, page 3


    APPOINTMENT.--Governor Thayer has appointed Chas. S. Drew, of 308 Pine St., San Francisco, Cal., a Commissioner of Deeds.
"Brief Mention," Democratic Times, Jacksonville, November 22, 1878, page 3


Death of Colonel Drew.
    Charles S. Drew died at the Veterans' Home at Yountville on Monday and was buried yesterday. He was born in Canada East in 1825 and at an early age came to this coast. When the war of the Rebellion began the regular troops stationed in Oregon and California were sent East and volunteers were called for to take their place in operations against the Indians and for the purpose of preventing the formation of a Pacific republic. Mr. Drew was in Southern Oregon when the First Oregon Cavalry was organized, and was appointed major of the regiment, receiving his commission November 6, 1861, directly from President Lincoln, who, acting upon the advice of Colonel Baker, then Senator, declined to trust Governor Whiteaker on account of his known sympathy with the Rebellion. Major Drew was promoted lieutenant colonel of his regiment April 4, 1863, and served with credit till January 31, 1865, when on account of the probable close of the war he resigned. He has been a severe sufferer for over a year, being unable to lie down for many months past. He leaves a wife in New Hampshire.
San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 1886, page 1


    Col. Charles Drew, who died at the Veterans' Home last week, was one of the volunteers who took the place of the regular soldiers in 1861 at the outbreak of the Rebellion, to keep in subjection the Indians in Southern Oregon. He served until January, 1865. He leaves a widow in New Hampshire.
St. Helena Star, St. Helena, California, November 5, 1886, page 5





Last revised October 7, 2024