Marcus Whitman and the early days of Oregon

Front matter

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Preface

THIS book was like "Topsy." It was not born; — it grew. It grew because it could not help growing. More than twenty-five years ago I first learned of the heroic labors and the tragic death of Dr. Marcus Whitman. I was at that time making a careful and critical study of the early history of " The Oregon Country," and was especially interested in our controversy with Great Britain concerning it. Having completed my study of the negotiations between the two governments which ended in the treaty of 1846, I turned my attention to the story of Dr. Whitman.

I was soon confronted with those who refused to credit the accounts of his patriotic heroism, and who did not believe that he was entitled to foremost recognition as the savior of Oregon to the United States. I determined to go to the bottom of the question, and for a little more than twenty years I have pursued these investigations and have read everything I could lay my hands upon relating to the subject. I have visited Oregon, Washington, and California, stood before the great grave where Whitman was buried, and walked the halls of Whitman College in Walla Walla. I have talked with many leading men of that country, Dr. Cushing Eells; Mr. William H. Gray, author of a history of Oregon, with whom I visited the rooms of the American Board, inspecting their archives and reading and copying letters to and from Whitman, Spalding, Eells, Walker, Gray, and others, covering the entire period from 1836 to 1848; Dr. Anderson, president of Whitman Colvi PREFACE

lege; Judge Deady of Portland, Dr. Atkinson of Portland, and many others. With Dr. Atkinson I went over the whole subject. Dr. William Barrows, who wrote the history of Oregon in the Commonwealth Series, was consulted, and every phase of the entire subject was discussed, years before his history appeared.

On another page I have given a list of books and pamphlets, including only a part of those read and consulted by me, most of which I have in my library.

The longer I studied the subject, the clearer grew the light pointing directly to Dr. Whitman as the man who saved " The Oregon " to the United States. The evidence of his far-sighted policy and his patriotic purpose is conclusive. The letters written by him and his coworkers in the mission field, which by the courtesy of the officers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions I have copied for the purpose, throw great light upon the events herein portrayed. These, with other valuable material, will be found in the appendix.

All honor to the early American pioneer settlers in that country, as beautiful, as picturesque, and as fertile as any on the globe; a country with as fine a climate, as varied productions, and now occupied by a people as thrifty, as enterprising, and as intelligent as can be found anywhere in the world. But the first and highest honor should be awarded by the people of Oregon and of the United States to the memory of that Christian patriot, that heroic missionary, Marcus Whitman. Braving the cold and the snows of the Rocky Mountains, he crossed the continent on horseback to warn our government at Washington and to encourage the hardy pioneers of the frontier to emigrate to Oregon, assuring them that they could carry their wagons and their families through to the Columbia, for he had gone there himself with his wife and his wagon.

The story of his tragic end is sad in the extreme. But always and everywhere, in all ages and all climes, " the

PREFACE vii

blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Oregon and Washington are to-day reaping the rich fruits of his life, his heroism, and his untimely death.

This book is a history. It is not an embellished story like Irving' s Astoria or Parkman's Oregon Trail. It is written with the single purpose of stating in a clear and concise manner the important facts with which it has to deal. From first to last it has to do with facts. I believe it tells the truth, and that posterity will confirm the conclusions here arrived at. I commend the story to the good people of our republic and especially to the friends of Christian missions, in the hope that it will stimulate them to give honor to the memory of Dr. Marcus Whitman, and that it will encourage them to the possession and practice of all heroic, patriotic, and Christian virtues.

William A. Mowry.

Hyde Park, Massachusetts.

January, 1901.

Contents

Introduction: Our Claims to the Oregon

Country i

I — Early Missions in the Oregon Country 35

Introduction

UNTIL near the end of the eighteenth century the Oregon country was terra incognita. It became interesting to the nations of Europe through a vague rumor that somewhere upon its coast entered the Strait of Anian, which would furnish a passage from the Pacific Ocean through to the Hudson Bay, or elsewhere to the Atlantic. Its principal river was discovered by an enterprising New England navigator, Captain Robert Gray, who sailed up into the country in 1792 and took possession in the name of the United States of America. Then it was neglected and apparently forgotten. Great Britain, having secured a joint occupancy, set herself sedulously at work to get entire control of the country, and labored to that end for nearly thirty years. At one time, our government ignored the country as worthless and was not unwilling to sell it for a mess of pottage. At another time, came the cry " Fifty- Four- Forty or Fight " ; but after the watchword had accomplished its purpose by electing a president, that president with his own hand signed a treaty giving to England all north of the forty-ninth parallel.

Great Britain took possession of the Oregon country in 1 8 14, but a few years later we obliged her formally to restore it to us. Finally the savages were permitted to butcher in cold blood the man who, by bravery and patriotism utterly unprecedented, wrested that entire country from the grasp of the Hudson's Bay Company, and made it possible for the United States to hold it. Then after his assassination, Congress published at the expense of the nation a partisan report, calculated to shield guilty parties and to throw the odium of the butchery upon our own people, who were utterly innocent of the charges laid against them. Such is history. But out of all these strange chapters a good Providence has delivered us, and has now made of that remarkable section a powerful and valuable coterie of states, intensely loyal and in the highest degree serviceable to the great American Republic.

The difficulty which was anticipated in maintaining the federal authority over so extended an area has not been realized. One of our leading political newspapers, in all seriousness, objected to the government's retaining Oregon, because the mileage of members of Congress from that distant section, should it ever become a state, would impoverish the country. 1

The southern boundary of Oregon was fixed at latitude 42 by the treaty of Florida in 18 19. By that treaty Spain ceded to our government whatever right she had previously possessed to the Oregon territory. The northern boundary was determined by the Buchanan-Pakenham treaty of 1846, in which Great

1 See Providence Journal of July 24, 1843.

Britain and the United States agreed on latitude 49 as the boundary line between this country and the British possessions, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of De Fuca, and thence through the middle of the strait to the Pacific Ocean. This finally fixed the limits of the Oregon country as extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and from latitude 42 to latitude 49 north.

The history of our controversy with Great Britain upon this subject is peculiar and stands without precedent in several important respects. Prior to 181 8, although Great Britain had laid some claim to the country, no definite negotiations had been undertaken between the governments with reference to the settlement of their conflicting claims.

During that year, however, our ministers plenipotentiary, Messrs. Gallatin and Rush, carried on extensive communications upon this subject with the British commissioners, Messrs. Goulburn and Robinson. It was agreed by these gentlemen, in a convention dated October 20, 181 8, and ratified by the governments January 30, 18 19, as follows :

" any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall ... be free and open for the term of ten years from this date to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the said country; the only object of the high contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves." '

The foregoing is the third article of the convention

1 U. S. Treaties and Conventions, p. 351.

mentioned above. It was signed by Albert Gallatin and Richard Rush on the part of the United States, and by Frederick John Robinson and Henry Goulburn on the part of Great Britain.

It is worth our while to observe what were the claims put forth by our ministers, and what counter-claims were set up by the British commissioners at this early stage of the negotiations.

Messrs. Rush and Gallatin did not assert at this time that the United States had a perfect right to that country, but insisted that its claim was at least good as against Great Britain.

The grounds of our claims to the country were :

i. The discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray in 1792.

2. The first exploration from the sources to the mouth of the river, by Lewis and Clark in 1805.

3. The formation of the first establishment in the country by American citizens, viz., the planting of the colony of Astoria in 181 1. Richard Rush said: " Astoria had, incontestably, been the first permanent settlement." 1

On the other hand, the English commissioners made this claim :

" Former voyages, and principally that of Captain Cook, gave to Great Britain the rights derived from discovery, and they alluded to purchases from the natives south of the Columbia, which they alleged to have been made prior to the American Revolution. They did not make any formal proposition for a boundary, but intimated that the river itself was the most convenient which could be adopted; and that they would not agree to any which did not give them the harbor at the mouth of the river in common with the United States." 2

1 Rush, Residence at the Court of London, 1st series, p. 406.

In reply to this, we may here remark that Captain Cook saw no part of this coast south of latitude 57 which had not been explored by the Spanish long before his voyage ; and that, however proper that argument may have been in 1818, yet when we had a little later purchased all the rights of Spain to this territory, the case stood quite differently.

No further negotiations took place between our government and that of Great Britain until 1824. Before proceeding to an account of these negotiations, let us consider somewhat in detail the history of our connection with the northwest coast prior to this period.

Our first claim to Oregon was based on the right of discovery.

Captain Robert Gray sailed from Boston on the 30th of September, 1787, in the sloop Washington. He carried with him sea-letters issued by the Federal Government, agreeably to resolutions of Congress (this being prior to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States), and passports from the State of Massachusetts. In August, 1788, his vessel ran aground upon a bar near the 46th degree of north latitude on the Pacific coast, while endeavoring to enter an opening which undoubtedly was the mouth of the Columbia River.

In a subsequent voyage in the ship Columbia, Captain Gray fell in with the British navigator Vancouver, on April 29, 1792. Vancouver was desirous to receive from Gray all possible information with reference to this coast, especially concerning the Strait of De Fuca, which he was intending to examine. Captain Gray went on board Vancouver's vessel and gave him all the information he could, and among other things informed him that he had discovered the mouth of a river in latitude 46 10', where the outset or reflux was so strong as to prevent his entering it for many days. Vancouver denied the existence of any river emptying into the Pacific at or near that latitude. He had sailed along the coast and was positive that there was no such river. Gray, after leaving him, sailed back to the mouth of the river and on the nth of May, with all sails set, ran his vessel over the bar and anchored " in a large river of fresh water, ten miles above its mouth." Here he remained three days, trading with the Indians and filling his casks with water, and then sailed up the river twelve or fifteen miles along its northern shore. During the week which followed, he made several attempts to quit the river, but was constantly baffled until May 20th, when he crossed the bar at the mouth, beating over it with a westerly wind, and so regained the Pacific. 1

Our second ground for claiming Oregon was the fact that our government followed up the discovery by making the first exploration of this territory in 1805 and 1806, the expedition being under the command of Captain Lewis and Captain Clark of the United States Army.

The importance of the great country west of the Mississippi, extending over the mountains and to the Pacific Ocean, began to be thought of before the purchase of Louisiana. President Jefferson proposed to Congress, in January, 1803, in a confidential message, that measures be at once taken to explore this territory. It is not a little singular that Captains Lewis and Clark should have been commissioned to undertake this important exploration, only a few days previous to the arrival of the vessel which brought from

1 Greenhow, History of Oregon and California , p. 236.

France the news of the purchase by the United States of the whole of the Louisiana territory. It has frequently been assumed that this exploration by Lewis and Clark was a direct result of the Louisiana Purchase. This, however, was not the case. The exploration was planned by President Jefferson before he had any expectation of purchasing the valley of the Missouri. It was planned just as any of the other great explorations were planned, such as the Wilkes exploration or the Perry expedition to Japan.

The instructions were to explore the Missouri and its principal branches to their sources, and thence crossing the mountains, to trace some stream, " whether the Columbia, the Oregon, the Colorado, or any other which might offer the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purpose of commerce."

In May, 1804, Lewis and Clark, with less than fifty men, began their ascent of the Missouri. They arrived, in October, in the country of the Mandan Indians, where they remained till the following spring. This winter's rendezvous was near the 48th degree of latitude and more than fifteen hundred miles from their starting place.

In April, 1805, these bold leaders pushed forward with only about thirty men, the others having been sent back to St. Louis. They explored the country and the rivers beyond the " Great Falls of the Missouri," and before the end of July they had passed the " Gates of the Rocky Mountains." The place of their crossing the watershed was near the source of that branch of the Yellowstone which they named Jefferson Fork, near the 44th parallel of latitude. They were now about three thousand miles from the mouth of the Missouri. Here they went over the divide and by means of Indian guides found the Kooskooskie River, down which they passed to the Columbia, thence down that river to the coast.

They reached the mouth of the Columbia about the middle of November, and remained through the winter on the west side of Young's Bay,on the south side of the river. They broke camp on the 23d of March, 1806, and commenced the ascent of the Columbia. They examined critically the country bordering upon the Columbia and its principal tributaries, and then, having ascended to its upper branches, they divided into two bands. Lewis and a portion of the men crossed over the mountains from the more northern section of the Clark River, approaching the country of the Missouri near the head waters of the river Maria, a little above the 47th parallel.

Captain Clark, after leaving Lewis, pushed on to the south with the rest of the party, and crossed the mountains near the very source of the Clark River, retraced his steps down the Jefferson Fork, and joined Lewis and his men at the mouth of the Yellowstone about the middle of August. The whole body arrived at St. Louis on the 23d of September, 1806, having completed an overland journey of about nine thousand miles in a little over twenty-eight months, the entire return trip of over four thousand miles having been performed in just six months. This is one of the longest, most difficult, and most important overland journeys of governmental explorations ever made.

The journal of this expedition was prepared substantially by Captain Clark, but was not published till 1 8 14. The most careful observations were made respecting geographical, commercial, and politigal facts.

and some of the adventures of the party read like the most thrilling stories of romance.

By this expedition our government announced to the world its intention to occupy and settle the vast countries explored, to which " no other nation," says Greenhow, " except Spain, could advance so strong a claim on the grounds of discovery or contiguity ; and the government and people of the United States thus virtually incurred the obligation to prosecute and carry into fulfilment the great ends for which the labors of Lewis and Clark were the first preparatory measures." i

Our third ground for claiming Oregon was on account of having made the first permanent settlement within its limits.

This settlement was made in 181 1 by a company of fur traders, sent out by John Jacob Astor of New York. In September, 18 10, Astor despatched from New York the ship Tonquin, carrying twenty guns and sixty men, under command of Captain Thorn, lieutenant in the United States Navy. This vessel arrived at the mouth of the Columbia on the 22d of March, 181 1. The party on board landed many miles up the river, found the natives friendly, built a fort, erected a house, store and other buildings, and named the place, in honor of the chief patron, Astoria.

When Captain Thorn sailed away he left thirty men in possession of the place, to await the arrival of an overland party, also sent by Mr. Astor. This overland company, under the chief agent, Mr. Wilson P. Hunt, consisted of about sixty men who started early in 181 1. After untold hardships, a part of the company arrived at Astoria on the 18th of January, 18 12.

Mr. Astor also sent out another vessel, the Beaver , 1 Greenhow, p. 288, of twenty guns, which sailed from New York in October, 1811, with sixty or seventy men, and arrived at the Columbia in May, 181 2. For some time this company, which was incorporated under the name of " The Pacific Fur Company," carried on fur trading with considerable success. It established trading posts in the interior far up the northern branch, or Clark's River, as well as up the southern branch, or Lewis's River.

The undertaking was in general bold, sagacious, and patriotic, and might well be considered as promising success; but it was finally overthrown by a singular chain of circumstances. It is surprising that a man of the well-known business sagacity and shrewdness of John Jacob Astor should have made such blunders as characterized his plans for this far-off fur trading enterprise.

Mr. Astor had traded somewhat in furs with the Northwest Fur Company of Montreal, and in 18 10, or possibly as early as 1809, having determined to establish a similar company in Oregon, he offered a third interest in his new enterprise to this old-established British company of Montreal. It, however, desired the whole loaf and not a third, and consequently refused the offer.

This was Mr. Astor's first mistake, — especially when the critical condition of the country in 18 10 is considered. Mr. Astor should certainly have been far-sighted enough to anticipate trouble from any joint business enterprise with subjects of Great Britain, at that particular period when war was imminent.

Had he been American born, it is possible this might have appeared to him. But, being a native of Germany, living in America, and finding much of his

OUR CLAIMS TO THE OREGON COUNTRY n

most profitable trade with England, he seems not to have anticipated any international prejudices or difficulties. This is further apparent in his selecting as partners to manage the business at Astoria several British subjects from Canada, who had been and were then in the employment of the Montreal company. These men were Duncan McDougal, Donald McKenzie, and Alexander McKay. As the sequel will show, this was his second mistake. He subsequently admitted as partners David and Robert Stuart, and Ramsey Crooks, Scotchmen, who also had been in the service of the Northwest Company ; and Wilson Price Hunt, John Clarke, and Robert MacLellan, citizens of the United States. McKay, McDougal, David Stuart, and Robert Stuart, with about thirty employees, all British subjects, sailed on the Tonquin, in September,

1810. In the January following, under the direction of Mr. Hunt, MacLellan, McKenzie, and Crooks set out overland with a large party, by way of the Missouri River.

The Northwest Company, meanwhile, was not idle. Soon after the departure of Mr. Astor's company by the way of Cape Horn, it despatched a party overland, with the evident intention of preoccupying the ground. This party, directed by Mr. David Thompson, pushed forward with all speed and penetrated the Rocky Mountains in the fall of 1810. Obstacles and difficulties compelled a portion of the company to return, while the remainder wintered in the mountains, and made their way down the Columbia in the summer of

1 8 1 1 . They arrived at Astoria on the 1 5 th day of J uly , and were hospitably received and entertained by their old friends and associates, now Mr. Astor's partners.

This expedition was the occasion for the British government to put forth in 1826, through their commissioners, Messrs. Huskisson and Addington, the following claim. Having alluded to our claim by reason of " the discovery of the sources of the Columbia and the exploration from its source to the sea by Lewis and Clark in 1805-06," they add:

" In reply to this assertion, Great Britain affirms and can distinctly prove that, if not before, at least in the same and subsequent years, her Northwest Trading Company had, by means of their agent, Mr. Thompson, already established their posts among the Flathead and Kootamie tribes, on the head waters of the northern or main branch of the Columbia, and were gradually extending them down that river. It was from these posts that, having heard of the American establishment forming in 181 1 at the mouth of the river, Mr. Thompson hastened thither, descending the river, to ascertain the nature of that establishment." l

The phrase, " if not before, at least in the same and subsequent years," is especially indefinite and meaningless.

The Lewis and Clark expedition was made in 1805- 06. Astoria was occupied and settled in March, 181 1, while Mr. Thompson and his party were blockaded by the snows in the Rocky Mountains, near the head waters of the Columbia River in latitude 52 ; and he and his party did not arrive among the Kootamie and Flatheads until some months after the settlement of Astoria.

The war between our country and Great Britain, which was threatening when the Tonquin sailed from New York in 18 10, began in 1812. The news of it traversed the broad continent and reached Astoria in January, 181 3. After frequent interviews with the

1 British statement in documents accompanying President Adams's Message to Congress, December 12, 1827.

agents of the Northwest Company, who were invariably treated with great kindness and courtesy by Mr. McDougal and his associates, the latter, in October, 18 1 3, signed an agreement by which the whole enterprise — all the " establishments, furs, and stock in hand " of Mr. Astor's Pacific Company, in the country of the Columbia — was sold to the Northwest Company for about fifty-eight thousand dollars. This was done by the partners at Astoria, all of whom were British subjects, without any authority from or consultation with Mr. Astor, to whom really the whole establishment belonged. Mr. Hunt had been placed in charge as agent by Mr. Astor, but, at the time of this sale, he was absent at the Sandwich Islands, having left Mr. McDougal sub-agent in charge during his absence.

We have mentioned two mistakes made by Mr. Astor, and we now see the unfortunate results of those errors.

We have seen that in 181 1 Mr. Astor sent out another ship, the Beaver, with a cargo and sixty or seventy men, which arrived at Astoria in May, 1812. Mr. Astor's plan was to despatch a vessel annually, but the war with Great Britain prevented his sending one in 181 2. Early in 181 3 he sent out the Lark, which was wrecked at the Sandwich Islands and became a total loss.

Here the officers found Mr. Hunt awaiting an opportunity to return to Astoria. He immediately procured an American vessel and sailed for the Columbia. On his arrival the treachery of McDougal was only too apparent. The sale had been effected, the transfer made, and the Northwest Company was in possession. The so-called sale of the entire establishment with all the property and merchandise on hand, as has already been stated, was for the sum of $58,000, of which Mc- Dougal retained $14,000 for wages said to be due some of the men. Mr. Hunt, on his arrival at Astoria on the 28th of February, 18 14, found Mr. McDougal in charge as partner of the Northwest Company, into which he had been admitted.

" I estimated," said Mr. Astor, " the whole property to be worth nearer two hundred thousand dollars than forty thousand dollars, about the sum I received in bills on Montreal." ' This terminated Mr. Astor's speculation in furs on the Oregon coast.

" Of the persons who had been attached to the Pacific Fur Company's establishments, some were murdered by the Indians on Lewis River, in the summer of 1 81 3; some, including Mr. Franchere, the author of the narrative of the expedition, returned overland to the United States, or to Canada, and some remained on the banks of the Columbia, in the service of the Northwest Company." 3

The Northwest Company, as has plainly appeared already, was jealous of Mr. Astor's Pacific Fur Company. It had requested government aid from Great Britain to contend with its American rivals, but as the two countries were then at peace the government declined to assist. However, when war had been declared, the opportunity presented itself.

Soon after the beginning of the war, a frigate called the Phoebe and two sloops of war, the Raccoon and the Cherub, were sent from England with orders to proceed to the Columbia River and capture the American settlement. On their arrival at Rio de Janeiro, the

1 See letter to the U. S. Secretary of State from John Jacob Astor in Greenhow's History of Oregon, pp. 439-442.

2 Greenhow, p. 304.

orders were modified. Admiral Dickson directed the frigate and one of the sloops to pursue the United States sloop Essex, Captain Porter ; and the sloop Raccoon, under command of Captain Black, was to proceed to the Columbia alone, where it arrived on the 1st of December, 1813.

Imagine the feelings of Captain Black, of his Britannic Majesty's Royal Navy, as he sailed into the mouth of the Columbia River. He had been nearly a year on his voyage. He had crossed more than a hundred degrees of latitude in his journey southward, and returned northward an equal distance; while his destination was more than 120 of longitude west of his starting place. This extended voyage must have been more than sixteen thousand miles in length. The strength and importance of the fort had been magnified. Captain Black expected a severe struggle to capture it, but he was confident of success. He had solaced himself, during that long and monotonous voyage twice across the torrid zone, and while enduring the privations of a winter's passage around Cape Horn, with the reflection that after a sharp contest, he should win a decisive victory over the Yankees, and capture this important and strongly fortified place in the name of his royal sovereign. And in addition to the honor that would accrue to him from the success of so difficult and hazardous an undertaking, he would be in possession of a noble prize, securing for himself and his men enormous wealth from the rich furs and stores accumulated during several seasons. Welcome, then, must have been the sound of " Land ho! " to his ears, as he approached the end of his journey.