The Nez Perce Nation Divided: Firsthand Accounts of Events Leading to the 1863 Treaty by Dennis Baird, Diane Mallickan, W. R. Swagerty

Abstract

The Nez PerceNation Divided: Firsthand Accounts of Events Leading to the 1863Treaty Edited byDennis Baird, Diane Mallickan, andW.R. Swagerty University of Idaho Press, Moscow, 2003. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. 406 pages. $50.00 cloth. Reviewed by G. Thomas Edwards Whitman College,Walla Walla, Washington Through extensive research in theNa tionalArchives, theOregon Historical So ciety,theBeinecke Library atYale, and regional newspapers, Dennis Baird, Diane Mallickan, and W.R. Swagerty have compiled essential documents related toNez Perce history from 1858to 1863.This collection also coversmilitary history and themining rush intowhat became Idaho Territory. The Nez Percewere granted a reservation of eleven thousand squaremiles in the Walla Walla Treatyof 1855. During thegold rushof 1861-1863, thousands ofminers, includingmany Orego nians, sought gold intheClearwater and Salmon River watersheds, where they disregarded the treaty and abused the natives. This intrusion alarmed Indian agents, soldiers, editors, and politicians because miners had triggeredIndian wars in the 1850s.The initial,naive response of Indian agents and soldiers to trespassing liquor traders and miners was followed by the impli mentation of unjust government policies. In 1859,Oregon Superintendent of Indian AffairsEdward Geary reported: "TheNez Perces are characterized bymental power, energy of will, bravery and docility, and are larger and more muscular thanmost of the other tribes. ... As a tribe theyhave ever been well affected towards our Government" (p. 37). He warned that the "usual disastrous consequences must ensue" if liquor was introduced to Indians and offered an impossible solution: an official should "examine all packs [as] an effectual check on this iniquitous traffic"(p. 37).Major Enoch Steenwas equally unrealistic, predicting thatwhen soldiers ordered trespassing gold seekers to leave theywould obey rather than violate the law.Geary soonwrote of theneed for an unexplained protective policy that would "be worthy of a great andmagnanimous nation." A failure to actwould result in "death by savage hands . . . and the extirpation of the Indian race" (p. 54).Meanwhile, Indian Agent Andrew J. Cain argued that,because miners could not be barred from theClearwater region and would inevitablyprovoke awar, theNez Perce should surrender all of their "gold bearing country" (p. 53).Many other federal officials, including Geary and Oregon Senator JamesNesmith, advocated for a new treaty thatwould shrink the reservation. In 1861,thebeleaguered Nez Perce permit tedminers onto certain lands on the condition that themilitary would preserve order. Geary informed the military that the Indians opposed the "intrusion of thewhites" and that troops should be quartered near themines "to enable theAgent to prevent the liquor traffic, tobring all offenders to speedy trial, and [to] protect the inhabited portion of the reservation from unlawful intrusion" (p. 86). Soldiers could not, as Geary knew, provide such sweeping service. While officials planned for a new treaty, thousands of prospectors rushed into the reser vation, andmany wrote descriptive letters. One boasted thathis group defied amilitary effort to keep them from "ourwild and uninhabited land" because theydid not need "kinglypasses througha lotof savages" (p.74).Another charged that transportationmonopolists promoted the outrageous "Salmon river excitement" (p. 187). These documents relate Lewiston's emergence 332 OHQ vol. 105, no. 2 as a city, including one visitor's description of itas a place lacking "houses, virtue, decency or comfort; where religion isforgotten,and the law isa farce; where whisky shops, gambling houses and brothels predominate, where blacklegs and traitorsrule everything" (p. 189). Gen. Benjamin Alvord, an admirer of the Nez Perce, voiced concern about both their ill treatment and meddling secessionists. His policies, including troop assignments and the establishment of Fort Lapwai, deserve analysis. Obviously he provided much betterprotection forOregon Trail travelers than he did forNez Perce Indians, but Alvord's role in takingNez Perce land is lesscrucial thanNesmith's support for a new treaty. InMay 1863, the Lapwai Indian Council produced a treatythatreduced the reservation's size to eleven hundred square miles and wid ened the breach between theNez Perce who supported the treatyand thosewho opposed it, including Chief Joseph.The Nez PerceNation Divided includes the council's proceedings and observations by various witnesses. Fearful of the tribe's future,Lawyer, one of theNez Perce who would sign the treaty,reminded council members of "our acts showing our friendship to thewhites, and our respect forLaw" (p. 358). Other pro...