The Columbia River . amsaky was killed andmost of the warriors captured. Of these, five, chargedwith the leading part in the Whitman massacre, werehanged at Oregon City on June 3, 1850. It remainsa question to this day, however, whether the victimsof the gallows were really the guilty ones. The Cay-use Indians were quite firm in their assertion thatTamahas, who, by one version, struck Dr. Whitmanthe first blow, was the only one of the five concernedin the murder. Thus ended the first principal war in the ColumbiaBasin. It was quickly followed by another, whichwas so extensive that it may be we
The Columbia River . amsaky was killed andmost of the warriors captured. Of these, five, chargedwith the leading part in the Whitman massacre, werehanged at Oregon City on June 3, 1850. It remainsa question to this day, however, whether the victimsof the gallows were really the guilty ones. The Cay-use Indians were quite firm in their assertion thatTamahas, who, by one version, struck Dr. Whitmanthe first blow, was the only one of the five concernedin the murder. Thus ended the first principal war in the ColumbiaBasin. It was quickly followed by another, whichwas so extensive that it may be well called was the War of 1855-56. This was the greatestIndian war in the entire history of the Columbia River. As we have seen, the American home-builders hadoutmatched the English fur-traders in the strugglefor possession. On the 3d of March, 1853, Wash-ington Territory, embracing the present States ofWashington and Idaho, with parts of Wyoming andMontana, was created by Act of Congress, and Isaac ^=1. The Times of Tomahawk and Fire-Brand 213 I. Stevens was appointed governor. This remarkableman entered with tremendous energy upon his taskof organising the chaos of his great domain. TheIndian problem was obviously the most dangerousand pressing one. There were at that time two re-markable chiefs of the mid-Columbia region, naturalsuccessors of Philip, Pontiac, Black Hawk, and Te-cumseh, possessing those Indian traits of minglednobleness and treachery which have made the best speci-mens of the race such interesting objects of Indians were Kamiakin of the Yakimas, andPeupeumoxmox of the Walla Wallas. In 1855 the great war broke out almost simul-taneously at different points. There were six widelyscattered regions especially concerned. Four of these,the Cascades, the Yakima Valley, the Walla Walla,and the Grande Ronde, were on or adjacent to theRiver. The others were the Rogue River region andPuget Sound. So wide was the area of this war thatintelligent
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