While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Moses a Great War Chief who knew when not to
fight
In the Northwest of our
great country there are so many different tribes of Indians
that I cannot begin to tell you their names, but they were
often divided in this way: Those who lived on reservations
were called "Reservation Indians" and those who did not,
"Outside Indians." Now, Moses was chief of a great many
tribes of Outside Indians and he was a very great chief. Of
course, Moses was not his Indian name, but Governor Stevens
gave it to him long ago and every one called him so; indeed,
he seemed to have forgotten his Indian name and called
himself Moses. He was a very handsome man, tall and
straight, and always well dressed. He usually wore a
buckskin coat and trousers, and handsome beaded moccasins,
and a broad, light felt hat with a thin veil encircling it.
He always had a leather belt around his waist, in which he
carried a long knife and pistol holster, the ivory pistol
knob in plain sight.
Now, Moses had led his Indians in many battles, both against
Indians and white men, and everybody knew that he was a brave warrior and could fight.
Indeed, in 1858 one of the very fiercest battles we ever had with the Indians took place
when Moses was the Indian war chief and General George Wright commanded the United States
soldiers at the "Battle of Yakima River." But after Mr. W Wilbur became the
Indian Agent things changed, for the Indians loved him and called him Father Wilbur, and
Moses decided not to fight the white men any more. Many times Moses was asked to go on a
reservation, but he always replied that he would live on a reservation, but not with
Indians he did not know. Many tribes had asked him to be their chief, and he wanted
"Washington" to give him the land in a bend of the Columbia River for a
reservation. It was waste land, he said, where no white people wanted to live, but the
Indians would be happy there, he knew. When Chief Joseph led the Nez Perces against us in
the many battles I have told you about, he often sent to Moses to ask him to come and
fight, too, but Moses always said, "No." Still this chief did not have an easy
time, for many people said he was a bad Indian, and at last he wrote me a letter which I
have kept many years and which I am sure you would like to see.
I Moses Chief want you to know what my tum-tum is
in regard to my tribes and the white people. Almost every
day there come to me reports that the soldiers from Walla Walla are coming to take me away
from this part of the country. My people are constantly excited and I want to know from
you the truth so I can tell my people and have everything quiet once more among us. Since
the last war we have had up here reports that I Moses am going to fight if the soldiers
come; this makes my heart sick. I have said I will not fight and I say to you again I will
not fight and when you hear the whites say Moses will fight, you tell them no. I have
always lived here upon the Columbia River. I am getting old and I do not want to see my
blood shed on my part. of the country. Chief Joseph wanted me and my people to help him.
His offers were numerous. I told him no-never. I watched my people faithfully during his
war and kept them at home. I told them all when the war broke out that they should not
steal; if any of them did I would report them to Father Wilbur. During all the past year I
have not allowed any stranger Indians to come here fearing they would raise all excitement
with my Indians. I am not a squaw-I know how to fight, but I tell you the truth. I do not
want to fight and have always told my people so. It is about time to begin our spring work
as we all raise lots of vegetables and wheat and corn and trade with Chinamen and get
money.
I wish you would write me and tell me the truth so I can tell my
people so they will be contented once more and go to work in their gardens. I do not want
to go on the Yakima reservation as I told Colonel Watkins last summer. I wish to stay
where I have always lived and where my parents died. I wish you would write to me and send
by the bearer of this letter. And be sure I am a friend and tell you the truth.
his
Signed: Moses X Chief
mark
I replied that the Bannock Indians were
giving me much trouble, but that when I got back I would arrange a meeting. In the
meantime I would depend on him to keep peace.
Now, during this time it was hard for Moses, for two sets of Indians gave him trouble. The
"Dreamers," led by Smoholly, tried to make Moses think that he should join many
tribes and fight the white men, for, said they, all the Indians who have gone to the happy
hunting-lands will rise from the dead before long and join us, so you must join, too. But
Moses would not fight. Then some of those Indians who were fighting crossed over the
Columbia River and, finding a family by the name of Perkins living far from any
settlement, killed every member of the family and burned their house and barn.
Some Indians told the white men that Moses was a friend of these
dreadful warriors and was protecting them. The white people of Yakima City believed these
idle tales and even accused Moses to me, but when I met him and we talked it over, he said
that he would prove that what he said was true, for he would help find the three Cayuses
Indians who had done this wrong and give them up to the Yakima Courts.
Always true to his word, he took with him thirty-five Indians and
began to hunt. One evening Moses and his band camped for the night, and fearing no harm,
were fast asleep, when a large body of white men surrounded them. These men seized Moses
and bound him with cords, putting irons on his wrists, but still he would not fight and
told all his Indians to point their rifles to the ground and offer no resistance. He said
afterward that he gave up his pistol, knife, and gun and prepared to die, but instead he
was taken to Yakima City and put in the jail or "Skookum House, " as the Indians
call it. Here Mr. Wilbur promised enough money to make them take off the irons, but still
Moses was a prisoner. Then he said: "Let the one-armed soldier-chief (General Howard)
know I am a prisoner: He is my friend and as soon as he knows it he will set me
free." And this he constantly repeated. I was far away when the news reached me, but
I came immediately and ordered that Moses be at once set at liberty, and I have never been
sorry that I did so, for he was a true friend to the good white people, and by his simple
word kept many hundred Indians at peace.
When he was free Moses asked again for a reservation, and at last
it was given to him and to his people. There on the banks of the Columbia River he kept
his people at peace and had them work farms and gardens.
The last time I saw him he visited me at Vancouver Barracks near
Portland, Oregon, when, with many chiefs, he was on his way to Washington to visit the
President of the United States. He was a brave war chief and not afraid to fight, though
he had learned to know that peace is best.
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