Walla Walla expeditions facts for kids

The Walla Walla expeditions were two important journeys made by Indigenous people from the Columbia Plateau to Alta California in the mid-1800s. The main goal of these trips was to get a lot of cattle for the Native peoples living on the Columbia Plateau.

Key leaders included Walla Walla chief Piupiumaksmaks, his son Toayahnu, Garry of the Spokanes, and Cayuse leader Tawatoy. The first expedition reached New Helvetia in 1844. They managed to get hundreds of cattle from American and Mexican settlers. However, a fight broke out, and Toayahnu was killed by an American. The Plateau Natives then had to escape from the colony, losing all the cattle they had bought.

Toayahnu's death made many Indigenous people across the Columbia Plateau very angry. For a while, they thought about attacking John Sutter's colony with a large force of 2,000 warriors. Nez Perce leader Ellis was sent to Fort Vancouver to speak for the upset tribes. He met with Hudson's Bay Company officers John McLoughlin and James Douglas. Both men told the Plateau Natives not to attack the white settlers in the Sacramento Valley. They also said they would not sell weapons for such an action. Later, Ellis talked with Elijah White, who was the Indian subagent for the area. White also spoke against military action. He promised to share the complaints with John Sutter, Thomas O. Larkin (the American Consul for Alta California), and Governor of Alta California Manuel Micheltorena.

The second expedition returned to New Helvetia in 1846. Again, Piupiumaksmaks and Tawatoy were part of it, along with Lenape scout Tom Hill. At this time, conflict was growing in the region as the Conquest of California was happening. American settlers and military figures first thought the Walla Walla group was over a thousand strong. But Piupiumaksmaks said they did not come to fight. He asked for peaceful relations and for trade to continue. They bought an estimated two thousand cattle. Also, ten Walla Walla men joined the Americans as scouts. When the expedition returned to the Columbia Plateau, some members were sick with measles. This disease spread across the Pacific Northwest. It was a major cause of the Whitman massacre that happened soon after the expedition returned.

Life on the Plateau and the Need for Cattle

The Sahaptin nations, like the Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Walla Walla, got horses from the Northern Shoshone in the 1700s. This changed their way of life a lot. Groups of Niimíipu, Cayuse, and Walla Walla peoples started to hunt Plains bison across the Rocky Mountains during winters.

Plateau Natives had explored areas to the south even before these expeditions. In 1841, Charles Wilkes noted that Piupiumaksmaks and Tawatoy were "going to the Shasta country to trade for blankets, powder and ball, along with trinkets and beads, in exchange for their horses and beaver-skins." Some Walla Walla people later said that Piupiumaksmaks had been taking horses in what is now California from a young age.

As the Columbia Plateau became part of the growing North American fur trade, new materials and goods also changed their way of living. Local trade was centered at Fort Nez Percés, a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post. However, these trades did not include livestock because the HBC post kept its own supply of animals.

Settlers from the United States of America began to move to the Willamette Valley in the 1830s. They traveled through the Plateau. Small numbers of ox and cattle were bought from them. This added to the large horse herds the Natives already had. For example, Marcus Whitman reported that a Cayuse noble lent him two oxen to help set up Waiilaptu in 1836.

The First Journey for Cattle

The idea for the first expedition came from Piupiumaksmaks' son, Toayahnu. He had spent time among Euro-Americans. In 1836, he lived at the Methodist Mission under the care of Jason Lee. Toayahnu, who was named after Elijah Hedding, lived among white people in the Willamette Valley for several years.

He saw how successful the Willamette Cattle Company was. This company brought cattle for settlers from Alta California. Hundreds of cattle were brought back over land and given to those who had invested. This helped the settlers improve their lives. After Toayahnu returned to Walla Walla country, he told his father and other Indigenous leaders about this. Efforts to organize a trading group to get cattle became strong in 1844. The group had many members to ensure safety against any aggressive Indigenous nations between the Plateau and New Helvetia.

The total number of men was estimated to be from 36 to 50, plus many women and children. Important members included Yellow Bird, Toayahnu, Young Chief, and Spokane Garry. Other Nez Perce and Spokane leaders were also there. These men dressed in "English costume," like HBC officers. Accounts differ, but there seemed to be very little conflict with the Indigenous nations the expedition passed through.

John Sutter welcomed the expedition to his colony. He had met Yellow Bird when he stayed at Fort Vancouver. Trading began quickly with settlers in the area. The Salishan and Sahaptin people sold piles of elk, beaver, and deer furs for cattle.

However, they wanted more livestock. Members of the expedition left New Helvetia to look in the surrounding area. While hunting for more deer and elk, they met a group of "mountain freebooters" and a small fight happened. No one from the expedition was badly hurt. They gained a number of horses and mules from the fleeing men.

A clash of cultures happened when the group returned to New Helvetia. The animals they had taken used to belong to settlers there. Mexican and American colonists demanded their return. They first offered ten, then fifteen cattle as payment. Yellow Bird and others did not think this offer was fair. Among Plateau Natives, it was custom for horses taken from enemies to become the property of the new owners.

Toayahnu's Death and Its Impact

An American named Grove Cook recognized a specific mule as his. He immediately demanded it back, and a confrontation started. Toayahnu approached Cook and said, "go now and take your mule," while holding a loaded rifle. Cook backed down, even though Toayahnu insisted he was aiming at an eagle nearby.

Two days later, Toayahnu, along with Spokane Garry and Young Chief, entered a building at New Helvetia. Several other Americans inside began to insult the group. Cook told Toayahnu, "yesterday you was going to kill me, now you must die." The Walla Walla noble was killed. Spokane Garry barely escaped being shot. The expedition managed to leave New Helvetia without any more losses. However, the cattle they had bought were left at the colony, making the first trip a failure.

Anger Among Plateau Natives

When the expedition returned to the Plateau, their complaints were sent to the HBC by the Nez Perce leader Ellis. He met with John McLoughlin and James Douglas. Both men offered their sympathy. However, the company men did not offer any real support.

Next, Ellis visited Elijah White, who was the U.S. Indian Sub-agent. White had previously made the Cayuse and Nez Perce adopt a system of laws. These laws said that Natives could not kill whites, and whites could not kill Natives. Ellis demanded that Cook be brought to White to be punished according to these laws.

White's powers were limited. He could only act as an American representative in the Pacific Northwest when dealing with Indigenous people. Even then, the region was formally shared between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America. The Oregon boundary dispute had not yet been settled. Since New Helvetia was in Mexican Alta California, White had no authority there. He could not force any solution to the conflict.

Ellis told White that there were three groups among the Plateau Natives who had different ideas about what to do. One group felt it was best to punish the Willamette Valley settlers because they were Americans, like Toayahnu's killers. Another group wanted to see how the HBC and Willamette Valley settlers would react if they took action against the California colonists. A final group wanted military action against the California settlements. White reported:

He assured me that the Cayuse, Walla Wallas, Pend d'Oreilles, Flatheads, Nez Perces and Snakes, were all in terms of amity, and all that portion of the aggrieved party were for raising about two thousand warriors of these formidable tribes and march to California at once, and nobly revenge themselves on the inhabitants and then by plunder enrich themselves on the spoils.

The Second Journey

Plans for a small group of Cayuse and Walla Wallas to return to Alta California eventually came together. Joel Palmer gave Piupiumaksmaks several gifts in March 1846. Their conversation eventually turned to Toayahnu's death. Palmer remembered that Piupiumaksmaks "expressed his determination to go to California this season." Besides Piupiumaksmaks, Tawatoy rejoined the group with a Cayuse team. The Lenape scout Tom Hill also joined.

When the expedition entered Alta California in 1846, the region was in a very unsettled time. The Mexican–American War was happening, and American forces were gathering to begin the Conquest of California. Close to 300 California Natives and 150 white settlers were gathered at New Helvetia. They were under the command of Joseph Warren Revere, expecting the Walla Walla and Cayuse group to arrive and fight.

However, Piupiumaksmaks did not come to fight. He wanted to establish friendly relations. Some people think he originally planned to attack the colony but changed his mind when he saw the military preparations. While Revere later wished he could have been "leading a most terrific charge into the midst of his warriors," the American officer agreed to listen to the Walla Walla noble. Revere recorded Piupiumaksmaks' speech:

I have come from the forests of Oregon with no hostile intentions. You can see that I speak the truth, because I have brought with me only forty warriors, with their women and little children, and because I am here with few followers, and without arms. We have come to hunt the beasts of the field, and also to trade our horses for cattle; for my people require cattle, which are not so abundant in Oregon as in California. I have come, too, according to the custom of our tribes, to visit the grave of my poor son, Elijah, who was murdered by a white man. But I have not traveled thus far only to mourn. I demand justice! The blood of my slaughtered son calls for vengeance! I have told what brought me here; and when these objects are accomplished, I shall be satisfied, and shall return peaceably to my own country. When I came to California, I did not know that the Boston men [Americans] had taken the country from the Spaniards [Mexicans]. I am glad to hear it; for I have always been friendly to the Boston men, and have been kind to those who have passed through my territories. It must be plain to you that we did not set out on a hostile expedition against your countrymen.

Relations between the settlement and the visiting Plateau Natives were then fixed. John C. Frémont arrived in the area shortly after the expedition camped near New Helvetia. Ten Walla Walla men were recruited into the California Battalion as scouts. They fought bravely at the Battle of Natividad against the forces of José Castro. The rest of the expedition stayed in the Sacramento Valley. Records kept by Sutter's officers show interactions with Piupiumaksmaks until July 1847. He was given payment for past problems, mainly for his son's death. After this, the expedition "left contented and started homeward." The Walla Wallas bought close to two thousand cattle on this expedition.

The Measles Epidemic

A lasting result of the second Walla Walla expedition was the spread of measles from California. It spread into what are now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alaska. The illness was carried from New Helvetia back to the Walla Walla and Cayuse homelands. It quickly spread across the region.

Paul Kane was among the Walla Walla when the expedition returned in July 1847. A son of Piupiumaksmaks arrived several days before the main group. He told his people about the deaths caused by measles. The speech lasted almost three hours, and nearly thirty people were counted as dead. After the speech, Kane said that the Indigenous people "sent messengers in every direction on horseback spread the news of the disaster among all the neighbouring tribes ..." This account has been used to understand how the illness spread across the Pacific Northwest.

Along with other reasons, the stress caused by measles deaths among the Cayuse increased tensions with ABCFM missionary Marcus Whitman. Some Cayuse people blamed Marcus for the deaths. This led to them killing him and several other people in an event known as the Whitman Massacre.