Battle of Walla Walla

Last updated
Battle of Walla Walla
Part of Yakima War
Reminiscences of an old timer- a recital of the actual events, incidents, trials, hardships, vicissitudes, adventures, perils, and escapes of a pioneer, hunter, miner and scout of the Pacific (14595755038).jpg
Depiction "First Charge at the Battle of Walla Walla 1855"
DateDecember 7–11, 1855
Location
Walla Walla Valley, Washington
Result United States Victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1851-1858).svg  United States Walla Walla
Commanders and leaders
James K. Kelly
Lt. J.M. Burrows
Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox  
Units involved

Oregon Mounted Volunteers

  • Company A
  • Company B
  • Company F
  • Company H
  • Company I
  • Company K
Strength
476 Volunteers 600-800 fighters
Casualties and losses
6 killed
17 wounded [1]
75-100 killed (est.)
Unknown wounded
4 hostages killed

The Battle of Walla Walla was the longest battle fought during the Yakima War. The battle began on December 7, 1855, and ended on December 11, 1855. The battle was fought between six companies of the Oregon Mounted Volunteers and the Walla Walla. Fighting alongside the Walla Walla were members of several different tribes, such as the Cayuse, Palouse and Yakama. [2]

Contents

Background

Following a Walla Walla raid on the Fort Walla Walla trading post and reports that Chief Peopeomoxmox had vowed to kill Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens, troops from the Oregon Mounted Volunteers were dispatched to the Umatilla River and later to the Touchet River. [3]

The Chief and four others met the troops at the Touchet and, willingly, became their hostages in order to prevent an attack on his village. The volunteers and the five hostages began to march down the Touchet in order to establish a winter camp. [3]

Battle

As the soldiers marched toward the former Whitman Mission, they realized that they were being pursued by a large group of Native warriors. Soon, a running battle began at the mouth of the Touchet. On the first day, four of the five hostages, including the chief, struggled to escape but were killed by volunteers. [1]

On the fourth and final day of the battle, Both the Natives and the Volunteers withdrew, the Volunteers to Fort Henrietta on the Umatilla. [3]

Aftermath

The battle resulted in the death of Walla Walla tribe leader Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox along with the deaths of six volunteers and between 75 and 100 Natives. The total Native casualties are unknown due to bodies being taken from the battlefield, but volunteers did find 39 bodies following the battle. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nez Perce</span> Indigenous peoples of North America

The Nez Percé are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walla Walla people</span>

Walla Walla, Walawalałáma, sometimes Walúulapam, are a Sahaptin indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau. The duplication in their name expresses the diminutive form. The name Walla Walla is translated several ways but most often as "many waters".

Cayuse people A Native tribe of present-day northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington, USA

The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in what is now the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation and government in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon, at the base of the Blue Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indian Wars</span> Frontier conflicts in North America, 1609–1924

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settlers, against various American Indian and First Nation tribes. These conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the early 20th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors. The European powers and their colonies also enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

Walla Walla River River in Washington, United States

The Walla Walla River is a tributary of the Columbia River, joining the Columbia just above Wallula Gap in southeastern Washington in the United States. The river flows through Umatilla County, Oregon, and Walla Walla County, Washington. Its drainage basin is 1,758 square miles (4,550 km2) in area.

Palouse people

The Palouse are a Sahaptin tribe recognized in the Treaty of 1855 with the United States along with the Yakama. It was negotiated at the 1855 Walla Walla Council. A variant spelling is Palus. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and some are also represented by the Colville Confederated Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Nez Perce Tribe.

Umatilla people Native American tribe

The Umatilla are a Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribe who traditionally inhabited the Columbia Plateau region of the northwestern United States, along the Umatilla and Columbia rivers.

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Indian tribes in Oregon, United States

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are the federally recognized confederations of three Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited the Columbia River Plateau region: the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla.

The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers. Caused in part by the influx of disease and settlers to the region, the immediate start of the conflict occurred in 1847 when the Whitman Massacre took place at the Whitman Mission near present-day Walla Walla, Washington when fourteen people were killed in and around the mission. Over the next few years the Provisional Government of Oregon and later the United States Army battled the Native Americans east of the Cascades. This was the first of several wars between the Native Americans and American settlers in that region that would lead to the negotiations between the United States and Native Americans of the Columbia Plateau, creating a number of Indian reservations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Washington (state)</span> History article

The history of Washington includes thousands of years of Native American history before Europeans arrived and began to establish territorial claims. The region was part of Oregon Territory from 1848 to 1853, after which it was separated from Oregon and established as Washington Territory following the efforts at the Monticello Convention. On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yakima War</span> Conflict between the United States and the Yakama

The Yakima War (1855–1858) was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington Territory, and the tribal allies of each. It primarily took place in the southern interior of present-day Washington. Isolated battles in western Washington and the northern Inland Empire were sometimes separately referred to as the Puget Sound War and the Palouse War, respectively. This conflict is also referred to as the Yakima Native American War of 1855.

Puget Sound War

The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict that took place in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington in 1855–56, between the United States military, local militias and members of the Native American tribes of the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat. Another component of the war, however, were raiders from the Haida and Tlingit who came into conflict with the United States Navy during contemporaneous raids on the native peoples of Puget Sound. Although limited in its magnitude, territorial impact and losses in terms of lives, the conflict is often remembered in connection to the 1856 Battle of Seattle and to the execution of a central figure of the war, Nisqually Chief Leschi. The contemporaneous Yakima War may have been responsible for some events of the Puget Sound War, such as the Battle of Seattle, and it is not clear that the people of the time made a strong distinction between the two conflicts.

Rogue River Wars 1855-56 conflict between Native American tribes and U.S. soldiers and settlers in Oregon

The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area of what today is southern Oregon. The conflict designation usually includes only the hostilities that took place during 1855–1856, but there had been numerous previous skirmishes, as early as the 1830s, between European-American settlers and the Native Americans, over territory and resources.

Yellow Bird (Walla Walla leader) 19th century Walla Walla chief from Oregon

Piupiumaksmaks was head chief of the Walla Walla tribe and son to the preceding chief Tumatapum. His name meant Yellow Bird, but it was often mistranslated as Yellow Serpent by Europeans.

Coeur dAlene War

The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War, was the second phase of the Yakima War, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Skitswish, Kalispell, Spokane, Palouse and Northern Paiute against United States Army forces in Washington and Idaho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Kamiakin</span> Yakama tribal leader

Kamiakin (1800–1877) (Yakama) was a leader of the Yakama, Palouse, and Klickitat peoples east of the Cascade Mountains in what is now southeastern Washington state. In 1855, he was disturbed by threats of the Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, against the tribes of the Columbia Plateau. After being forced to sign a treaty of land cessions, Kamiakin organized alliances with 14 other tribes and leaders, and led the Yakima War of 1855–1858.

Tucannon River River in Washington, United States

The Tucannon River is a tributary of the Snake River in the U.S. state of Washington. It flows generally northwest from headwaters in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington to meet the Snake 4 miles (6 km) upstream from Lyons Ferry Park and the mouth of the Palouse River. The Tucannon is about 62 miles (100 km) long. Part of the upper river flows through the Wenaha–Tucannon Wilderness.

Battle of Pine Creek

The Battle of Pine Creek, also known as the Battle of Tohotonimme and the Steptoe Disaster, was a conflict between United States Army forces under Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe and members of the Coeur d'Alene, Palouse and Spokane Native American tribes. It took place on May 17, 1858, near what is present-day Rosalia, Washington. The Native Americans were victorious.

Fort Henrietta Park

Fort Henrietta Historic Park is a public urban park, located in the city of Echo, Oregon, United States. The park is located on the North bank of the Umatilla River and was the home to a Native American Agency and later an Oregon Militia Fort. The park is named from Henrietta Haller, wife of Major Granville O. Haller, an American military officer during the Cayuse War.

Oregon Mounted Volunteers Military unit

The Oregon Mounted Volunteers was a military regiment recruited in the U.S. state of Oregon during the Yakima War. In November 1855, Major Mark Chinn left The Dalles and assembled 6 companies of Mounted Volunteers to turn against the Walla Walla people. Major Chinn and the Mounted Volunteers set base in Fort Henrietta where they built a stockade. Control of the Mounted Volunteers was given to Lieutenant Colonel James Kelly.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Battle of Walla Walla". www.plucks329s.org.
  2. "Battle of Walla Walla". 16 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Battle of Walla Walla, Washington – Legends of America". www.legendsofamerica.com.