The Battle of Walla Walla : December 7-11, 1855

The mild weather in Walla Walla today on this 170th anniversary of the Battle of Walla Walla at Frenchtown is nothing like what it was on that cold, terrible, morning, likely also nothing like it was on the day 177 years and one week ago when the Whitmans and eleven others were killed at Waiilatpu.

There were in fact two settlers vs. tribes wars in the Walla Walla valley, one before and one after the Treaty of 1855, and both started in deep winter. The Cayuse war, 1847-1850, was a punitive response to the killings at the Whitman mission, ending only with the symbolic surrender and execution of the Cayuse Five —Ti’ílaka’aykt, Tamáhas, K’oy’am’á Šuumkíin, Łókomus, and ‘Iceyéeye Cilúukiis. The Five offered themselves up in 1850 as scapegoats, to end the war and save the remaining Cayuse, just as on this day 175 years later Walla Walla leader Peo Peo Mox Mox allowed himself to be taken hostage to buy time for his camp to evacuate before the soldiers arrived. Lessons in leadership and sacrifice.

To remember and reflect upon the meaning of this day, December 7, 170 years ago, I’m sharing with you the text of our new interpretive panel for the Battle of Walla Walla. Over the last three years we have revised and replaced all 38 feet of our exterior interpretive signage, changing the order, revising some of the content, and adding new information and images. The material cost of this effort was paid for largely by you and your donations, with some assistance from the Wildhorse Foundation. It is a cost that will come due again beginning in 2030, for no material can long resist the fierce Walla Walla sun. If you wish for the people of this valley, for the world beyond this valley, to know the history of where we stand, we hope you’ll contribute to Frenchtown Historical Foundation through the Valley Giving Guide this December. That’s the difference you can make with your donation.

I preface the text of the sign with an image I’ve shared before, this time with a caption to orient you to the land.

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Battle of Walla Walla : December 7-11, 1855

The 1855 Treaty was not ratified by Congress until 1859, although the ceded lands were advertised in eastern US newspapers before it was even signed. Seeking to accelerate settlement, Territorial Governor Curry formed local militias to suppress Indian resistance. Miners chasing new gold strikes also flooded in, stealing horses and supplies, and attacking Yakama women. War broke out in October 1855, and Sub Indian Agent Nathan Olney ordered the Walla Walla valley cleared of settlers.

Hard-pressed in the Yakama war, and fearing its expansion to the Columbia tribes, U.S. Army major Gabriel Rains called for assistance. Governor Curry used dramatic descriptions of Indian violence and promises of land to recruit ten companies of volunteers, but refused to submit his militia to the regulations and authority of the US Army.

The Battle of Walla Walla at Frenchtown was a four-day running fight between Curry’s Oregon Mounted Volunteers (OMV) and members of the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse, and Yakama tribes. At the outset, Walla Walla leader Peo Peo Mox Mox approached the militia under a white flag of negotiation and was taken hostage. Two days later, he was murdered in captivity and his body mutilated.

The OMV wintered in the valley, with little discipline and no supplies. They sacked the Frenchtown farms and Cayuse camps, pillaging cattle and potatoes. The people of Frenchtown fled, along with an unknown number of “friendly Indians”, some to the Dalles, some north with Ramo (Raymond), some to a winter camp on Mill Creek with Father Chirouse. Many did not return.

The following is an excerpt from “Yakima War Diary, 1855-1856,” by K.B. Mercer. The image of the manuscript page is followed by a transcription. Please note that the transcription preserves the spelling and punctuation of the original manuscript.

Transcription:
[16 Dec 1855] 16th Sunday a cloudy frosty morning the rolls of the different companies wer* called this morning and the whole commande paraded and Majors Chinn delivered the general rules for the command
First he congratulated us on our victory over the Indians he also informed us that the French settlers would return to there farms in a few days accompanied by those friendly Indians who protected them and that we should respect these persons and property
2 that no more cashes [caches] should be raided but by the men in the service of the commissary 
3 that no more hogs be killed
4 that there be no more stealing

© Sarah Hurlburt, on behalf of the Frenchtown Historical Foundation

Come learn about Suzanne Cayuse, Marianne Walla Walla, and the impact of the Residential School system on one Frenchtown family.

What is Living History?

Living Histories aim to go beyond a textbook presentation of the past to provide a sensory-based experience. Interpreters either portray a first-person narrative through a specific historical figure, or a third-person narrative acting as a guide who can explain the era of time.

Judy Fortney is a descendant of the Dauphin and Duffy Frenchtown family. She has been on the Frenchtown Historical Foundation Board of Directors since 2009.

Suzanne Cayuse – June 29th

Descendant Judy Duffy Fortney invites you to meet her great great grandmother, Suzanne Cayuse Dauphin, on June 29th at 1 pm at the Frenchtown Historic Site.

Suzanne Cayuse Dauphin (right) pictured with her daughter, Catherine Dauphin Woodward Wilson Jordan Matt, circa 1875.

Suzanne Cayuse (c.1824-1876) married French-Canadian Mathieu Dauphin when he arrived at Frenchtown in 1838. The two traveled extensively and had several children before returning to live at Frenchtown, where they were deeply involved in the Catholic Church, Suzanne having converted. The Dauphin children married into multiple Frenchtown families, including Gagnon, Pambrun, Woodward, and Bonifer.

Judy Fortney dressed as her great great grandmother Suzanne Cayuse at a previous living history event.

Marianne Walla Walla LaRoque – July 20th

On July 20th, Judy Fortney invites the public to a living history interpretation of Marianne Walla Walla LaRoque at 1pm, at the Frenchtown Historical Site.

Marianne Walla Walla LaRoque (1824-1878) was the granddaughter of Old Chief Joseph and daughter of Chief Peo Peo Mox Mox. No photos exist of her. Her uncles included Young Chief Joseph, Five Crows, and Ollokat. Her relation to powerful figures within the Nez Perce and Cayuse tribes made her marriage to French-Canadian fur trader Joseph LaRoque a valuable political and economic alliance between the tribes and the fur trade. Their children married into other Frenchtown families, with direct descendants including the Allens, Parrs, Bushmans, Bushmans, Pierce’s, Bonifers, Poiriers’, Depots, and Rainvilles. 

Residential Schools – August 17th

On August 17th at 1pm, Judy Fortney invites the public to the Frenchtown Historical Site for a living history interpretation of her grandmother and father’s experiences at the Chemawa Indian Training School outside of Salem, Oregon.

Chemawa Indian Training School is the second oldest Native American Boarding School, established in 1880, and modeled after Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. At it’s height of enrollment, over 1,000 Native American children attended Chemawa. Like other boarding schools, the object of the school was cultural erasure and assimilation. Judy Fortney’s father, Duane Matthew Duffy, and her grandmother, Mabel Rainville, both attended Chemawa, along with other Metis children from the region.

This living history performance is meant to honor Duane and Mabel, while sharing their life stories and experiences. There will also be a display board with pictures, articles, and more information on boarding schools.

Photograph of pupils in front of Chemawa Indian Training School outide of Salem, Oregon

The Frenchtown Historical Site is located at 8364 Old Hwy 12, in Walla Walla, WA. We hope to see you there!

and other possibilities

If you made it to the exhibit Picturing Family : Métis Life in the Walla Walla Valley, now on display at Tamàstslikt Cultural Institute. I bet you admired the beautiful patterns in beads.

Well, you’re in luck ! Frenchtown Board member TeLa Branstetter is going to lead a 3-session introductory workshop on two-needle beading at the Frenchtown site on May 31, June 7, and June 14 .

Above: An example of the Métis flower motif project and supplies attendees learn during the course of the workshop.

Below: Tela Bransetter giving instructions to attendees of the beading workshop.

“The Flower Beadwork People”

The Red River Métis are famous for their floral designs.

The Métis beadwork developed patterns that combined First Nations beadwork with the floral embroidered patterns introduced by French-Canadian nuns working in the Roman Catholic mission schools. The techniques and patterns of floral silk embroidery traditions from France were incorporated into traditional Aboriginal porcupine quill work designs, which progressively began to reflect their own distinctive style.                                                                                  Manitoba Métis Federation, May 1, 2023

Columbia Plateau métis also worked with floral designs — look at these beaded cuffs gifted to Arthur Bergevin nearly a hundred years ago :

Shown below is a modern piece by Tela Bransetter, instructor of the two-needle beading workshop.

Your $40 ticket pays for a beading kit with everything you need to make a floral medallion, such as you might use as a pendant or a keychain.

There is no charge for the workshop sessions, although donations to the Frenchtown Historical Foundation are always appreciated. 🙂1

The workshop will be held under the shelter at the Frenchtown site. We’ll have coffee and tea and tables and chairs, but do be sure to dress for the weather that day.

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Save the date : Panel discussion at Tamàstlikt

On April 24^th at 5:30 pm Joey Lavadour, Sam Pambrun, and Judy Fortney will participate in a panel discussion about the practice of family history, part of the exhibit Picturing Family : Métis Life in the Walla Walla Valley, now on display at Tamàstslikt Cultural Institute. Sarah Hurlburt will moderate, and there will be snacks!

Now through May 3, 2025

If you missed getting to see the exhibit about Frenchtown history and CTUIR métis family photos and art when it was at Whitman College in the fall, now’s your chance. The exhibit has moved to the gallery space at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, where it will be on display through May 3, 2025. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. Admission is 12$.

Despite the differences between the two gallery spaces, the team at Tamástslikt was able to include almost everything from the original exhibit. The 252 images in the projection are also viewable online, and you can still listen to the oral histories that accompany the life-size portraits.

Stay tuned — we’ll be sure to let you know once the programming schedule has been finalized.

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I’ve been spending a lot of time with the photographs of Major Lee Moorhouse recently. There are over 7,000 Moorhouse images online at Oregon Digital, and another 250 or so at the Smithsonian.

Moorhouse is best known for his portraits of Plateau people, and unlike many of his contemporaries, often included the names of the individuals portrayed. He used his back yard as a photo studio and Tribal members would come sit for portraits. His photographs were respected as documentary truths and widely exhibited.

Browsing through them, however, I was once again struck by the absence of métis names. I can think of several possible explanations for this. Perhaps there are more métis people than is apparent from the names, because if a person had two names, Moorhouse preferred to record the native name, in keeping with his ethnographic approach. Or perhaps he didn’t seek out métis models, for the same reason. In any case, here is an example of a métis descendant who did pose for Moorhouse in about 1913.

Note how these three photos of Lou French hint at ways in which the constructed ethnographic portrait could also contain elements of collaboration.

Fig 1. Lou French. Moorhouse collected regalia from many different tribes and would combine elements in his portraits. Note the difference between Lou French’s dress in this image and in the one below.

Fig. 2 : Lou French postcard. This postcard image was taken as part of the same session. Lou French sent it to her cousin Martha with the inscription, “You know who I am.” Fortunately in this case, we do.

Fig. 3. Lou also had her portrait taken at the photography studio. In this portrait from approximately the same period, she chose to pose with the bouffant hair and pigeon-breasted bodice typical of the Gibson girl era.

Tune in next week for a picture puzzle — exactly who is Mrs. Wilson ?

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© Sarah Hurlburt for the Frenchtown Historical Foundation

Frenchtown Historical Album Annual report in pictures

We put together a photo album of some of the things we’ve been up to, and some of the times we’ve gotten together over the last few years for Rendezvous. Somebody forgot to add the names, however. Who needs names, when we all know who we are, right?

In any case, we hope you’ll enjoy this window into our activities, and perhaps join in with us in the coming year. And if you’re visiting this page before midnight on December 31, 2024, we hope you’ll pop over to the Valley Giving Guide and show us your support.

We’re going to do it! November 30, 2024, we’re going to have a Rendezvous!1

How many times have you been in a conversation with someone who said “Frenchtown ? What’s that ?” or “Métis ? Huh?” There’s a great segment of Walla Walla that STILL doesn’t know anything about this history, and if you know any of those people, you owe it to your valley and your family to spread the word, or better yet, bring them along.

We will have photos albums out on the tables for people to look at and discuss. Joey Lavadour and Sam Pambrun and Judy Fortney will be there at lunch to talk about the exhibit and their family history and photos. This Frenchtown Métis exhibit wouldn’t be possible without Joey and Sam and Judy — it’s a treat to hear it from them directly, and you don’t want to miss it.

So please join us at noon on November 30, 2024 at Assumption Parish Hall in Walla Walla, WA for the first real Rendezvous since COVID. Your ticket includes a baked potato and salad bar lunch from Mama Monacelli’s Kitchen with dessert and coffee.1

Doors will open at Assumption 11:30.

At 2 pm we will car caravan to the Sheehan Gallery on the Whitman College campus for a guided tour of the exhibit “Picturing Family : Métis Life in the Walla Walla Valley”.

• Where : Assumption Parish Hall, 2098 E Alder St, Walla Walla, WA
• When : November 30, 2024, 12pm-3:30 pm (doors open at 11:30)
• What : Rendezvous and fundraiser for the Frenchtown Historical Foundation
• Cost : $25. Yep. You read that right. $25.

How do I get tickets ?

Online with fees :

$26.68 each via Ticketstripe (Paypal)

If you prefer the convenience of an e-ticket using your credit card, we have set up a ticket sales site with Paypal. The additional $1.68 per ticket represents the fees charged by Ticketstrip for the service. Includes options for purchasing a table of 8 and for making a donation.

No fees :

Mail your check for $25 per ticket to Frenchtown Historic Foundation, PO Box 1224, Walla Walla WA 99362. Please include a note with your party details.

$25/ticket via Venmo. (scan code below) Please provide your party details in the comment field to help the person at the door.

Can’t attend but want to support Frenchtown anyway ?

Donate to Frenchtown Historical Foundation through the Valley Giving Guide 2024, which covers all fees. The guide will open officially on December 3, 2024.

1 There will be no alcohol served at lunch, but the dessert will be AMAZING. We will also plan for a no-host after party gathering at a local venue following the exhibit tour, for those who would like to attend, details TBA.

On George Simpson’s wheat.

What does it mean to cultivate the land ? The First Foods include roots and berries, perennial crops that were sustainably harvested by the tribes in order that they produce again each year. What is replanting small bulbs for next year’s harvest but a form of cultivation ?

So we should be cautious about announcing the birth of agriculture in the Pacific Northwest with the arrival of the fur trade. The relationship between food and land and people here goes back much further.

There are certain kinds of agricultural food production, however, that we can specifically date. There were no cereal grains, no garden crops in the Pacific Northwest before 1808, when David Thompson planted a small garden at Kootenae House at the headwaters of the Columbia. His garden did not thrive, but the seeds were there.1 By 1817, the North West Company was growing pigs, cattle, potatoes, and a few vegetables at Fort George (Astoria), at a site chosen for its strategic importance over its fertile soil.

Then along came Sir George Simpson.

1. Sir George Simpson on an inspection trip. Oregon Hist. Soc. Research Lib., Orhi 90421, OHQ 95.1

Simpson was the highest ranking officer in the Hudson’s Bay Company in North America. According to the Oregon Encyclopedia, Simpson was “a talented administrative martinet who … recognized the potential for the Columbia Department to turn a profit and spent the next two decades economizing and diversifying former North West Company holdings in the Oregon Country.”

The fur trade was in the business of resource extraction in the form of furs, not colonization through settlement. However, faced with the horrific expense of shipping (bad) food to the Columbia region from the east, Simpson tasked the posts with becoming self-sufficient. Grow your own, or do without.

He sent a bushel of wheat seed to Fort Vancouver in the fall of 1825, and McLoughlin distributed it to the Forts.

Every single version of Frenchtown I have ever read talks about “retired” traders. I prefer “former”. Simpson down-sized and out-sourced the staff of the forts. Instead of employing people to farm, he fired them and then sold them seed. Joe LaRocque was tending the Hudson’s Bay herds near Umapine in 1822. But he didn’t build a cabin at Frenchtown in 1824 so that he could have a little “pied-à-terre” in the country. He was setting up to farm, and sell the food back to the Fort.

Joe Laroque was still living at Frenchtown in 1858, when Theodore Kolecki drew maps of the Walla Walla valley for Col. George Wright’s expedition to punish the Coeur d’Alene. Those maps show the location of several of the Frenchtown farms, with little hash marks indicating cultivation. Zoom in and take a look.

Two hundred years of agricultural heritage. The wheat cultivation that carpets Eastern Washington started at two hundred years ago at Frenchtown.

This post was written for Frenchtown Historical Foundation by Sarah Hurlburt.

1. The only grains native to the Western Hemisphere are maize, wild rice, and quinoa. Much of the information about the history of cereal grains in the Pacific Northwest, and about George Simpson’s wheat in particular is drawn from Harvest Heritage : Agricultural Origins and Heirloom Crops of the Pacific Northwest by Richard D. Scheuerman and Alexander C. McGregor, Washington State University Press, 2013.

The French Saloon Men are back, and it’s going to be even better than before. Join us for light appetizers and wine and some high-alcohol history at Three Rivers Winery on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 6 pm to hear Sarah Hurlburt and Susan Monahan dish the dirt — er, dig up some history. Tickets are 65$ each and may be purchased online or (if you’d like to avoid the credit card fees) by mailing a check to Frenchtown Historical Foundation, PO Box 1224, Walla Walla WA 99362. Get your tickets now — it’s going to be a fun party.

In 1905 Walla Walla had 13,000 people and over thirty saloons. Saloons were regulated; no women allowed (except for prostitutes), no gambling (except for all the time) and no liquor sales on Sunday (except for… well, you get the idea.) More than half of these establishments were located on Main street between 3rd and 5th, and the biggest one of all was the Louvre Hotel, owned by a Frenchman named Seraphin “Frank” Davin and a Swiss named Xavier Michellod.  

Two doors down, the Eureka saloon was owned by Swiss Lucien Genevay and French Canadian Joe LaFortune. Around the corner, Joe Charrier’s Frog saloon kept the glasses full. The very shady Mottet brothers (yep, also French) had their fingers in the pie as well.

We’ll have some tantalizing documents floating around to browse, and a silent auction of historical memorabilia and local goodies to raise money for the Frenchtown Historical Foundation.

Are you interested in the history of food? Hudson’s Bay Company Governor Sir George Simpson introduced winter wheat to the Columbia District in the 1820s. He gave seed to the forts and told them to grow food or go hungry.  The seed was a soft white variety descended from an ancient Celtic landrace that was widely raised in the British Isles and northwestern Europe.  A single sample was found over a century ago in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, just thirty miles from the historic HBC’s frontier grain depot at Champoeg.  Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun grew this wheat on his farm a few miles east of Frenchtown. Richard and Lois Scheuerman of Palouse Heritage Grains over in Richland have been working to bring back this historic seed, and they’ve shared fifteen pounds with us.

We’re going to plant a patch of HBC wheat at Frenchtown, and with some luck and a lot of help, maybe harvest a few handfuls in 2024. If you’d like to get involved with this project, let us know at frenchtownhistoricfoundation@gmail.com.

TWO groups of volunteers have been out to the site this fall to help clean up. The goats did the heavy lifting on the weeds, but they aren’t so good at picking up trash or cleaning around the shelter. It turns out humans are much better at that sort of thing. So shout out to College Place High School and Walla Walla University student volunteers — you’re the best!