Indian Wars Topics – Page 8 of 9

Idaho Indian Wars, 1874 – 1878

After the close of the Modoc War, General Davis ordered a march by the cavalry of 700 miles through the country threatened by dissatisfied tribes, in order to impress upon their minds the military force of the United States. But the reservation set apart for Joseph and his non-treaty followers remained unoccupied, and he continued to roam as before. The settlers on the Wallowa were impatient to know whether their indemnity money was to be paid, or what course the government would pursue, and wrote to their representative in congress, who replied that the commissioner of Indian affairs had assured … Read more

Pequot War 1634-1638

In 1634 the the Pequot Tribe initiated peace negotiations with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They wanted the English to re-establish trade and arbitrate a peace settlement with the Narragansetts. The Bay Colony responded with demands for exorbitant tribute (1000 fathoms of wampum) and the surrender of the killers, something the Pequots were not prepared to do. In the same year, John Stone was murdered by the Pequots on the Connecticut River. It may be that he was thought to be a Dutchman, and one of the murderers of Tatobem. Stone was known to the Bay Colony authorities as a privateer … Read more

Indian Wars

Indian Wars, Conflicts and Disturbances 1614 – 1893 Indian War Medals of Honor (hosted at United States Army) Pequot Indian War French and Indian War Seminole Wars 1817 1835-1842 1855-1858 Creek Wars 1811 1814 1836 Black Hawk War, 1832 Black Hawk War, Utah, 1856 – 1857

Biography of Eli K. Anderson

ELI K. ANDERSON. – There is no pioneer of whom volumes might be written with more propriety than he whose name appears above. Miner, Indian fighter, relentless pursuer of horse thieves, pioneer of the great fruit industry of Southern Oregon, and sterling temperance man, and singular, almost passing belief, in this age of defilers of themselves of tobacco, a total abstainer his whole life long from the use of the weed, – such is our subject. He was born in Indiana in 1826; and, after various transferences of residence in that state, during which he learned the carpenter’s trade, he … Read more

Biography of William R. Anderson

WM. R. ANDERSON. – This well-known pioneer of Clarke county was born in West Virginia in 1822, and there received his education and was apprenticed to learn the working of leather and the manufacture of boots and shoes. Being possessed of a roving disposition, he went out to Missouri in 1848, and the year following took the final step to reach the Pacific. His trip across the mountains was brought about by his hiring to drive a government wagon to Fort Hall. Reaching this point too late to return that season, the commander proposed to the squad of thirty-six men … Read more

Biography of Hon. Hilory Butler

HON. HILORY BUTLER. – Mr. Butler is the son of Roland and Luc Emery Butler. He was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, on March 31, 1819. He resided on his father’s farm, where he was born, until he was twenty-one years of age, when he came to Lexington, Missouri, with a neighbor’s family, and followed farming until 1852. In April of that year he started across the plains in company with his wife, with the train known as the Hays and Cowan train, and arrived in Portland in September of the same year. After spending the first winter in Portland, … Read more

Biography of Hon. John Bird

HON. JOHN BIRD. – This venerable pioneer of our state comes from that stock of state-makers and town-builders who have ever been at the front. He was born in 1810 in Boone county, Kentucky, and lived there with his father until the year 1827, thereafter making Illinois his home until 1847. In the latter year he joined the train of Captain Sawyer, and set forth for Oregon, starting from Missouri about the 1st of May. Upon the trip nothing was more notable than the appearance of about one hundred Pawnee Indians, who laid a blanket on the ground for the … Read more

Biography of Hon. William R. Downey

HON. WILLIAM R. DOWNEY. – There are few men who are more familiarly and favorably known to the old pioneers of Puget Sound than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. His father was a Revolutionary hero, having followed General Washington in the battles waged by the colonists for freedom from the oppression of Great Britain. Mr. Downey was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, March 6, 1808. At the age of three years he accompanied his parents to Hopkins county, and while living there received his education. On February 12, 1829, he was united in marriage to Miss Emily S. … Read more

Biography of David Thomas Denny

DAVID THOMAS DENNY. – Mr. Denny was the first settler of Seattle, Washington. He was born in Putnam county, Indiana, on March 17, 1832, of sturdy pioneer stock, his parents having settled in Indiana as early as 1819. His father, John Denny, lived in Indiana till 1835, when he removed to Illinois, and in 1851 to Oregon. He was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and served under William Henry (Tippecanoe) Harrison at the Battle of the Thames. David T. Denny was a lad of only nineteen years when he joined a party of emigrants with his older brother … Read more

Biography of Col. T. R. Cornelius

COL. T.R. CORNELIUS. – In view of the prominent part sustained by Colonel Cornelius in the Indian wars of our early history, as well as in our political history since, it seems best to give at length the interesting picture of his connection with those wars. This is done mainly in his own language, and hence preserves the vividness of his own recollections. T.R. Cornelius was born November 16, 1827, in Howard county, Missouri. At an early age he moved with his parents to Arkansas, and in 1845, then a youth of nineteen, came with them to Oregon. The company … Read more

Biography of T. J. V. Clark

T.J.V. CLARK. – Mr. Clark, a portrait of whom will be found within these pages, is a man substantial and popular, greatly given to building up the city of his residence, and always inventing ways and means of increasing the quantity and variety of products in the surrounding country. Yakima county owes much to him for the introduction of the new grains and new machinery; and not only has he brought there improved products and methods to the notice of the farmers, but has paid them for their crops, thus giving them substantial encouragement. He is the true merchant, whose … Read more

Biography of Col. William Williams Chapman

COL. W.W. CHAPMAN. – It has frequently been remarked, that while many men of great fame, and a deservedly wide reputation, cannot lay their finger upon a single public act that they originated, others whose names are less known can county by the score the progeny of their brains, now alive and active in the affairs of the world. Of the latter class is Colonel Chapman of Oregon. There are few men in America, even among those esteemed great, who have originated and carried to completion a greater number of particular acts of large scope and general beneficence. Many whose … Read more

Biography of Hon. Stephen Fowler Chadwick

HON. STEPHEN FOWLER CHADWICK. – No man in the history of the state of Oregon has held more prominent positions, or done more for the welfare of the country, than the subject of this sketch. He was born in Connecticut on the 25th of December, 1825, and received his education in his native state. After becoming proficient in other branches, he read law in the offices of Stoples & Goddard and Edward E. and H.B. Cowles, Wall street, New York City. He was admitted to the bar in New York on the 30th of May, 1850. On March 13th of … Read more

Biography of Major Theodore J. Eckerson

MAJOR THEODORE J. ECKERSON. – Major Eckerson, so long and favorably known among the old pioneers of our coast, enjoys also a like enviable reputation in military circles. He was born January 22, 1821, in New York City, and on December 20, 1838, in his eighteenth year, entered the United States army. He served throughout the Seminole Indian war, 1840-42, and in the Mexican war from its commencement to its close. He was a member of the storming parties in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Churubusco. He came to Oregon with the first troops sent after the settlement with … Read more

Biography of Archimedes Hanan

ARCHIMEDES HANAN. – This venerable pioneer, whose portrait appears in this work, was born on the 9th of November, 1810, in Harrison county, Kentucky. The early years of his life were truly those of a wanderer. Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota reckoned him as a citizen at sundry times and places up to the year 1852. In the spring of that year he started on the long and wearisome journey across the plains. Oregon was his objective point; and after the usual trying though interesting incidents of the immigrants’ career, he stopped at Albany in the fall of 1852. There … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Melancthon Z. Goodell

HON. MELANCTHON Z. GOODELL. – The family of which this pioneer is a member has ever been prominent and influential in the Pacific Northwest since its arrival hither. Jothan W. Goodell, the father was a pioneer of Ohio; and it was at Vermilion that Melancthon was born in 1837. In 1850 the family crossed the plains, the eight children being deemed no serious hindrance. A stop-over was made at Salt Lake one winter; and it has been thought that they missed but little a great calamity from Mormon treachery. Reaching Portland in 1851, they made their first home in Polk … Read more

Biography of Dr. Rodney Glisan

DR. RODNEY GLISAN. – Doctor Glisan is one of the few men of our state who have been original and productive in the literary field. His main works have been of a very substantial character, and upon recondite professional subjects, and have not, therefore, been brought to the notice of the general reader. But to those versed in the periodicals and literature of medicine he bears a name and reputation second to few in our national union. Essays, lectures and other emanations of his pen are to be met with in the leading medical journals. An extensive original treatise prepared … Read more

Biography of William D. Stillwell

WILLIAM D. STILLWELL. – William D. Stillwell was born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 16th of November, 1823. While he was still quite young his parents moved to Michigan, and to Iowa in1838. After living there five years, he concluded in 1843 to emigrate to Oregon. Finding it too late to join the emigration trains, he stopped in Missouri until the following year, when he was among the first to camp at the starting point near Independence. The emigration company were slow in their preparations for starting, and, as Mr. Stillwell was eager to be off, he started out … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Q. A. Richardson

JOHN Q.A. RICHARDSON. – This gentleman, the oldest settler within ten miles of his present stock farm of four hundred and seventy acres in The Cove, Oregon, and a veteran of the Indian wars, was born in Illinois in 1839, and in 1851 crossed the plains in company with his parents. the father, Enoch Richardson, became a permanent citizen of Polk county, locating near Perrydale. During the journey on the plains the little party, being among the last of the season, sustained a fifteen hours’ fight with the Snake Indians on Goose creek. In 1856 young Richardson enlisted with Captain … Read more

Biography of Hon. James Kerr Kelly

HON. JAMES KERR KELLY. – Among the men of distinction in our state, none have held a position of eminence for a longer time than Senator Kelly. It requires stamina to stand for thirty years upon “the hard and wintry peaks of fame.” We are the more assured of eminent qualities of the Colonel when we consider that he came to this coast and started upon bed-rock. Family ties, name, favoritism, may elevate men of no ability to high positions in older communities; but in the Oregon of an early day artificial conditions did not exist. A man came near … Read more