July 17 - Steptoe Battlefield

Marty had a day in the field, doing some site visits, so left the motel with some co-workers after breakfast at the Holiday Inn.  I spent the morning, knocking out a Blog post.  I was only a month behind (rather than 2 months behind, as I am while writing this in September . . .), and vainly attempting to catch up.

Say's Phoebe

Around noon, I drove on down to the town of Colfax, where I was to meet Marty when she was finished working with the Whitman County Conservation District and NRCS folks.  Before she was done, I stopped at noon  at Colfax’ McDonald Park, where I did a bit of birding along the Palouse River.  The park is one of 11 that this city of 2,880 residents maintains, and appears to cater mainly to the softball and soccer crowd.

City of Colfax photo

It was a bit breezy (as it tends to be in the Palouse) but I saw 21 species of birds.

Juvenile Western Bluebird

Picking Marty up after her work was done, we worked our way back toward Spokane, but I wished to stop at Rosalia, where the Steptoe Battlefield is commemorated with a State Park.

From the hillside, there's a good view of the 1915 Mikwaukee Road railroad bridge.

The railroad went bankrupt in the 1977 and the State of Washington now owns the edifice.

A monument here “In Memory of the Officers and Soldiers of The United States Army who Lost Their Lives on This Field in Desperate Conflict with the Indians in the Battle of Te-Hots-Nim-Me May 17, 1858” was erected on June 14, 1914 by the Esther Reed Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

It, of course, does not acknowledge any Native Americans that might have lost their lives during the battle.  It does list those killed as Capt. O.H.P. Taylor, Lt. Wm. Gaston, Sgt. Wm. C. Williams, Alfred Barnes, Victor C. DeMoy, James Crozet, and Charles H. Harnish, all of the U.S. Army’s 1st Dragoons.

Steptoe and most of his command escaped in the dark of the night, and made it back to Fort Walla Walla, but the battle here was a major victory for the tribes of the Inland Northwest.

There was little time for them to savor the win though, because within four months, Col. George Wright put down the Tribes’ efforts to protect their land and way of life at the Battle of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains.

All must be fair in War, because Wright summarily hanged Qualchen, one of his opponents, when Qualchen came in to parlay for surrender, along with six other men.

“Qualchan came to see me at 9 o’clock, and at 9:15 he was hung.”
–George Wright  (From executedtoday.com)

Owhi was Qualchen's father, and shot in the back trying to escape whie en route to Fort Walla Walla (WSU Libraries)

Wright then shot 800 of the Indians’ horses and stole the remainder, burned their food stocks, and laid waste to their camps.  Nowadays, murdering a battlefield opponent while negotiating for Peace would be a War Crime, but we are better people now than then.  Right?  There’s a Video Spokane Tribe 1858 Battles: Steptoe, Four Lakes and Fire on the Plains, that’s good for a background.

George Wright (from WSU-Vancouver)

I put the following together from a number of sources, so it’s pretty well plagiarized, but I’ve lost the thread of where and from whom I copied and pasted.  Apologies to the original authors.

The Hill Where The Battle Took Place Was Quiet Today

This battle is also called The Battle of Pine Creek, The Coeur d’Alene word is “Hngossemen,” and the Nez Perce word is Tohotonimme.”  The Spokane Tribe of Indians produced a Video about the Battle.

Edward Jenner Steptoe

From Yakima Valley Regional Library (Image 2002-850-653)

Edward J. Steptoe, from the Piedmont country of Virginia, graduated from West Point in 1837.  His first military service was in Florida against the Seminole Indians and next, the Mexican War.  In 1854 he became commander of Fort Walla Walla in Washington Territory.  This was a difficult time in the Pacific Northwest, since white settlers had been arriving on the Oregon Trail and by boat for a decade.  As the Indians steadily lost land to the immigrants, tensions mounted.

Adding to this, Gold discoveries in British Columbia caused miners to flood across lands that treaties had promised to the Indians.  The Walla Walla Treaty of 1855 had forbidden whites to trespass onto Indian lands unless the Indians invited them, but by 1858 this treaty had not yet been ratified by Congress and many white people did not abide by it.

Colonel Steptoe’s correspondence of the week before the battle reveals that he intended to march to Colville and mediate a dispute between Indians and white miners.  His command of 150 men and attendant train of mules and equipment departed Fort Walla Walla on May 6, 1858. They had two mountain howitzers, and old muskets, but Steptoe ordered the men to leave their swords at the Fort.  The force forded the Snake River at Red Wolf’s Crossing.

Local tribes regularly camped together at this time of year, to gather Camas root while it was blooming.  Because the soldiers appeared to be heading toward a gathering of women and children out gathering this root, the Indians became suspicious of their intent.  On the 16th of May, 1858, after crossing the Snake River, Steptoe and his soldiers came upon aggressive Indian warriors from several bands, who chastised them and told them that they should not be on Indian land.

The Soldiers continued, and on the 17th drew near Stubblefield Lake, where Indian women and children were camped.  At this point, the Indians sent messengers on horseback to spread the word and gather warriors to defend their people and land.

The Jesuit priest Father Joseph Joset heard what was happening and hurried to the location in an attempt to prevent violence.  After meeting with Joset, the Coeur d’Alene Indian leader Vincent and others, Steptoe determined to return to Fort Walla Walla.  But, as they began to turn back, a shot rang out from the rear of the train and an Indian man was killed.  This enraged the Indians, who began to fight back and a running battle ensued.

N-Che-Askwe (Vincent)

The warriors and the soldiers fought from hilltop to hilltop all day long, heading south from the Stubblefield Lake area to what is now the town of Rosalia where the soldiers began to run low on ammunition.  Desperate, and as darkness fell, they made a stand on the top of the plateau, and picketed their mules and horses in a circle with the gear and soldiers on the inside.

Now, they were surrounded on all sides by warriors.  In spite of this, some would say “miraculously”, the troops escaped in the middle of the night.  They left all their equipment and mules, and buried their dead and the howitzers.

The soldiers had a large amount of whiskey with them and while getting ready to escape in the night, Sergeant Ball was charged with discarding the whiskey which he did.  Drunk, he made his way to Pine Creek where he passed out under a bush.  When he woke in the morning, he found that the troops were gone, as well as the Indians!  It took him nearly two weeks to walk back to Fort Walla Walla.

Some have judged it unlikely that Steptoe and 150 men could escape in the middle of the night with no ammunition and completely encircled by Indians. There are differing stories telling how this happened. The soldiers say that they were stealthy and tricked the Indians.  The Coeur d’Alene Indians say that they let the soldiers through their side of the surround.

Steptoe was criticized for this embarrassing defeat, some questioning why did Steptoe order his men to leave their swords at Fort Dalles? How could they not have packed enough ammunition? Why did they travel into Coeur d’Alene Indian lands to get to Colville?  Why did they have so much whiskey with them? (Answer: Because you can never have enough wiskey!)

As a result of this embarrassing defeat, Colonel Steptoe was placed on sick leave until he resigned his commission in 1861.  He died four years later in Virginia, at the age of forty-nine.  He got a butte named for him in eastern Washington for his troubles.

Steptoe Butte (Wash. State Parks photo)

McDonald Park in Colfax eBird Checklist is Here