Puget Sound War

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The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict between the Army of the United States and several Indian groups on Puget Sound to the west of the State of Washington in the years 1855 and 1856. On Indian side were parts of the Nisqually , Muckleshoot , Puyallup and Klickitat involved, but also yakama . In addition, groups from Haida and Tlingit also got into the conflict while they were on a raid to get slaves. In the battle at Port Gamble , numerous warriors were killed by the crew of the US warship USS Massachusetts . The following year, the Indians launched a campaign of revenge against Whidbey Island , where they killed Colonel Isaac Ebey .

These conflicts are part of a larger confrontation that was elusive with the Yakima War and the Battle of Seattle . In legal history, the execution of the Nisqually chief as a criminal played a role, although he saw himself at war with the United States.

Course of war

The start of the war was the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854. In it the Governor of the Washington Territory Isaac Stevens had written that the tribes should leave their country and move to another area. Chief Leschi , the chief of the Nisqually, preferred to fight for his land. The fighting began in October 1855 when Eaton's Rangers, a volunteer force under Captain Charles Eaton, clashed with the Nisqually, and two of them were killed. The governor immediately dispatched a company to take Leschi to Olympia, the capital. John Swan negotiated with the chief and sought him out in a hidden camp. He estimated the group at 150 to 200 warriors, of whom perhaps 20 came from the east side of the coastal mountains, so they were probably Yakama .

Several skirmishes followed, and Stevens threatened a war of extermination against Puget Sound Indians such as Yakama. Leschi was captured in November 1856 and taken to Fort Steilacoom (now in Lakewood ). He was charged with the murder of Abram Benton Moses, one of the two dead from the first stand. During the first trial, ten of the twelve jurors did not believe that the court had jurisdiction over the case because they believed it was an act of war. In a second trial, Leschi was sentenced to death for murder despite considerable doubts as to whether he had even been at the scene . He was hanged on February 19, 1858 .

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See also

Remarks

  1. ^ Doug Brokenshire: Washington Place Names: from Alki to Yelm. Caldwell, Idaho, 1993: Caxton. ISBN 978-0-870043567 , p. 168