Walla Walla Council

Walla Walla Council. The Walla Walla Council was a pivotal diplomatic convocation held in the spring of 1855 between representatives of the United States government and leaders of numerous Native American tribes from the Columbia Plateau. Orchestrated by Washington Territory Governor Isaac I. Stevens and Oregon Territory Superintendent Joel Palmer, the council aimed to secure vast tracts of tribal land for American settlement and transportation routes through a series of treaties. The resulting agreements, particularly the Treaty with the Yakama and the Treaty with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla, dramatically reshaped the political and physical landscape of the Pacific Northwest, leading directly to a period of violent conflict known as the Yakima War.

History

The council was convened against the urgent backdrop of American expansionism following the Oregon Treaty of 1846 and the increased migration along the Oregon Trail. Governor Stevens, also serving as the lead surveyor for the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey, was under intense pressure to extinguish Aboriginal title to clear land for a proposed transcontinental railroad and to facilitate settlement. The chosen site was the historic grounds of Waiilatpu, the former mission of Marcus Whitman, near present-day Walla Walla, Washington. This location was deeply symbolic and contentious, as it was where the Whitman Massacre had occurred in 1847, an event that had precipitated the Cayuse War. The council commenced in late May 1855, with thousands of Native people from multiple tribes establishing a large encampment to participate in the protracted negotiations.

Participants

The American delegation was led by Governor Isaac I. Stevens and Superintendent Joel Palmer, supported by interpreters, soldiers, and aides including future general George B. McClellan. The tribal representation was extensive and included some of the most prominent leaders of the region. Key figures included Kamiakin and Owhi of the Yakama; Peo-peo-mox-mox of the Walla Walla; Looking Glass and Lawyer of the Nez Perce Tribe; and Five Crows of the Cayuse. The presence of these leaders, each with varying degrees of authority and opposing viewpoints on ceding land, created a complex and often fractious negotiating environment.

Treaty negotiations

The negotiations, which lasted over two weeks, were conducted through a chain of interpreters and were marked by profound cultural misunderstandings and strategic maneuvering. Stevens and Palmer employed a combination of rhetoric emphasizing the inevitable tide of American settlement, promises of annuities and education, and implied threats of military force. Significant divisions emerged among the tribal leaders, with a faction led by the Nez Perce leader Lawyer eventually aligning with the Americans, while a resistance coalition formed around Kamiakin, Peo-peo-mox-mox, and Looking Glass. The proceedings were tense, with Stevens at one point threatening to negotiate solely with "friendly" chiefs and leave the resistant leaders without a treaty or its benefits.

Terms and provisions

The council produced three primary treaties. The Treaty with the Yakama and the Treaty with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla were signed on June 9 and 11, 1855, respectively, followed by a separate agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe. The core terms required the tribes to cede over 60,000 square miles of ancestral territory, encompassing much of modern central Washington and north-central Oregon. In return, the tribes were guaranteed exclusive rights to much smaller, defined Indian reservations, such as the Yakama Indian Reservation and the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The treaties also promised annual payments, the establishment of schools, blacksmith shops, and the retention of traditional fishing, hunting, and gathering rights at "all usual and accustomed places."

Aftermath and legacy

The aftermath of the Walla Walla Council was immediate warfare. Many signatories, particularly young warriors, rejected the treaties, believing their leaders had been coerced or had no right to cede the land. This discontent ignited the Yakima War in late 1855, a conflict that drew in the United States Army and involved a series of battles including the Battle of Toppenish Creek and the Battle of Four Lakes. The war expanded to include the Coeur d'Alene War and the Puget Sound War. The treaties were not ratified by the United States Senate until 1859. Despite the violent origins, the treaties of 1855 form the enduring legal and governmental foundation for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and the Nez Perce Tribe, and have been central to subsequent legal battles affirming treaty rights, most notably in the landmark United States v. Washington ("Boldt Decision") of 1974.

Category:1855 in the United States Category:History of Washington (state) Category:Native American history of Washington (state) Category:United States and Native American treaties Category:Oregon Country