Treaty of 1855 (Walla Walla)

Treaty of 1855 (Walla Walla)
Name	Walla Walla Treaty
Date signed	June 9, 1855
Location signed	Walla Walla, Washington Territory
Parties	United States of America; Confederated Bands of Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Nez Perce, Yakama, and others
Language	English

Treaty of 1855 (Walla Walla)

The Treaty of 1855 (Walla Walla) was a mid-19th century accord negotiated at Walla Walla, Washington Territory between representatives of the United States and multiple Native American nations of the Columbia Plateau region. The treaty followed earlier contacts at Fort Walla Walla, Fort Dalles, and missions such as Mission meetings and was contemporaneous with negotiations like the Treaty of Point Elliott and later conflicts including the Yakima War and the Nez Perce War. Federal commissioners including Governor Isaac Stevens and Joel Palmer engaged chiefs such as Horsethief Charley and Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox to define cessions, reservations, and annuity arrangements.

Background and Negotiation Context

Negotiations emerged from pressure after the Oregon Trail influx, the expansionist policies tied to Manifest Destiny, and settlement patterns influenced by Hudson's Bay Company posts, Oregon Donation Land Claim Act, and the discovery of resources near the Blue Mountains and Snake River. The geopolitical context involved interactions among Washington Territory officials, United States Army officers at posts like Fort Vancouver, and missionaries from Methodist Episcopal Church and Presbyterian missions including Marcus Whitman-related networks. Prior treaties—such as agreements ratified by the United States Senate at Capitol Hill—and competing claims by settlers, traders, and local tribal polities framed the 1855 negotiations.

Parties and Signatories

The signatory list encompassed numerous Plateau nations: the Umatilla Indian Reservation tribes including Umatilla people, the Walla Walla people, the Cayuse people, and elements of the Nez Perce people; chiefs like Piupiumaksmaks (Thunder Eyes) and others represented bands from the Walla Walla River basin, Umatilla River, Grande Ronde River region, and Deschutes River tributaries. Federal commissioners included Isaac Stevens, Joel Palmer, and representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs operating under Secretary Jefferson Davis's administration in the Department of War context. Observers included agents from Hudson's Bay Company and settlers from Oregon City, Lewiston, Idaho, and The Dalles, Oregon.

Terms and Provisions

Key provisions created reservation boundaries, annuity payments, and provisions for education and agricultural instruction similar to clauses seen in the Treaty of Medicine Creek and Treaty of Point Elliott. The treaty promised annual payments, tools, and supplies administered via the Bureau of Indian Affairs with oversight from Indian agents stationed at posts like Fort Walla Walla. It included hunting and fishing guarantees comparable to later rulings involving the Boldt Decision and the U.S. v. Washington jurisprudence, though later interpretations would differ. Clauses concerning land parcels invoked survey practices by the General Land Office and were influenced by precedent from the Treaty of Greenville era negotiation style.

Land Cessions and Reservation Establishment

The accord extinguished aboriginal title to large portions of the Columbia Plateau, including lands along the Snake River and Blue Mountains, while establishing reservations such as the Umatilla Indian Reservation and partial lands for Walla Walla and Cayuse bands. Ceded tracts intersected with trails like the Oregon Trail and areas later incorporated into Wallowa County, Oregon and Walla Walla County, Washington. The delineation process involved surveyors linked to the U.S. Public Land Survey System and conflict with settlers claiming lands under the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act and homesteading statutes.

Immediate Aftermath and Implementation

Implementation relied on Indian agents such as Andrew J. Smith-era personnel and military presence from detachments at Fort Walla Walla and Fort Vancouver to enforce boundaries. Settler encroachment, resource competition, and contested hunting grounds rapidly created friction leading to armed confrontations connected to the Yakima War and rising tensions with chiefs like Tohiotsim and Spokane Garry. Mission schools and boarding initiatives led by Methodist and Presbyterian missions attempted assimilation programs mirroring policies later institutionalized by the Carlisle Indian Industrial School model. Immediate annuity payments and provision delays exacerbated shortages intensified by the Smallpox epidemics and environmental pressures affecting salmon runs in the Columbia River.

Legal Challenges and Long-term Impacts

The treaty generated litigation over boundaries, fishing rights, and land titles leading into 20th-century cases adjudicated in federal courts including disputes culminating in analyses akin to those in the Boldt Decision (1974) and subsequent U.S. Supreme Court reviews such as Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Association. Claims under the Indian Claims Commission and trust accounting disputes engaged tribes including the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Nez Perce Tribe in prolonged negotiations with the United States Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs. Congressional acts and executive orders reshaped reservation land status through allotment policies under the Dawes Act and later restoration measures in the era of Indian Reorganization Act and Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

Cultural and Socioeconomic Consequences

Culturally, the treaty impacted traditional lifeways tied to salmon fishing on the Columbia River, camas harvesting in the Willamette Valley environs, and seasonal rounds practiced by Plateau societies documented by ethnographers like Alfred Kroeber and James Teit. Socioeconomic effects included loss of pastoral and hunting territories, dependency on annuities, shifts to rations and wage labor in towns like Walla Walla and Pendleton, and enrollment changes in tribal governance institutions such as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Ongoing cultural revitalization efforts involve language programs for Nez Perce language, Walla Walla language revitalization, fisheries co-management with agencies like the Bonneville Power Administration and collaborative stewardship with organizations including the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

Category:1855 treaties Category:Native American treaties