The Battle of Port Gamble
"The fierce and dreaded Indians from the north, in their large war canoes, each carrying over fifty warriors, were prowling around Puget Sound seeking slaves and plunder."
From: 1855 C.E. To: 1858 C.E.
Location: Port Gamble, Washington, United States of America; Whidbey Island, Washington, United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From History of the State of Washington by Edmond S. Meany, 1909.
Echoes of the Indian War, 1857-1858
Trails were poor and few at that time through the tangled undergrowth of the great coniferous forests. The inlets and harbors known by the general term Puget Sound were free and open highways, but they were almost destitute of facilities for rapid transit. Mention has been made of the Hudson Bay Company's steamers Beaver and Otter. Since the treaty of 1846 these were kept busy most of the time in the northern or British waters.
In September, 1854, John H. Scranton's steamer, Major Tompkins, Captain James M. Hunt, arrived to ply between Olympia and Victoria. One of her first exploits was a vain chase of Indian murderers to Hood Canal, on which occasion the "Duke of York" was seized as hostage. This was the Indian about whom Theodore Winthrop has written his delightful chapter on "A Klalam Grandee," in which he exclaims, "Yes! I have kicked a king!" The Indians feared the swift errands of this "fire-ship," and were delighted to learn of her wreck at Esquimalt in February, 1855.
At the time of the Indian outbreak the United States had on Puget Sound the revenue cutter Jefferson Davis, Captain William C. Peace, and the survey steamer Active, Commander James Alden. In September, 1855, the United States sloop-of-war Decatur anchored in Seattle harbor, where she rendered valuable service, as already related. On February 24, 1856, the officers of the Decatur were surprised by hearing a steady "thump, thump" approaching, and soon were cheered by the arrival of the United States steamer Massachusetts, Captain Samuel Swartwout, a boat destined to take a considerable part in subsequent events.
A month after the appearance of the Massachusetts, the United States steamer John Hancock, Commander David McDougall, arrived on Puget Sound. Inferior as these boats were in comparison with later equipments, they were towers of strength for the Puget Sound of that day, and went far to convince the Indians that their safest course lay in submission to and friendliness with the white race.
The fierce and dreaded Indians from the north, in their large war canoes, each carrying over fifty warriors, were prowling around Puget Sound seeking slaves and plunder. At one time it looked as though the hostiles would muster these dangerous bands as allies against the white settlements. When the steamer Hancock was at Port Townsend, she drove away sixty of these marauders, who left in a spirit ripe for revenge. The alarmed citizens appealed to the governor and to Captain Swartwout for protection. The Massachusetts found a large encampment at Port Gamble. Captain Swartwout tried to convince them that they must leave, and offered to tow their canoes to Victoria. The Indians had already committed a number of depredations, and the captain was firm in his purpose.
Receiving defiant answers, he pressed into service Captain J. G. Parker's little passenger steamer Traveler, and placed her with a launch at the upper end of the encampment. He then sent early on the morning of October 20, 1856, Lieutenant Semmes with a flag of truce to again urge a peaceful departure of the band. These requests impressed the Indians as an indication of weakness, and they remained defiant. From the launch men waded through water breast-deep dragging a howitzer ashore. Again the Indians were asked to yield, but they simply taunted the men.
An attack was ordered. The Indians fled to the forest for protection. Their canoes and provisions were destroyed. After two days the chiefs humbly surrendered, saying that out of one hundred and seventeen braves they had lost twenty-seven killed and twenty-one were wounded. Their canoes having been destroyed, the survivors were taken on board the Massachusetts and carried to Victoria, from which place they could easily make their way home.
The battle of Port Gamble prevented any further thought of the northern Indians joining the forces of Puget Sound hostiles, and for a time it was believed that the severe lesson would keep them out of these waters. It is true that they never again resisted a war-ship or a company of troops, but they sought and obtained revenge. In spite of the vigilance of the navy and the troops, marauding bands would strike swift blows and escape. To guard against these and similar dangers two forts were built—Fort Townsend, in charge of Major G. O. Haller, and Fort Bellingham, in charge of Captain George E. Pickett.
Early in 1859, a band of Haidahs captured the schooners Ellen Maria and Blue Wing, while passing from Steilacoom to Port Townsend. The crews and passengers were murdered, and the schooners carried away or sunk. They were never seen again, nor were the murderers caught or punished. But the tragedy that stirred the inhabitants most profoundly was in immediate and direct retaliation for the battle of Port Gamble. A chief had been killed, and nothing but the head of a white chief would compensate them for such a loss.
A band of the Indians returned to the same locality, and picked out Doctor J. C. Kellogg as their victim because he had good clothes and a good zinc boat. These in their eyes made him a chief. They camped on a point near the doctor's Whidbey Island home. The doctor was not there, and the women appealed to some marines, who were there surveying for a possible lighthouse, to drive the Indians away. Traveling northward along the island, they saw a man working in a hay-field. To the Indians' innocent question if that place belonged to a chief, the man promptly and proudly replied, "Oh, yes. Colonel Ebey was Hyas Tyee (Great Chief)."
The Indians encamped on the beach, and that night, August 11, 1857, called Colonel Ebey to his door, murdered him, and cut off his head. His house was filled with guests, all of whom escaped into the woods. One lady ran to the neighboring cabin of R. C. Hill, who, with his brother and others, seized their rifles and hastened to the Ebey home. They heard a hammering noise, and knowing that Colonel Ebey was loved and trusted by all the neighboring Indians, they could not believe he had been murdered. A shout was raised. There was a rush toward the beach, and soon a canoe grated over the gravel and disappeared in the fog.
It was never learned whether any of the rifle shots reached the fleeing murderers, but on January 20, 1860, the Territorial Legislature adopted a vote of thanks to Captain Charles Dodd of the Hudson Bay Company's steamer Labouchere, who after two years' effort had recovered from those northern Indians the severed head of his friend Ebey and brought it back to have it buried with the rest of his body. In doing this, Captain Dodd had risked the lives of himself and crew.
Meany, Edmond S. History of the State of Washington. Macmillan Company, 1909.
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