Oregon and Washington Volunteers/7
[Governor Curry’s letter to General Lane, dated September 18, 1854.][edit]
Territory of Oregon,
Executive Office, Salem, September 18, 1854.
Dear Sir: I enclose herewith a “slip” containing an authentic account of the massacre of a portion of the immigration to this country, in the vicinity of Fort Boisé, by a band of Snake Indians. The writer, Mr. Orlando Humason, whom you well know, is a gentleman of the highest integrity, and his statement may be relied upon implicitly.
The news of this distressing occurrence has occasioned deep feelings in the hearts of the community. A United States force, under the command of Major Haller, of the 4th infantry, and one company of volunteers, commanded by Nathan Olney, esq., are now in pursuit of the murderers, having engaged in the expedition, upon the reception of the news at the “Dalles,” with a promptitude the most gratifying and commendable. It is very much to be hoped that it may be in the power of the authorities to inflict upon the perpetrators of this great outrage the punishment they so richly merit.
You will do me a personal favor, and your constituents a great service, by calling the attention of the Department of War to the fact of the necessity of the establishment of a garrison or military post at or near “Fort Boisé.” Were it only kept up during the summer and fall months, while the immigrants are on the road, it would be of incalculable benefit in keeping in check the propensities of the Indians to robbery and violence. Indeed, I conceive it to be a matter of the chiefest importance that our government should give more attention to this matter of protection and defence of the annual immigration towards the Pacific. If it be not practicable to afford protection over the entire route, let sufficient forces from the posts at the extremes of the Territory be directed to make summer and fall excursions into the heart of the Indian country, and in the vicinity of the immigrant routes. Are there not posts within the settlements in this and Washington Territories, the location of which might be changed with advantage to the frontier?
My dear sir, with every confidence in your spirit and energy, I leave this matter in your hands; press it with all earnestness and force upon the department, and if need be upon Congress. The lives of our people must not be sacrificed when it is in the power of the government to avert it.
Yours always, sincerely,
GEO. L. CURRY,
Acting Governor of Oregon.
Gen. Joseph Lane,
Delegate to Congress from Oregon.