First Washington Territory Infantry to Grande Ronde, August 15, 1862, August 9, 1862

ORDERS, } HEADQUARTERS,
August 9, 1862.
No. 161. Fort Walla Walla, Wash. Ter., August 9, 1862.

I. Capt. George B. Currey, First Oregon Cavalry, with two sergeants, four corporals, and twenty-four privates, will leave this post on the morning of the 10th instant on detached service for the Umatiila Indian Reservation and Grande Ronde Prairie.

TIT. On arriving at the Umatilla Reservation Captain Currey will leave a reliable sergeant and ten men to relieve the force of the Fourth California Infantry under Lieutenant Hillyer.

V. Written instructions will be furnished Captain Currey from these headquarters. * * * * * * * By order of Colonel Steinberger:

First Lieut., First Washington Territory Infty., Actg. Post Adjt.

Fort Walla Walla, August 23, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith inclosed copy of report* of Capt. George B. Currey, First Oregon Cavalry, returned last night with a detachment of his company from an expedition to the Grande Ronde Valley. The instructions given this officer, as heretofore reported, were to find out the Indians engaged in the disturbances reported by the superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon and the agent of the Umatilla Reservation, and if possible arrest and bring to this post a few of the most active and influential of their number. As by the captain’s report, the effort to carry out the orders given was met by resistance, and resulted in the killing of four Indians, among whom was their leader, Tenounis, or the Dreamer, as he is called. This Indian, I have learned, has been for a long time disaffected. He has always denied and opposed the authority of the Government and their right to the lands now occupied by white settlers, ceded by treaty and acknowledged by the greater portion of his tribe as belonging to the United States. For some months he had separated himself from the Umatilla Reservation, and in opposition to the feelings and expressed inclinations of the Indians collected there had taken with him a small band, with the avowed object to occupy the Grande Ronde Valley to the exclusion of our settlers. The designs of this party culminated, as reported, in attacks endangering the lives and property of settlers in that valley. The other Indians killed were clearly in the interest of the Dreamer and under his influence. To have arrested a few of the leaders engaged in these hostile movements it was supposed would have broken up the band. ‘The more summary punishment resulting from their resistance has, I have no doubt, accomplished the same end, and the more effectually. All the reports from the Grande Ronde Valley and the Umatilla Reservation, from Indians as well as whites, concur in the representation that order and quiet have been restored. The promptness with which the aggressions of this small band of Indians has been visited by our troops, and

the immediate punishment served, has, 1 think, produced a salutary effect for their future good conduct. It convinces them of the determination and ability of the Government to protect its citizens from outrage and enforce inviolate our stipulated relations. I am,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Colonel First Washington Territory Infantry, Commanding.
Headquarters District of Oregon, Fort Vancouver, Wash, Ter.
No. 3.
Reports of Capt. George B. Currey, First Oregon Cavalry.
GRANDE RONDE, August 15, 1862.
SIR: On the second day from Umatilla Agency I surprised Tenounis’
(the Dreamer) camp, about 1 o’clock at night. Held a long talk with
him, endeavoring to induce him to go with me to Walla Walla, Wash.