Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 9/"Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer
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"DOCTOR" ROBERT NEWELL: PIONEER.[1]
By T. C. Elliott.
In the month of November, 1869, at Lewiston, Idaho, occurred the death and burial of Robert Newell, familiarly known as Doc. or Doctor Newell, a very early pioneer in the Oregon Country and a man of more than usual force, character and influence, and whose name is associated with some of the events that took place in the Walla Walla Valley during its early history. His warm friend and brother Mason, Alvin B. Roberts, then living in Walla, thought to permanently connect that name with our local history by attaching it to one of the principal residence streets, when laying out and platting Robert's Addition to the City of Walla Walla, January 20, 1871. But by ordinance dated March 21, 1899, signed by Jacob Betz, mayor, the City Fathers ordained that "that certain street in the City of Walla Walla named and called 'Dr. Newell Street,' shall hereafter be named and called 'Newell Street,' and be so designated on all official maps, plats and other documents and instruments of said City." As there were other men by the name of Newell residing in Walla Walla during the sixties, it has to the writer seemed well to gather together and record some of the facts and incidents of the life and career of "Doctor Newell." And we may find in the recital much genuine proof of that unusual vigor of mind and body possessed by so many of the Oregon pioneers.
First it is well to explain why he was called Doctor Newell. In the year 1868, he visited the city of Washington in company with Utsemilicum, Lawyer, Timothy and Jason, chiefs of the Nez Perces, who had business there relating to treaties for their lands. It is related [by Mr. Roberts] that while there he was introduced publicly as a leading physician from this section of the country, but that he at once, in a genial manner common to himself, explained that medicine was not his profession, but that during some early experiences as a mountain trapper he had been called upon by necessity to undertake a simple surgical operation (Bancroft gives a similar explanation), and also had acquired a knowledge of some simple remedies through the brewing of roots and herbs and had used them with like effect upon dogs, horses, Indians and his fellow trappers, and consequently had been nicknamed Doctor. In those days the degree of doctor was very easily conferred and without the ceremony now common in our institutions of learning. Even the apothecaries were often dubbed doctors; and who would now deny them the honor!
Of the early years of Doctor Newell but little information has been available. Mr. Elwood Evans was a careful gatherer of facts and in his manuscript History of Oregon (Bancroft Collection) states that Newell was born on March 30, 1807, at Putnam, Ohio, and that on the 17th of March, 1829, he left St. Louis for the Rocky Mountains in company with the Smith-Jackson-Sublette party of trappers, successors of Gen. Wm. Ashley. In Bancroft's History the statement appears that he came to St. Louis from Cincinnati as an apprentice learning the trade of a saddler and that his father had died when he was young. We have a right to assume that he came of good stock or was blessed with good home training and had some advantage of the schools then available; else we cannot account for the qualities of restraint and control and the natural leadership which made him so useful in the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon and in other executive affairs. He must have been "by instinct, inheritance, blood and tradition, a pioneer."
At the age of twenty-two, therefore, we find Newell beginning the career of an American trapper and mountain man. In the same company was the brave and impulsive and often bumptious Jos. L. Meek, then aged nineteen. Between the two was established a lifelong friendship: but Newell was the finer as well as the stronger character and always leader of the two. The influence of the trappers and mountain men has not yet been given full recognition in the history of the acquisition of Oregon, and the record of that period has perhaps been lost beyond recovery to a great degree. There are rare government documents obtainable, and unprinted reports are said to exist among the archives at Washington from which many interesting items are yet to be drawn; for the Government obtained much information about the Oregon Country from the early trappers. The life of the mountain man was one of frequent peril and hardship, and called for continual vigilance, bravery and endurance. He journeyed when and where he pleased, and often when he did not please, and winter journeys across plains and mountains were too frequent to be then thought worthy of mention. Of Dr. Newell's individual life during those eleven and one-half years, we know little. His name appears not infrequently in the memoranda obtained by Mrs. Victor and embodied in her writings, also in letters of Ebbert and Burnett. He had a good voice and his songs and stories around the campfires are a common recollection among those who knew him then and afterward; he was a great lover of books in later life and read the Bible and Shakespeare and other standard works during those year, for the trappers are known to have had these books in their camps. He did not rise to the position of partner but was a sub-trader or "bushaway" and was often in authority during the absence of the owners. He was annually at Rendezvous; in her diary, Mrs. Eells speaks of him as a guest at dinner at Green River in 1838, and Asahel Munger in 1839. He was also a free trapper for a time. In 1833 he married his first wife, the daughter of a sub-chief of the Nez Perce tribe. Joseph Meek is said to have married another daughter in the same family but to have had trouble in getting her; we are told this in "The River of the West." There is no record of similar troubles by Dr. Newell. But the competition of the Hudson's Bay Company was too much for the American trappers and there was no future to such a life, and in 1840 Newell determined to take his chances on the acquisition of Oregon by the Americans and to move down to the Willamette Valley (whither his fellow trapper Ebbert had already gone) and persuaded some of his comrades to go with him. In making this journey, he pioneered the way for wagons (horse canoes, the Indians called them) from Fort Hall across the Snake River Plains and through the Blue Mountains to the Columbia River. The story of that really important occurrence is best told in his own modest language. The following is taken from the annual address delivered at the meeting of the members of the Oregon Pioneer Association at Salem, Oregon, on June 16, 1876, by the Hon, Elwood Evans of Olympia, Washington, and printed in the "Transactions" for that year:
"Let me now refer to the statement of the late Dr. Robert Newell, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Oregon in 1846, a name familiar and held in high remembrance by acient Oregonians. It is interesting for its history, and in the present occasion illustrates the difficulty, at that time, of getting into Oregon. It details the bringing of the first wagon to Fort Walla Walla, Oregon, in 1840, the Wallula of Washington Territory. The party consisted of Dr. Newell and family, Col. Jos. L. Meek and family, Caleb Wilkins of Tualatin Plains, and Frederick (should be Francis) Ermatinger, a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. It had been regarded as the height of folly to attempt to bring wagons west of Fort Hall. The Doctor suggested the experiment. Wilkins approved it and Ermatinger yielded. The Revs. Harvey Clark, A. B. Smith, and P. B. Littlejohn, missionaries, had accompanied the American Fur Company's expedition as far as Green River, where they employed Dr. Newell to pilot them to Fort Hall. On arriving there they found their animals so reduced, that they concluded to abandon their two wagons, and Dr. Newell accepted them for his services as guide. In a letter from the Doctor, he says: 'At the time I took the wagons, I had no idea of undertaking to bring them into this country. I exchanged fat horses to these missionaries for their animals, and after they had gone a month or more for Willamette and the American Fur Company had abandoned the country for good, I concluded to hitch up and try the much-dreaded job of bringing a wagon to Oregon. I sold one of those wagons to Mr. Ermatinger at Fort Hall. Mr. Caleb Wilkins had a small wagon which Joel Walker had left at Fort Hall. On the 5th of August, 1840, we put out with three wagons. Joseph L, Meek drove my wagon. In a few days we began to realize the difficulty of the task before us, and found that the continual crashing of the sage under our wagons, which was in many places higher than the mules' backs, was no joke. Seeing our animals begin to fail, we began to light up, finally threw away our wagon beds, and were quite sorry we had undertaken the job. All the consolation we had was that we broke the first sage on that road, and were too proud to eat anything but dried salmon skins after our provisions had become exhausted. In a rather rough and reduced state, we arrived at Dr. Whitman 's mission station in the Walla Walla Valley, where we were met by that hospitable man, and kindly made welcome and feasted accordingly. On hearing me regret that I had undertaken to bring wagons, the Doctor said, "O, you will never regret it. You have broken the ice, and when others see that wagons have passed they too will pass, and in a few years the valley will be full of our people." The Doctor shook me heartily by the hand; Mrs. Whitman too welcomed us, and the Indians walked around the wagons, or what they called "horse canoes," and seemed to give it up. We spent a day or so with the Doctor and then went to Fort Walla Walla, where we were kindly received by Mr. P. C. Pambrum, chief trader of Hudson's Bay Company, superintendent of that post. On the first of October we took leave of those kind people, leaving our wagons and taking the river trail—but we proceeded slowly. * * * '"
We are further told by Bancroft, that in 1841, Dr. Newell returned and took his wagon down the Columbia, so that it was absolutely the first American wagon to reach the Willamette Valley from across the plains and mountains.
And now, before narrating any of the events of his life in the Willamette Valley, let us note the estimate put upon this man by some of his co-temporaries, including that statesman of the pioneers, Hon. Jesse Applegate, who after the fall of 1843 became one of his intimate acquaintances. In a manu- script in the Bancroft Collection, Mr. Applegate says:
"Though Newell came to the mountains from the State of Ohio in his youth, he brought with him to his wild life some of the fruits of early culture, which he always retained. Though brave among the bravest he never made a reckless display of that quality, and in battlefields as in councils, his conduct was always marked by prudence and good sense. Though fond of mirth and jollity and the life of social re- unions, he never degenerated from the behavior and instincts of a gentleman. Though his love of country amounted to a passion and his mountain life was spent in opposition and rivalry to the Hudson's Bay Company, he never permitted his prejudices to blind his judgment, or by word or act to do injustice to an adversary. Of undoubted truth and honor, he was the unquestioned leader and adviser of men of his class, both British and American, and enjoyed to a great extent the confidence of all parties in the country. His influence in the early days was therefore great, and both in public and private affairs, he was frequently called upon to exert it. It is enough to say in his praise that it was always exerted for good."
Mr. F. X. Matthieu says of him:
"Newell was head and shoulders above all the other moun- tain men in his knowledge of government, and in the knowl- edge of the methods necessary to be employed in organizing a government; in fact he was something of a statesman."
And Dr. W. F. Tolmie, that scholar and gentleman of the legislature of the Provisional Government, in a letter in 1883 to Senator Nesmith, speaks of having been "intimate with that shrewd, amusing Robert Newell of Champoeg," and inquires affectionately about him.
John Minto says, "Bob Newell was a man of honor and as a citizen deserved the trust he received and carried with self respect."
Arriving then in the Willamette Valley in December, 1840, and accustomed to the nomadic life of the mountains, it did not take long to establish a residence (with Joseph Meek as his neighbor) on the Tualatin Plains near where the town of Hillsboro now stands, and at first farming seemed the only career open to him. In the testimony before the British and American Commission, Meek states that Dr. McLoughlin re- fused to loan seed grain to him (Meek) but that he did give some to Doc. Newell ; and at another time said that under com- pulsion of Newel] he (Meek) put in his first crop. But Dr Newell appreciated the better value of a location upon a navigable stream and in 1844 (See records U. S. Land Office) removed to the vicinity of Champoeg upon the Willamette RiA^r, where he selected a Donation Land Claim and resided for nearly twenty years. In the winter of 1842-3 he was one of the active organizers of the Falls Association or the Oregon Lyceum (at Oregon City) which was the earliest literary and debating society in Oregon, formed "to discuss the whole round of literature and scientific pursuits." In 1845 he was one of the three directors in the organization of the Oregon Printing Association, which brought out the first newspaper in Oregon, The Spectator. It is of interest to note that these directors adopted the rule "that the press should never be used by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian principles or doctrines, nor for the discussion of exclusive party politics." This sounds very much like Newell and was intended to hold in check the conflicting interests in the paper. His name, however, does not appear on the roll of the total abstinence society (Washington Temperance Society) formed in Oregon in 1847, although he was not at any time in his life considered an intemperate man; but the name of Joseph Meek, who nearly always drank, heads that list. Dur- ing those years he was a pioneer in the transportation business on the AVillamette above the falls, in proof, witness this ad- vertisement in The Spectator of April 30, 1846 : 110 T. C. Elliott. "passengers own line. ' ' The subscriber begs leave to inform the public that he has well caulk 'd, gumm'd, and greas'd the light draft and fast running boats, Mogul and Ben Franklin, now in port lor freight or charter, which will ply regularly between Oregon City and Champoeg during the present season. Passage gratis, by paying 50 cents specie or $1.00 on the stores. Former rules will be observed— passengers can board with the Captain, by finding their own provisions. N. B.— Punctuality to the hour of departure is earnestly requested. As time waits for no man, the boats will do the same. Robert Newell/' These boats were among the first, if not the very first, keel boats placed in commission on the upper Willamette, and the business is said to have paid a profit of $300 during the four or five years they were operated. Why should not the owner have been a jo^y man! In the organization of the Provisional Government, Dr. Newell was a member of the Legislative Committee, and al- though evidently not sympathizing with all the measurers agreed to, did a large part in framing the organic law that was adopted by the people in mass meeting on July 5, 1843, and he continued to serve upon the most influential commit- tees of the House or of the people up to the time of the organ- ization of the Territory by Governor Lane in 1849. He was elected to represent the District or County of Champoeg (now Marion) in every legislative body up to that of 1849, and during two sessions he filled the office of Speaker. Any *ion- sideration of his position upon the measures adopted durjng those years is not possible in this paper, but it is to be ol- served that he did not sympathize with the opposition then existing toward the property and business interests of that grand old man, Doctor John McLoughlin. He was a firm friend of and enjoyed the confidence of Doctor McLoughlin. It is evident that he had ability to harmonize differences and to hold in check extreme measures, and that he accomplished this through his recognized sense of fairness and his jovial good will rather than by the vote-swapping methods of the Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer. Ill present day. Every reference to him in the writings of those co-temporary with him and from the memory of those who still live to tell the tale of those early years, is to the effect that he was easily the leader of a very influential class of the people then. And in 1849 he was one of three residents of Oregon who received appointments direct from President Polk to serve as agents over the Indians of Oregon; and he was as- signed by Governor Lane to have charge of all those then living south of the Columbia River. To relieve any tedium of this recital of biographical facts we will now mention a reminiscence of Senator J. W. Nesmith, given in one of his addresses before the Pioneer Association. Though slightly historically inaccurate, it is of interest. Senator Nesmith said : As an illustration of the honest and simple directness which pervaded our legislative proceedings of that day I will mention that in 1847 I had the honor of a seat in the legisla- ture of the Provisional Government ; it was my first step upon the slippery rungs of the political ladder. The legislature then consisted of but one house and we sat in the old Methodist church at the Falls. Close by the church Barton Lee had con- structed a 'ten-pin alley,' where some of my fellow members were in the habit of resorting to seek relaxation and refresh- ment from their legislative toils. I had aspired to the speak- ership and supposed myself sure of the position, but the same uncertainty in political matters existed then that I have seen so much of since. Some of my friends threw off on me and elected a better man in the person of Doctor Robert Newell; God bless his old soul ! In the small collection of books at the Falls known as the Multnomah Library I found what I had never heard of before, a copy of 'Jefferson's Manual,' and after giving it an evening's perusal by the light of an armful of pitch knots I found that there was such a thing in parli- amentary usage as 'the previous question.' I had a bill then pending to cut off the southern end of Yamhill, and to es- tablish the County of Polk, which measure had violent opposi- tion in the body. One morning while most of the opponents of my bill were amusing themselves at 'horse billiards' in Lee's ten-pin alley, I called up my bill, and after making the best argument I could in its favor, I concluded with this: 'And now, Mr. Speaker, upon this bill I move the previous ques112 T. C. Elliott. tion.' Newell looked confused, and I was satisfied that he had no conception of what I meant ; but he rallied, and, look- ing wise and severe (I have since seen presiding officers in Washington do the same thing) said: 'Sit down sir! Resume your seat ! Do you intend to trifle with the chair— when you know that we passed the previous question two weeks ago ! It was the first thing we done ! ' I got a vote, however, before the return of the horse billiards players, and Polk County has a legal existence today, notwithstanding the adverse ruling upon a question of parliamentary usage." Another incident, showing Dr. Newell's natural leadership, is told by Mr. John Minto and runs about as follows ; In the fall of 1845 the grist mill of Dr. John McLouglin at Oregon City was completed and the people obtained permis- sion to hold a ball or house-warming upon its floor. That fall the valley had been visited by Lieut. Wm. Peel (son of Sir Robert Peel) and Captain Park of the Royal Marines. These men were really agents of the British Government sent to as- certain the sentiment of the people as to British sovereignty and to report upon the actions of Dr. John McLoughlin ; and the British sloop-of-war Modeste was then anchored in the river off Vancouver. The ball was attended by Lieutenant Peel and some of the naval officers, and they became rather free in their actions in dancing with some of the half-breed girls who were present ; and Dr. Newell called the Lieutenant to one side and expostulated with him. The Lieutenant said, "I really did no harm, Doctor." Newell replied, "No, Lieu- tenant, but you know you would not have acted in that man- ner with a young lady of your own class in London." Well, Doctor," said Peel, "let us try another kind of amusement. I will bet you a bottle of wine that more of the men on this floor will in the case of a contest support the British side than the American." Newell promptly accepted the wager, and Mr. Robert Pentland, of late from Newcastle on the Tyne, and then a miller in Abernethy's mill, was asked to take a vote, and the result showed that the American sentiment was con- siderably in the majority. At this Lieutenant Peel said, "Well, Doctor, I'll bet you another bottle of wine that the 'Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer. 113 man who has just come in and is standing across the floor there will fight on our side anyhow." The man was Willard H. E-ees, who was really very English looking in his personal appearance. Newell again accepted the wager and Mr. Pent- land was asked to go over and find out, and in answer to the inquiry Mr. Rees at once replied, "I fight under the stars and stripes." We get another glimpse of Dr. Newell when a member of the Legislative Committee in 1843 from Robert Shortess: The discussion was on the question of who should be deemed voters. Most of the committee were in favor of universal suf- frage, and, as Dr. Newell had a native wife, naturally sup- posed he would be quite as liberal as those who had full white families ; but the doctor gave us one of his ' ' stumpers, " or as he calls it, "big fir-tree speeches," by saying-. "Well, now, Mr. Speaker, I think we have got quite high enough among the dark clouds ; I do not believe we ought to go any higher. It is well enough to admit the English, the French, the Span- ish, and the half-breeds, but the Indian and the negro is a little too dark for me. I think we had better stop at the half- breeds. I am in favor of limiting the right to vote to them, and going no farther into the dark clouds to admit the negro. ' ' (See p. 343 of History of Oregon by Gray.) It may be remarked here that W, H. Gray did not like Dr. Newell and always speaks with disparagement of him, but that no person intelligent upon the subject of Oregon history will place much reliance upon any statement or opinion of Mr. Gray as against that of Mr. Applegate or Mr. Nesmith or other pioneers of the less cantankerous type. We are now the better able to refer to the spring of the year 1843, and particularly to May 2d of that year, when the people met on French Prairie and American sentiment first asserted itself in public action under the ringing call of Col. Joseph L. Meek: "Who's for a divide?" etc. It will be re- membered that Dr. Elijah White had arrived the preceding autumn with over one hundred immigrants and as an official agent of the United States Government had announced that 114 T. C. Elliott. that Government was planning to extend its jurisdiction and protection over Oregon. The national question was warmly debated, in family and neighborhood and at the Oregon Lyceum during the winter. Whatever other reasons may or may not have been then advanced among the settlers in favor of an immediate organization it is now reasonably clear that the spirit of Americanism that was abroad really led up to the final action. Who were influential in arousing that spirit? Not the Applegates, Nesmith, Burnett and many other strong men afterward prominent; for these had not yet arrived. Not the leaders of the missionary party, Jason Lee and George Abernethy, for these men had publicly advocated postpone- ment until four years later. And not the officers of the Hud- son 's Bay Company, who favored a neutral organization, if any. The young men were in the saddle, in fact there were few old men of experience even for counsel, and it cannot be a wide guess that Doctor Robert Newell, whose love of coun- try amounted to a passion, ' ' who was the leader of the moun- tain men and the neighbor and special adviser of Joseph L. Meek, who commanded the respect of the Hudson's Bay people and hence had much influence among the wavering French- Canadians, figured largely in the result. But we would not hear about it from Newell himself. In the late fall of 1847 the Whitman massacre occurred and Dr. Newell was the Speaker at that session of the legislature; the terrible news was received at Oregon City on the 8th of December. The first impulse was that of self protection, the next that of punishment (the Hudson's Bay Company party under Peter Skeen Ogden having already become responsible for the rescue of the survivors) ; and immediate steps were taken to first dispatch a small armed force to The Dalles and to next organize a larger one to invade the Indian country. But some of the members who were best informed as to dealing with the Indians were not so sure of the wisdom of sending an organized fighting force at once into the interior; and on the 14th of December while military preparations were being made the legislature adopted the following resolution : ' ' That Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer. 115 a delegation of three persons be appointed by this House to proceed inmiediately to Walla Walla and hold a council with the chiefs and principal men of the various tribes on the Col- umbia to prevent, if possible, their coalition with the Cayuse tribe in the present difficulties." It will be remembered that Craig and Spalding, then near Lapwai together, sent word urging that soldiers be not sent, and that Father Blanchet who was then on the Umatilla with the Cayuses themselves sent similar word, and that Peter Skeen Ogden and others of the sagacious Hudson's Bay Company officers did not favor in- vasion ; though all this was unknown at Oregon City when the resolution was passed. But the appointing power was finally left with Governor Abernethy and he either did not sympathize with the idea or was otherwise advised, for the three commissioners were not appointed for some weeks; they were Joel Palmer, Robert Newell and H. A. G. Lee. The first named then already had more than his hands full with his duties as Commissary- General and the last named was in active service at The Dalles in command of those volunteers who had already gone there ; and it ended with the peace commissioners— so called— going forward in company with the Rifler— so called— when they marched from The Dalles in force in February. Looking back at the situation from the present time, a careful student of the history of our early Indian wars can, with reasonable certainty, say that had the advice and suggestions of Dr. Robert Newell and a few others then been followed and the Indians treated with pacific firmness instead of war methods, there would have been no Cayuse war with its attendant ex- penses, exposure and loss of life, that the murderers of Dr. Whitman would have been surrendered by their own people, and that the settlement of the interior would have been ad- vanced ten years in point of time. Dr. Newell, however, did not sulk; and in January he assisted in the organization in his own county of Company "D" of the Rifles under Cap- tain McKay, and accompanied them as one of the peace com- missioners. For this position he was peculiarly well fitted be116 T. C. Elliott. cause of his knowledge of the Nez Perces dialect and his per- sonal relations with that tribe. As such commissioner, he was present at WaiiJatpu on March 7, 1848, and delivered one of the principal speeches at the council held on that day with the Nez Perces ; and that speech so well reveals the finer senti- ments of the man that we may well insert it here. He spoke as follows (See Brown's Polit. History of Oregon, pp. 394-6) : "Brothers: I have a few words to say, call together all your men, old and young, women and children. This day I am glad to see you here, we have come to talk with you and to tell you the duty we owe to our God and all good people. I have not come here to make peace with you; we never have been at war, but always friendly. This I know; this all our people know. I have fought with the Nez Perces, some of them I see here, but we were on the same side; we have lost friends on the same day and at the same battle together. But we did not lose those friends in trying to kill innocent people, but by trying to save our own lives. This I have told our people, our people believe it. I have told them you are honest and good people, they believed it. Your hands are not red with blood. I am glad, my children are glad. And now brothers hear me ; never go to war with the Americans ; if you do, it will be your own fault and you are done. I have come here to see you. the Nez Perces and other good people, no one else. I am not here to fight, but to separate the good from the bad, and to tell you that it is your duty to help make this ground clean. Thank God you have not helped to make it bloody. I was glad to hear the Nez Perces had no hand in killing Dr. Whitman, his wife and others. What have the Cayuses made, what have they lost ! Everything, nothing left but a name. All the property they have taken in a short time will be gone, only one thing left, that is a name, *the bloody Cayuses. ' They never will lose that, only in this way, obey the great God and keep his laws. And, my friends, this must be done, if you will obey God and do what is right, we must. This is what our war chief has come for. What is our duty to the great God ? This is his law. He who kills man, by man shall his blood be spilt. This is his law. This is what God says, and he must be obeyed, or we have no peace in the land. There are good people enough here among the murderers to have peace again in the land should they try. In a few days we could go about here as we have done, all friendly, all Doctor Robert Newell: Pioneer. 117 happy. Will you hear, or will you not. You have heard that we have come here to fight all the Indians, it is not so. The evil spirit has put bad words in the mouths of those mur- derers and they have told you lies. ' ' My friends, one thing more let me tell you ; we have come here because it was our duty. AVe are sorry to have to come, but the laws of God have been broken on this ground ; look at these walls, see how black they are; look at that large grave. He is angry with those people who broke his laws, and spilt innocent blood. How can we have peace? This way, my friends, and no other. All join together, and with good hearts try to get those murderers and do by them as the great God commands, and by so doing, this land will be purified, and in no other way will we have peace. I am sorry to see people fight like dogs. People who love to kill and murder— they are bad people. We have come here to get those murderers. If good men put themselves before those bad people, they are just as if they had helped to murder, and we will hold them as such. The most of the Cayuses have gone off, but a few are here. They have left their farms. Why is this, what have they done"? Because some of their people have been foolish, all should not turn fools and be wicked. I am sorry, very sorry to see it so. What will they do if they fight us, and fight against our God, and break our laws? I will tell you, they will become poor, no place will they find to hide their heads, no place on this earth nor a place in heaven, but down to hell should they go if God's words are true. I hope you will be advised and take good council before it is too late. "Our war chief has waited a long time for the Cayuses to do what is right, he Avill wait no longer, and when he begins to fight, I do not know when he will stop. His heart is sore for Dr. Whitman and his wife, that have been slaves to these peo- ple, who done all they could to teach them how to work, and how to do all good things, that they might live like the whites and be Christians, but they have joined the evil one and be- come bad; they haye murdered, they must not escape. My friends, I am not angry, I am sorry. The other day over yon- der where we fought the Cayuses, we saw people coming, I went with a flag, I had no gun, made signs of peace, waved the flag for them not to shoot, but stop and talk, but they would not. I went back sorry, I knew there were some people there who had done us no harm; but those bad people told them lies, and gave them horses to fight us. Bought them like slaves to fight. I knew they came blind, but they knew not 118 T. C. Elliott. what they were doing; I wanted to tell them what we had come for but could not. I have done my duty. God knows my heart. If I do wrong, then the great God will punish me, and now I tell you the same as if you were my own children. Do not join with those murderers, nor let them come in your country, or in your lodges, or eat with them; but try and bring them to justice. "My friends, I have no more to say to you now. I have come a long way to see you and talk with you ; will you throw my words away ? I hope not ; I beg you to hear my words and be wise. I have brought this flag for the Nez Perces ; take it, I hope you will keep clear of blood. Let the Nez Perces as- semble and settle among yourselves who will keep the flag. Ellis is not here, and many other chiefs are gone to the buffalo country that I am acquainted with. Mr. Craig will tell you that we are your friends ; he loves you ; so do w^e all like him ; he has told us many good things of you. ' ' Largely as a result of that council, the Nez Perces did not take part in the Cayuse war, and the large American flag then presented to them was proudly preserved and assisted in influencing them in later wars (Kip's Journal, descriptive of the Indian council held at Walla Walla in 1855, tells of the arrival of the Nez Perces warriors 2500 strong with that flag waving proudly before them.) Two days later another council was held with some of the Cayuses who consented to be talked to, but with little effect; and immediately after Dr. Newell left the volunteers and returned to the Willamette in com- pany with Captain McKay, who had been wounded. But he really wished to be clear of the whole business from then on, for fear that his personal assurances to the Indians would not be kept. And looking at the problem as he did, from the Indian's point of view, it was impossible for him to feel other- wise. While serving on this expedition, he kept a journal or memoranda which is now preserved among the Archives of Oregon, and contains much interesting and valuable informa- tion. Although, in 1849, appointed to the position of Indian Agent as already mentioned. Dr. Newell did not qualify but joined the large majority of the male population of Oregon Doctor Robert Newell: Pioneer. 119 in the rush to the California gold fields, drawn particularly by his personal acquaintance with James W. Marshall, the first discoverer of gold there. But we do not read of his making any large stake and in the fall of 1850, he seems to have been back again at his home, for he was a candidate for the legislature at a special election in December of that year, and was defeated. The Democrats were in control in Marion County and although Dr. Newell affiliated with that party, it was ten years later, in 1860, before he was again chosen to the legislature and took part in the strenuous contest result- ing in the compromise by which Col. E. D. Baker and J. W. Nesmith were chosen to the United States Senate. During the intervening years he was by no means out of politics, but held a place in the third house. After returning from California he engaged in warehousing and did a commission business in wheat; and in partnership with J. D. Crawford owned a store at Champoeg which dealt in flour, feed, ham, "pickled pork" (bacon) and such staples. He had caused the town of Champoeg to be platted. In 1854 he was one of the charter members of a railroad company that proposed to build a road from Eugene to the Columbia River ; but nothing came of it. In the Indian war of 1855-6, called the Yakima War, he organized a select company of thirty-five men, calling themselves The Scouts, and served as their cap- tain; and did valuable service under Major Rains in the Klickitat and Yakima country. But seemingly he did not permit himself to go into the Walla Walla region where he might meet some of his personal friends, the Nez Perces. In the year 1859 his name appears in the statute as one of the lessees of the State Penitentiary of Oregon. When serving as Speaker of the Assembly, on December 11, 1845, the record shows this written request to have been made : ' ' To Honorable House of Representatives : Gentlemen -.—Having received information of my wife being very ill, I am compelled to request of your honorable body im- mediate leave of absence; and by granting this you will con- fer a favor upon, Your very humble and obedient servant, ' ' Robert Newell. ' ' 120 T. C. Elliott. This is our public record of his marital faithfulness up to the date of the death of his native wife, the Nez Perce woman ; the records of Marion County show that during the following- year he was married to Miss Rebecca Newman of that county, to whom one-half of his Donation Claim was afterward con- veyed by U. S. Patent. It would not be wise to mention this had the land been located in and subject to the community property law of the Territory of Washington, for fear some ambitious lawyer might even at this late day try to upset the title under some claim through the children of the first wife. The dower laws of the State of Oregon would render such an effort unprofitable. With this second marriage, his family responsibilities were notably increased, for eleven children were born to them, eight being boys and three girls; by his first wife he already had five boys. It is evident that Dr. Newell was a very early admirer of President Roosevelt's doctrines. In the year 1861 occured the turning point in his career as far as worldly possessions are concerned, for on December 4th to 10th, of that year, came the great flood in the Willamette River, which washed away his store and ware- house and covered the whole country around. His house was then the best in the community and stood upon high ground and above the high water. Mr. Himes is authority for this statement, which he has heard from many of the old residents about Champoeg: I do not know what I would have done had it not been for Doc. Newell. He broke himself up help- ing his neighbors. ' ' His property and business were gone but his hospitality reached out over weeks and months. In 1862 the mining excitement was drawing people into the country around the Clearwater and Salmon rivers of Wash- ington, afterward Idaho Territory. This country belonged to the Nez Perces and white men had no right to be there until treaties with these Indians had been made and ratified; the treaties of 1855-6 had never been fulfilled by the Government and the Indians were feeling very angry about it. There was trouble imminent and we read of special councils being held at Lapwai at which Dr. Newell and Col. Wm. Craig (another Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer. 121 warm friend of the Nez Perces after whom Craig Street, Walla Walla, is named) were with difficulty able to hold them in check. With the thought to retrieve his fortunes in the Govern- ment service in the country of his Indian friends after the year 1861, Dr. Newell made his abode at Lapwai more than at Champoeg, although his family were not permanently re- moved to Idaho until the spring of 1867. In 1863 Idaho was admitted as a Territory and the two political parties held their conventions to name candidates for Delegate to Congress. The Democrats held their 's at a cabin on the Packer John Trail near what is now known as the Meadows, as a half-way point between the Boise Basin and the Lewiston country, and Dr. Newell was the candidate put up by those from the Lewis- ton district. He was defeated, however, by J. M. Cannady from the Boise Basin; and Cannady was in turn, in the elec- tion that followed, defeated by W. H. Wallace, Republican. There were in the country east of the Cascade Mountains dur- ing the early sixties, more people than resided west of that range, at least in the political divisions of Washington and Idaho, and the town of Lewiston was rapidly coming into prominence, although located upon land to which no title could be given. In fact, aU the early acts of the Idaho legis- lature, while Lewiston was the capital, were technically in- valid because enacted upon land that did not belong to the Territory or to the United States. In May, 1863, the Nez Perces chief agreed to a new division of their lands, but the treaty was not confirmed at Washington and proclaimed until April, 1867. It was very necessary to secure a title and, according to the official Government reports, one of the most influential men in that negotiation was Dr. Robert Newell. He was criticized by some because a larger tract was not ceded then, but as a matter of fact his position was a delicate one, for the Nez Perces refused to cede anything unless a clause be in- serted in the treaty as follows : ' ' Inasmuch as the Indians in council have expressed the desire that Robert Newell should have confirmed to him a piece of land lying between Snake 122 T. C. Elliott. and Clearwater rivers, the same having been given to him on the 9th day of June, 1861, and described in an instrument of writing bearing that date and signed by several of the chiefs of the tribe, it is hereby agreed that the said Robert Newell shall receive from the United States a patent for the said tract of land." (See Treaty of May 7, 1863.) This tract of a little more than five acres — which included an old Indian burial place— lies in the oldest part of the City of Lewiston and upon it still stands the house in which he died. The patent followed, though some time after his death, and the unsettled condition of all titles at Lewiston up to about 1872 gave occasion to some minor disputes with squatters and ad- joining owners during his last years. It was to assist in se- curing for the Indians some amendments to this treaty that Dr. Newell visited Washington in 1868 with the chiefs, avS previously stated; as well as to secure his own appointment as Indian Agent. Between 1862 and 1868, Dr. Newell held different positions at Lapwai, as special commissioner and as interpreter both at the army post and the agency ; the Indians trusted both Newell and Perrin B. Whitman with their business affairs. Upon returning from Washington he, on October 1, 1868, succeeded James O'Neill as regular Agent, under David Ballard, Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of Idaho. But he held the position only until the 14th of July, 1869, when the agency was turned over to Lieut. J. W. Wham of the U. S. Army. Under a change of policy just then the War Department was placed in charge of Indian affairs, and Col. De L. Floyd Jones relieved Governor Ballard. This change of policy was a matter of regret to many people who were well informed as to Indian affairs. Dr. Newell 's con- duct of the office of Agent was after his usual happy style; an incident illustrates this. A party of the employees were preparing to go up the Clearwater after a raft of logs, for building purposes, and were getting their outfit and pro- visions together and sent a Mr. Holbrook to the Agent to ask for some candles. "Candles, candles?" demanded Newell,
- 'Doctor" Robert Newell: Pioneer. 123
- ' First time I ever heard of running a raft by candle light ! ' '
But he gave them the caudles just the same. His rigid manner of doing business, old fashioned perhaps we might call it, and his evident irritation under the system of Government vouch- ee acquired for him, with some, a reputation for eccentricity during those years. But with scarcely an exception, every one at Lewiston who remembers him testifies to his integrity and honesty. The Auditor of the Interior Department, in a final checking up of his accounts at the agency (not, however, until 1880) found an apparent discrepancy against him for which suit of equity was brought in October, 1881, against the heirs of the estate, but the judgment rendered in January, 1884, was in favor of the defendants. In reply to an inquiry sent to the Department, Mr. Larrabee, acting Commissioner, states (on April 22, 1908) that "an examination of the Auditor's settlement shows conclusively that there is nothing in the whole transaction which can be construed as being prejudicial to Newell's reputation. * * * in view of Mr. NewelPs in- experience, he having served as Agent for only nine months, the above discrepancies are not to be wondered at. It does not appear that Mr. Newell ever profited to the extent of a single penny by reason of dishonest dealing, and from other records on file in this office it appears that his honesty and uprightness were unquestionable. ' ' When it was learned that he was to be superseded, the Nez Perces themselves, in June, 1869, caused a petition to be drawn up stating among other things that he had been their friend for forty years and was the Agent of their own choice, and to which eleven chiefs and one hundred and thirty-three prominent men of the tribe affixed their names requesting oi President Grant his retention in the office. This petition is on file at Washington. Mention has been made of the visit to Washington. That journey was undertaken at the instance and expense of his friends, both Indian and white, and he jokingly remarked when starting that although going as cook, he expected to return as Captain. He traveled with the regular Agent, Mr. 124 T. C. Elliott. O'Neill, and interpreter, Mr. Whitman (neither of whom was averse to a continuance of their official duties), and the four Indian chiefs whose presence had been invited at Washington From Portland they went by steamer to San Francisco and Panama, and thence via Aspinwa.ll and New York to Wash- ington, and while there Dr. Newell was nominated by Presi- dent Johnson and confirmed by the Senate as Agent at Lap- wai, and secured his official bond in New York City. The writer has been privileged to read the personal diary kept by Dr. Newell during that journey, and hopes to be allowed at some future time to edit it for publication. It contains many references to public men well known in Oregon history. Al- though for three months in company with rivals for the same official position, there is in it all just one short sentence of very mild personal reflection, which indicates very well a generous disposition. From this diary also we learn Dr. Newell's religious preferences; he attended the Episcopal Church with regularity whenever it was possible. His second wife, Rebecca, died at Lewiston in May, 1867 In June, 1869, when sixty-three years of age, he, after a habit of his, was again married, and his friend Mr. Roberts thus describes his courtship : ' ' During his services as Indian Agent he was in the habit of sending to me at Walla Walla for employees. Among the last sent for was a matron teacher, a lady of middle age, capable of teaching Indian girls tj sew, etc. In this letter he said he would come with his 'Carri- age to Walla Walla and take the lady back to Lapwai. I had a friend and acquaintance by the name of Mrs. Ward, a widow of a M. E. minister who had recently died in Califor- nia, and who was living with her son-in-law, Lon Bean. She engaged for the position and the Doctor came down as pro- posed and stayed two nights at my house and took the lady home with him. She put in just one month under Government service and then she and the doctor were married. How well I remember that while he was still Indian Agent, he and his wife were down at Walla Walla and made me a visit of two days, and joshed me about being a match-maker." "Doctor Robert Newell: Pioneer. 125 It was during these years when engaged at Lapwai, but returning every now and then to Champoeg, that he read in the Marine Gazette of Astoria the series of articles written by W. H. Gray and afterward compiled into what is erroneously entitled a History of Oregon, in which Mr. Gray gave his account of the formation of the Provisional Government and of the political events of those years. In reply to those letter.^ Dr. Newell Avrote several communications that were printed in the Democratic Herald of Portland in 1866 and afterward compiled by Elwood Evans under the title NeweU's Stric- tures on Gray." These letters of Dr. Newell contain very interesting data as to the time of which he wrote and are con- sidered a valuable source of early Oregon history. It is need - less to say that he returned to Mr. Gray good measure for all personal allusions. Dr. Newell died possessed of only a limited amount of property; his large family had kept him rustling." The farm at Champoeg had been sold in 1866 and just before death he had bargained with William Rexford for another farm in what was then Walla Walla County, on the old Walla Walla-Lewiston stage road at the first crossing of the Patit, two or three miles above Dayton, Washington (afterward known as the Graham farm.) This land and the five acres in Lewiston (title not then confirmed) comprised practically tli*^ whole of his estate. Death came upon him suddenly, of heart disease. Dr. New ell's politics and friendships are reflected in the names of his sons; one was named Thomas Jefferson, another Stephen Douglass, another Francis Ermatinger, and another Marcus Whitman. The remainder of his children bore family names; five of them are still living. He had a sister named Martha who crossed the plains as the wife of William ("Billy") Moore, who settled on the Tum-a-lum near Walla Walla and whose farm was one of the early land-marks of the Walla Walla Valley. Dr. Robert Newell was only one of the virile pioneers of Oregon entitled to recognition; not a great man above aU his fellows, but to be awarded a place in the first rank; and not without his human limitations, of course. If any great fan J Is were common to him they have not been discovered by the writer; and any small ones have been merely mentioned. It is related of Peter the Great that when any one began unfolding the faults of another in his presence, he would interrupt to ask: "But has he not a bright side? Come, what have you noticed as excellent in him?" And we cannot but feel well toward the memory of a man who is universally conceded to have been brave, modest and generous to a fault, who passed through the days of a mountain career without giving away to its debauchery, who was faithful and attentive to his native wife during the twelve years of their married life, who respected religious things and was ever ready to aid the destitute and distressed, whose qualities of leadership were always recognized, whose regard for the truth was so exceptionally high, and whose jovial disposition is a common recollection of all who knew him. Said Senator Nesmith in the address already mentioned:
"Genial, kindhearted Newell! How many of you recollect his good qualities and how heartily have you laughed around the campfire at his favorite song, 'Love and Sassingers'! I can yet hear the lugubrious refrain describing how his dulcema was captured by the butcher's boy:
'And there sat faithless she, A-frying sassingers for he.'
"He has folded his robes about him and lain himself down to rest among the mountains he loved so well, and which so often have echoed the merry tones of his voice."
- ↑ Read before the Walla Walla Men's Club on April 20, 1908.