nearly all of the tribes both in eastern and western Washington, and it was supposed that these would put an end to all conflict between the two races. But as a matter of fact the natives, seeing the country filling up with white people, were about ready for a general war in defence of what they considered to be their own country. The situation here was not different from that which brought on the great Indian wars in other sections of the United States. Just as New England had its King Philip's War, and the middle West its struggles with Tecumseh and Black Hawk, so the people of the Pacific Northwest, when settlement threatened to crowd the Indians off their lands, were forced to meet great combinations of native tribes under Chief John, Leschi, Kamiakin, and others. Except in southern Oregon, these wars came mainly in the years 18551858. They included many harrowing incidents, like the murder of the settlers in White River valley near Puget Sound, the daring attack upon the little village of Seattle in the spring of 1856, the slaughter of the emigrants on the Malheur River, and massacres at the Cascades. The United States government maintained troops at various places throughout the Northwest, and in some cases these rendered effective service during the Indian war; but their numbers were too small to meet the great emergency, while difficulties arose between the territorial officers and the military commanders that caused the burden of the war to fall mainly upon the people themselves. Volunteer companies were called into the field, who with some severe fighting
