Being refused by Steele, Woods appealed to Halleck as division commander, who also refused, using little courtesy in declining. The quarrel now became one in which the victory would be with the stronger. Woods telegraphed to the secretary of war a statement of the case, and asked for authority to carry out his plan of fighting Indians with Indians. Secretary Stanton immediately ordered Halleck to conform his orders to the wishes of the governor of Oregon in this respect; and thus constrained, authority was given by Halleck to Woods to organize two companies of fifty Indians each, and appoint their officers. Accordingly, W. C. McKay and John Darragh, both familiar with the Indian language and customs, were appointed lieutenants, to raise and command the Indian companies, which were sent into the field, with the humane orders to kill and destroy without regard to age, sex, or condition.[1]
About the time that the Warm Spring Indians took the field, George Crook, lieutenant-colonel 23d infantry, a noted Indian-fighter in California, was ordered to relieve Marshall in the command of the district of Boisé,[2] as the Idaho newspapers said, "to
- ↑ Lieuts McKay and Darragh, in giving a personal account of their expedition, relate that their command killed fourteen women and children, which was done in accordance with written and verbal instructions from headquarters of the military district, and much against the wishes of the Indian scouts, who remonstrated against it, on the ground that the Snakes, in their next inroad, would murder their wives and children. U. S. Sec. Int. Rept, 1867–8, vol. iii., pt ii., 101, 40th cong. 2d sess. Woods' apology was that the women of the Snake tribe were the most brutal of murderers, and had assisted in the fiendish tortures of Mrs and Miss Ward, and other immigrant women, for which they deserved to suffer equally with the men.
- ↑ See Recollections of G. L. Woods, a manuscript dictation containing many terse and vivid pictures of the modern actors in our history; also Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 162, 1869.
The following is a complete roster of the officers in the department of the Columbia in the autumn of 1866: Department staff: Frederick Steele, major-gen, commanding department. George Macomber, 2d lieut 14th inf., A. A. insp.-gen. Henry C. Hodges, capt., A. Q. M., bvt lieut-col U. S. A., chief Q. M. Sam. A. Foster, capt., C. S., bvt major U. S. A., C. C. S., Act. A. A. G. P. G. S. Ten Broek, surgeon U. S. A., bvt lieut-col, medical director. George Williams, brevet capt. U. S. A., aide-de-camp. Richard P. Strong, 1st lieut 7th inf., aide-de-camp. Stations and commands: Fort Colville, Capt. John S. Wharton, co. G, 14th inf. Fort Lapwai, Lt J. H. Gallagher, 14th
