Beeson to Manypenny, 8 October, 1856, in United States, Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880, National Archives Microcopy 234, Roll 609, NADP Document D44.

N.Y. October 8, 1856

Sir

     I trust I shall not be deemed instrusive in addressing you, the Peculiarity of my position is my appology. Having lived for the last three years in Rogue River Valley, Southern Oregon, and being familiar with much of the Oregon & history of the Indian War, and knowing the great wrong our people were doing, I fully sympathized with Generals Wool & Palmer, And failed not in my efforts to bring about a different course, but the public here, & the Press in the Territory, were closed against reproof. And because I wrote letters to Eastern Papers stating acknowledged Facts, hoping thereby to stay the outrages. Indignation meetings were got up, and my life threatened.

     I fled on the Night of the 26th of Last May to Fort Lane for safety, and was escorted by the U.S. troops to a place of safety. I called upon several of the Editors in the Territory to remonstrate against their reckless course in urgeing a war of extermination, when really was no Occasion for War at All.

     I also published an Address to the Citizens of Oregon, as well as Several letters in behalf of Justice & Mercy towards the Indians.

     For the fact is, this war, has grown out of the Selfish propensities of the Whites, for worse then the bad conduct of the Indians, and therefore my feelings of Patriotism, & convictions of right impelled me to Sustain a moral war, against moral wrongs. For we had abounding evidence that notwithstand the execelent instructions furnished from the Commissioner of the Indian department to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, they could not be propperly carried out with a local population wholly opposed. the concequence is [illegible] Embarissment, Loss & Wide Spread Mesiry.

     To stop this mischief and to prevent similar recurrence, I have written many private letters and Public appeals through the Press having obtained the use of one Paper in the Wallemette for which I paid a Good Riding horse & Equipments and had extra copy's Circulated Gratitiously.

     I also staid in San Francisco several weeks purposely to Enlist the influence of the Press in behalf of Justice & Right.

     I arrived in this City 27 of June with less then $10 in my Pocket and a perfect stranger. Having been thus forced by circumstance into Public work to the great detriment of my domestic pecuniary interests as well as prostration of heat I respectfully submit weather I have not a claim for indemnity, and suport until I can safely return to my home.

     Which will hardly be until the war Claims are adjusted.

     My course from the first was the spontanious [...] the most direct method to arrest evil. And I have the sattisfaction of believeing that much treasure and some lives were saved and the war brought to a spediar close. I have no letters of introduction because I asked for none, but I have two letters of Personal & private Nature from Gen. Wool And I believe the approbation of the Moral Sense of Oregon & Callifornia.

     And I propose to furnish Facts and incidense of Indian Character and the Power of kindness untill Public Sentiment shall frown upon the multiplied wrongs to which the Indian Tribes are Subject.

     If you should wish for further information corrobirative or Ilustrative of the Authorized Report in relation to the War, or the Wants and prospects of the Tribes, on the Reserve or Elsewhere. I think you could be furnished with the same. As besides myself there is now in this City a very inteligent Man, long a resident upon the coast and femeliar with matters of interest in that quarter….Please let me know whether the department will require any further reference as to credibelity or Charector. If so I will furnish any reasonable amount from Lasalle Co Ill. where I lived one Farm 22 years or to Numbers in Oregon & Callifornia I am now at a "Water Cure" in N.Y. incuring Debt for which I have no means at command to Pay.

     Please address Cain of Fowler & Wells 308 Broad Way N.Y. and ablige

Your Obedient Servt
John Beeson             

To Mr. Manypenny

[illegible] Indian Department

It is comforting to note that there have always been those that reacted with horror and remorse at the behavior of the white settlers toward the Indians. Unfortunately, their numbers were small for those lawless times. It is true that there were many occasions of government policy that were established to protect the Indians, but the desire for land and the disregard for life outweighed anyone’s ability to enforce the laws.

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Review of Agent Metcalf's Letter of Defence

MR EDITOR: In a late Oregon Statesman, there is a letter from R.B. Metcalf, whom the editor in a note informs us is a "gentleman of character and honor, kinsman of ex-Governor Metcalf, of Kentucky, and Indian Agent for Southern Oregon."

     The letter purports to be written in defence of the people against certain statements going the rounds to their prejudice, and is mainly occupied with proof to show, that the Indians under Old Chief "John," were agressors in the war.

     I am somewhat acquainted with the circumstances, and believing that the Indians as well as the worthy citizens of Southern Oregon, have been greatly injured by such a perversion of facts as Mr. Metcalf's letter contains. I am induced to offer the following by way of correction.

     I will not charge Mr. Metcalf with falsehood, but for arguments sake, admit, all that he has said about the Chiefs urging the tribes to combine for war. Yet I must observe, and I believe every high-minded citizen will agree with me, how unfair to give such a one-sided account against a venerable Chief, and against a people who could not write a refutation of falsehood.

     Why did not Mr. Metcalf, in his account of the origin of the war, tell of the doings of both parties -- how a white wretch shot the husband of the Chief's daughter, because he would not give her up to his lust? How his own son was kept in irons for weeks on a charge believed to be false, and, after a fair trail, was dismissed by the authorities, but taken by the lawless and cruelly put to death, and how that numbers of men made it a point for months previous to open war; to shoot Indians wherever they could do it with safety to themselves; and that the Chiefs made complaints again, and again, but could get neither redress or protection; that not a house was burned, or a woman or child injured by Indians until after their homes were burnt and their families destroyed.

     Why, I ask, does Mr. Metcalf keep these facts out of sight, to the prejudice of those whose interest he is bound by office and honor to protect.

     Mr. Metcalf knows well that, before the Indians committed any of these outrages, an organized band of men made an attack with the avowed purpose of killing every Indian in the valley, regardless of age or sex; and that this murderous work was commenced in earnest on the morning of Oct. 8th, 1855, when three ranches were burnt over, and thirty of their inmates put to death, fourteen of whom were women and children, -- and this was done subsequent to an assurance, (a day or two previous) of peace and protection, in order the more easily to effect their destruction. About the same time, many were killed in different parts of the valley, and Capt. Smith was threatened with an overwhelming assult by the volunteers, if he opened the fort for their protection, so that the Indians had no alternative but to fight for life, or be killed like brutes.

     But Mr. Metcalf defends the killing of women and children, by saying, that, in battle, they crowd together, and it can't be helped. He forgets that, at first, it was deliberately intended to kill ALL. But suppose this was not the case: how will he explain the circumstances of those three Indian women, who had taken refuge on the top of Table Rock, being shot, and their bodies falling over the cragged rocks, down the steep precipice below. The sight of these mangled victims as they lay writhing in agony, was so shocking that it was reported that they were scared and fell down; but Dr. Ambroze, who lived in the vicinity, informed me that they did not fall, until they were fired upon.

     And how will he explain the circumstance of Rice's company going to the relief of Bruce and capturing two women and an infant, who, as the volunteers report, were clubbed to death, the child's brains dashed out against a tree, in retaliation for which the papers state that the Indians put to death two white captive females.

     If it had been true that the editor of the Statesman had not published the fact that Mr. Metcalf has such high connections, and moreover is a "gentleman of honor and character," we, the citizens of Southern Oregon, should have some misgivings on that point, for everybody who has read the papers, knows that it is not the custom of the women and children to crowd in conflict, but to fly for refuge. The warriors alone face their assailants, and moreover, from the mode of attack, generally adopted, of creeping in the dark, or, as at the meadows, approaching under cover of a dense cloud, and pouring their deadly fire on the unsuspecting families, the killing of women and children would be evidence of design, not chance.

     I could write much more of these painful details, but enough is presented to show the wrong position which agent Metcalf has assumed, and the injustice he has endeavored to inflict upon a people who, to say the least, are blamed and punished for more than they deserve.

     I assure you, Mr. Editor, it is with disappointment and deep regret, that I read Mr. Metcalf's letter, and that I pen this review, for from his reputation as a gentleman, it was hoped the poor outcasts had in him a friend, not only because of his office, but because of his alliance by love and parentage, it was thought the tender associations of family and kin would secure from him a just regard for their rights, especially as it was generally reported that he is a kind man and an affectionate father, unlike those monsters who treat their Indian offspring like brutes. He acknowledges the relationship, and cares for their culture. Why does not Mr. Metcalf use his official power in its application on behalf of the people of his charge? Why does he allow them to be deprived of these rights "without due process of law."

     I suppose, Mr. Editor, you are ready to inquire, Are there no good citizens in Southern Oregon, no lovers of truth and justice? I answer yes; as many in proportion as you have in your city, but the press, and the power are in the hands of the enemy, and until the Indians have a "Vigilance Committee" to guard their interest, and honest thought a free expression, and good men rule the people, Oregon, like California, will groan under accumulated curses.

     But there is hope; light is springing up, and the eyes of many are opening, and ere long we believe the son of righteousness will shine over all the land.

Respectfully yours,
John Beeson

Palmer to Manypenny, 10 July 1855, in United States, Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880, National Archives Microcopy 234, Roll 608 (excerpt), NADP Document D28.

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Office Superintendent Indian Affairs

Dayton O. T. July 10th 1855

Sir,

     My protracted absence from the Office upon business connected with the negotiation of treaties in Middle Oregon has prevented me until now from taking steps for the erection of buildings on the Table Rock Reservation.

     The accompanying copy of Instructions to Agent George W. Ambrose indicates the intended action and preparations in regard to these improvements.

     I have omitted to take action in relation to the Umpqua Reservation until I have made a more thorough personal examination of the contemplated Reservation on the coast anticipating that in the event that reservations become permanent, to locate the Umpquas and Calapooias, and the Indians of the Willamette Valley within its limits. There are believed to be two small valleys within its limits which from the description of persons who have visited them, are well suited for an Indian Settlement; they are situated on the head water of the Alsea and Seletze Rivers, isolated by a lofty spur of the mountain from the coast, yet sufficiently near to be under the care of the same agent, and also separated from the white settlements by a mountain chain; their position indicate them as peculiarly adapted for the settlement of the Indians of this valley. A few whites have taken land in these valleys, and the usual improvements of bachelors in a new [...]

     I have recently learned that considerable dissatisfaction exists among a few persons residing in Benton county in regard to the boundaries of this contemplated reservation, they alleging that it embraces nearly half of the best portion of that country a glance at the map of the surveys already made and reference to the indicated limits of the intended reservation will satisfy any one of the exagerated erroneousness of these aperations. The fact is there is among a portion of the Settlers along the coast and elsewhere a feeling of hostility toward the Indians and disregard for their rights -- a feeling that looks to the humane system of annihilating the race and all action of the Government or its agents looking to the improvement of civilization of the Indians meets with their hearty disapproval. In the present instance there are a few persons interested in the retention of claims in these valleys and others in town sites elsewhere, who anticipate pecuniary advantages to accrue from white settlements in that region. Beyond these no opposition to this reservation manifested.

     I contemplate a tour along the coast, and will set out about the 18th instant for the purpose of negotiating treaties for the purchase of the country with the coast tribes and bands. The goods designed for the Indians South of the Coquille, will be shipped by steamer [...]

Beeson to Manypenny, 8 October, 1856, in United States, Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880, National Archives Microcopy 234, Roll 609, NADP Document D44.

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N.Y. October 8, 1856

Sir

     I trust I shall not be deemed instrusive in addressing you, the Peculiarity of my position is my appology. Having lived for the last three years in Rogue River Valley, Southern Oregon, and being familiar with much of the Oregon & history of the Indian War, and knowing the great wrong our people were doing, I fully sympathized with Generals Wool & Palmer, And failed not in my efforts to bring about a different course, but the public hear, & the Press in the Territory, were closed against reproof. And because I wrote letters to Eastern Papers stating acknowledged Facts, hoping thereby to stay the outrages. Indignation meetings were got up, and my life threatened.

     I fled on the Night of the 26th of Last May to Fort Lane for safety, and was escorted by the U.S. troops to a place of safety. I called upon several of the Editors in the Territory to remonstrate against their reckless course in urgeing a war of extermination, when really was no Occasion for War at All.

     I also published an Address to the Citizens of Oregon, as well as Several letters in behalf of Justice & Mercy towards the Indians.

     For the fact is, this war, has grown out of the Selfish propensities of the Whites, for worse then the bad conduct of the Indians, and therefore my feelings of Patriotism, & convictions of right impeld me to Sustain a moral war, against moral wrongs. For we had abounding evidence that notwithstand the execelent instructions furnished from the Commissioner ofthe Indian department to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, they could not be propperly carried out with a local population wholly opposed. the concequence is [illegible] Embarissment, Loss & Wide Spread Mesiry.

     To stop this mischief and to prevent similar recurrence, I have written many private letters and Public appeals through the Press having obtained the use of one Paper in the Wallemette for which I paid a Good Riding horse & Equipments and had extra copy's Circulated Gratitiously.

     I also staid in San Francisco several weeks purposely to Enlist the influence of the Press in behalf of Justice & Right.

     I arrived in this City 27 of June with less then $10 in my Pocket and a perfect stranger. Having been thus forced by circumstance into Public work to the great detriment of my domestic pecuniary interests as well as prostration of heat I respectfully submit weather I have not a claim for indemnity, and suport until I can safely return to my home.

     Which will hardly be until the war Claims are adjusted.

     My course from the first was the spontanious [...] the most direct method to arrest evil. And I have the sattisfaction of believeing that much treasure and some lives were saved and the war brought to a spediar cloce. I have no letters of introduction because I asked for none, but I have two letters of Personal & private Nature from Gen. Wool And I believe the approbation of the Moral Sense of Oregon & Callifornia.

     And I propose to furnish Facts and incidense of Indian Character and the Power of kindness untill Public Sentiment shall frown upon the multiplied wrongs to which the Indian Tribes are Subject.

     If you should wish for further information corrobirative or Ilustrative of the Authorized Report in relation to the War, or the Wants and prospects of the Tribes, on the Reserve or Elsewhere. I think you could be furnished with the same. As besides myself there is now in this City a very inteligent Man, long a resident upon the coast and femeliar with matters of interest in that quarter.

     There is also a Gentlemen who aided Gen. Palmer in collecting the Remnants and for two months taught the first school the poor Children were ever in his account of their progress is very interesting and I think the information he could communicate to the department would be usefull as a basis for future action.

     With this I send two or three scraps from California Papers meerly as evidence of the kind of articles I have Published. Also a N.Y. Tribune of September in is a brief Statement of the circumstances which Ocasioned the Murder of the Lamented Whitman Missionary to the Indians in '48. Please let me know whether the department will require any further reference as to credibelity or Charector. If so I will furnish any reasonable amount from Lasalle Co Ill. where I lived one Farm 22 years or to Numbers in Oregon & Callifornia I am now at a "Water Cure" in N.Y. incuring Debt for which I have no means at command to Pay. Please address Cain of Fowler & Wells 308 Broad Way N.Y. and ablige Your Obedient Servt

John Beeson

To Mr. Manypenny

[illegible] Indian Department

Bagley to Hayt, 26 November 1877, in United States, Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880, National Archives Microcopy 234, Roll 624, NADP Document D85.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sir

     I desire to again respectfully call your attention to the condition of the Alsea Indians who are here, as well as those who are now at Alsea on leave of absence. We have found it impossible to feed any of them, except such as we can give employment or furnish with lumber for houses, and were left with the only alternative of allowing them leave of absence to fish in the waters of Alsea where they are acquainted with the fishing ground and can more easily obtain their subsistance than here besides this many of them still own their compuritively comfortable houses at Alsea into which they can go and find shelter from the storms which for a few weeks past have been very severe.

     While I deeply regret the necessity of this course it could not be avoided unless by allowing them to suffer with hunger and cold. They should by all means be provided by Government with Houses, food and clothing this winter, and with some teams seed and farming implements in the early spring so that they could during the coming year provide their own food for themselves. They do not give up their desire to remain here so soon as theyshall be assured that Govt- is acting in good faith with them in the matter of allottment of land and assistance to cultivate the same, I respectfully ask that you will at an early day make such provision as is possible for their maintainance and so forth. Unless this can be done it will not be possible to keep them on the Reserve, except by force of arms. They could be overpowered and starved to death on the reserve but such a course would not be wise I herewith send you a statement of the number of Alseas who have voluntarily given up their claims to the Alsea Country and desire to find homes on this reserve with the amount required to furnish them with rations during the winter. Could we obtain one half the amount they are justly entitled to and in the spring provide for them such teams, tools, seed &c as would inable them to provide for themselves, they would be confortable and contented. Or could they be returned to their former homes and secured in the possession of them they would provide for themselves What can I do for them. Estimates have been sent to your office, from which I have received no reply. Can you do anything to help us place the Indians of this reserve in a condition to support themselves and thus soon bring them out of the slough of dispossion. Would that our Government might deal justly with the Indians and thus save Millions expended in prosecuting wars against them. As there are no Treaty funds for this Agency we are dependant entirely upon the general incidental fund, and hence plead earnestly to you. Hoping you will give this matter your early attention I am