Tag: speeches

eastern oregon, General History, Oregon indians, treatiesLeave a comment

Warm Springs Speeches 1876

David G. Lewis, PhD

It is well known that the Coast Reservation was reduced in 1865 and 1875 to make way for white settlement. A similar threat was posed by the federal government in 1876 to the tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.  In the following speeches, they clearly did not want to remove, again. The speeches are remarkable in that they reveal that not everyone agreed with the hereditary chief of the reservation. They reveal that at least one chief colluded with the Indian agents to disempower the tribe. This would have been very easy to do in the early reservation system because … Continue reading Warm Springs Speeches 1876

columbia river, eastern oregon, General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Negotiating Colonization in Eastern Oregon: Nez Perce Speeches

David G. Lewis, PhD

*Note- these speeches were transcribed from reports in the M234 microfilms for the Washington Superintendency. They occur near the end of the Cayuse War when it appears that the Army assumed that The Nez Perce were hiding members of the Cayuses, relatives of the Nez Perces. What the transcriptions do not detail is that the Nez Perces and the Cayuses (and all other tribes) were being invaded by the Bird Peoples (American Pioneers who moved westward: like migrating birds), and the sovereignty and rights of the Tribes were not being honored. They knew this and yet were trying to live … Continue reading Negotiating Colonization in Eastern Oregon: Nez Perce Speeches