Note 38 — {121} CHAPTER VIII

The Wallawalla Indians are of the Shahaptian stock—one of the great families of the inland Columbians, to which the Nez Percés and Umatilla belong. Usually they were hospitable and well-affected towards the whites. Lewis and Clark especially mention their friendly disposition. Many years later, they became disaffected and joined the Cayuse in acts of hostility. A treaty was made with the Wallawallas in 1855, whereby they surrendered their lands, and retired to the Umatilla reservation, where at the last report (1902) five hundred and sixty-nine were still residing. The “Shaw Haptens” were a kindred race speaking the Shahaptian language.

This appears to be the first mention of the Cayuse tribe, later so prominent in Oregon history. Their language was unlike that of the Wallawalla, so that they are classified as Waülatpuans. Their habitat was the Wallawalla Valley, and south and east of the great bend of the Columbia. Their herds of horses were so numerous that “cayuse” has become a generic term for Indian ponies. These Indians constituted the largest and most powerful tribe of Eastern Oregon. Among them the American Board founded a mission, and it was this tribe that perpetrated the Whitman massacre of 1847. Broken in spirit and numbers by the settlers’ avenging warfare, five chiefs were in 1850 surrendered for trial and executed. Five years later, the Cayuse formally ceded their lands and retired to the Umatilla reservation, where three hundred and ninety-one are now (1902) reported. They have abandoned their language for that of the Wallawalla.—Ed.