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Summary
Summary
The riveting story of a dramatic confrontation between Native Americans and white settlers, a compelling conflict that unfolded in the newly created Washington Territory from 1853 to 1857.
When appointed Washington's first governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, an ambitious military man turned politician, had one goal: to persuade (peacefully if possible) the Indians of the Puget Sound region to turn over their ancestral lands to the federal government. In return, they were to be consigned to reservations unsuitable for hunting, fishing, or grazing, their traditional means of sustaining life. The result was an outbreak of violence and rebellion, a tragic episode of frontier oppression and injustice.
With his trademark empathy and scholarly acuity, Pulitzer Prize--winner Richard Kluger recounts the impact of Stevens's program on the Nisqually tribe, whose chief, Leschi, sparked the native resistance movement. Stevens was determined to succeed at any cost: his hasty treaty negotiations with the Indians, marked by deceit, threat, and misrepresentation, inflamed his opponents. Leschi, resolved to save more than a few patches of his people's lush homelands, unwittingly turned his tribe--and himself most of all--into victims of the governor's relentless wrath. The conflict between these two complicated and driven men--and their supporters--explosively and enormously at odds with each other, was to have echoes far into the future.
Closely considered and eloquently written, The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek is a bold and long-overdue clarification of the historical record of an American tragedy, presenting, through the experiences of one tribe, the history of Native American suffering and injustice.
Author Notes
Richard Kluger is the author of Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris , which won the Pulitzer Prize. His Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality and The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune both were finalists for the National Book Award. He is the author or coauthor of eight novels as well. He lives in Northern California.
www.richardkluger.com
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the mid-19th century, the rainy shores of Puget Sound were among America's last frontiers-and the site of a brief but fierce war fought in 1855-1856 between the Nisqually tribe and the territory's militia and army. With vivid detail, Kluger (Simple Justice) examines the encounter, beginning with the benchmark 1853 treaty of Medicine Creek and its ambitious architect, Gov. Isaac Stevens, who "bloodlessly wrested formal title to 100,000 square miles." Despite scant source materials, the author sketches a portrait of Leschi, the Nisqually chief, whose resistance to the treaty placed him in direct confrontation with Stevens. After Leschi's arrest for allegedly killing a militiaman, Stevens engineered the chief's 1856 prosecution-and ultimate conviction and execution. (Leschi's final statement is heartrending: "I do not know anything about your laws, I have supposed that the killing of armed men in war time was not murder. If it was, then soldiers who killed Indians were guilty of murder too.") The conclusion, the 2004 exoneration of Leschi's actions by an unofficial historical court, followed by the launch of the tribe's Red Wind casino, winds up being a redemptive postscript to an affecting chapter of regional history. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Puget Sound is the venue for this historic episode in settler-Indian conflict. It attracted historian and novelist Kluger because of a 2004 mock tribunal's conclusion that Leschi, a headman of the Nisqually tribe, should not have been put on trial for murder in 1856. Kluger delves deeply into the original case, which resulted in Leschi's execution, and excoriates Leschi's principal white antagonist, Washington's first territorial governor, Issac Stevens. Casting Stevens in a villainous light, Kluger recounts his imposition of treaties dispossessing the Puget Sound tribes, which Leschi resisted. The war that then briefly flared up Stevens and his political supporters blamed on Leschi. To army officers in the territory, however, Leschi was a legitimate combatant, so the legal process that ensued was convoluted but seemingly inexorable, given Stevens' zeal for vengeance and court decisions that all went against Leschi. Recounting the treaty council, the war, several trials, and contemporary politics of the several-hundred-member Nisqually tribe, Kluger's solidly sourced narrative and its tenor of indignation will captivate readers of frontier and American Indian history.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
RICHARD KLUGER has written a half-dozen novels, but he's best known for telling true stories, hard stories, very well: Brown v. Board of Education ("Simple Justice"), the rise and fall of The New York Herald Tribune ("The Paper"), the cigarette wars ("Ashes to Ashes") and, more recently, American expansionism ("Seizing Destiny"). Of late he appears to be drawn toward the deep, the dark and the lethal in our past. "The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek" is a worthy spinoff of "Seizing Destiny," which described the active and often ugly process of taking the continent. In Kluger's new book the scale is small and the specifics unlikely to be familiar to most readers. After the 1846 Oregon treaty with Britain, Americans for the first time began to move into the Puget Sound region, north of the more settled Willamette Valley. Indians there, including the small Nisqually tribe, previously had experienced limited contact with whites. The British presence at Fort Nisqually amounted to a trading, not settling, enterprise called the Hudson's Bay Company. As often occurred after wars and treaties in North American history, American land hunger changed the seeming solution into a new problem as settlers and some politicians sought loopholes. In the wake of the gold rush of 1848, a new federal law offered 320 acres to any white farmer who went to Oregon (640 acres if he was married and brought his wife). Enter Isaac Stevens, an ambitious West Pointer appointed the first governor of Washington Territory in 1853. An engineer at a time when the Army trained the best of them, he volunteered to conduct a land survey on his way out West. He hoped to provide evidence in favor of a far northern route for the much-discussed transcontinental railroad. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Mexican War of 1846, expansionists had come to dominate Washington, D.C. The Franklin Pierce administration made it abundantly clear that it expected the Indians to sign treaties surrendering their land. The governor of Oregon had ceded 7.5 million acres to the Indians for $200,000 in money and goods, only to have the agreement fail in the Senate because it set aside "overly generous reservations." Stevens thought he could do better. He "believed himself to be a wily ambassador from an advanced civilization while the natives were gullible primitives naturally inclined to defer to their racial superiors." In one of his first speeches as governor, he endeared himself to his new constituents by asserting a version of Manifest Destiny: "From your hands an imperial domain will descend to your children . . . in the cause of humanity and freedom." For the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty, several small tribes allegedly agreed to give up control of 4,000 square miles, except for fishing and hunting rights, in exchange for annuities and three reservations on inhospitable sites of two square miles each. One of the Nisqually leaders whose "x" appears on the treaty was named Leschi. His signature, Kluger says, was probably forged, but whatever Leschi actually did at the treaty conclave, he seems to have immediately confronted the authorities with his objections, and may have won a promise of a somewhat larger reservation on a better site. What's more, he began traveling to other tribes who were preparing to negotiate with the whites, warning them not to trust Stevens. These other tribes started to do a little bit better in their negotiations. Still, before the Senate had ratified the new treaties, Stevens was promoting the territories in the newspapers as open for settlement. Clashes between settlers and Indians were inevitable. Stevens was building a political base. So was Leschi. But Leschi had the tougher job. As an intertribal leader, he faced a disagreement about tactics. Some Indians favored attacking only male soldiers during a war. Others insisted on employing terror, even against women and children. The White River massacre of Oct. 28, 1855, claimed eight civilian victims. According to Nisqually traditions, Leschi didn't approve of attacks on civilians, but Stevens took the White River raid as a personal betrayal and called for a war of extermination against those Indians who refused to surrender. He declared martial law, arrested white families who tried to remain neutral and encouraged volunteers to attack any and all hostile Indians. Most whites in Washington Territory blamed the Indians for the war - but not all of them. The Pacific Coast commander of the United States Army, Maj. Gen. John Wool, refused to join the rush to slaughter. Wool was a septuagenarian veteran of the War of 1812. He distrusted unprofessional, volunteer soldiers who fought the Indians, and he told Stevens that the war would be over in a few months if Stevens didn't insist on extermination. Stevens wrote to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in an effort to have Wool dismissed. KLUGER paints a colorful portrait of two charismatic leaders in, at most, partial control of events. Stevens won the war but faced severe censure in Washington for his means. Leschi, in turn, held out for quite some time but was betrayed by a nephew. He faced a trial for murders that Stevens and his supporters refused to acknowledge as acts of war. After a jury failed to reach a verdict, he was tried a second time and convicted. He was hanged in public view near Fort Steilacoon. Stevens, for his part, ran for the post of Washington Territory's Congressional delegate, won and went back East to defend himself on the floor of the House. He died a bloody, flag-waving death in 1862 as a Union general leading his troops into enemy fire. The fanatical Indian haters tend to steal the show in Kluger's narrative. Fortunately, he is canny enough to realize what's lost in a one-sided telling and compassionate enough to make sense of the doings on all sides. His frustration with Leschi's end is evident in his lively epilogue, in which he recounts the recent history of the Nisqually. Despite struggles between an older faction and a newer group in the tribe, the Nisqually have successfully built a casino as well as new fishing and scuba-diving enterprises. And tribal historians and activists recently vindicated Leschi with the help of an unofficial historical retrial presided over by the chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. Kluger's recitation of these events can be seen as an upbeat refusal to treat a historical tragedy as irredeemable. Usually, Indians tend to disappear from histories about them - even when the blame for their suffering is placed on others. The Nisqually, as Kluger shows, have not disappeared, and "The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek" is an eloquent account of a massacre's legacies as well as its history. After white civilians died, the territorial governor called for a war of extermination against all hostile Indians. David Waldstreicher is a professor of history at Temple University and the author of "Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification."
Choice Review
This look at a well-known story in Pacific Northwest history speaks to the injustice meted out to the Nisqually tribe and chief Leschi. In newly created Washington Territory, 1853-57, Governor Isaac Stevens forced reservations upon the tribes and signed treaties of economic disempowerment. Leschi had a special connection with the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Nisqually and a special friend in Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, who ran that post. In a subplot inadequately considered, Stevens was in conflict with the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Indians were caught in the middle. The author fails to develop nuances of cross-cultural relations. Events in eastern Washington Territory impacted those in Puget Sound. Nervous US authorities were preoccupied with British influences across the border, where a much less coercive Indian policy existed. Following the 1974 Boldt Decision on Indian fishing rights, librarians, historians, and reformers attempted to redress the grievances, and the book concludes with a discussion of an open forum held to clear the air on past wrongs. Unnecessarily long and less than innovative in its methodology, this work will appeal to those who see history as a record of past wrongs. Summing Up: Optional. Public libraries. B. M. Gough emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University
Kirkus Review
Intense history of a vicious confrontation between whites and Indians in 1850s Washington Territory.Pulitzer Prizewinning historian and journalist Kluger (Seizing Destiny: The Relentless Expansion of American Territory, 2007, etc.) writes accessible prose and turns up fascinating obscure records, but readers will quickly suspect that this story doesn't end well. A central figure, Isaac Stevens (18181862), became the first governor of the Washington Territory in 1853. His major task was to facilitate white settlement by removing indigenous tribes. To achieve this, he sent representatives to survey their lands and, with no tribal input, choose a reservation. After drawing up a written contract, they called tribes together to feast and listen to whites extol its benefits, including promises of schools and farm equipment. Kluger points out that the Indians were illiterate, did not understand contracts and had no concept of land ownership. Despite their unease, mostaccording to white observerssigned. One leader, Leschi (18081858), protested and organized resistance during the 1855-6 Puget Sound War but was defeated, captured and, despite appeals from some whites, hung (though obviously useless to him, Leschi was exonerated in 2004). Forced onto tiny reservations, the tribes sunk into poverty, and their number dwindled. By the end of the 20th century, most whites agreed that they had treated the tribes badly, and legalization of Indian casinos has stimulated some prosperity for the survivors. Kluger does not conceal his indignation, painting a portrait of the whites as greedy, materialistic and racist, with a few ineffectual exceptions. The tribes are portrayed as modest hunter-gatherers, devoutly in tune with nature.An accurate narrative, but the lack of nuance makes for a painful account that will keep readers gnashing their teeth throughout.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Pulitzer Prize-winning (Ashes to Ashes) author Kluger (www.richardkluger.com) applies his solid research and writing skills to this compelling story of the 1853-57 conflict between expansionist America and the Native Americans of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Kluger focuses on key personalities, in particular the first Washington State governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, and Leschi, chief of the small Nisqually nation. As often happened in these encounters, the Puget Sound Indians were persuaded to turn over their ancestral lands to the federal government and were relocated to reservations on poor land unsuitable for hunting, fishing, or grazing. The inevitable result was rebellion and violence, ending with Leschi's murder conviction and execution. An interesting epilog covers the 2004 retrial that posthumously exonerated Leschi. Voice actor Alan Sklar's (see Behind the Mike, LJ 3/1/09) solemn narration enhances this fascinating albeit painful reminder of the sordid, shadowy history of the U.S. government's oppression of Native Americans. Essential for history buffs and teachers. ["Well-researched and beautifully written.recommended for readers interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest," read the review of the Knopf hc, LJ 1/11.-Ed.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface: A Fresh Reckoning | p. xi |
| Part I The Governor and the Chief | |
| 1 ôI Know What I Am Aboutö | p. 3 |
| 2 Paradise for Free | p. 17 |
| 3 The Northwest Express | p. 38 |
| 4 A Credit to His Race | p. 54 |
| 5 Christmas at Medicine Creek | p. 74 |
| 6 Blood in the Autumn Air | p. 107 |
| 7 The Territory in Dread | p. 129 |
| 8 An Impressive Performance | p. 147 |
| 9 The Wages of Zealotry | p. 167 |
| Part II The Trials of Leschi | |
| 10 Judgment Day-and Night | p. 187 |
| 11 With Malice Aforethought | p. 213 |
| 12 All the Favors of the Law | p. 236 |
| Epilogue: After Leschi | p. 249 |
| I Salmon and Survival | p. 249 |
| II For Whom the Eagle Cries | p. 259 |
| III Red Wind Rising | p. 285 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 299 |
| Selected Bibliography | p. 303 |
| Notes on Sources | p. 307 |
| Index | p. 317 |
