FORT WALLA WALLA CEMETERY
The cemetery was established soon after Lieutenant Edward Steptoe organized the first Fort Walla Walla, a few miles east of downtown, in 1856. The fort moved two times in the immediate years following and the cemetery ended up presently just to the west of the last fort, the present-day Veterans Administration Medical Center. The cemetery holds graves from the different eras of the fort’s existence, 1856-1910. Civilian graves are separated from the soldiers by about thirty yards. Three monuments reflect some of the major battles during the 1877-1878 Nez Perce War in which soldiers who spent some time in Fort Walla Walla lost their lives.
A majority of the graves transferred here in the 1890’s and early 1900’s as other small forts scattered about Oregon, Washington and Idaho closed down with the end of the Indian Wars. Fort Lapwai in Idaho, near where the heaviest fighting during the Nez Perce War took place, alone contributed some 80 graves. The cemetery today is the responsibility of the Veterans Administration. 141 identified burials noted at the time of the turnover of the fort and cemetery, 1922, though Army records noted more than 150.
MAJOR EUGENE M. BAKER
Eugene M. Baker was an 1859 graduate of West Point. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant with the First US Dragoons, that unit became the First US Cavalry with the onset of the American Civil War. By 1862, Baker was a captain gaining brevets to major – for gallantry during the Peninsular Campaign – and lieutenant colonel – for gallantry at the Battle of Winchester, 19 September 1864. As a result of his service in the Shenandoah Valley, Philip Sheridan, the Federal commander, took notice of Baker and liked what he saw/
WINTER CAMPAIGN
After the Civil War, Baker went west with the rest of the First US Cavalry. In Montana, he led 150 soldiers against a winter camp of Piegan Blackfeet suspected of harboring an individual accused of murdering a white settler. Sheridan gave Baker leeway to punish the murderer and any others he thought responsible.
The camp along the Marais River Baker came upon was actually not the one the murderer belonged to, but another peaceful Piegan band. The chief of the band given a paper signed by Colonel Alfred Sully identifying this particular band as peaceful. The chief, Heavy Runner, came out of the camp holding his paper high in the air to meet with Baker’s men. One of Baker’s guides recognized Heavy Runner and tried to convince Baker that this was the wrong camp.
massacre
Supposedly, Baker and some of his officers had been drinking. With the temperature down to -40 F, he and his men were there to kill and teach the Indians a lesson. Heavy Runner was the first to go down. Some 200 others soon joined their chief with 140 others captured. Later turned loose without food or adequate clothing, many more died. The camp was burnt.
By 11 am, Baker headed downstream for the correct camp, the camp specified exactly in Sheridan’s orders. But by the time he arrived, the band disappeared towards Canada. Even with the wrong camp destroyed, Sheridan had been looking for a pre-emptive winter strike against the Blackfeet who had shown signs of unrest. He stood by Baker after the massacre, just as he stood by with George Custer after his similar affair at Washita against the Southern Cheyenne.
AFTERMATH OF A MASSACRE
After receiving Sheridan’s report, Lieutenant General William Sherman squashed protests from the Montana Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent Colonel Sully. He preferred believing his officers who told him most of the dead on the Marais warriors and all who asked for quarter granted it.
The brief outrage in Congress led President Grant to choose a “Peace Policy” in his actions towards Indian relations. He kept control within the Interior Department, BIA, as opposed to efforts undertaken to transfer them to the Army.
PRYOR’S CREEK
Two years later, the night of 14-15 August 1872, Baker commanded 400 men tasked to guard a railroad surveying party for the Northern Pacific. That night, they were attacked by a Sioux-Cheyenne raiding party of some 1000 warriors including both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. They were on their way to raid their traditional Crow enemies but decided they could also do some damage here. Baker had been up late drinking again, but his subordinates handled themselves well fighting off the attack killing up to 100 warriors with the loss of only two of their own.
The attack had taken place at Pryor’s Creek – a site just east of present-day Billings. Baker’s party was supposed to link up with another party moving downstream along the Yellowstone at the Powder River confluence, but Baker decided to return to Fort Ellis – Bozeman – blaming the surveyors for his retreat. The bad publicity from Pryor’s Creek led to a plunge in stock price for the Northern Pacific and financial collapse in 1873.
SAD END TO A SAD MAN
Baker was court-martialed shortly after the battle for arresting an officer while Baker was drunk. Convicted and sentenced to dismissal from the service, General Sherman – similar to what happened with Custer, again – intervened and reduced the penalty to six months at half pay.
The years of 1873 to 1877 saw Baker commanding small forts in Wyoming. He went on extended sick leave from February 1876 to the end of October as his liver was probably beginning to shut down.
Late in 1877 through 1879, Baker was at Fort Keogh commanding troops under Colonel Nelson Miles in the field. Most of 1880, he was back on sick leave before returning to duty for a short time at the end of the year at Fort Custer. Court-martialed once again and this time out of duty for the better part of a year. But he returned to command two companies of cavalry stationed at Fort Maginnis, the last Army post created in Montana.
final resting spot
A year later, Baker returned to the sick list for another nine months before a final posting to Fort Walla Walla after 24 May 1884. He lasted only until 19 December before his liver finally gave out and he died at the age of 47.
The Army buried him at his post here at Fort Walla Walla cemetery, not paying for repatriation to his hometown in New York State – a practice commonly done with officers. The West Point alumni magazine noted in his obituary that he was an example of the wrong road a young officer could take with regards to their personal well-being in life.
SECOND LIEUTENANT SEVIER M. RAINS
Sevier Rains was a newly graduated Second Lieutenant out of West Point, class of 1876. Posted to the First US Cavalry, he served here at Fort Walla Walla.
His father, Gabriel Rains, was also a West Pointer, graduating in 1827. Gabriel had also served out in the Oregon Territory commanding militia during the early stages of the Cayuse War which followed the death of the Whitmans. He joined the Confederate army during the Civil War becoming a colonel and later a brigadier general. Wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines where he also ran afoul of his superior, General D.H. Hill. Rains would not return to field command afterwards. Rains was best known for inventing mines for use on land and in the water, a device that was condemned by both sides.
rains at cottonwood canyon
Sevier led a group of ten cavalrymen and one civilian scout out on a reconnaissance patrol from Norton’s Ranch. They were part of a small group under the command of Captain Stephen Whipple. Whipple’s force tried to find the whereabouts of Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce band.
The Nez Perce had broken away from a Federal troop cordon after the Battle of White Bird Canyon leaving General O.O. Howard’s pursuing column literally on the wrong side of the Salmon River. Whipple’s small detachment had moved itself directly in the way of the Nez Perce band – 150 warriors with 600 people in total and over 2000 livestock.
Rains, warned to keep to the high ground when searching for the Indians for whatever reasonended up in the bottom of a canyon. The Nez Perce ambushed the search party, killing all of them. Rains’ career finished just as he began. Rains was reinterred from Fort Lapwai here to Fort Walla Walla cemetery when Lapwai closed.
FORT WALLA WALLA CEMETERY: MONUMENTS
Two generic army monuments have been erected here in memory of men of the 1st U.S. Cavalry dying in the 17 June 1877 action at White Bird Canyon in Idaho against the Nez Perce tribes associated with Chief Joseph and those who died at the ensuing Battle of Cottownwood Canyon on 3 July. A third monument was erected for the dead of Companies H and F of the First U.S. Cavalry by the surviving members.
In 1877, a new treaty forced the Nez Perce away from traditional lands near Wallowa Lake in northeastern Oregon onto a reservation east of Lewiston Idaho. Several bands got together with Chief Joseph one of the overall leaders. They tried to escape from the reservation. What followed was a yearlong flight that covered over a thousand miles and incurred several sharp battles with the Federal army. The initial battles involved soldiers sent out from Fort Walla Walla.
WHITEBIRD CANYON
In response to attacks on settlers in the area just south of the Nez Perce reservation, General O.O. Howard began organizing the movement of troops to respond. Positioning themselves at the south end of White Bird Canyon, the Nez Perce – 16 June – waited for the soldiers. Companies F and H of the First U.S. Cavalry rode onto the scene with about 100 troopers facing maybe 70 warriors. The soldiers were inexperienced – many could not ride properly, and many could not shoot – while the Indians were much better with both the horse and rifle.
a battle breaks out
After an attempt at talking, fighting broke out. The soldiers of Company F formed a dismounted skirmish line with their left flank covered by a group of civilian volunteers. Even so, several fled when the first shots fired. Company H fought mounted but the inexperienced soldiers and their flighty horses made them totally ineffective. Captain David Perry, commanding Company F, had his troopers drop their carbines and make ready to attack with pistols in hand. The bugler announcing the attack lost his instrument and no charge ensued.
Confusion begat confusion. With the flanks evaporating, Perry tried to rally his men at higher ground several hundred yards behind. Misunderstanding what the captain wanted, the men though a general retreat ordered. Quickly, joined by Company H joined them leaving the field with 34 dead soldiers behind. The Nez Perce suffered only three wounded. They also captured a bevy of new carbines, pistols and ammunition. The booty would come in very useful over the next year of fighting.
COTTONWOOD CANYON
General Howard arrived a few days after the battle. The Nez Perce taunted him and his 400+ troopers from the opposite bank of the Salmon River. When Howard’s men managed to cross the river, the Indians switched back over. By doing so, they gained a head start in their attempt to cross over the mountains to Montana.
The only troops in the way were some 65 soldiers and 25 civilians under Captain Stephen Whipple at Norton’s Ranch – today, Cottonwood. Scouts informed Whipple of the oncoming approach of the Nez Perce and he had his men dig in.
He also sent a reconnaissance team out to locate the Nez Perce. The team consisted of ten soldiers and two civilians under Second Lieutenant Sevier Rains. Ambushed, all died on 3 July.
Captain David Perry brought in an additional 20 men and 6 civilians on 4 July with Perry taking command. For the next two days both sides fired away at each other from a distance. The Nez Perce kept the soldiers pinned down. Meanwhile most of their party and the livestock passed around the soldiers’ position heading eastwards. Three more volunteers and one Nez Perce died in the fight as the Indians made their escape.
FIRST U.S. DRAGOONS
A dragoon is essentially an infantryman with a horse. They ride their horse to where needed and then dismounted to fight. Dragoons first came onto the scene in the 16th and 17th Centuries. As time went on, the dragoon evolved into a medium cavalryman. Here they carried straight swords and doing away with the armor of the cuirassier or heavy cavalry.
In the U.S., dragoon regiments were raised during both the Revolution and the War of 1812. The first permanent regiment dates to 1833. Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Sumner, a future corps commander in the Army of the Potomac was the first commander. Known as “Bullhead” for a booming voice and the musket ball which once bounced off his head.
Originally, the First U.S. Dragoons were spread out from New York to Missouri though their main concentration was at St Louis. The regiment was served by many officers who became leaders and generals during the Civil War: Jefferson Davis, Philip St George, Theophilus Holmes. David Hunter, John Davidson. Duty for the regiment was mostly centered upon the Missouri frontier until the Mexican War.
Regimental commander during the Mexican War was Colonel Stephen Kearney. He took a forceof five companies of the regiment off to California overland via New Mexico and Arizona. Three other companies of the regiment saw action in Mexico as a part of Winfield Scott’s expedition. Another two were a part of Zachary Taylor’s force in northern Mexico. Following the war, the regiment spread out between New Mexico, Arizona, California and Oregon.
FIRST U.S. DRAGOONS AT WALLA WALLA
In 1854, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe of the Ninth U.S. Infantry established Fort Walla Walla on a permanent basis. Three companies of the First Dragoons soon joined the infantrymen. Together these soldiers garrisoned the fort until the Civil War’s onset when recalled to the East. The soldiers took part in several campaigns in the meantime. After the Civil War, the First U.S. Dragoons would return to Walla Walla, but they were now carrying a new unit designation, the First U.S. Cavalry, bestowed upon them in 1861 by Congress.
A few of the graves here are of soldiers who served in the First Dragoons before the Civil War.
STATE VOLUNTEERS DURING THE CIVIL WAR
With American Civil War in 1861, all regular Federal troops left for East. The garrisoning of forts in the Pacific Northwest and the protection of the byways fell to the local citizens. The State of Oregon raised a cavalry regiment of some ten companies/troops scattered far and wide through the region. Several companies came here to Fort Walla Walla. Several known soldiers from the First Oregon Cavalry died on duty and came to be buried here.
The First Oregon Cavalry members originally signed up a three year enlistment. Near the enlistment expiration date, 1864, a new regiment, the First Oregon Infantry, enlisted to take the place of men leaving. One known burial from the First Oregon Infantry lies here..
Washington Territory got involved, as well. A regiment of infantry was raised with a majority of members being enlisted from California. Four soldiers from the First Washington Territorial Infantry lie here.
LIEUTENANT JAMES PIKE
In the late 1890’s and the early 1900’s, a number of graves transferred here from other small posts as they closed. One of the largest influxes occured when Fort Lapwai closed. Some 80 graves moved here becoming a big chunk of the known 141 known burials here.
One of those moved here was 1st Lieutenant James Pike. Before the Civil War, Pike had served with the Texas Rangers. He went North with the secession of Texas, serving as a corporal with the Fourth Ohio Cavalry from the end of 1861 until April 1865. Pike wrote a book about his experiences in Texas and during the Civil War which can be read online here.
At the end of the war, Pike gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant with the First U.S. Cavalry. Promoted to First Lieutenant a year and a half later, 27 September 1867. With promotion, Pike posted to Fort Logan, near present day Prairie City, Oregon.
In early October 1867, Pike led a successful attack on an Indian village harboring horse thieves. In the process, his men captured arms and ammunition. While destroying a captured rifle he bashing it against a tree trunk. In doing so, it went off shooting him through the hip and groin. The wound became infected and he died 14 October. He enjoyed a good reputation in the local area and his funeral attended by over 400 people. Pike’s former bugler reburied him here at Fort Walla Walla some 34 years after his death.
BATTLE OF CLEARWATER
In front of the monuments to the Battles of White Bird Canyon and Cottonwood are three grave markers standing together. After the Nez Perce brushed past the small army contingent at Cottonwood 3-8 July 1877, they moved further to the east about 25 miles. Making camp along the South Fork of the Clearwater River with a total number of around 800 people – 200 warriors. General O.O. Howard and his force of 440 troops surprised the Nez Perce around midday 11 July.
The rest of that day and the next saw the soldiers press the Nez Perce backwards. But the Indians were able to escape once again heading north 12 miles to Kamiah and then a further 15 miles to Weippe Prairie slowly followed by Howard. The Nez Perce decided to push over Lolo Pass into Montana where they thought safety lay. They misunderstood that while Idaho and Montana were different territories, they were still parts of the same nation. Now would begin the second and most arduous half of the Nez Perce saga.
In the fighting at Clearwater, 15 soldiers and two civilians died as well as four Indians. The soldiers were buried in a mass grave back at Fort Lapwai with only two names remembered – Juan Platta and the Swiss-born blacksmith Frederick Sandmier. Their headstones flank another one which simply reads “13 soldiers”. When Fort Lapwai closed in 1884, the bodies were reinterred here at Walla Walla, along with other soldiers, like Lieutenant Rains, who had died in the fighting with the Nez Perce.
OTHERS
Others lay here too. Some, as seen earlier, came over from Fort Lapwai after that fort closed. Two Nez Perce lie here, one described as a “prisoner”.
A couple of infants are buried here along with two unknown graves and another grave with six unknowns buried together. Captain Robert Benham was an Assistant Surgeon at Fort Lapwai and he is buried here, as well.
Stories from a fast changing world as the western frontier of America transformed into the Twentieth Century.