Terrrence Dunn, in his letter (“Doubt remains surrounding death,” Our Readers’ Views, Jan. 13), imagines fault with my small book, “Peace Wins at the Battle Ground, 1855.” My response is not to get drawn into the 167-year-old debate over whether the chief shot himself by accident or it was the work of assassins.
Instead, I would hear from those who stood with Umtuch on the Klickitat side who have been quiet too long. Three who did so were his nephew Spencer, White Swan, and Stwire Waters. Post the Yakima war, these three would, for 60 consecutive years, be head chiefs of the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation. Chief Spencer and Chief Waters gave narratives to historian Lucullus McWhorter, describing the peaceful resolution of the Battle Ground event and the unintentional death of Chief Umtuch by fellow Indians. McWhorter died in 1944 and both narratives have been languishing in his files for a long, long time. His records are available at Washington State University.
Battle Ground has a great story. The Klickitats had to trust that they would not be molested upon returning to the fort. The volunteers had to trust that the Klickitats would return and not join the Yakamas in war. The bargain held. Peace won. Good men lived to serve their communities.
