On Oct. 10 on National Indigenous People’s day, an exhibit of great local interest opened in the Meyer Room of the Battle Ground Community Library.
Battle Ground gets its name from an incident that happened 167 years ago. The Yakama Indian War had begun on Oct. 5, 1855, and the Indians were winning. The U.S. Army out of The Dalles had been badly beaten at the Battle of Toppennish Creek and Fort Vancouver had sent all available troops to their aid. In Clark County, volunteer militia were trying to keep the peace.
A band of Klickitats, led by Chief Umtuch, were persuaded to move their camp from the mouth of the Lewis River to near Fort Vancouver to provide personal protection for them and to discourage them from joining the Yakama War. The Great Chief Kamiakin sent representatives secretly to Chief Umtuch to encourage him to do just that. Chief Umtuch and most of his followers left the area of the fort in the darkness of night and later camped on Mankas Prairie in central Clark County.
The volunteer militia found them there, and offered assurances of safety to Chief Umtuch should the Klickitats return. Chief Umtuch agreed to return, but soon after, was mysteriously killed. The battle lines were then drawn in earnest. The outcome of a battle was not at all certain for either side.
However, a few wise men stepped back from the brink and found a path to peace.
We know Judge Strong and Robert Newell were leading the whites, but with Umtuch dead, who was speaking for the Klickitats? Would you like to know the story from the side of the Indians? Who were they and where did they go? What chief took Umtuch’s place? General Sheridan named this chief in his memoirs and he became the first post-war head chief of the Yakama Nation. What about the two brothers who followed him as head chiefs for the next 50 years? All were there at Clark County’s Battle Ground.
The Friends of the Battle Ground Community Library are sponsoring an exhibit to tell the remarkable story, left 100 years ago in the files of historian Lucullus McWhorter. Come to the library and learn who killed Umtuch and where it happened, starting Oct. 10 and showing through November.
Don Higgins,
Battle Ground
