The Pioneer Statue that once stood at the University of Oregon depicted the men like Ewing Young who came out of the Fur Trade to settle in Oregon’s fertile and beautiful Willamette Valley.
In 1834, Ewing Young led a party of 16 men from California into the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They would be the first Mountain Men to permanently settle in that rich and verdant country.
Young was initially urged to push north from California into Oregon by a promoter named Hall Jackson Kelley, who was an agitator pushing for American annexation of Oregon. The territory was jointly occupied by the United States and Great Britain under the terms of the Treaty of 1818, but it effectively operated under the sway of Great Britain through the administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company. There was a growing chorus of American agitation to take Oregon, by force if necessary. That agitation would carry James K. Polk into the Presidency a decade later as Americans proclaimed that the northern Oregon boundary must be “54-40 or Fight!”
Kelley was a Manifest Destiny zealot before that term was popularized, a figure of a type that would become more and more common through the mid-19th Century.
Young was a businessman, not a political nationalist, and he didn’t think much of Kelley. He initially declined to act as his guide and escort. According to historian Robert Utley, the ever-present drive to make a buck shifted Young’s perspective, and he agreed to guide Kelley while pushing a herd of California horses north for sale in the Willamette Valley.
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is ridiculously beautiful.
Despite his exploits in working around Mexican authorities in the Southwest, Young was fundamentally an honest man. His horses were bought and paid for. His party, however, was joined on the trail north by a set of horsethieves that Kelley labeled “The Marauders.” If that sounds like a one-percenter biker gang, their behavior matched the image. They stole from and murdered native peoples along the trail, and they raped and abused Indian women. Young may not have personally condoned such vicious behavior, but he didn’t really care about Indians, so he didn’t stop it, either.
A letter from California Governor José Figueroa beat Young to Oregon, and was placed in the hands of Hudson’s Bay Co. Chief Factor John McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. The letter damned Young as a horse thief. McLoughlin, a stern exemplar of 19th century rectitude, rendered Young persona non grata.
John McLoughlin, HBC. You didn’t want to be on his bad side.
Fort Vancouver is an outstanding historical site and well worth a visit.
*
The American Mountain Man was not intimidated by being blacklisted by McLoughlin. He liked the country and saw opportunity in its fertile soil, tree clad mountains and growing population of farmers and Methodist missionaries. Nevertheless, the displeasure of the HBC posed serious problems. Not only were Young and his men cut off from commerce with a company that essentially held a monopoly on trade, no one else would trade with them either, for fear of being cut off themselves.
Young’s men managed to make a living hunting and fishing and trapping beaver in the Coast Range, getting their furs out on American ships on the Columbia. Over the next couple of years, the frosty reception eased a bit, and former-HBC-employed French-Canadian settlers and Methodist missionaries began to have tentative dealings with the American Mountain Men.
Then Young hit upon a brilliant ploy to break out of HBC’s blacklist. He set up a whiskey still and made known his intention to offer a product that he knew, as Utley notes, “could undermine the power of the company.” It was, as they say, a matter of leverage.
The Methodists were, of course appalled by the prospect of distilled spirits anywhere near their community, and they wanted HBC to intervene. HBC didn’t relish their French-Canadian retiree community getting soused on American popskull, and the Company certainly didn’t want Young debauching the Indians with whom they traded.
HBC made an offer: Abandon the whiskey distillery, and Young could have full trading rights with the Company. That was the outcome Young wanted, and he took the deal.
The implement that beat the HBC.
The rapprochement soon led to another enterprise. Young proposed to drive a herd of California cattle north on behalf of the American settlers in the Valley. The Willamette Cattle Co. was formed, and HBC jumped in as an investor in the venture, since they needed cattle, too. Young turned cattleman and drove 630 head north along what would become the Siskiyou Trail.
Ever the hard-driving entrepreneur, Young set about building himself a thriving, diversified economic fiefdom in the area of what is now Newberg, Oregon.
As Oregon Encyclopedia recounts:
Between 1838 and 1841, Young expanded his enterprises. His sawmill on Chehalem Creek produced Douglas-fir planks and oak flooring. He built a gristmill, fenced his land, enlarged his wheat-farming operations, and mended his relationship with the HBC. In 1839, he and his workers discovered fossil mammoth remains on the Willamette River, the earliest paleontological find reported in the Pacific Northwest.
He wouldn’t live to enjoy the fruits of his constant labors. In 1841, he sickened and died of unrecorded causes at the age of about 45. He died intestate, and the need to deal with his estate had an important impact on the establishment of American governmental structures and procedures in Oregon. The influx of American settlers along the Oregon Trail in the early 1840s would lead to the Treaty of Oregon in 1846. By 1848 — without a war — Oregon had become a U.S. Territory. In 1859, it became a state.
*
The Pioneer Statue does not specifically depict Ewing Young. But I see in that hard face the ruthless drive of that Mountain Man entrepreneur.
Ewing Young was an avatar of the type of Jacksonian Man that Richard Hofstadter characterized as:
“…an expectant capitalist, a hard-working, ambitious person for whom enterprise was a kind of religion.”
In his ruthless drive and his callous disregard for indigenous people, he embodied many characteristics that post-modern America now rejects. The vandals that toppled the Pioneer Statue at the U of O during this summer’s perpetual unrest might well cite Young’s aggressive capitalist bent and his transgressions against native peoples as justification for the act. Nah, probably not. Doubt they know who Ewing Young was.
For all that he embodied traits that now cause discomfort, Young was a man of vision, a highly capable leader and a genuine pioneer.
Take him in his fullness, the good, the bad and the ugly. Ewing Young is, like it or not, who and what we are, and we live in our ease and wealth on land that he and his kind explored, exploited, conquered and settled.
No matter how many statues are toppled, we will live always in his long shadow.
Paul McNamee says
Solid write up. Good history to learn. Thanks!
JimC says
Thanks Paul.
Rick Schwertfeger says
That’s a cool article, Jim. Yankee Texan that I am, I knew virturally none of that history.
JimC says
Thx amigo.
Buzz says
Great read! I am trying to spread your writing to other like minded friends of mine.
Joan P London says
I am the 3rd great granddaughter of Ewing Young. He had a son born in Taos, New Mexico. There are many dependents of his in the west. We are planning a reunion Sept 2024 in Newberg, Oregon.
check out on Facebook: decedents of Ewing Young
JimC says
Outstanding. Thanks for stopping by the campfire.
Michael Maier says
Hi there probable cousin;
I recently discovered documents that claim Mary Ann Harris was related to Ewing Young. Mary Ann born Mary Ann Young survived an attack during the Rogue River Indian War October 9,1855. Mary Ann was Oregon trail pioneer William Cooke’s sister in law. William Cooke and his wife Martha Jane Young are my 3rd great grandparents. The Harris’s, Cooke’s, Gillespie’s and Young families traveled together west from Missouri by wagon in 1852. Mary Ann was mothers grandma Ethel’s Great aunt.
Michael Maier says
The Mrs Harris you find here was born
Mary Ann Young. Mary Ann is my 3rd great grandfather William Cooke’s sister in law. William his wife Martha Jane (Young) Williams sister in law Mary Ann (Young) all traveled together west by Wagon in 1852.
At the end of my comment here, there is a reporter who claims Mrs Harris is a relative of Ewing Young.
The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised
Mrs. Harris
Note the contradictions. The first account below, from Mary Ann’s lips and printed just a few days later, should be the most accurate–but new details kept being added.
Harris Cabin, Reminiscences of an Old Timer, 1889
Imagining the scene at the Harris cabin, from Reminiscences of an Old Timer, 1889
Arriving at the residence of Geo. W. Harris, which was to appearances deserted, he was found dead within, shot through the breast with a jaeger rifle. Suddenly their attention was directed to Mrs. Harris and her daughter, 11 years of age, rushing from the chaparral near the house to them, blackened with powder and stained with blood. And here we have to report one of the most remarkable instances of female heroism and courage upon record, an account of which should be handed down to posterity as an instance of bravery in woman under the most trying and heart-rending circumstances. I will give the account in Mrs. Harris’ own language, as nearly as possible:
At about 8 or 9 o’clock of the morning of the 9th of October, 1855, as her husband was engaged in making shingles near the house and she was washing at the back of the house, he suddenly entered with the axe in his hand much alarmed, the house being surrounded by Indians, whose countenances and manner indicated that their intentions were not good. He seized his rifle, but in endeavoring to close the door was fired upon by them, the ball taking effect as before stated. Mechanically he discharged the gun twice at them, as she believes with no effect, and passing across the room fell upon the floor. The daughter in the excitement of the moment rushed out the front door, where she was shot through the right arm between the shoulder and elbow. The husband, reviving, encouraged his wife to bar the doors and load the guns of which there were a rifle, a shotgun and two pistols and revolver and holster pistol. She replied that she never loaded a gun in her life. He then proposed to give them presents to induce them to leave; she replied it would not answer, upon which he instructed her in the manner of loading the guns, and shortly after expired. She now was left entirely dependent upon her own efforts–her husband dead–her daughter severely wounded. Not discouraged, she commenced a vigorous discharge upon the savages, who were endeavoring to fire the house, having already burned the outbuildings. She thus continued to defend herself and daughter, she watching at one end of the house and the child at the other, for eight hours, and until about sundown, when the savages, being attracted by a firing on the flats about a mile below the house, left to discover from whence it proceeded. She embraced the opportunity and fled to a small, isolated thicket or chaparral near the house, taking with them only the holster pistol. Having barely secreted themselves before the Indians again approached the house, but finding it abandoned, they commenced scouring the thicket, about 18 in number, all armed with rifles. Upon their close approach she discharged the pistol, which produced a general stampede. This was repeated several times and always with the same result until finally surrounding the thicket they remained till daylight. Her ammunition was now exhausted. She heard the approach of horsemen, at which the Indians became alarmed and concealed themselves in the rear of the thicket. She, discovering the horsemen to be whites, rushed out towards them, but they had advanced so far beyond that they did not discover her. They were the advance of the volunteers. Concealing herself again with the empty pistol in hand, the main body soon approached, when the savages precipitously fled.
Mrs. Harris having sent her little son, 10 years of age, to a neighboring house the evening previous, has not since heard from him, but he is supposed to be murdered. Also Frank Reed, the partner of Mr. Harris, is supposed to have been killed.
This party of Indians escaped to the mountains. The company proceeded as far as Grave Creek, where all was quiet, and it was deemed unnecessary to remain, and they accordingly returned this morning, both men and animals completely exhausted.
J. G. Woods, “Rogue River Correspondence of the Statesman,” Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, October 20, 1855, page 2
They then came on to Mr. Harris’, and shot him as he stood in the door, he falling into the house, and they also shot a little girl standing near him in the arm. Mrs. Harris drew her husband into the door–Mr. H. rose to his feet, took his rifle and fired at the Indians twice, killing one and wounding another, and fell dead. She then took the rifle, loaded it, and as an Indian advanced toward the house with his burning torch, she fired, and he dropped his torch and fled. She continued to load and fire during the day, until she had exhausted her last load of powder, when she was fortunately relieved by the Jacksonville volunteers, who fought the Indians the next morning (Wednesday), killing six, and losing one man.
A. G. Henry, letter of October 12, Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, October 20, 1855, page 2
On proceeding to the house of Mr. Harris, twenty-four hours after the attack, the owner was found dead, and a party of Indians surrounding a thicket of brushwood. The Indians immediately fled, when from the thicket, to the joyful surprise of all present, emerged Mrs. Harris bearing in her arms her wounded child. It seems that Mr. Harris was killed at the outset by an Umpqua Indian. Before dying, however, he showed his wife the manner in which to load the rifle, she being wholly unskilled in the use of firearms. With this and a revolver she kept possession of the house for twelve hours. Her little girl, though seriously wounded, kept a constant lookout through the apertures of the ceiling, and reported to her mother from time to time of the near approach of the enemy. Night coming on they retreated to the thicket, destitute of bullets, yet notwithstanding they kept up an incessant fire with powder alone, up to the moment of her rescue.
Thus did this heroic woman keep at bay twenty-five or thirty bloodthirsty Indians for the space of twenty-four hours, and that too without a morsel of food or even a drop of water.
Weekly Oregonian, Portland, October 27, 1855, page 3
Organized a scouting party of fourteen, and started south. . . . searched for Harris’ little boy (in my last [letter] I stated that Haines’ boy was seen running through a field towards the woods–it was Harris’ boy); could not find anything that could give us any clue of him. Passed on to Harris’; the floor and casing of the door were bedaubed with blood; Mr. Harris’ pants were hanging against the wall, completely covered with clotted blood. The Indians attacked Harris’ house on Tuesday morning, Oct. 9; Mr. H. was shot directly at his back door; as he was falling, Mrs. H. caught him and pulled him into the house and barred the door. A girl of Mr. H., fourteen years of age, was shot in the arm by a pet Indian who had been living about Turner’s, called Umpqua Jack. There is two bullet holes in the door where Harris was shot. Mrs. H. and the little girl defended the house all day, and at night hid themselves in the bushes; they were taken to Jacksonville by the soldiers. Mr. H.’s old house, in which was a quantity of grain, was burned down.
Edward Sheffield, Weekly Oregonian, Portland, October 27, 1855, page 3
Mr. and Mrs. Jones were killed; they lived this side of Wagoner’s, also Mrs. Harris. After Mr. Harris was shot Mrs. Harris took the old gun and continued the defense by shooting between the house logs. She fired sixty-four times aided in getting means by her little daughter, until at last she ran to the yard, pursued by an Indian, who cursed her, knocked her down, and then shot her through the arm. She was left for dead. Immediately however she rose, ran to a ravine nearby and fell into it, where she remained. The Indians gave her up for dead, and turned their attention to the house. She was finally rescued by Major Fitzgerald. See for particulars Statesman of Oct. 20, 1855.
S. F. Chadwick letter to Joseph Lane, November 1, 1855, Joseph Lane Papers, Indiana University. Chadwick is confabulating the Harris and Jones stories.
After traveling until nearly sundown [on November 2 , 1855], we encamped at a building which had been preserved from the general ruin by the heroism of a woman named Harris. After her husband had been murdered and her daughter wounded, she had made a desperate and successful defense by shooting at the savages from between the crevices of the log house. The traces of her bullets upon the trees, which had shielded the Indians, and the marks of the tragedy within the dwelling, were plainly visible. Soon after dark a small party under the command of Lieut. Allston, 1st Cavalry, arrived with the wounded and encamped. Captain Smith, with a few men, passed us on his way to Fort Lane. The length of our day’s march was about fourteen miles.
Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot, Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Washington 1857, page 108
Woman Warrior
If we go back to November 3, 1855 (with Andrew Genzoli and through the files of the Humboldt Times) we’ll encounter an Indian war, then told [with] this story: “We clip the following extract from a letter published in the Crescent City Herald, written from the seat of war, in Rogue River Valley. We are sorry that the correspondent did not give the full name and former residence of Mrs. Harris, as such deeds in a woman will live after ‘sod grows green’: When the Indians first appeared at the house of Mr. Harris, Mrs. Harris, with a little girl, was in the house, and judging from the savage looks of the visitors that their arrival boded no good, she addressed an Indian whom she knew by the name of Umpqua Jack with the words, ‘Jack, you are not going to kill us, are you?’ to which he gave an evasive answer. Mr. Harris coming in the back door, Jack shot him down, and another Indian shot the girl in the arm; whereupon Mrs. Harris shut and barricaded both doors. Mr. Harris lived long enough to instruct his wife how to manage the rifle, which she used with effect among the assailants, shooting through the cracks in the wall of the house from 9 o’clock in the morning till evening, when she became alarmed at the idea of the Indians setting fire to the house in the dark; watching an opportunity when the attention of the Indians was drawn for awhile off to other events at a short distance, Mrs. Harris, with her little girl, escaped into a neighboring thicket with a revolver in hand, and an apron full of powder and ball. The Indians returning afterwards discovered her flight, but she kept them at bay, discharging her revolver when she suspected anyone to approach her hiding place. About sunrise a party of volunteers came to the relief of this heroic woman.”
Oakland Tribune, November 9, 1952, page 218
On the next morning, Oct. 9, the war began, and the first woman or child met by Indians was killed. Seven Shasta Indians left the reserve at Evans Creek, after killing a young man employed on the reserve by the agent, and going down Rogue River they fired on the people at Jewett’s Ferry, without effect. They proceeded on down the river to Evans’ Ferry, where they fired into a party of white men encamped nearby, and killed one man. They proceeded then along the Oregon road, and killed all the travelers and inhabitants along the road to “Jumpoff Joe” Creek; among them Mrs. Jones and child and Mrs. Wagoner and child. At Harris’, the last house, they met with a desperate resistance from Mrs. Harris. Her husband was shot in the door. Dragging him into the house, she barricaded the doors and he lived long enough to instruct her in the use of the rifle, and all that afternoon she kept them at bay. They went off in the evening, and fearing their return to fire the house in the night, she seized her wounded child and made her escape into an adjoining thicket, with her store of ammunition in her apron, and by firing with a revolver whenever the Indians approached her hiding place in the night, she kept them off till daylight, when she was relieved by Major Fitzgerald’s command, who had received information of the depredations committed on the road the morning before, and had pursued them thus far.
“Our California Correspondence,” New York Herald, January 31, 1856, page 3
Passed Mrs. Niday’s, but little damage. Mr. Bowdin’s house was in ashes; searched for Harris’ little boy (in my last I stated that Haines’ boy was seen running through a field toward the woods–it was Harris’ boy); could not find anything that could give us any clue of him. Passed on to Harris’; the floor and casing of the door were bedaubed with blood; Mr. Harris’ pants were hanging against the wall, completely covered with clotted blood. The Indians attacked Harris’ house on Tuesday morning, Oct. 9; Mr. H. was shot directly at his back door; as he was falling Mrs. H. caught him, and pulled him into the house and barred the door. A girl of Mr. H., 14 years of age, was shot in the arm by a pet Indian, who had been living about Turner’s called Umpqua Jack. There are two bullet holes in the door where Harris was shot. Mrs. H. and the little girl defended the house all day, and at night hid themselves in the bushes; they were taken to Jacksonville by the soldiers. Mr. Harris’ old house, in which there was a quantity of grain, was burned down.
Letter of October 18, 1855 from Leland, Oregon, quoted in “The Very Latest,” Albany Argus, Albany, New York, December 1, 1855, page 2
By the Yreka Union of the 20th, we have further particulars of the diabolical acts of the Indians in Rogue River Valley. After finishing their horrible work at Mr. Wagoner’s, they attacked the house of Mr. Harris. The Union says:–
“When they began to gather around suspiciously, an Indian who had frequently stopped with the family and been kindly treated come boldly into the house with a gun. Mrs. Harris said to him, ‘You are surely not going to help murder us?’ The Indian answered ‘No,’ but almost immediately raised his gun and shot Mr. Harris, who was just coming into the door, through the body, inflicting a mortal wound. He fell forward into the house. Just then their little girl, ten years old, received a wound in the arm from a shot fired by one of the Indians outside, as she ran into the house. This left Mrs. Harris in a most trying and horrible situation, and the heroic manner in which she conducted herself surpasses any of the recorded cases of female courage and fortitude which we have ever read. Her husband lay upon the floor dying, and a large party of infuriated savages without stood ready to rush in and finish the work of death. Mrs. Harris pushed the Indian who had shot her husband out of the door and closed it after him. The floor was covered with blood from the wounds of her dying husband and little girl. Mr. Harris, before he expired, instructed her how to load a small Allen’s revolver. This she loaded and fired many times at the Indians, which kept them some distance from the house. Night came, and she watched for an opportunity to escape. The Indians withdrew out of gunshot, to induce her to come out so they could pursue and shoot her without danger to themselves. She took advantage of this and fled into the brush with her little girl, taking the revolver with her. The balls had all given out, but by continuing to load with powder and fire whenever the Indians approached, she managed to keep them from charging into the brush. The next morning a few mounted men came by, and she called to them and the Indians retreated, and she and her little girl were rescued from their perilous position.”
“The Oregon Indian War,” Shasta Courier, Shasta, California, October 27, 1855, page 3
On the first inst. I sent two Indians in whom I had confidence to the camp of the hostile party to endeavor if possible to get a correct statement in regard to the massacres of the 9th of Oct. last, and more especially to learn if they held in bondage any white women & if so to try to redeem them.
They returned on the 11th inst. in company with two other Indians belonging to George’s band with the following statement, that Old John & eight others [of] his own people did all the mischief that day until their arrival at Wagoner’s ranch and at that place they killed Mrs. Wagoner & fired the house before they were observed by the other Indians. Chief George was camped within four hundred yards of the house, but was not at home himself; he had left the day previous to go to Cow Creek .Mrs. Wagoner’s daughter, a little girl about eight years of age, was at George’s camp and was saved by his woman concealing her. After John had killed these people, captured the teams & burned the houses, he was joined by some other Indians, among whom he divided the cargo that he had captured belonging to Peters & co.; about two thirds of George’s people agreed to join him and all the Cow Creeks that were there did the same. The new force was then sent on the road to continue the work of pillage and death begun by Old John.
He and his men here left for Illinois Valley. The house of Mr. Harris was then attacked by this new party. Mrs. Harris, who was rescued by Major Fitzgerald, recognized some Cow Creek Indians & talked to them before they killed her husband, which in a measure corroborates the statement made by the Indians. They both agree as to who shot Mr. Harris. I am not aware that the Indians knew anything of Mrs. Harris’ statement previous to making their own. They also remarked they could have killed her but did not wish to kill women. They strove to take her prisoner, hoping her powder would soon become exhausted, when they would be enabled to capture her, from which they were prevented by the timely arrival of Major Fitzgerald.
George H. Ambrose to Joel Palmer, February 18, 1856, Microcopy of Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Reel 14; Letters Received, 1856, No. 98.
The following letter we copy from the Lexington (Missouri) Express. Mr. Harris, as will be seen, was a native of this county, having emigrated to Missouri in the year 1841. He leaves many relatives and acquaintances in this neighborhood who will no doubt feel sad to hear of his untimely end.
Wellington, Lafayette Co., Mo.
Jan. 24, 1856.
Messrs. Editors:–By letters and papers from Oregon, recently received, we have the particulars of Indian hostilities in Rogue River Valley. Among the first victims of their savage fury was George W. Harris, who with Rev. Jacob Gillespie, Wm. Cook and others emigrated from this county to Oregon in the spring of 1852. Mr. Harris was a native of Jefferson County Virginia, from whence he came to Missouri in 1841. His wife, Mary Ann, is the daughter of James Young, recently deceased, one of the earliest settlers of this county. Her defense of herself and child against the attack of the savages is one of the most remarkable instances of female heroism and courage upon record–a struggle in which she maintained a spirit and bearing worthy [of] the daughter of a blockhouse settler–and should be handed down to posterity as an example of bravery in woman, under the most trying and heart-rending circumstances.
We attach the following, in Mrs. Harris’ own language, as nearly as possible:
“At about 8 or 9 o’clock of the morning of the 9th of October, 1855, as her husband was engaged in making shingles near the house and she was washing at the back of the house, he suddenly entered with the axe in his hand much alarmed, the house being surrounded by Indians, whose countenances and manner indicated that their intentions were not good. He seized his rifle, but in endeavoring to close the door was fired upon by them, the ball taking effect in the breast. Mechanically he discharged the gun twice at them, as she believes with no effect, and passing across the room fell upon the floor. The daughter, in the excitement of the moment, rushed out of the front door, where she was shot through the right arm through the shoulder and elbow. The husband, reviving, encouraged his wife to bar the doors and load the guns, of which there were a rifle, a shotgun and two pistols, a revolver and holster pistol. She replied that she never loaded a gun in her life. He then proposed to give them presents to induce them to leave; she replied it would not answer, upon which he instructed her in the manner of loading the guns, and expired. She now was left entirely dependent upon her own efforts–her husband dead–her daughter severely wounded. Not discouraged, she commenced a vigorous discharge upon the savages, who were endeavoring to fire the house, having already burned the outbuildings. She thus continued to defend herself and daughter, she watching at one end of the house and the child at the other, for eight hours, and until about sundown, when the savages, being attracted by a firing on the flats, about a mile below the house, left to discover from whence it proceeded. She embraced the opportunity and fled to a small, isolated thicket or chaparral near the house, taking with them only the holster pistol. Having barely secreted themselves before the Indians again approached the house, but finding it abandoned, they commenced scouring the thicket, about eighteen in number, armed with rifles. Upon their close approach she discharged the pistol, which produced a general stampede. This was repeated several times and always with the same result until finally surrounding the thicket they remained till daylight. Her ammunition was now exhausted. She heard the approach of horsemen, at which the Indians became alarmed and concealed themselves in the rear of the thicket. She, discovering the horsemen to be whites, rushed out towards them, but they had advanced so far beyond that they did not discover her. They were the advance of the volunteers. Concealing herself again with the empty pistol in hand, the main body soon approached, when the savages precipitously fled.
“Mrs. Harris having sent her little son David, ten years of age, to a neighboring house the evening previous, has not since heard from him, but he is supposed to be murdered. Also Frank Reed, the partner of Mr. Harris, is supposed to have been killed.”
A correspondent of the Oregon Statesman says:
“I shall be very much disappointed if Congress don’t grant the heroine, Mrs. Harris, a handsome pension, within twenty-four hours after the news reaches Washington. If they don’t, the people of Oregon will.”
We have just learned that John Gillespie, son of Mr. George Gillespie, of this county, has been killed.
Shepherdstown Register, Shepherdstown, [West] Virginia, February 23, 1856, page 2
Female Courage.
Dr. McGill, of this city, handed us a letter from Oregon yesterday, directed to himself, from which we make the following extract relative to the heroism of a woman in that territory. The writer in alluding to the Indian war says:
“One Mrs. Harris fought the Indians about twenty-four hours. The Indians attacked Mr. Harris’ house in the morning, and he soon received a fatal shot, and his daughter, about twelve years old, was shot in the arm. Mr. H. fell by the side of his wife. She had a pair of holster pistols, and kept up a regular fire at the Indians for several hours. They became alarmed and left. Mrs. Harris then attempted to make her escape with the child, and had left the house, when the Indians again made their appearance. She fled to a neighboring thicket, and commenced firing again, and kept it up till next morning. Just as she had shot away her last load, the Indians became alarmed, and started off, when to the happiness of the woman, some volunteers came, drawn thither by the firing. They pursued the Indians, and chased them to the mountains, killing three of their number. Mrs. Harris and daughter made their escape, but she witnessed the flames of the building which consumed the body of her husband. I could relate other feats of female bravery equaling this. But enough for the present.”
Evansville Daily Journal, Evansville, Indiana, February 23, 1856, page 2
Mrs. Harris. An Incident of the late Indian War in the North.
It was on the 9th of October last, about 9 o’clock in the morning, that the Indians made an attack upon the house of Mr. Geo. W. Harris, about thirty miles from Jacksonville, on the road to Northern Oregon. Mr. Harris and wife, with their little daughter, 12 years of age, were the only persons at the house, their little son David having gone about half a mile distant to a field. When the Indians approached and were in the yard, to the number of about twenty, they fired two or three shots, one of which passed through the door and struck Mr. Harris in the breast, which caused his death in less than an hour. The little girl ran downstairs and to the door, where her father was lying shot. Several shots were fired by the Indians, one passing through the little girl’s arm, but without breaking the bone. Mrs. Harris closed the doors, and was advised by her dying husband to fight until she was killed–not to be taken prisoner. The little girl, Ann Sophia, then went upstairs, her wound bleeding profusely. Mrs. Harris had two guns, one a rifle, the other a double-barreled shot-gun; also, two pistols, one a six-shooter, the other a single barrel. She commenced firing at the Indians through the cracks of the house, but thinks she did not at first hit any of them. Her husband soon expired, and her daughter being badly wounded and bleeding, was unable to afford her any assistance for some time. The Indians, having taken all the horses out of the barn, set fire to it, as well as the outhouses, and were making desperate efforts to fire the dwelling house also. Mrs. H. still kept up her firing, though it is impossible to tell the number of shots she fired, as she has no recollection, only that she fired from the hour of the attack until late in the evening. During the day, the Indians made a parley, running some hundred yards from the house, which enabled her to examine her little daughter’s wound. At that time, or before, there is no doubt but they murdered her little son, David, only ten years of age, who, as before stated, was some half a mile distant at the time of the attack.
In the evening the Indians drew off, not able to approach the house on account of her continuous fire–having burned everything except the dwelling house. Mrs. Harris and her little daughter left the house and crawled into a very thick brush of willows, immediately by the roadside, and remained there during the night. Next morning she saw several Indians, but they did not discover her. When the attack was made by Major Fitzgerald and his command on the Indians at Wagoner’s, she heard the report of the guns, and knew, she says, that a battle was going on. In a short time she saw the volunteers approaching, but still preserving her self-possession, she remained in her place of concealment until no doubt remained that those approaching were whites, and her friends.
Mrs. Harris is the daughter of James Young, formerly of the state of Tennessee, she was married to Mr. Harris in Lafayette County, Missouri. Emigrated to Oregon in the year 1852. She is a relative of that well-known and celebrated pioneer, Ewing Young, who died in Chehalem Valley, Yamhill County, in this Territory, in 1843.
Well might Gen. Lane say that he would ask for a pension for this noble-hearted, patriotic lady. She is not a heroine of a lauded romance, but the heroine of a hard-fought battle, wherein she saved the life of herself and daughter, by fighting over the corpse of her husband.
She merits the undivided sympathy of a nation’s gratitude–by bestowing upon her and her little daughter a pension for life.–Table Rock Sentinel.
Trinity Journal, Weaverville, California, June 21, 1856,
Reply
JimC says
Thank you for sharing this.