In 1855, Governor Isaac Stevens of the Washington Territory, negotiated a treaty with the Yakama (formerly Yakima), Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla tribes, forcing the tribes to relinquish in excess of six million acres of land to the United States Government. In exchange, the tribes were promised that white miners and settlers would not be permitted to trespass on tribal lands while they awaited ratification of the treaty from the United States Senate.
History offers little documentation of the Yakamas’ account of the war. Emily Washines wanted to change that.
Washines (Yakama/Cree/Skokomish) learned about the war as a toddler, via oral histories” passed down from her family. Her relative was a Yakama Treaty signer.
In addition to producing a video about Yakama women in the war, which was partially narrated in the Yakama language, and writing blogs for her website, Native Friends, she began looking for descendants of the U.S. Army combatants who fought on the other side.
When Washingtonian Glen Hamilton heard Washines’ story on the radio, he contacted her. Hamilton’s relative, Supplina Hamilton, was an Oregon Volunteer soldier in the Yakama war from 1855-1856. Washines and Hamilton exchanged stories about their relatives and communicated via email for more than a year. When their two families finally come together in person, we were there to capture it.
Washines hopes that standing side by side with historical enemies will help change how we view history and ensure that the Northwest remembers that history.
Read more about their accounts at kcts9.org/nativeamerica