The Puget Sound Indian Wars


The Indian Wars began in Puget Sound on October 1855. In the White River Massacre, Indians attacked three families near the Green River. Nine white settlers, men, women, and children died. One could say that it really began in the spring of the same year when the Medicine Creek Treaty was signed. Over the course of the summer, the Indians began to understand the repercussions of the white men’s contract, and they grew increasingly upset.
To cover the event fairly, both the Indians’ and whites’ viewpoints should be addressed. Many events took place; I do not feel that I can do the subject justice in a short synopsis of the story. Ezra Meeker discusses the subject at some length in his 1905 writing The Tragedy of Leschi.