Created by Viktoria Sinex, Art of Local
History, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA December 2003
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.