Native American Heritage Month....Tribes Cayuse Of the Waiilatpuan language stock, the Cayuse tribe were originally located in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington state. They call themselves the Tetawken, which means we, the people. The tribe was always closely associated with the neighboring Nez Percé and Walla Walla, and was regarded by the early explorers and writers as belonging to the same stock. However, they were linguistically independent. The Cayuse were noted for their bravery and as being skilled horsemen, often using their horse-riding prowess to intimidate other tribes. The tribe acquired wide notoriety in the early days of the white settlement of the territory. In 1838 a mission was established among the Cayuse by Marcus Whitman at the site of the present town of Whitman, Washington. In 1847 smallpox carried off a large part of the tribe and the Cayuse, believing the missionaries to be the cause, attacked them, murdering Whitman and a number of others. and destroyed the mission. The event is referred to as the Whitman Massacre which led to the Cayuse War. After the battles raged for seven years, the Cayuse were defeated and moved to the Umatilla Reservation in 1855. By the turn of the century, their number was estimated at about 400, but all were of mixed blood and their language was extinct. Today, the Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:00:00 +0000
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