P
1855Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of
Hiawatha is published.
Among the United States’s most popular writers
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow creates a romantic
legend of an Ojibway chief in his narrative poem
The Song of Hiawatha. Longfellow relies largely on
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s research (see entry for
1851) for information on Ojibway culture, but
for the eponymous character he borrows the name
of Hiawatha, one of the founders of the Iroquois
Confederacy (see entry for CA. 1400). Because
of the popularity of Longfellow’s poem, many
non-Indians will come to confuse the historical
Hiawatha with Longfellow’s fictional creation.
The Chickasaw reestablish their
independence.
After the Chickasaw’s removal from their southeast-
ern homeland, the tribe is forced to make a new home
in Indian Territory on lands owned by the Choctaw.
The Chickasaw grow frustrated living among the
Choctaw and believe they are discriminated against
under Choctaw law. With funds saved from annuities
paid by the U.S. government, the tribe purchases land
to the west of the Choctaw’s, where they re-create an
independent Chickasaw nation.
May 24 to June 11
The Walla Walla Council reduces the land
base of Washington Territory Indians.
As whites flood into the Northwest, Washington
Territory governor Isaac Stevens is charged with ex-
tinguishing the land claims of area Indians, including
the Cayuse, Nez Perce, Walla Walla, and Yakama. In
addition to clearing rich farmland for settlement by
whites, Stevens wants to free land for the construction
of the northern route of the Pacific Railroad.
To negotiate the necessary treaties, the gover-
nor organizes the Walla Walla Council, one of the
largest gatherings of Indians ever held. The meet-
ings are tense, as mistrustful Indians plot against
Stevens, his men, and sometimes against other Indi-
ans. Three treaties are finally signed, under duress,
during the final days of the conference. Many of
those who agree to the treaties have little under-
standing of their provisions. In the documents, the
tribes cede approximately 30,000 square miles of
land in exchange for two small reservations.
Within days of the conference, much of the
Indians’ former territory is opened to white settle-
ment, despite a treaty promise that the tribes will
not be displaced for two years. Fury over Stevens’s
treachery creates unrest throughout the North-
west and leads directly to the Yakama War (see
entry for SEPTEMBER 1855).“After everybody had talked
and Pu-Pu-Mox-Mox had talked,
General Stevens wanted to hear
from the head Chief of the Ya-
kimas. He said, ‘Kamiaken, the
great Chief of the Yakimas, has
not spoken at all. His people
have had no voice here today.
He is not afraid to speak—let
him speak out.’... Then Chief
Kamiaken said, ‘I am afraid that
the white men are not speaking
straight; that their children will
not do what is right by our chil-
dren; that they will not do what
you have promised for them.’”
—Chief Weninock of the Yakama
on the negotiations
at the Walla Walla CouncilSeptemberThe Yakama War breaks out.
Following the Walla Walla Council (see entry for
MAY 24 TO JUNE 11, 1855), tensions between the