Whitman Massacre

As the first half of the 19th century came to a close, three historical events affected the Gagnons.

The first was the 1846 treaty with the British establishing the border at the 49th parallel instead of the lower Columbia River which the British had long hoped for and expected. This ensured that the future Washington Territory (and state) and the Walla Walla Valley would be American and not Canadian.

1846 was the year Suzanne gave birth to a daughter, Rosalie Dauphin.

The second event was in 1847. The Cayuse tribe, suffering from epidemics, had seen half their people die. Watching Doctor Whitman cure white people while the natives under his care died, many Cayuse believed he was purposely killing them. A band of warriors took matters into their own hands and murdered the Whitmans and twelve other people at the mission. Later known as “The Whitman Massacre,” the event resulted in the “Cayuse War” between the Indians and whites, mostly volunteers from the Willamette.

In 1850 five accused Cayuse were hanged for the Whitman Mission murders.1 They were baptized just before their deaths by Bishop Francis Blanchet, and Mathieu Dauphin acted as godfather. But the hangings did not end the hostilities, which lasted another five years. The Cayuse war finally ended in 1855 and a treaty was signed by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes and the government. Mathieu Dauphin acted as an interpreter during the peace treaty meetings. The tribes would forfeit most of their lands when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty four years later. During this time more tribes began to fight and war spread across the Northwest. More Cayuse would die.

The third significant event occurred in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Mathieu and Suzanne took their children to California’s Yuba River

gold field. Meanwhile, Marcel Gagnon, son of Lucien Gagnon, possibly along with brothers Pierre, Medard, and/or Lucien sailed to San Francisco2 in 1850 to try gold mining with thousands of others. While Marcel probably didn’t make a fortune in panning gold, he was successful enough to never lose his taste for prospecting, and continued searching for gold off and on for most of his life.

Just as in Oregon Territory, there were hostilities with native Americans in California which were caused by most of the same cultural conflicts as elsewhere in the country. Marcel volunteered to serve in the mounted militia to quell some of these hostilities. Marcel had noted the many abandoned sailing ships in the bay and concluded San Francisco had no future, and moved on.

Marcel made his way from California to French Prairie (south of Portland) and then to the small French community along the Walla Walla River, Frenchtown, to finally settle down to farm, raise a family, and to continue gold mining in the Northwest.

1There is much speculation about the innocence of the convicted Cayuse. Some claimed they volunteered, taking the blame in order to appease the whites and thus save the tribe from more bloodshed.

2Marcel’s obituary says he sailed around Cape Horn, but other family lore has him crossing the isthmus of Panama. Marcel would have been about 18 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Half-brother Medard would have been about 28, and Lucien, if he was with them, only 14. The 1870 census shows brothers Medard, miner, age 48, and Lucien, farmer, age 34, living with Marcel and his family. A 1910 obituary for older half-brother Pierre Gagnon, age 90, states he arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in 1868.