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the present year, ever killed a white man—an extraordinary fact, pronoun­ced by good authority to be without parallel in our Indian annals. Prom 1805 down to 1877 the Nez Perces were always at peace with us. Neigh­boring tribes had fought us, costing many lives and much treasure to sub­due them. The Nez Perces not only never took up arms against us, but in our contests with neighboring Indians they sided with the white man—they were our constant and faithful allies.

The army records show under what obligations the unswerving fidelity of these trusty allies had placed our sol­diers, our Government, and our people.

            In 1846 they rejected a proposition of the Cayuses to exterminate the whites, and after the murder of Dr. Whitman they offered to defend the Lapwai Mis­sion if the inmates would remain. In 1852 they again refused to join the Cayuses in war against the whites. In 1855 they refused a third time; and when hostilities broke out they escorted the Governor of Oregon in safety on a dangerous journey to Walla Walla. In 1858 they raised a company of scouts for General Wright's campaign against hostile Indians, and did good service. When Brevet Lieu­tenant Colonel Steptoe with four com­panies was defeated by hostile Indians in the battle at Tehotonimme, he was forced to retreat, and at one point was threatened with total destruction. "I had vast difficulty," says his offi­cial report, "in getting the dragoon horses over Snake river, which is everywhere wide, deep, and strong, and without the assistance of chief Timothy's Nez Perces it would have been utterly impossible for us to cross either going or returning. . . . The command would have been entire­ly cut off had it not been for the as­sistance rendered by the Nez Perces." The Nez Perces rejected the Mormon proposals to take up arms against the Government; they rejected like pro­posals in the civil war, although it was represented that their annuities would no longer be paid. They were unswervingly true at all times.

The facts recited in the foregoing paragraph were placed before the Gov­ernment more than a year ago, by an army officer, who had carefully collat­ed them—Lieutenant Colonel H. Clay Wood, Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of General Howard. Colonel Wood declares: