Chief Leschi
| Leschi | |
|---|---|
Chief Leschi
|
|
| Nisqually leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1808 Eatonville, Washington |
| Died | February 19, 1858 Lake Steilacoom |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging 47°10′43″N 122°32′31″W / 47.178575°N 122.542065°W |
| Resting place | Puyallup Tribal Cemetery – Tacoma, Washington 47°14′19″N 122°23′56″W / 47.2386°N 122.3989°W |
Chief Leschi (/ˈlɛʃaɪ/; 1808 – February 19, 1858) was chief of the Nisqually Native American tribe. He was hanged for murder in 1858, but exonerated in 2004.
Leschi was born in 1808 near what is today Eatonville, Washington, to a Nisqually father and a Yakama mother. He was appointed chief by Isaac Stevens, first governor of Washington Territory, to represent the Nisqually and Puyallup tribes at the Medicine Creek Treaty council of December 26, 1854, which ceded to the United States all or part of present-day King, Pierce, Lewis, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Thurston Counties and stipulated that the American Indians inhabiting the area move to reservations. Some maintain that Leschi either refused to sign (and had his "X" forged by another) or signed under protest. The historical record is unclear on this point. However, he did argue that the reservation designated for the Nisqually tribe was a rocky piece of high ground unsuited to growing food and cut off from access to the river that provided the mainstay of their livelihood, salmon.
In 1855, Leschi traveled to the territorial capital at Olympia to protest the terms of the treaty. In October, Acting Governor Charles H. Mason ordered that Leschi and his brother Quiemuth be taken into "protective custody" and sent the militia after them, thereby initiating the Puget Sound War of 1855–1856. Leschi became war chief, in command of around 300 men, and led a small number of raids which panicked the white population. Early in the conflict, Territorial militiamen Abram Benton Moses and Joseph Miles (or Miller) were killed. Infuriated territorial authorities blamed the killings on Leschi, who remained at large for nearly a year. Convinced that white settlers were cooperating with Leschi, Stevens declared martial law over Pierce County on April 2, 1856. (Stevens was later charged with contempt of court in relation to this declaration, however as governor he pardoned himself.)
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