Coeur d'Alene War

The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War, was the second phase of the Yakima War, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Palouse and Northern Paiute against United States Army forces in the Washington and Idaho areas.

In May 1858 a combined force of about 1,000 Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, and Palouse attacked and defeated a force of 164 American troops under Colonel Edward Steptoe at the Battle of Pine Creek.

A larger force of 601 men under Colonel George Wright was sent to subdue the tribes. On September 1, 1858 Wright's troops defeated the allied tribes at the Battle of Four Lakes and four days later he defeated another force in the Battle of Spokane Plains.

After the Four Lakes battle, the army hanged seventeen Palouse along Latah Creek which was later called Hangman Creek as a result, though the name has reverted to Latah Creek in the State of Washington. In Idaho, the stream is still named Hangman Creek. Among the hanged was a chief named Qualchan of the Yakima.

Isaac Stevens, who became the Governor of Washington Territory in 1853, promoted the idea of a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific Northwest to transport the raw materials found in the region to the East. In 1851, Stevens had negotiated a series of treaties with many of the tribes in the area, with the aim of moving the Native Americans to reservations so that settlers could begin moving into the Northwest and begin railway and road building. The treaties promised the Indian tribes annuities in return and guaranteed that the US would prevent whites from trespassing on their allotted lands. The Coeur d'Alene Indians, however, attempted to stay out of negotiations with Stevens, hoping they could retain their ancestral lands and not be moved.

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