Yakima Indian War

Yakima War
Part of the American Indian Wars
In a generic scene depicting a U.S. Army battery of light artillery in 1855, a first sergeant of the light artillery is shown in the left foreground in the new jacket issued for American mounted troops in 1854.
Date 1855-1858 Location Washington Territory Result US victory
Belligerents
United States Snoqualmie tribe	Yakama tribe Walla Walla tribe Umatilla tribe Nez Perce tribe Cayuse tribe
Commanders and leaders
Isaac Stevens Joel Palmer Colonel George Wright Chief Patkanim	Chief Kamiakin Chief Leschi Chief Kanaskat
Units involved
9th US Infantry 3rd US Artillery 6th US Infantry 4th US Infantry USS Decatur Snoqualmie warriors Washington militia Oregon militia	Yakama warriors Walla Walla warriors Umatilla warriors Nisqually warriors Cayuse warriors

The Yakima War (1855-1858) was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington Territory, and the tribal allies of each. It primarily took place in the southern interior of present-day Washington, with isolated battles in western Washington and the northern Inland Empire sometimes separately referred to as the Puget Sound War and the Palouse War, respectively. This conflict is also referred to as the Yakima Native American War of 1855.

Treaties between the United States and several Indian tribes in the Washington Territory resulted in reluctant tribal recognition of U.S. sovereignty over a vast amount of land in the Washington Territory. The tribes, in return for this recognition, were to receive half of the fish in the territory in perpetuity, awards of money and provisions, and reserved lands where white settlement would be prohibited.

While governor Isaac Stevens had guaranteed the inviolability of Native American territory following tribal accession to the treaties, he lacked the legal authority to enforce it pending ratification of the agreements by the United States Senate. Meanwhile, the widely-publicized discovery of gold in Yakama territory prompted an influx of unruly prospectors who traveled, unchecked, across the newly defined tribal lands, to the growing consternation of Indian leaders. In 1855 two of these prospectors were killed by Qualchin, the nephew of Kamiakin, after it was discovered they'd raped a Yakama woman.

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