DO THEM NO HARM

Every story of the old west in this series is true. While many western stories have the ring of campfire tall tales you will find none here. Every story is based on fact whether about a mighty warrior humbled by flickering lights or a sea serpent said to live in a desert lake.

            Or this one about a long ago council fire. Strange people had come to the land of the Nez Perce Indians.  Some Nez Perce were suspicious; others envious, especially of the strangers’ many guns. Kill them, one warrior demanded, and take their guns. Then even the ferocious Blackfeet would fear the Nez Perce. But an old woman rose. And what she said changed the course of American history.    

                                                     DO THEM NO HARM                                                                      

                                                                        by

                                                        Michael A. McKeever

            Nemesio Salcedo, Commandant General of the Internal Provinces of New Spain was deeply concerned by the spy’s note. It was 1805 and like many in the Spanish southwest he was concerned about the ambitious new country called the United States. It was only a matter of time he felt before they began moving into Spanish territory. And now here was proof provided by the Spanish spy in Washington D.C. code named “Agent 13.”

The Americans had launched a western military expedition led by two officers named Lewis and Clark. Already they were part way across the continent on the northern edge of land claimed by Spain. Ironically Spain’s Washington spy wasn’t even Spanish; he was an American. His name was James Wilkinson and he was the commanding general of the United States Army!

Four Spanish patrols were dispatched to look for the upstart Yankees. Had they been able to find and stop Lewis and Clark American history might have been very different. Maybe even a war between the U.S. and Spain. But we’ll never know. Despite the Spanish soldiers best efforts the frontier was simply too vast. In fact Lewis and Clark had no idea the Spanish were looking for them.

      

            The Nez Perce Indians were no less startled to find Lewis and Clark crossing their tribal lands. The faces of the warriors and chiefs were grim in the flickering light of the council fire. True, the white men were tired from their long journey and small in number. Nonetheless there were more of them than the Nez Perce had ever seen before.

             And they were wealthy in trade goods, these travelers from a faraway place. They had fine metal kettles and soft cloth and sharp-bladed hatchets. And guns. They had many guns.

            Kill the strangers, a warrior argued, and take their guns. Some agreed with him, with so many guns the Nez Perce could better protect themselves from the fierce Blackfeet to the east. After all, the Blackfeet had many guns, the Nez Perce only two or three. And those were battered and old, almost useless, even for hunting.

            Kill the strangers and take their guns and the Nez Perce would become the most powerful tribe in the Pacific Northwest. Even the Blackfeet would fear them.

            But others shook their heads no. The white men had asked only to pass through in peace. To kill them would be wrong. The argument continued while the council fire burned late into the night.

            Finally an old woman spoke. She had seen much in her long life and now she had something important to say. In a quavering voice she reminded the Nez Perce that years earlier she had been kidnapped in a Blackfoot raid. She became a slave, passed from tribe to tribe until a white trader bought her for his own. At first she had been afraid of the pale-skinned people. However they treated her with kindness and her fear faded.

            Still, she missed her people and eventually, somehow, found her way home. There she was given a new name, Watkuweis, which in the Nez Perce tongue means “Returned from a Far Place.”

            “These are like the white people who were good to me and helped me,” she said. “Do them no harm.”

            So it was that instead of killing the travelers the Nez Perce helped them on their way. And so the white men continued on their epic trek from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. And again Lewis and Clark never knew how close their journey had come to an end.

            A woman traveled with them, an Indian, Sacagawea of the Shoshoni. She contributed greatly to the expedition and is well remembered. Her image has appeared on stamps and coins and there are numerous statues of her.

            Of Watkuweis, who saved many lives and helped set the course of American history, there are no statues. But her words at that long-ago council still echo in the memories of her people, the Nez Perce. That is her monument.