Treaty of Medicine Creek

The Treaty of Medicine Creek was an 1854 treaty between the United States, and nine tribes and bands of Indians, occupying the
lands lying around the head of Puget Sound, Washington, and the adjacent inlets. The tribes listed on the Treaty of Medicine Creek
are as follows: Nisqually, Puyallup, Steilacoom, Squawskin (Squaxin Island), S'Homamish, Stehchass, T'Peeksin, Squi-aitl, and Sa-
heh-wamish". The treaty was signed on December 26, 1854, by Isaac I. Stevens, governor and superintendent of Indian Affairs of the
territory at the time of the signing, along with the chiefs, head-men and delegates of the stated tribes. For the purpose of the treaty,
these representatives who signed the treaty were stated to have been, "regarded as one nation, on behalf of said tribes and bands, and
duly authorized by them."[1]

Contents
1 Background
2 Site
3 Treaty
4 See also
5 References

Background
Isaac Stevens was the territorial governor of Washington State in 1854. He was directly responsible for all Native American affairs
including making treaties to acquire land for the United States Government. In December 1854 Stevens called a meeting of the
Native American tribes who lived in the South Puget Sound area. He focused on these tribes in particular because he stated they were
good laborers, excellent fisherman, and because they were also controlling trade in the area.[2] The major tribes included the
Puyallup, the Muckleshoot and the Nisqually. The Cowlitz Tribe were not included as these people had taken up farms and been
absorbed into the white community in 1893.[3] Isaac Stevens elected to hire George Gibbs to be his second in command to negotiate
the treaty, as Gibbs had traveled west in 1849 and was familiar with the native peoples.[4] The Native Americans were told the treaty
would help them by paying them for some of the land. It ended up taking prime farmland and relocating the tribes onto rough
reservations.[5] Chief Leschi of the Nisqually tribe protested the treaty. He and his people marched to Olympia to have their voices
heard but Isaac Stevens ordered them away. When the natives refused to leave, Isaac Stevens would eventually call martial law and -
after the beginning of the Puget Sound War in 1855 - initiate a search for Chief Leschi in order to arrest him. Chief Leschi was
eventually captured and put on trial. The first jury couldnt come to a verdict, so Isaac Stevens had the trial done a second time. This
time Leschi was found guilty.[6] Chief Leschi was hanged on February 19, 1858.

Site
The site of the treaty was near theNisqually River delta, along a creek then known asShe-nah-num by the natives, or Medicine Creek
by white settlers. The creek is now known asMcAllister Creek.

The signing took place in Thurston County, Washington, on December 26, 1854,[7] in a grove of Douglas fir trees well known to the
tribes. The single tree remaining on the site from the original grove at the Nisqually River Delta was a de facto monument, known as
Treaty Tree. On June 14, 1922 (Flag Day) the Sacajawea Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a bronze tablet
on the Medicine Creek Treaty Tree bearing the following inscription: "Site of the Medicine Creek rTeaty between Governor Isaac I. I.
Stevens and Puget Sound Indians 1854 Marked by Sacajawea Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution 1922." [8] Though not
recognized as an official historical location, the site was avoided during the creation ofInterstate 5 in the 1960s.
A monument was erected on the hillside overlooking the creek, pointing at the site in 1976, by students of nearby Timberline High
School. The monument is in the shape of a peace sign when viewed from the air, contains an old Navy buoy which represents the
spherical thinking of Native Americans, a rusty railroad rail representing the white mans rusted straight thinking and a time capsule
to be opened in 2076.

The DAR Plaque disappeared from the site during the 1970s. The large Treaty Tree, which had been languishing for decades, was
formally recognized as diseased by 1975, and by 1979 was dead. Seeds from Treaty Tree that were gathered in the 1970s were re-
planted in a circle 40 feet from it. The dead snag was left standing and still visible from the Interstate until 2007, finally falling during
severe windstorms.[9]

In June 2013, a new plaque was dedicated in front of a tree growing from a seedling of the last Treaty Tree. The off-spring tree is
growing on the bluff of the Thurston County Courthouse campus. Representatives of local treaty tribes joined Thurston County
Commissioners for the ceremony. The plaque is inscribed as follows: "The treaty of Medicine Creek was signed December 26, 1854
by representatives of the United States Government and the leaders of the Nisqually, Puyallup and Squaxin Island Indian Tribes. The
treaty established the future formal relationship between the U. S. and the Indian Nations. The Treaty Tree was located in the
Nisqually delta where the 1854 treaty was signed. The treaty tree was lost in the winter of 2007, but several seedlings were
propagated, including this offspring. These living trees stand testimony to the ongoing responsibilities agreed to among the
signatories." The Thurston County Historic Commission was instrumental in working with the Tribes and Thurston County in
.[10][11]
arranging for the plaque and the dedication ceremony

Treaty
The treaty granted 2.24 million acres (9,060;km) of land to the United States in exchange for establishment of three reservations,
cash payments over a period of twenty years, and recognition of traditional native fishing and hunting rights.[7] The exact nature of
those rights was disputed until the Boldt Decision in 1974. Since that decision, the tribes named in the treaty have had a recognized
right to half of the fish caught on traditional lands throughout south Puget Sound, while before it, state and territorial governments
accorded the tribes far less.

The original Nisqually reservation was in rocky terrain and unacceptable to the Nisqually, who were a riverside fishing people. They
went to war in 1855.[12] An unfortunate outcome of a year of skirmishes that followed was that Nisqually Chief Leschi was hanged
for murder.[13] (He was exonerated in 2004.)

See also
Puget Sound War
Battle of Seattle

References
1. "Treaty of Medicine Creek, 1854"(http://washingtonhistoryonline.org/treatytrail/treaties/pdf/medicine-creek-treaty
.pdf)
(PDF). WashingtonHistoryOnline.org. Retrieved February 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
2. Kluger, Richard (2011). The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek. New York: Random House. p. 75.ISBN 978-0-307-
26889-1.
3. Brown, John (1986). Civilization of the American Indian. Norman: University of Oklahoma. p. 111.
4. Blee, Lisa (2013). Framing Chief Leschi Narratives and the Politics of Historical Justice
. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press. p. 38.
5. Harmon, Alexandra (2014).Power of Promises: Rethinking Indian Treaties in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle:
University of Washington Press. p. 102.ISBN 978-0-295-98839-9.
6. Meeker, Ezra (1905). Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound : The T
ragedy of Leschi. Seattle: Lowman & Hanford
Stationery and Print. p. 423.
 7. HistoryLink.org, Native American tribal leaders and Territorial Gov. Stevens sign treaty at Medicine Creek on
December 26, 1854 (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5254)
8. Daughters of the American Revolution Volume I.I September, 1922 No. 9 Pages 615 and 616
9. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2003567902_treatytree12m.html
10. Thurston County Connection Newsletter June 2013
11. http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/countyconnection/tcc-newsletter.asp?mod=2&aid=79
12. HistoryLink.org, Nisquallys and Klickitats battle Territorial Volunteers in Pierce County beginning October 27, 1855(h
ttp://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8149)
13. HistoryLink.org, Nisqually Chief Leschi is hanged on February 19, 1858(http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Display
Page=output.cfm&file_id=5145)

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