Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site History

Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site preserves a significant site in the running battle that occurred on May 17, 1858, between allied Indigenous warriors under the leadership of Chief Kamiakin (Yakama/ Palús) and US Army soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Steptoe. The battle was a significant victory for the Indigenous warriors in their drive to protect their way of life against the incursion of American colonists into their homelands.

Indigenous Lands

Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site lies within the traditional territories of Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.

Most of the Indigenous people of today’s eastern Washington have a tradition of annual subsistence rounds to harvest and preserve seasonally available foods and resources from a wide variety of locations and environments. Many would frequent the same places, building bonds of kinship through shared experiences, trade and marriages.

Representatives of numerous Indigenous people with traditional territories in the region negotiated and signed treaties with Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens at Walla Walla on June 9, 1855. The treaties would not be ratified by the US Senate until 1859, and in the interim, the benefits promised by the treaties were not available to the tribes that had signed. Most Indigenous people chose to continue their seasonal rounds, rather than be confined to reservations as stipulated in the treaties.

The discovery of gold in the Colville area during this period resulted in numerous Euro-American prospectors entering the as-yet-unceded Indigenous land, sometimes coming into conflict with residents. A government agent sent to investigate the incidents, Andrew Bolon, was killed by Indigenous warriors.

In response, the US Army repeatedly sent soldiers into the area to investigate incidents and attempt to apprehend those involved. Such expeditions were met with resistance from Indigenous warriors, and largely didn’t change the status quo.

Battle of Tohotonimme (Pine Creek)

One of those expeditions was led by Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Steptoe, departing Fort Walla Walla on May 6, 1858, to investigate reported deaths of miners travelling to Colville. Steptoe was a respected military officer who, like many regular army officers, felt that colonist settlements should be kept out of the Columbia Plateau Indigenous lands.

Just two months before, the US Army had received authorization to build a military road through the area to connect Montana’s Fort Benton with Fort Walla Walla. Indigenous leaders saw this as an existential threat to their traditional life, and many joined an alliance under the leadership of Chief Kamiakin and others sworn to resist the project.

Steptoe’s correspondence shows that he expected the mission to be a diplomatic interaction with all parties. Accordingly, the seven officers, 152 mounted soldiers and 30 civilians were lightly armed, most carrying the Springfield Model 1847 Musketoon, a weapon not well regarded for its range or accuracy. The only ammunition brought was the 40 rounds each soldier carried. Testimony taken after their return suggested that reserve ammunition was removed from the baggage and replaced with extra rations of whiskey.

Moving quickly with their fresh horses and relatively light baggage, they passed by today’s Steptoe Butte a bit more than a week after starting, coming to a campsite 14 miles to the northwest of the butte, above today’s Pine Creek, or Tohotonimme, on May 15.  As they progressed onward the next day, they became aware that hundreds of mounted Indigenous warriors were observing their party, and they were told that no one would assist them in crossing the Spokane River to get to Fort Colville.

Steptoe gave an order to halt for the day, planning to begin a return to Fort Walla Walla early the next morning. On May 17, 1858, the soldiers began their return journey. A running battle soon began, as the allied warriors hazed the retreating column. During ten hours of combat several Army officers and soldiers, as well as several of the Indigenous warriors, were killed or sustained serious injuries. In the afternoon, the Army unit reached a hill overlooking a bend in Pine Creek from the east, the site of today’s Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site.

The soldiers took a circular position about 250 yards in diameter, built barricades, and dug firing positions. The Indigenous warriors charged the position twice but did not dislodge the soldiers from their position before nightfall brought a cease fire. Taking stock of his situation, with less than three rounds remaining for each soldier, Steptoe gave orders to retreat under the cover of darkness and a drizzling rainfall. Light colored horses were covered with blankets and noisy equipment was muffled. The soldiers succeeded in passing away from the surrounding warriors.

Descendants of the Indigenous warriors have suggested that Chief Kamiakin and other leaders allowed the soldiers to pass, as the retreat proved that the allied tribes had won a clear victory. Steptoe’s decision to withdraw likely saved the lives of most of the officers and enlisted men under his command.

Retribution for the victory was swift and overwhelming. Colonel George Wright was ordered to return to the area and “attack All the hostile Indians you meet, with vigor; make their punishment severe and persevere until the submission of all is complete.”

Armed with new, highly accurate rifles, Colonel Wright’s force of more than 700 decisively defeated the allied tribes at the Battle of Spokane Plains on September 5, 1858.

In the days following the battle, Colonel Wright ordered the destruction of the Indigenous people’s food stores, nearly 1,000 horses, and their dwellings. The atrocities culminated in the summary execution of Qualchan, a Yakama leader, on September 24, 1858.

Before Wright’s return to Fort Walla Walla, he ordered a detachment under the command of Brevet Major W. N. Grier to go to the site of the Battle of Tohotonimme to retrieve the bodies of the soldiers who had died there plus two cannon that had been buried at the site before their retreat. Two soldiers who had been at the battle, Lieutenant David Gregg and Assistant Surgeon John Randolph, accompanied the group returning to the site. A topographer and artist with the detachment provided additional documentation of the battle site.

Ultimately, the Indigenous lands in the area were relinquished by an executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant on November 8, 1873, which established the Spokane Indian Reservation. Members of the Spokane Tribes who did not relocate to the reservation were forced to move by an agreement on March 18, 1887, whereby “the bands of the Spokane Indians in council deeded to the United States all right, title, and claim which they had, or ever would have, to any and all lands lying outside the reservation.”

Land Disposal

Government surveys were completed in 1874 and the land in today’s Steptoe Battlefield State Park Heritage Site was transferred into private ownership by Peter Proff in 1888 under terms of the Homestead Act, which allowed a settler to claim 160 acres of public domain land after “proving up” the claim by residing on the property for five years, building a dwelling and making agricultural developments.

Making a Park

On May 10, 1907, the Inland Empire Historical Society met in Spokane to discuss the provision of a memorial at the site where the allied Indigenous warriors with Chief Kamiakin had pinned Steptoe and his troops near Pine Creek before their nighttime retreat.

Four US Army veterans who had accompanied Steptoe or Wright accompanied members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) organization as they surveyed the site on June 14, 1907.  On February 5, 1910, the DAR conveyed three acres to Whitman County to hold in trust for the monument. Funds were raised to install a 25-foot obelisk at the site, and it was dedicated at a ceremony on June 15, 1914, attended by nearly 7,000 people, including three US Army veterans who had participated in the Battle of Tohotonimme, Washington Governor Ernest Lister, 50 members of the DAR and 500 soldiers from Fort George Wright.

Some information included in the text on the monument is now understood to be incorrect. There is no record of Indigenous warriors who had participated in the fight attending the dedication ceremony.

In 1950, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission acquired the three acres surrounding the monument from Whitman County for addition to the state park system.