THE CHILCOTIN UPRISING: A STUDY OF INDIAN-WHITE RELATIONS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITISH COLUMBIA by EDWARD SLEIGH HEWLETT B.A,, University of British Columbia, 1964 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA March, 1972 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of History The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ill ABSTRACT This thesis deals with a disturbance which broke out in April of 1864 when a group of ChJLlcotin Indians massacred seventeen^workmen on a trail being built from Bute Inlet to the interior of British Columbia, The main endeavours of this thesis are three-fold. It seeks to provide an accurate account of the main events: the killings and the para-military expeditions which resulted from them. It attempts to establish as far as possible the causes of the massacres. Finally, it examines the attitudes of whites towards the Indians as revealed in the actions they took and the views they expressed in connection with the uprising and the resulting expeditions to the Chilcotin territory. Published and unpublished primary source material has given a detailed and verifiable picture of the events of the Chilcotin Uprising, and of various background events. It has revealed, besides, the verbal reactions of many whites and even of Indians who were involved. To seek the underlying causes of the uprising and to get a clear view of white attitudes it has been necessary to probe both ChUcotln and European backgrounds. The studies of others have helped to shed light on Chilcotin society prior to the time of the uprising, on European thought as it developed in the Nineteenth Century, and on the general development of relationships between the white man and the Indian in British Columbia up to the period with which this thesis deals. iii-a The causes, of the uprising I have summarized under five main headings. The "chief motivating factor" was the rash threat "by a white man to bring sickness on the Indians. The "predisposing causes" were events and circumstances which had no direct connection with the Chile©tins' decision: to kill the whites but which must have helped to shape their adverse attitudes towards the whites. The "aggravating grievances" were a number of occurrences directly connected Tjiwith the trail-building enterprise which may be regarded as grievances from the Ohilcotins1 viewpoint, aggravating the harm done by the threat made against the Ohilcotins. The "material incentive" of plunder played its part in encouraging the uprising. Finally,;there were a number of "facilitating factors" which made the uprising possible—factors making for the initial weakness of the whites and the strength of the Chllcotins., The attitudes of the whites towards the Indians as re• vealed during the period of the Chll cot in. Uprising are dif• ficult to summarize without distortion. But five main points have been made in this thesisj• (1) The whites at this time displayed, in varying forms, a universal confidence in the Inherent superiority of European civilization, (2) Only to a limited extent can we identify particular attitudes expressed towards the Indians with particular classes or groups of colonial, society. (3) Prejudice and questionings regarding white actions towards the Indian both emerged as a result of the uprising. There is evidence that there were many whites in Nineteenth Century British Columbia who not only used ill-b Individual judgement in making generalizations about the Indian but were willing to "test their stereotypes against reality" when they had dealings with particular Indians or Indian groups. (4) There was no ..really general fear for personal safety;; among the Europeans during the Chilcotln Uprising. (5) As a general rule we may say that those whom circumstances cast in the role of adversaries of the Ohil• cotins came to adopt increasingly hostile attitudes towards the Indians. Those who were less directly involved or who were cast in roles necessitating some understanding of the Ohilcotins tended to adopt less hostile attitudes towards them. Iii-C ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my indebtedness to the staff of the Provincial Archives, particularly to Mr. George Newell, whose suggestions first led me to sources on the Chilcotin Uprising. I also owe much to the staff of the Special Collections Division of the library of the University of British Columbia. My thanks is due also to Dr. M. Ormsby and Mr. K. Ralston of the History Department of the University of British Columbia for benefit of their time spent and experienced advice given. Especially I wish to thank my advisor, Dr. R. V. Kubicek, who made me aware of the possibilities of a study of Indian-white relationships and white attitudes to Indians. His constructive criticism, encourage• ment, and stimulus to thought during the time I have spent writing this thesis have been much appreciated. iv PREFACE This thesis deals with a disturbance which broke out in April of 1864 when a group of Chilcotin Indians massacred seventeen workmen on a trail being built from Bute Inlet to the interior of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Uprising at the time it occurred startled and shocked practically the whole white population of colonial British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Overwhelmingly outnumbered by the Indians, the whites were bound to take seriously any uprising which might threaten to become an Indian war such as the Americans to the south had experienced. The further killings which followed the initial massacre and the adventures and rumoured adventures of the resulting expeditions to the Chilcotin territory gained much public notice and for many months took up most of the attention of Governor Seymour and the top officials of the infant colony of British Columbia. As time went on and it became evident that the uprising was unlikely to involve more of the native population than a portion of the Chilcotin tribe, the white colonists became increasingly concerned at the, to them, enormous cost of the extensive operations in Chilcotin territory. Today, though neither its threat to the European populace nor its effect on the colonial budget seem in retrospect to be important, the Chilcotin Uprising is of significance for other reasons. The story of the Chilcotin Uprising is the best-documented account of conflict between Indians and whites in British Columbia. Accounts published in the Nineteenth Century together with a large amount of V unpublished material give a detailed and verifiable picture of the events of the uprising. We also have detailed narratives of various background events, and of the verbal reactions of the whites and even of Indians who were involved. Variously referred to in the accounts of the time as a series of massacres, as an insurrection, and as a war, the Chilcotin Uprising was the type of reaction to the inroads of Europeans which certain modern historians would prefer to label as a "resistance," I have chosen "uprising" as a term I consider adequately descriptive yet not reflecting any particular theory of social action. The main endeavours of this thesis are three-fold. It seeks to provide an accurate account of the main events: the killings and the para-military expeditions which resulted from them. This has seemed to be of considerable importance, since no narrative of the uprising exists which tells all the events as accurately as available documents enable one to do today. A second thing this thesis attempts is to establish as far as is possible the causes of the massacres which occurred. The immediate cause was discovered by the enquiries of Judge Begbie after the surrender of a number of the Chilcotins involved in the uprising. The underlying causes, though not so obvious at the time, throw a good deal of light on the reaction of one group of native people to the Europeans whom they encountered. The third main task of this thesis has been to examine the attitudes of whites towards the Indians as revealed in the actions they took and the views they expressed in connection with the uprising and the resulting expeditions to the Chil• cotin territory. vi To seek the underlying causes of the uprising and to get a clear view of white attitudes it has been necessary to probe both Chilcotin and European backgrounds. It has only been possible to do this, of course, because others have carried out studies—historical, anthropological, and sociological in nature—which have shed light on Chilcotin society prior to the time of the massacres, on European thought as it developed in the Nineteenth Century, and on the general development of relationships between white man and Indian in British Columbia up to the period with which this thesis deals. The early historiography of the Chilcotin Uprising I have discussed in the bibliographical essay which accompanies this thesis. Seymour's despatches to Cardwell contain the most accurate account of all the major events of the Uprising. All other contemporary accounts of the Uprising are only partial. Lundin Brown's is the most complete and accurate published account of the nineteenth century, but is not to be completely relied on.