USS DECATUR vs. The Indians
27-28 OCTOBER 1855
USS DECATUR vs. The Indians
The Oregon Treaty with England in 1846 deeded that portion of British Columbia south of the 49th parallel to the United States–the area that would become our States of Washington and Oregon. Settlers who had been trickling into the area for decades, began appearing in greater numbers. Those who came by sea settled in the fertile valleys of the rivers draining into Puget Sound. Here, in a scenario that would be repeated many times in the American West, the intrusion of the white man stirred some Native Americans to violence. In fact, it was just such escalating tensions that sent the sloop-of-war DECATUR, 16, to investigate the Northwest Territory in 1855. DECATUR was then patrolling under CAPT Guert Gansevoort with the US Navy’s Pacific Squadron. She entered the Straits of San Juan de Fuca on July 19th, but finding things quiet after several weeks of surveying, she turned toward San Francisco for re-provisioning.
In her absence, on September 27th, hostile Indians attacked and burned the cabin of a settler named A.L. Porter in the White River Valley near Tacoma. Though Porter escaped by sleeping in the nearby woods, he and his frightened neighbors hurried north to Seattle, in whose harbor DECATUR shortly dropped anchor.
Friendly Indians began filtering into that town bearing warning of an all-out attack in the very near future. Preparations commenced immediately. Food and water enough for a lengthy siege were stocked in the blockhouses protecting the town. Gansevoort took the women and children aboard DECATUR and to aide in the town’s defense, landed a Dahlgren howitzer. This was positioned behind the henhouse of a Mr. Plummer (near modern-day Fifth and Jackson Streets) to command the approaches from a hill overlooking the town.
On the night of October 27th the Indians struck more cabins further inland. War whoops could be heard from the hills above Seattle, and musket shots from the trees peppered the town. Gansevoort landed Marines and bluejackets to bolster the townsmen, then loosed DECATUR’s guns at the hill overlooking town. When Indians next appeared at the edge of the timber, crewmen serving the howitzer opened with langrage that proved more than that for which the attackers had bargained. The staunch defense put up by the townsmen and the sailors and Marines of DECATUR turned back the first wave. Heavy fighting continued through the next day, finally ending when the outgunned Indians parleyed for peace. DECATUR lingered until a formal treaty was signed in January. Except for the 2nd Seminole War two decades earlier, the incident represents one of the rare encounters of our Navy with hostile Indians.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 3 NOV 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Brandt, John H. “The Navy as an Indian Fighter”. Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, Vol 56 (8), August 1930, p. 691.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, p. 249.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 56.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: A decade earlier, in the 1844 Presidential election, the Democratic Party adopted the slogan, “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!” reflecting the desire in some circles that the northern border of the Oregon Territory be 540 40′. Though this more northern boundary was never adopted, to the northern plains Indians the 49th parallel came to be known as the “Medicine Line,” as US cavalry would not pursue beyond it.
The Dahlgren howitzer mentioned above is the same type of gun as that displayed in the central courtyard of Naval Medical Center San Diego. Made of brass, it was lighter and more easily wrestled about than conventional iron guns of pre-Civil War era. Dahlgren designed the gun to be mounted on a carriage for shipboard use, or mounted on a limber (two-wheeled carriage) for use ashore. In addition, most launches and small boats were constructed to accept a Dahlgren howitzer in a bow-mounted position. The weapon was commonly used as an anti-personnel device, being loaded with grapeshot or canister. Langrage is ordnance usually fired to shred sails consisting often of scrap iron, nails, and other debris loaded into a case.
CAPT Gansevoort went on to serve in the Civil War Union Navy, commanding the triple-turreted ironclad USS Roanoke. Unfortunately, Roanoke proved top-heavy in rough seas, and her hull was too weak to stand the firing of her guns. Gansevoort retired in 1867 and died 18 months later. He is remembered with the WWII Benson-class destroyer GANSEVOORT (DD-608).
