1855
De Smet travels to Kentucky and Ohio, visits the colleges of Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati, and also spends time in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York and Washington.
Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens is putting heavy pressure on the Indian tribes in the Northwest to give up large parts of their land and start living on reservations. He makes treaties with them on his own, treaties that will later be hotly disputed. To protect the interests of the Indians, the Jesuits of the Oregon Mission participate in that consultation. Antonio Ravalli advises the Indians to accept the whites' proposals, knowing that otherwise they will be forcibly removed.
General William Harney takes revenge on the Sioux Indians who are increasingly violating the treaty of Laramie. In mid-September, he surprises a group of Brulé Sioux Indians near Ash Hollow. Little Thunder's camp along the Blue Water Creek is completely wiped out.
1856
When the Yakima Indians fully realize the meaning of the treaties they made with Stevens, they revolt en masse. Antonio Ravalli is able to persuade his Indians in the Northwest not to join the conflict.
The University of St. Louis now has more than 300 students. In September, De Smet will travel to Europe.
1857
In July, De Smet returns to the United States with seven recruits.
In October, the U.S. experience an economic depression. In St. Louis, a number of banks fail, construction activity comes to a standstill, many factories close and the ships lie idle. The people who lose their jobs become aggressive. It's time for a scapegoat. To divert attention from the financial debacle and from the growing disagreement between North and South about whether or not to abolish slavery (abolitionism), the latent aversion to the nonconformist way of life of the Mormons is being fueled. To check the success of the Mormons, the Americans want to annex their free state of Deseret. In October, 3,000 soldiers escort a U.S. appointed governor for the planned territory to Salt Lake City. Mormon leader Brigham Young speaks of an outright provocation. A Mormon army halts the invasion by making it impossible to supply the American Expeditionary Force. They raid the convoy, take all the horses, mules, and cattle and set fire to the wagons. General Harney is tasked with fresh troops to relieve the beleaguered invasion force, protect the new governor and occupy Salt Lake City. Harney is a hardened fighter. He has dealt with the Indians in Florida, Texas and New Mexico and two years ago he dealt a heavy blow to the Brulé Sioux in upper Missouri. Because three-quarters of his army consists of Catholics, he needs a Catholic chaplain.
On December 14, Captain John Mullan, on his way to Washington, visits De Smet in St. Louis. He has a sad message. The superior of St. Mary in Kansas, Father Duerinck (a cousin of De Smet), drowned in the Missouri River on his way to St. Louis.
1858
De Smet braves snow and ice to visit the St. Mary mission. There is bad news again in April. On April 10, his political ally, Thomas Hart Benton, passed away in Washington D.C.
Beckx recognizes that merging mission work in California and Oregon is a blunder. It is difficult for Father Congiato to form a picture of the situation in the Rockies from Santa Clara. Oregon will now have a separate board.
When gold is discovered in the northwest, the whites do not keep the agreements made earlier. Whipped up by the gold rush, they illegally enter the land of the Indians (including the Colville reservation). The Indians are furious and this time the clerics are unable to restrain them.
In May, Harney asks De Smet to accompany him as a chaplain on the military expedition to Deseret, Utah. De Smet has apparently come to dislike the Mormons. The situation in St. Louis has meanwhile evolved in such a way that De Smet can free himself a little more. He accepts Harney's invitation, as it allows him to get close to the Indians in the Northwest. When the job is done, he may be able to revisit his missions from Utah and perhaps even establish a new mission among the Blackfoot. The provincial Murphy gives De Smet permission to serve as chaplain. On May 15, De Smet is officially appointed by the Secretary of War. During the trip with the Twilight to Fort Leavenworth, De Smet meets fur trader Henry A. Boller. Around June 15, De Smet leaves Fort Leavenworth in Kansas with Harney's troops to the west. De Smet has a tent to take confessions and celebrate Mass along the way. Along the Platte, De Smet speaks with passing Pawnee, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. De Smet notes that many farms and even a few villages have been built along the Platte. The legendary road to the west, the Oregon Trail, is littered with broken-down wagons, skeletons, torn clothing, and all sorts of discarded household items. Three weeks later and 500 miles away, at the point where the railway crosses the South Platte River, word reaches Harney that the Mormons have ceased all resistance and that the new governor has already been installed. Harney is ordered to turn back and so the expedition has no choice but to turn around. Back in St. Louis, De Smet offers his resignation, but there are riots in the northwest and Harney is ordered to restore peace there too. And so De Smet will remain in service for the time being.
For 15 years, the Indians of the Northwest have adapted quite well. Many Indians have become successful farmers. The harvest is good, there are windmills and new fields are put into use every year. However, the peace is fragile. The gold rush has lured a multitude of adventurers to the west. There is a lot of scum among the immigrants from the U.S., Mexico, Peru, Chile, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and Europe. In California live al lot of runaway deserters, thieves and murderers. Through northern California, the climate of lawlessness also reaches the northwestern areas (now Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana). There the Indians are an easy target for these white villains. The Natives are driven further and further into the mountains. Sometimes the settlers pay the Indians for their land, horses and pelts, but usually the idea prevails that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. Just as in California, there is organized genocide in the Northwest, so in Oregon and Washington the Indians who are in the way are shamelessly massacred. Money is given for scalping. Both children and elderly people are targets. Their food and other resources are poisoned. Smallpox contaminated clothing is distributed. Often people pay with fire water (alcohol of poor quality). In 10 years time, the Indian population will drop from 100,000 to 30,000. Gold miners occupy the lands of the Cayuse, the Walla Walla, the Nez Percé, the Yakima, and the Spokane. The so-called reductions are also coming under pressure. The St. Paul mission near Fort Colville, founded in 1845 by Father De Vos for the Kettle, has been irretrievably lost. The Kettle sell their land to the whites and flee into booze. At the end of 1858, Vercruysse and Ravalli finally give up and move with a few faithful to the mission of the Coeur d'Alêne. Father Joset's Sacred Heart is also in trouble. For the Cayuse, Nez Percé, Yakima and Paloose enough is enough. This time they're going to resist. In the spring of 1858, Colonel Edward Steptoe arrives in the Willamette Valley to forcefully restore peace around Fort Colville. On his way to the fort, he passes through the land of the peace-loving Coeur d'Alêne Indians. Despite Father Joset's protest, Steptoe challenges the Coeur d'Alêne. They accept the challenge and kill two officers plus a number of soldiers. The Americans retreat and leave behind their luggage and a cannon. After this incident, the Steptoe disaster, the fire hits the pan. The Indians think they are invincible and the U.S. is at war with the Indians of the Northwest.
On September 20, Harney's army departs from New York for Panama with the SS Star of the West. On September 29, they travel by train in 3 hours from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On October 2, they leave for California by ship with 1,300 prospectors. Upon their arrival in San Francisco on October 16, Harney learns that the war in Washington is all but over. Two confrontations, one in August and the other in September, were enough for Colonel George Wright to bring the rebellious Spokane and Coeur d'Alêne Indians to their knees. De Smet stays at the headquarters of the Jesuits in California and thus gets to know the fast-growing city of San Francisco. On October 20, the expeditionary force steams on to the mouth of the Columbia. On October 23, they sail into the turbulent mouth of the mighty stream and a day later they arrive in the now military Fort Vancouver. After their beating, the Indians want peace at all costs. The insurgents are willing to hand over the Indians who have blood on their hands, plus a number of hostages. Wright wasted no time. When Harney arrives, Wright has already hanged 11 insurgent leaders and is holding 33 more hostages at Fort Walla Walla. De Smet proposes to go to the area of the Indians as a messenger, spend the winter with them and report in the spring. The Coeur d'Alêne live 400 miles from Fort Vancouver. On October 29, De Smet leaves for Fort Walla Walla with an interpreter. On November 1, he reaches Dalles City. There he continues his journey in an army ambulance. He passes the mouths of the Deschutes, John Day and Umatilla rivers and on November 10th he reaches Fort Walla Walla. There De Smet meets Father Congiato and Colonel Wright with his Indian hostages. De Smet proposes to leave the hostages under his care. Wright opposes that proposal, but the commander of Fort Walla Walla sees the reasonableness of the proposal and lets them go. The liberated hostages not only serve as guides, they also ensure that De Smet will be more than welcome among the rebellious tribes. In three days the group travels from Fort Walla Walla to the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alêne. At the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alêne River, they reach the Sacred Heart mission on November 21. Here Fathers Gregory Gazzoli, Louis Vercruysse and Brother François Huybrechts take care of several Coeur d'Alêne families. For De Smet it is a moving moment, after twelve years he is finally back in the mission from which he expected so much! What he sees does not disappoint him. The fathers have done their utmost. Between the houses is a beautiful church. Between the fields and meadows are barns and there is even a water mill. This must not be lost! He is determined to do everything he can to put the Indians back on the right path. De Smet hibernates in the Sacred Heart mission where at Christmas he celebrates midnight mass. De Smet writes a letter to Harney proposing to travel to Fort Vancouver with a series of chiefs to talk about the final peace.
1859
After Sacred Heart, De Smet also wants to visit the other missions. In February he wants to go to the Kalispels, the Pend d'Oreille and also to his first mission, St. Mary, in the valley of the Bitterroot River, where many Flathead families still reside. He also wants to go to St. Ignatius, a mission he has never seen and was founded five years earlier in Mission Valley. Mission Valley is a few miles north of St. Mary. It is still early in the season and it will be a difficult journey by canoe on the Clark River. After 22 days he has only covered the first 160 kilometers. In St. Ignatius everything goes on as usual. Father Adriaan Hoecken has ensured that the 2,000 converted Indians have stayed out of the conflict. In Mission Valley, De Smet awaits the good news that Harney wants to accept his proposal. The Kootenai also come to visit De Smet. Many Flathead Indians still live in the vicinity of St. Mary and the elders still mourn the departure of Mengarini, whom they have searched everywhere in vain after his departure. In April, De Smet convinces the chiefs of the Pend d'Oreille, the Kalispels, the Flathead, the Coeur d'Alêne, the Yakima and the Spokane (also the intransigent rebel Kamiakin) to follow him to Harney.
On April 16, De Smet leaves for Fort Vancouver with 9 chiefs. It will be a difficult journey that will take more than a month. The snow is two meters thick in some places, the water in most rivers is very high and the vast forests are dotted with fallen trees blocking the passage. With great difficulty they can get out of the snowy mountain regions to arrive at Fort Walla Walla on May 13th. After 5 days of rest, De Smet travels alone to Fort Vancouver. In Fort Walla-Walla, the agent with the Flathead Indians, John Owen, behaves rather haughtily towards the remaining Indians and one night Kamiakin dissapears. When Harney learns this, he is furious at Owen's stupid attitude. In the meantime, the chiefs have also arrived at Fort Vancouver, so that the consultations can start on May 28. Everything is going according to plan. The Indians stay there for three days. Harney promises them a homeland between the Rockies, the Bitterroot Mountains and the Kootenai River. The reservation would be run by the Jesuits and by the U.S. government. De Smet apparently has General Harney's confidence. He follows the wise advice of the missionary. But the administration in Washington thinks otherwise. As usual, the governor of the Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, made separate arrangements with the Umatilla, Yakima, Nez Percés and Coeur d'Alêne Indians. Stevens' agreements will be ratified by the War Department.
De Smet is given permission by the military authorities to travel back overland. On June 15, he leaves Fort Vancouver with the Indian negotiators. He follows the Columbia upstream, crossing the Spokane desert to travel up the north arm of the Coeur d'Alêne River to the Sacred Heart mission. From there he goes with Father Congiato to St. Ignatius in Mission Valley, following a new but difficult path. On July 7, they reach the Sacred Heart mission at the Coeur d'Alênes. They move over the Bitterroot Mountains to St. Ignatius at the Flathead. On July 22 they leave with a couple of Indian guides for the last 320 kilometers to Fort Benton. On July 26, they cross the continental divide, following the Sun River to its mouth near the Great Falls of the Missouri. There they meet Father Hoecken and Brother Magri. On July 29, Congiato and De Smet reach Fort Benton, where Hoecken established the St. Peter mission for the Blackfoot.
De Smet intended to ride to St. Louis on horseback, but the arduous mountain journeys have completely exhausted the poor animals. There is no other option than to rent a manned rowing boat. De Smet leaves with three rowers plus a pilot. The Missouri makes its way through the endless prairie. Here and there the shore is rocky or forested. When it gets dark they camp along the banks of the Missouri, but usually they prefer an island or a sandbar in the river itself, for danger is never far away. The trip goes fast, they sail down the Missouri making 80 to 130 kilometers a day. Fortunately, the hungry wolves, the aggressive grizzly bears and the treacherous cougars stay away. Along the way, they encounter Crow and other Indians. On August 18, De Smet visits the Assiniboin at Fort Union. On August 22, the Hidatsa and Mandan at Fort Berthold. There he is a guest of Henry Boller. On August 24, he visits the Arikara at Fort Clark. On September 1 he is a guest of the Sioux near Fort Pierre and on September 8 he meets with Colonel Munroe at Fort Randall. On September 9 near Omaha City they encountered the first steamer. It's the Thom E. Tudd. De Smet buys himself a place to cover the remaining 1,000 kilometers to St. Louis in more comfortable and, above all, protected conditions. De Smet arrives in St. Louis on 23 September. He visits Dr. Moses Linton and records his experiences in the doctor's diary. In 2 years, De Smet has covered 24,000 kilometers.
Father Joset restarts the mission at Fort Colville. On the Sun River, Father Hoecken establishes a new mission for the Blackfoot : St.-Peter.