The Night Seattle Held the Line at the Stockade

Saturday marked the thirty-ninth anniversary of the battle of Seattle, an event vitally connected with the development of the entire Puget Sound country. The attack was begun on the morning of January 26, 1856. Survivors of the little frontier town annually recall the memorable event. A brave defense was made, and the settlement was saved from massacre through the active exertions of the pioneers themselves and of the officers and crew of the United States sloop Decatur, then stationed in the harbor.

The siege of Seattle was one of the results of the general uprising of the Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest during 1855-56, and was preceded, on October 21, by the White River massacre. When the startling news of hostilities was brought to the settlement, the people determined to prepare for defense. Two blockhouses were built large enough to hold the entire population. One was erected at what is now the corner of Main and South Second streets; the other at the foot of Cherry street, on the present location of the Starr-Boyd block. The two houses were united with a stockade which encircled them and extended on both sides westward toward the bay.

As had been anticipated, the attack was made from the land side. The Native fighters, A. A. Denny relates, had congregated during the night and under cover of timber taken position along the face of the hill in order to make the attack as soon as the settlement was fairly awake; but before any hostile demonstration word of danger was brought by friendly Indians.

The news was immediately sent to Capt. Danforth of the Decatur, who ordered a howitzer fired in the direction of the attackers. The shot was instantly answered by a discharge of musketry all along the woods in the rear of the town, demonstrating that the settlement had been surrounded and was in reality in a state of siege. A number of settlers were sleeping outside the stockade, but fortunately all reached the blockhouses in safety. All day long a desultory battle was kept up, but about nightfall the Native forces gave up the attack, going toward Puyallup and burning every house and barn on their way.

During the battle two white men were killed. One was a young man named William O. Holgate, who lost his life in a peculiar manner at the door of the Cherry street blockhouse. It is related that while two pioneers stood at the embrasure watching a Native sharpshooter as he tried to pick them off, Holgate stepped up and put his head between the shoulders of the two men, and at that very instant a bullet struck him in the corner of the eye. He sank down and expired in a few moments. The other victim was Robert Wilson, who was killed at the southern blockhouse. Several houses were plundered, among them that of Mr. Denny, and two were burned to the ground. One was owned by William N. Bell, and the other, whose owner is not now known, was located near the site of the gas works on Jackson street. A number of narrow escapes are recorded. In his "History of Seattle," Frederic J. Grant speaks of Lieut. Drake, who, while seated behind a large stump, went through the experience of hearing a bullet whistle through his coat collar close to his throat. He was not injured.

The number of Native fighters killed or wounded could never be ascertained. It is thought that several were killed and carried off by their comrades, but some of those who were in the fight positively asserted afterward that not one was even hit. They acknowledged, however, that an aged Duwamish chief narrowly escaped, a bullet from a white man's rifle cutting off a lock of his shaggy white hair.

The Native forces, as they came down Lake Washington on their way to the battle, landed at what is now Leschi Park. Upon the departure of the Native forces from Seattle, Capt. Danforth received a boastful message from Chief Leschi that in another month he would return and destroy the settlement. In view of this threat it was thought best to erect more substantial fortifications, and additional barricades were built with a cargo of lumber contributed by the late Henry L. Yesler. These consisted of two walls five feet apart, filled with earth and made bullet-proof, and were erected along the space between the town and the wooded hills. Another blockhouse commanding the town and vicinity was also built and armed with cannon and a six-pounder. At the same time a company of volunteers was raised, of which Edward Lander, chief justice of the territory, was chosen captain, and A. A. Denny first lieutenant.

An interesting relic of the battle was discovered in November 1891 in the yard of Gilbert W. Hopwood, corner of Seventh and Seneca streets, in the shape of a shell evidently one of the chain shot fired by the Decatur. This relic was unearthed two feet below the surface.