The Unpopular Appointment of B. F. Kendall
Public outcry swells across Washington Territory against the controversial selection of a local lawyer as the new Indian Superintendent.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Remonstrances, earnest and deep, come to us from all sections of the Territory against the continuance in office of B. F. Kendall, Esq., as Indian Agent of this Territory. The feeling against such an appointment is deep-seated, and although some weeks have elapsed since its announcement, it is on the increase instead of being abated. Many seem yet to doubt its possibility, and anxiously inquire how such a result could have been brought about. An intelligent and active Republican in Pacific county writes: 'We learn that B. F. Kendall of Olympia, a Democrat, is appointed Indian Superintendent. What fatality possesses our friends at Washington, or what can be the measure of our sins that we must be subjected to such mortification?' A gentleman at Port Townsend notes that 'trusty men of our party, citizens of unblemished character, are set aside to give place to eleventh-hour interlopers.' From Walla Walla, a correspondent writes: 'This is a foul wrong on Republicanism... Mr. Kendall was opposed to the treaties of 1855, and at Portland and Vancouver I have heard him strongly censure our people and that war, and justify its opposers. Can we rely on him now to represent the dignity of the Government?'
“What fatality possesses our friends at Washington, or what can be the measure of our sins that we must be subjected to such mortification?”
This 1861 political firestorm highlights the deep tension between local political patronage and the high-stakes federal administration of Indigenous treaty relations during the Civil War era. The controversy over Kendall—detested by many for his political opportunism and perceived unreliability—reflects the volatility of territorial politics when national crises coincided with local dispossession.
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