A Clash Over Religion and Power at Simcoe
Superintendent Kendall's decision to fire staff at the Simcoe Agency sparks a furious debate over the separation of church and state in Indian affairs.
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.
Our new Superintendent of Indian Affairs has commenced his administration in a very surprising, if not arbitrary manner. At the Simcoe Agency, which I believe was the first one he visited, he discharged from the service six or seven of those employed there as teachers and others, and told the Agent, Mr. Bancroft, that he would not keep them, to hire or discharge a man at the agency, Mr. Kendall intending to make every appointment himself. The school at the Simcoe Agency was placed under the charge of the Rev. Jas. H. Wilbur, one of the oldest and most respected ministers of the M.E. Church, in this country, as the superintendent of instruction. The evident intention of Mr. Kendall in making the discharges was to break up the religious influences that were being used there among the Indians. He made no charges against them, no inquiry as to whether they had faithfully performed their duties, no examination of the school, gave them no opportunity of explanation or defense. When Mr. Wilbur asked if he might be permitted to stay on the reservation without expense to the department, he was answered that he could not be permitted to stay, as things would not harmonize if he remained. It becomes the duty of all who love the institutions of Christianity to earnestly remonstrate against it.
“It seems to me this is verily being required to make bricks without straw.”
This 1861 account highlights the volatile history of the Yakima Reservation (Simcoe), where federal authority often collided with religious missions. The struggle over who holds the power to appoint staff and define the 'civilizing' curriculum remains a central, unresolved legacy in the history of Indigenous relations in Washington State.
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