Olympia Residents Organize Volunteer Force Amid Bellingham Bay Fears
Following reports of violence between Indigenous tribes and settlers at Bellingham Bay, local citizens gather at the Olympia courthouse to form a militia and demand government action.
At a meeting of the citizens of Olympia, held at the courthouse on Wednesday evening, June 14, 1854, for the purpose of taking into consideration the necessity of raising a company of volunteers, by regular and elective in Indian numbers, A. J. Cain was called to the chair, and A. J. Moses appointed secretary. The object of the meeting proceeded to observe that news had been received that a tribe of Indians had committed violence upon the white settlers in the vicinity of Bellingham Bay, and that the acting executive had stated he had no funds or means to act. Colonel I. N. Ebey was called upon to state what had been heard from him from the seat of the disturbances; he replied that information had been received that a house had been destroyed at Bellingham Bay and that some white men had been killed by them. John Lane, Esq., moved that a committee be appointed to represent the views of the city at the capital, which motion was carried. The chairman appointed Lane, John R. Jackson, A. J. Cain, and Col. I. N. Ebey to draft and present the memorial and resolutions. It was further resolved that the people stand ready to defend the territory's honor.
“It was further resolved that the people stand ready to defend the territory's honor.”
This meeting captures the volatility of the mid-1850s, when settlers felt both isolated and emboldened to act as a state-like power before official infrastructure existed. Today’s Olympia reflects a vastly different relationship with local power and Indigenous sovereignty, yet the instinct to form informal civic groups in times of crisis remains a recurring thread in the town's history.
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