The Siege at the Cascades
A veteran recalls the harrowing 1856 skirmish at the Columbia River portage, where soldiers and settlers faced a desperate battle against hostile forces.
About the last of May in 1856, a well-equipped command of soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Steptoe broke camp at The Dalles, Oregon, and took up their line of march for the Walla Walla Valley. The expedition consisted of six companies of the Ninth United States Infantry, one battery of the Third Artillery, and one troop of the First Dragoons. The first day's march was short, but an officer from Fort Dalles rode in with orders to return immediately, as Indians from the Yakima country and those located at the Cascades had murdered the white settlers. The troops rushed to the steamboat Mary Ann. Upon arrival at the Cascades, they found the whites barricaded in Bradford's store, while the forest-lined bank was filled with hostiles. The soldiers sprang ashore, formed a line, and used howitzers to rake the woods. The skirmishers, commanded by Lieutenant Phil Sheridan, drove the hostiles from the vicinity. After the fighting, several blockhouses were erected, and the region was finally secured.
“None who glean their information from the floating paragraph concerning these matters can experience the thrill of honor felt by those who immediately witnessed them.”
This account reflects the violent era of the Indian Wars in the Pacific Northwest, a period that fundamentally reshaped the landscape of the Columbia River Gorge. Today, the site of the Cascades is largely submerged by the Bonneville Dam reservoir, turning a place of intense historical conflict into a quiet stretch of the river.
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