Cayuse Tribe

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-Cayuse girl with-her-proudly-decked-horse.jpg

Tribal Headquarters

The Umatilla Reservation was established in 1855 for the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Indians. They joined together as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation in 1949.

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
PO Box 638
73239 Confederated Way
Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Phone: 1-541-276-3165
FAX: 1-541-276-3095

• Official web site of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, which includes the Cayuse Tribe.

Brief Timeline

1836: Marcus Whitman and Henry Spalding and their wives founded a Presbyterian mission - Waiilatpu

1847-50: Cayuse War, one cause was the spread of measles; the Whitman's were killed.

1853: The tribe settled with the Umatilla and Walla Walla on a reservation in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.

• 1855 June 9,  Treaty at Camp Stevens, with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Etc.,

1855-59: the Cayuse supported the Yakama and Bannock in the Yakama War

1878: the Cayuse supported the Bannock and Yakama in the Bannock War

1877:

Ancestral homes along the Columbia River, Grande Ronde, Umatilla and Wallawalla Rivers in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington.

Reservations

Umatilla Reservation

The tribe was under the jurisdiction of the following Superintendencies

Oregon Superintendency

Washington Superintendency

Additional References to the History of the Tribe and/or Bands

A good history of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation is included on the tribal web site.

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Cayuse tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America.

Robert H. Ruby. The Cayuse Indians, Imperial Tribesmen of Old Oregon. Norman, OK. University of Oklahoma Press, 1975. FHL Book 970.3 C318r

Clifford Earl Trafzer. Yakima, Palouse, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla and Wanapum Indians: an Historical Bibliography. FHL Book 970.1 T676y

Records

The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:

• Allotment records
• Annuity rolls
• Census records
• Correspondence
• Health records
• Reports
• School census and records
• Vital records

Agency Records

Correspondence and Census

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-1880 Correspondence M234 RG 75 Rolls Roll Number	FHl Film Number	Post-1885 Census M595 RG 75 Rolls Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Cayuse	Oregon and Washington Sup., 1842-80	Washington D.C.	607-30, 907-20	-	616-20	-

Treaties

• June 9, 1855, referred to in Yakima treaty
• 1855 June 9, at Camp Stevens, with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Etc.,

Important Web Sites

• Official web site of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, which includes the Cayuse Tribe.
• Wikipedia article about the Cayuse Indians.
• Constitution and By-Laws for the Cayuse Indians

References

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)