Washingtonians are generally familiar with the name Leschi, since there are many public places named after the Nisqually leader. However, few citizens are aware that the largest written record of Leschi's existence can be found in the Washington Territory Reports, a registry of early decisions of the Territorial Supreme Court. Just a few pages into the first volume of this register is a legal matter, Leschi v. Washington Territory, 1. Wash. Terr. 13, (1857). These pages document the conviction of Leschi for first degree murder for the killing of A. B. Moses.

From these documents we can discern that Leschi was accused of killing Abram Benton Moses, a member of the volunteer militia. We know that he was tried twice-the first trial resulted in a hung jury, the second in a conviction-and sentenced to death by hanging. If we are willing to plow through piles of handwritten documents, we can read the testimony against Leschi, the decision of the jury, and the death warrant.

But what of the man before he became the focus of the territorial legal system? How did the man Leschi become the almost mythological figure Leschi?

As with all history, there is more than one side to the tale of Leschi-the stories told by those who admired him, and the stories told by those who hated him. Somewhere between these two positions lies the truth about Leschi, but 150 years later the best we can do is report as many of the various stories about Leschi as have survived.

Nisqually historian Cecelia Svinth Carpenter has written that the Nisqually believed Leschi to be destined for greatness. She writes of him:

Leschi's parents were a Nisqually father and a Yakima Mother. .His mixed heritage provided Leschi with a tall agile body, strong heavy shoulders and a face more slender than others in his village. Most distinguishing and most remembered by those who were to describe him later were his alert, penetrating eyes that seemed to size up a situation immediately. As he grew to adulthood he became known as a man of great intelligence possessing superb oratorical abilities. He developed the wisdom of a judge and was often called upon to settle disagreements among his tribesmen. (Carpenter:1998, 7)

Leschi's father was a wealthy man who owned many horses and was admired by his people. Leschi and his brother Quiemuth also enjoyed the high esteem of the Nisqually tribe. Leschi spoke both the languages of his mother and his father, but never learned to speak English. He did speak a little of the Chinook jargon used for trade. (Carpenter: 1998, 8-9)

Leschi was an expert horseman and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company as a horse tender on the Yelm Prairie, southeast of Olympia, prior to the arrival of the American settlers. (Carpenter:: 2002, 169) Carpenter also reports that Dr. William F. Tolmie, Chief Factor for the Hudson's Bay Company, Fort Nisqually, who arrived in the territory in 1843, learned the Nisqually language, and was friendly with Leschi. (Carpenter: 1998, 16)

Leschi's youngest wife, Mary, was interviewed in the early 20th century by Ezra Meeker. During that interview she described Leschi:

...[Leschi] always dressed well and combed his hair nice and was almost as white as a Boston man; and then he was rich and had lots of horses...(Leschi 2)

READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW WITH MARY LESCHI

Leschi first appeared in written history in the laconic jottings of a clerk's entry in Fort Nisqually's journal of occurrences for July 1843. A Hawaiian in the post's employment was injured by an Indian, and Leschi and his brother, Quiemuth, stepped in to help bring the Indian to justice. We catch other glimpses of him in the years that followed: skinning a long-tailed cougar that was killed on a settler's farm, buying clothes at Fort Nisqually, selling meat to settlers, visiting Olympia and Steilacoom, riding in a buggy with William Tolmie....

Because tribal life was ordinarily peaceful, the Nisqually did not select a chief except in times of great need. There was no central leader until 1854, when territorial Governor Isaac Stevens appointed Quiemuth and Leschi as chiefs for the purposes of signing the Medicine Creek treaty. Because they were admired by the tribe, both men were readily accepted as leaders. (Carpenter: 1998, 12)

The Nisqually allege that Leschi refused to sign the Medicine Creek treaty of December 26, 1854 because the reservation selected by Stevens did not allow for the sustenance of his people. They claim that the X mark by Leschi's name was forged. (Carpenter: 1998, 22) Although this allegation was also made by some white settlers, most notably Ezra Meeker, most contemporary scholars, including historian Kent Richards, maintain there is no evidence in support of forgery. (Richards, 416)

As Stevens proceeded east to hold councils with the Plateau tribes, Leschi was also traveling beyond the mountains. He observed that hostility was running high towards the settlers pushing their way onto Indian land. News of the tension spread westward, and in early 1855, Stevens received approval from the legislature to call up a volunteer militia. (Carpenter: 1998, 25-26)

In early October, 1855, a member of the militia, and former Leschi friend, Lt. James McAllister convinced Acting Governor Charles Mason that Leschi was instigating unrest with the Indians. In response, Mason dispatch McAllister's militia unit, the Eaton's Rangers, commanded by Captain Charles Eaton, to take Leschi into custody and deliver him to Olympia. (Newell 25)

The news about the advance of Eaton's Rangers reached Leschi out on the prairie where he and Quiemuth were plowing in preparation for the fall planting. Mounting their fastest horses, Leschi and Quiemuth fled, leaving the plowshare in the partially finished furrow. (Newell 25)

The two brothers rode northeast towards the White River, intending to join the Yakamas in their uprising, but fell in with a group of Indians wishing to fight in the Puget Sound. This group grew to number about forty, and though the stories vary, one account claims the group ambushed the pursuing Eaton's Rangers at Connell's Prairie, killing James McAllister and Michael Connell. (Eckrom 35)

On October 31, 1855, a seven-man vanguard of militia commanded by Captain Maurice Maloney, returning home from the Yakima area through the Naches Trail passed through an Indian encampment. Later, over a mile down the trail they were ambushed. A volunteer colonel, A.B. Moses, was shot and killed. A witness, Antonio Rabbeson, claimed Leschi fired the shot that killed Moses. This allegation would later become Leschi's undoing.

Testimony from the court case tells us that Leschi met with Indian Agent John Swan at Fox Island on January 5, 1856 to sue for peace with the whites. News of the meeting reached Captain Keyes at Fort Steilacoom later that evening. He requested the use of the steamship Beaver to reach Fox Island, but the ship arrived unarmed. Without arms, the soldiers had little choice but to wait on board as Swan rowed out repeatedly with messages from Leschi. The only boat available to the soldiers would hold only five men-too few men to handle the Indians on shore with Leschi. Keyes, who had hoped to capture Leschi and put and end to the war, returned empty handed. (Eckrom 76-79)

Some sources believe that Leschi joined forces with Kitsap, another Nisqually leader, and the Yakima Indians to mount an attack on Seattle on January 26, 1856. Although the fighting was brief, and Chief Seattle did not participate, it ironically became known as the "Battle of Seattle." The settlers, who believed the Puget Sound Indians to be mild-mannered and easily controlled, were shocked by such treachery. Leschi would be mercilessly penalized for his involvement. (Richards 259)

During the summer of 1856, Leschi, along with chiefs Nelson and Kitsap, met with Colonel Wright, Commander of the U. S. Army East of the Cascades in the Kittitas Valley. Although he offered no official pardon to the chiefs, he gave them full access to his camp and made no effort to imprison them. (Richards 295)

Governor Stevens, however, felt no lenience towards Leschi. He offered a $500 reward for the capture of Leschi, Nelson, Kitsap and Quiemuth, dead or alive. (Richards 308)

Leschi was growing very tired of the war. In October 1856, he showed up at Fort Nisqually to talk to his friend Dr. Tolmie. He was dressed in rags and starving, trying to purchase some ammunition for hunting. He plaintively offered to cut off his own right hand as a gesture of peace. Dr. Tolmie sadly advised him to continue evading the authorities until the situation calmed. (Eckrom 153-154)

Leschi was finally captured not by the militia or the Army, but by the treacherous actions of his own nephew, Sluggia. An unidentified Olympia newspaper is said to have recounted the January 13, 1856 incident as follows:

"Leschi with very few followers, had for some time been secludedly encamped on the upper Nisqually, and on Thursday, the 13th inst. [November 13 1856] per arrangement, two Indians, Sluggy and E-li-kuk-ah, having ascertained his whereabouts, visited the camp. After remaining a short time, they decoyed him off some distance, to the place where they had secured their horses, when they suddenly pounced upon, bound him and placed him on one of the horses, carried him that night a captive to Steilacoom, where he was delivered over to S. S. Ford Jr., who for some time previous had in charge the making of arrangements to bring about his apprehension. Next day, the 14th, Mr. Ford arrived here [Olympia] with the prisoner and surrendered him to Gov. Stevens." (Carpenter:2002, 65)

For the betrayal of his uncle, Sluggia did not receive the $500, but a reward of 50 blankets. Sluggia became shunned as the "Judas Iscariot of his people." (Eckrom 154) About 10 months later in October 1857, another Nisqually leader, Wa he lut, also known as Yelm Jim, hunted Sluggia down, shot him, and rolled his body over the bluff near where Leschi would later be buried. (Meeker 210) As fate would have it, Leschi would outlive his betrayer by five months.

Quiemuth surrendered voluntarily a few days after Leschi's capture. He was brought to Governor Stevens office in Olympia at about 2:00 on the morning of November 18, 1856. He was told to sleep in the office until daybreak, but daybreak never came for Quiemuth. He was fatally stabbed before dawn. An arrest was made in the incident, but no one was willing to testify against the accused settler. The charges were dropped. (Richards 309)

Leschi was brought to trial just a few days later at Steilacoom in Pierce County for the murder of Abram Bentone Moses. It lasted just one day, cost $38.65, and featured 18 witnesses. The star witness was Antonio Rabbeson, who claimed he had seen Leschi at the scene of alleged murder. The jury was given instructions that included the consideration of the killing as an act of war. (Eckrom 154)

The jury deliberated for five hours, but a unanimous decision-required in all criminal case-could not be reached. Jurors Ezra Meeker and William Kincaid could not be persuaded to vote for a conviction. Judge Chenoweth had no choice but to declare a mistrial. (Eckrom 154-155)

The second trial of Leschi began on March 20, 1857 in Olympia. Antonio Rabbeson was again the featured witness, placing Leschi at the scene of crime. Other witnesses appeared as well-some of whom gave testimony favorable to Leschi. This time the jury was not instructed to consider whether or not the killing as an act of war. Following deliberation, the verdict was reached. Leschi was found guilty of first degree murder in the killing of A. B. Moses, and was sentenced to death. The sentencing document states:

...the defendant [will] be taken to Steilacoom in Pierce County on Wednesday the tenth day of June in the year 1857 and there on said day between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 4 o'clock in the afternoon be hung by the neck until he be dead.

Immediately after the second trial was over, Lt. August Kautz, who was assigned to oversee Leschi's confinement at Fort Steilacoom, and who had developed a strong sympathy for Leschi's cause, began surveying the area around the scene of the crime. He drew a rough map, detailing the point at which the volunteers and Leschi met, carefully measuring the distances traveled by each to the scene of the shooting. He determined that the route taken by the volunteers was significantly shorter than the route that would have been taken by Leschi. In addition, Leschi's route was through rough terrain and swampland, making travel extremely difficult. The volunteers, on the other hand, were traversing a well-traveled road. His conclusion was that it would have been impossible for Leschi to have arrived ahead of the volunteers and stage an ambush.

Kautz's map, which was the single piece of physical evidence offered in Leschi's case, was presented to the trial judge, along with Lt. Kautz's affidavit, as one of the grounds in support of the motion for new trial. (Kunsch 23) The motion for new trial was denied, and the case was appealed to the Territorial Supreme Court, resulting in a postponement of Leschi's scheduled execution.

At the conclusion of the appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction. The case was remanded to the trial court, and Leschi was once again before the court for sentencing. He made a lengthy statement in his own behalf at this time:

I do not see that there is any use of saying anything. My attorney has said all he could for me.

I do not know anything about your laws. I have supposed that the killing of armed men in war time was not murder; if it was, the soldiers who killed Indians were guilty of murder, too. The Indians did not keep in order like the soldiers, and, therefore, could not fight in bodies like them, but had to resort to ambush and seek the cover of trees, logs and everything that would hide them from the bullets. This was their mode of fighting, and they knew no other way.

Dr. Tolmie and Quatlith [Colonel Benjamin Shaw], the red-headed chief, warned me against allowing my anger to get the best of my good sense, as I could not gain anything by going to war with the United States, but would be beaten and humbled, and would have to hide like a wild beast in the end. I did not take this good advice, but nursed my anger until it became a furious passion, which led me like a false Ta-man-u-ous [an Indian spirit].

I went to war because I believed that the Indians had been wronged by the white men, and did everything in my power to beat the Boston soldier, but for lack of numbers, supplies and ammunition I have failed. I deny that I had any part in killing Miles and Moses. I heard that a company of soldiers were coming out of Steilacoom, and determined to lay in ambush for it; but did not expect to catch anyone coming from the other way. I did not see Miles or Moses before or after they were dead, but was told by the Indians that they had been killed. As God sees me, this is the truth. (Meeker 427-428)

The date of Leschi's execution was rescheduled for January 22, 1858, but on that day a most extraordinary thing happened. Kelly Kunsch, Reference Librarian at the Seattle University Law School who has done an exhaustive study of the Leschi trials and appeal, writes of that event:

The death warrant commanded the Sheriff of Pierce County: ". . . on that day between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 2 o'clock in the afternoon . . . you hang the said Leschi by the neck upon a gallows erected for that purpose until he be dead." However, according to a report in the Pioneer and Democrat, on that morning the Pierce County Sheriff George Williams and his deputy were arrested under a warrant issued by United States Commissioner J. M. Bachelder.

George Williams, the Pierce County Sheriff was arrested on the charge of selling alcohol to an Indian on the day of Leschi's execution.

According to the report, the sheriff and deputy remained in custody until after 2 o'clock when the warrant expired. The report continues: "It is the fixed conviction of two truthful and reliable men, who witnessed this affair, that Williams remained under arrest willingly, and did not desire to be released. In consequence of this most extraordinary and unprecedented course of conduct, the Indian Leschi was not executed in obedience to the sentence of the law."

The Sheriff was accused of participating in a plot to prevent Leschi from being hanged.

The report then names Leschi's lawyer, Frank Clark, as the instigator of the plot, having signed the affidavit that supported the arrest warrant. There is a letter from Sheriff Williams in the Supreme Court Records explaining his version of the event. The Pioneer and Democrat reacted with outrage. The Pierce County press responded with two issues of Truth Teller devoted to defending the actions of the Pierce County and U.S. Army officials attacked in the Pioneer and Democrat. The court, in the meantime, issued a writ to the Pierce County Sheriff demanding the delivery of Leschi to the Court on February 4.

Frank Clark, Leschi's defense attorney, was accused in the press of being the instigator of the plot. The Truth Teller was published by Ann Anonymous-generally considered to be a pseudonym for Lt. August Kautz, Leschi's guard at Fort Steilacoom. Both Frank Clark and George Williams wrote rebuttals in the Truth Teller, defending themselves against the accusations.

Public opinion was inflamed by the antics of Leschi's supporters. Mass meetings were held, and numerous citizens signed a petition to the governor against pardoning Leschi. By this time, Stevens had completed his term and had been elected Washington Territorial representative to Congress. The new governor, Fayette McMullen, rejected the pleas for Leschi's pardon. All avenues of escape had been closed for Leschi.

On February 19, 1858, Leschi mounted the gallows with a steady gait, and no one could detect the slightest hint of fear in his demeanor. Leschi told the priest who administered the last rites that he forgave everyone except Antonio Rabbeson. Even the hangman said that he believed he was hanging an innocent man. (Eckrom 162-163)

A stone monument was erected many years later near the site of Leschi's death inscribed:

Carpenter, Cecelia Svinth. The Nisqually, My People. Tacoma: Tahoma Research, 2002

Carpenter, Cecelia Svinth. Leschi, Last Chief of the Nisquallies. Tacoma: Tahoma Research, 1998.

Leschi, Mary, in an interview with Ezra Meeker. Undated. Collection of the Washington State Historical Society.

Richards, Kent. Isaac I. Stevens: Young Man in a Hurry. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1993.

Newell, Gordon R. Rogues, Buffoons & Statesmen. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1975.

Eckrom, J. A. Remembered Drums: A History of the Puget Sound Indian War. Walla Walla, WA: Pioneer Press Books, 1989.

Meeker, Ezra. The Tragedy of Leschi. Everett, WA: The Printers, 1980.

Kunsch, Kelly. The Trials of Leschi, Nisqually Chief. Unpublished article. Spring 2004.