On the morning of January 26, 1856, after months of raids and clashes with federal troops in southern King County and in Thurston County, Native Americans attack Seattle. Previously warned by friendly...
In early March 1856, Nisqually, Klickitat, and Yakama warriors battle U.S. Army soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Silas Casey (1807-1882) and Washington Territorial Volunteers under Major Gilmore Hays...
On March 26, 1856, warriors of the Yakama, Klickitat, and Cascades tribes attack Americans at the Cascades of the Columbia, killing 14 civilians and three soldiers. The settlers are besieged overnight...
In April 1856, during the Indian wars, Captain Hamilton J. C. Maxon and his citizen militia come upon a Nisqually encampment near where the Ohop Creek and the Mashel River join with the Nisqually Rive...
On April 10, 1856, Yakamas and Klickitats under Kamiakin (ca. 1800-1877) ambush Oregon volunteers under Colonel Thomas Cornelius along Satus Creek near what will be the boundary between Klickitat and ...
On May 12, 1856, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) uses martial law and militia officers to eject Judge Edward M. Lander (1816-1907) from his court. This is Washington's first civil right...
On July 17, 1856, Washington Territorial Volunteers under Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin F. Shaw attack a camp of Cayuse Indians in the Grande Ronde Valley in Oregon Territory. Shaw had been assigned to ...
In August 1856, U.S. Army Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) establishes Fort Simcoe at the foot of the Simcoe Mountains about 30 miles west of what will become Toppenish, in the future Yakima County. ...
On August 26, 1856, U.S. Army Captain George Pickett (1825-1875) arrives on Bellingham Bay from Fort Steilacoom to construct a military installation. Pickett's job is to build a fort that will deter t...
On September 11, 1856, Governor Isaac Stevens (1819-1862) convenes the Second Walla Walla Council with Native American tribes to end hostilities and to extinguish their title to their lands. The tribe...
On November 11, 1856, two soldiers from the recently established Fort Bellingham steal more than $160 worth of clothes from the Warbass sutlery (the fort's store) located next to the fort. The two men...
In the early-morning hours of November 19, 1856, Nisqually Chief Quiemuth (d. 1856), a half-brother of Chief Leschi (1808-1858), is murdered in Olympia. Both Leschi and Quiemuth had fought white settl...
On December 8, 1856, five Sisters of Providence, Roman Catholic nuns, arrive at Fort Vancouver, Washington. Sister Joseph (formerly Esther Pariseau) (1823-1902) is their leader. She will later be know...
On December 11, 1856, William Cadmer allegedly commits mutiny and assault on the Lizzie Jarvis, a cargo ship, in Port Townsend. The vessel was christened in New Granada (northern Latin America) and do...
In 1857, a census of King County residents is taken. The population consists of 152 persons of European American descent including 86 adult males, 23 females age 18 and over, and 43 children of whom 1...
On January 20, 1857, United States President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) signs an executive order that formally establishes the Muckleshoot Reservation. The reservation will be expanded when President...
On January 23, 1857, the Washington Territorial Legislature passes an act incorporating the City of Vancouver, a Clark County settlement of just over 918 acres located on the north bank of the Columbi...
On June 27, 1857, American and British commissioners of the International Boundary Commission meet on board the British ship HMS Satellite, anchored in Esquimalt Harbor on the southeast coast of Briti...
On July 13, 1857, the recently organized Slaughter County is renamed Kitsap County to honor Chief Kitsap, a Suquamish military leader. The county seat is at Port Madison and will remain there until 18...
On August 11, 1857, a group of North Coast Indians -- likely members of the Kake tribe of Tlingits who were led by a woman warrior -- behead Col. Isaac N. Ebey (1818-1857) at his home, "The Cabins," n...
In September 1857, construction begins on the Whatcom Trail to connect Bellingham to Everson and the international boundary with Canada. The track will follow an existing Indian trail called the Nook-...
On December 24, 1857, Michael O'Rourke, a soldier from Fort Bellingham, witnesses Edward French aiding deserting soldiers Solomon Pinkenhoff, Matthew Doyle, and others with intent to aid them in their...
On December 28, 1857, the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island begins operation. Built between 1856 and 1857 on a 20-acre bean-shaped rock at the northwestern-most point of the continental Unite...
On February 19, 1858, Nisqually Chief Leschi (1808-1858) is hanged on a gallows in Steilacoom for the "murder" of the American soldier Colonel A. Benton Moses. Chief Leschi's attorneys argued firstly ...