Joseph Meek - Oregon Country

Oregon Country

In Oregon Country, Meek took to wearing a bright red sash in imitation of the French Canadian trappers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. As the French trappers enjoyed good relations with most of the Indian tribes in the area, Meek seems to have hoped that the Indians would take him for a Québécois and leave him alone. In 1841, Meek settled in the Tualatin Valley, northwest of Oregon City, and entered into the political life of the area. At meetings in Champoeg, Oregon called to form a provisional government, his was one of the foremost voices on the side of the American settlers. In 1843, when the provisional government was formed, Meek was appointed sheriff, and he was elected to the legislature in 1846 and 1847.

When, in the late fall of 1847, some Cayuse and Umatilla Indians killed Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 12 others at the Whitman Mission, Among the dead, was Meek’s daughter, Helen Mar Meek, age 10, who died in captivity. Meek traveled to Washington, D.C. with the news of the killings (known as the Whitman massacre) and the ensuing Cayuse War. Leaving in early January, Meek and George W. Ebbert made the difficult winter trip, arriving in Saint Joseph, Missouri on May 11 and proceeding to Washington by steamboat and then by rail.

While in Washington, where he met with President James K. Polk (whose wife Sarah Childress Polk, was Meek's cousin), he argued forcefully for making the Oregon Country a federal territory. The following spring, Joseph Lane was appointed Territorial Governor and Meek was made Territorial Federal Marshal. Meek served as Territorial Marshal for five years. In this position in 1850, he supervised the execution of five Cayuse Indians found guilty of the Whitman massacre. He organized the Oregon Volunteers and led them in the Yakima Indian War and was promoted to the rank of major for his service.