History has documented in great detail the events surrounding the Treaties of Isaac Stevens and the Indian Wars that followed them. Consequently, we know quite a bit about the conflicts between the Indians, who wished only to keep their homelands, and the settlers, who wanted the same land for agricultural purposes. We can read volumes about the issues of discipline and training that regularly erupted between Army officers and members of the Volunteer Militia.

The making of history is not constrained to only the events of an era, or the terrain of a specific place, however. History is often made — in both time and space — by individuals, acting out of love or hate, greed or altruism, bravery or cowardice. The deeds of sometimes rather unlikely individuals are often remembered and recorded for future generations.

In this section we seek to introduce you to some of the stories, the real, human stories, that have become a part of Washington's history. Here you will meet the first Territorial Governor, whose hasty ambition may have contributed heartily to the resentment of the Indians; Army officers, many of whom found themselves at odds with the ambitions of the Governor; the Indian Judas Iscariot who betrayed his chief; the avenging angel who sought retribution for his people. Each individual, each life described on these pages, played a prominent role in the early Washington Territorial history, and each deserves to have his or her story told.