Governor's Message of the Territory of Washington, Delivered in Joint Session of the Council and House of Representatives of Washington Territory, Wednesday, December 3d, 1856 by [Washington Territory]. Stevens, Isaac I - 1856

Olympia: Geo. B. Goudy, Public Printer, 1856. Good.. 23pp. Stitched, as issued. A few small chips and closed tears at edges. Lower portion of final leaf torn away, not affecting text. Some dust soiling; light foxing and tanning. A very rare and early example of Washington territorial printing, comprising a fiery address by the energetic Governor of the territory, Isaac Stevens. Dramatic developments had indeed occurred in Washington during the preceding year, including the escalation of the Yakima War, which precipitated the Battle of Seattle, the so-called Cascades Massacre, and the declaration of martial law in Pierce County, where Stevens suspected settlers of aiding Indian resistance, and the resulting power struggle between Stevens and the territorial judiciary. Stevens recounts events, and his hand in subduing, at least temporarily, the threat of violence from native tribes angered by encroachment on lands promised to them. Many of Stevens' actions, such as the imprisonment of recalcitrant judges and his eventual self-pardon for a conviction for contempt, not to mention his vigorous and uncompromising prosecution of the Indian conflicts, conferred upon him an outsized and controversial reputation in the early history of the Washington Territory. "A document of great importance, being Stevens' own account of the campaign against the Blackfoot and Nez Perce Indians; the Battle of Grand Rond and the Indian Council at Walla Walla. Other sections of the Message deal with the Governor's Pacific Railroad explorations; routes; Hudson's Bay Company; mineral developments; roads, and other essential internal improvements" - Eberstadt. One of five hundred copies ordered printed for the use of the state House of Representatives. We locate just five copies, at the University of Tulsa, Washington State, the Washington State Library, the Huntington, and Yale; only one copy appears in auction records for the last fifty years. Eberstadt 104:305. Sabin 101910A.