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Cayuse
The Cayuse Tribe land area
Total population
The Cayuse Tribe has no descendants since its interbreeding with the Umatilla Tribe.
Regions with significant populations
Washington, Oregon
Languages
isolate (unclassified)
Religions
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Umatilla, Nez Perce

The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The reservation is located near Pendleton, Oregon near the Blue Mountains.

The Cayuse call themselves the Tetawken, which means "we, the people". The Cayuse were originally located in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington state and lived adjacent to territory covered by the Nez Perce. Like the Plains tribes, the Cayuse placed a high premium on warfare and were skilled horsemen, often using their horse-riding prowess to intimidate other tribes. The Cayuse moved to the Umatilla Reservation after signing a treaty with the U.S. federal government in 1855.

Contents 1 History 2 Lifestyle 3 Language 4 References 5 External links

The Cayuse Indians are a nomadic tribe that occupied territories at the heads of the Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Grande Ronde Rivers and from the Blue mountains to Deschutes River in Washington and Oregon. The tribe has always been closely associated with the neighboring Nez Percé and Walla Walla. They were considered linguistically independent. The Cayuse have always been famous for their bravery, and owing that to their constant battles with the Snake and other tribes, which have been weak in numbers. There were few pure-blood Cayuse left in 1851, intermarriage, largely with the neighboring Nez Percé, having been so widespread that even the language was dissipating. In 1855, the Cayuse joined the treaty by which the Umatilla Indian Reservation was formed, and since that time have resided within the reservations limits. Their number is officially reported as 404 in 1904; but this number is misleading, as carefully in 1902 failed to discover a single one of pure blood on the reservation and the language is almost extinct. The tribe gained wide notoriety in the early days of the white settlement of the territory. In 1838, a mission was established among the Cayuse by Marcus Whitman at the site about 30 miles from the city of Walla Walla. In 1847, measles killed off a large part of the tribe. The Cayuse, convinced the missionaries were the cause, attacked them, and murdered Whitman, his wife and 12 others. They captured 54 women/children and held them for ransom. Later the traded the prisoners with the Hudson's Bay Company for guns, blankets and tobacco. They also destroyed the mission. This began the Cayuse War, which they eventually lost, and were forced to share a reservation with the Umatilla while the whites moved to their land.

The Cayuse Indians are located in the Columbia Basin. They were nomadic, they could even move day by day. They lived in houses called teepees, which many nomadic tribes used. Cayuse women would have to assemble and disassemble the teepees, which could take an hour both ways. The Cayuse were skilled horsemen, and used them for catching animals and their trip over the Rocky Mountains. Each year, to bring an abundant supply of buffalo to their tribe, the men would go east of the Rocky Mountains and bring buffalo back to the women and children. The women would use the animal skins to build their shelter, cook food, and clothe themselves. An important quality of the men to have is bravery. It would make you be worshiped and the strongest man would be Chief of their tribe. The Cayuse did not like the white men trying to change their way of life, or make them move from their land. The Whitman Massacre occurred as a cause of this when Cayuse and Umatilla Indians killed Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, two Protestant missionaries, and twelve other travelers residing at their camp. This soon led to the Cayuse War, one of the many in the Indian Wars.

Main article: Cayuse language

The Cayuse language is a language isolate. It has been proposed in the past that it may be related to Molala making up a Waiilaptuan family ultimately related to the Penutian stock. This proposal is currently undemonstrated.

The language has been extinct since the 19th century.

• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation homepage
• Languages of Oregon - Cayuse page