Issac Ingalls Stevens, appointed governor of the Washington Territory in
1853, was in charge of Indian relations there.  Seeking a feasible
railroad route through the territory, he coerced and threatened tribes
west of the Cascades to cede their land.  Hi s negotiations with the Nez
Perce in 1855 were disrupted by intertribal fighting, and the resulting
treaty was not honored by the Indians.  War broke out between white
settlers and Indians throughout the Northwest.  Many chiefs turned against
Stevens, and they managed to convince officers of the U.S. Army that the
distrust he had generated among the tribes was the cause of the fighting.