BRANNAN'S PRAIRIE
(also known as Brennan's or Porter's Prairie)
Capt. E. D. Keyes arrived at Ft. Steilacoom
November 24, 1855 with Company M of the Third Artillery, consisting of about 84 men
and strengthening the 168 regulars of the Fourth Infantry already stationed
there. At this time Capt. Hewitt, commanding a company of volunteers
at Seattle, was ordered to the Green and White rivers to place himself in
communication with Lt. William Slaughter.
Capt. Hays took up a position on the Nisqually River, near
Muck Prairie. Capt. Wallace's company was in the Puyallup Valley, keeping
communications open to Steilacoom and the fort. Lt. Harrison, of the
USS Jefferson Davis,
also took the field with Lieutenant Slaughter.
Slaughter started for the White River on the 24th. The next night he was attacked on Bitting's
Prairie by Indians under Kitsap and Kanascut, of the Klikitats, Quiemuth and Klowowit of the Nisqualliesm, and Nelson
of the Green River and Niscope Indians. He lost 40 horses during the fog and
attack.
On the 26th a member of Wallace's company, E. G. Price, was
shot by a lurking Indian. The same bullet wounded Addison Perham. 25 men of the
Third Artillery, under Lt. McKeever, joined Slaughter the same day. Slaughter divided his force, delegating Wallace and his men to
make sorties from Morrison's place on the Stuck. The weather was cold and rainy,
and disagreeable for field work.
On the December 3 Slaughter took 60 of his men and 5 from Wallace's company and
started to meet Capt. Hewitt. He camped on Brannan's Prairie, at
the forks of the Green and White rivers, taking possession of a log hut he sent word for
Capt. Hewitt, some two or three miles distant, to meet him there. The next night
Indians crept up near the cabin, and as a conference was being held, opened
fire, killing Slaughter.
This battle took place south-east of present day Auburn, WA where the Green and White Rivers flow a mile apart.
•