Professor: Michael Moffitt

4.00 credits

• CRN 35424: Friday, 9:00-1:00 PM @ CHA 202

In 1850, five Cayuse men were hanged and buried near Oregon City, then the capital of the Oregon Territory.  Seminar participants will assist in trying to try to find their burial location.
   Three years earlier, missionary Marcus Whitman and a number of others were killed near Walla Walla, Washington. Five Cayuse men eventually voluntarily surrendered to federal troops in the region, although evidence suggests that some of these five may have had no direct involvement with the killing. The five were brought to Oregon City, tried, convicted, and publicly executed. No one alive today knows where the five were buried, preventing repatriation to their homeland.
   Since early 2022, Honors College colloquium students have been coordinating closely with Tamástslikt Cultural Institute of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) on the search for the burial location of the Cayuse Five. Although it has no pre-requisites, this seminar will build on that work. Seminar participants will aid in the search for the burial location, will support ongoing tribal efforts to educate the public about the events leading to these deaths, and will work on foundational questions about potential next steps for the CTUIR and others. 

   Each colloquium participant will contribute to this real-world investigation, which represents a collaboration with many throughout the region. In the process, we will search for and review a broad range of historical, legal, cultural, and scientific information. On April 4-5, 2025, we will travel as a class for field work at the site of the hanging, at the historical Whitman Mission, and at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute. Please reserve the entirety of each of those days on your calendars. On May 30, 2025, we anticipate presenting our class findings to our tribal partners and others. Attendance for each of these will be mandatory.
Admission to the seminar is by permission of the instructor.
 

Graduation Requirement: This class will fulfill a Social Science Colloquium and the US: Difference, Inequality, Agency (US) cultural literacy requirement.  If the student has already taken a Social Science Colloquium, this class will fulfill both of the following requirements: an Elective Colloquium and the US: Difference, Inequality, Agency (US) cultural literacy requirement.

Course Background

If you want some additional reading or listening on the topic, you might visit sites such as:

• https://around.uoregon.edu/content/honors-college-students-go-search-cayuse-five
• https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/23/tol-cayuse-five-burial-history-university-of-oregon-exploration/
• https://kslpodcasts.com/podcast/unsolved-histories/episode/the-search-for-the-cayuse-five/
• https://www.underscore.news/reporting/uo-students-advance-the-search-for-the-cayuse-five
• https://www.nps.gov/whmi/index.htm
• https://www.historylink.org/File/9401
• https://www.ctuir.org/about/brief-history-of-ctuir/

But I do not have any expectation that applicants will have any background knowledge specific to the course’s topic.

Field Work

Our current plan includes a two-day trip for field work in Oregon City, Pendleton, and Walla Walla on April 4-5, 2025. Transportation, food, and lodging will be provided. Please do not make any plans on either day, as we will leave early and return late. We will also have a multi-hour presentation on Friday, May 30, 2025 beginning around 8a and running through lunch. 

Application

In order to apply for admission to this course, please complete the Qualtrics Survey at:

https://oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_czEHhWvyMQVahmu.

At the heart of the application, you will see that I am asking you for the following:

• A brief essay about your interest in taking the course
• An indication of your availability for the class meetings for this course.
• A set of information about you that will not be used for the admissions decisions, but which will facilitate logistics in the event you are admitted. (For example dietary restrictions or allergies, as we plan the field trip.)

Application Process and Deadline

Please submit your Qualtrics answers no later than Noon on Monday, February 17, 2025. Applications received after this deadline may not receive full consideration. I hope to complete the application review process such that you will know whether you will be enrolled in the course well in advance of when you will need to register for Spring courses. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at mmoffitt@uoregon.edu