Tom Hill (scout)
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Tom Hill (1811–1860)[1] was a Lenape mountain man active in the American frontier. He first became prominent in the service of Kit Carson as a fur trapper during the 1830s. After that, he lived among the Nimíipuu, influencing them to mistrust ABCFM missionaries. Throughout 1847, Hill was In Alta California fighting in the service of John C. Frémont. Tom Hill returned to Kansas in 1854 to live among fellow Lenape, where he died in 1860. Several later historians have named Hill as the primary cause of the Whitman Massacre, earning him some notoriety.
Hill was born in the vicinity of Upper Sandusky, Ohio,[citation needed] where his family had been granted land by the Federal government in 1817.[2] He likely attended the mission school in Upper Sandusky for at least some period of time before adulthood.[1] In 1833, when Hill was 22, he joined a six-man trapping expedition led by Kit Carson, which also included Joseph Meek and two other Lenapes.[3] They operated between the Cimarron and Arkansas rivers, at that time controlled by the Comanche. During their excursion, they were met in battle by 200 Comanche warriors, and the trappers had to make a protective wall with their mule mounts.[4] After several hours of skirmishing, the Comanche relented, and the trappers all survived. The three Lenape men in Carson's employ continued with him, eventually reaching the Yellowstone River in 1837. The group encountered a Niitsitapi village, and a battle. The previous Lenape officer in charge perished, and Hill was elected to his position.[5] Hill remained with Carson until 1839, operating out of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, at Taos.[1]
Time among Nimíipuu
After he and Carson parted ways, Hill spent several years living among the Nimíipuu, an ethnic group he had interacted with for several years at the annual rendezvous.[1] Hill's leadership in confrontations against Niitsitapi band while they hunted bison earned him a place of respect and he married a member of the band. Hill taught the Nimíipuu and later the neighboring Liksiyu about the loss of territorial sovereignty among Native Americans east of the Rocky Mountains to the expansionist United States of America.[6] These stories incensed men from both Indigenous nations to mistrust ABCFM stations established on the Columbia Plateau. Henry H. Spalding decried Hill as "a most blasphemous debassed [sic] infidel... who has been some years in the Mts. spreading his poison..."[7]
In a party of Nimíipuu led Ellis however,[clarification needed] Hill visited the Waiilatpu Mission and dined with Marcus and Narcissa Whitman along with the fellow families there in 1845. Hill was to remain at the Mission for about two weeks.[6] Catherine Sager Pringle recalled that Hill was "very intelligent and could speak English as well as Cayuse [actually Niimiipuutímt]."[8] Visitors and mission residents had a meal primarily of corn mush and tea, with minor entertainment provided by the visiting natives. Hill then made a two-hour-long speech, reportedly being "quite eloquent."[8] In conversation with Marcus Whitman, Hill assured the doctor that his feelings toward him were positive. Whitman recorded that "...he had been much deceived by reports of the Indians from this quarter [about ABCFM missionaries]..."[9] After returning from the Mission, Hill told William Craig that he found Whitman a far more favorable man than his contemporary missionary Spalding.[6]
Role in Whitman massacre
Tom Hill has been blamed by some historians for inducing the Whitman massacre, as he was "...the bitter enemy of the white man's religion and everything else related to whites."[10] In particular, William Marshall declared that Hill was "constantly striving to stir up the Indians against all the whites"[10] during his time among the Nimíipuu. Marshall concluded that "...it is doubtful if any other one influence was as potent as Tom Hill in ... bringing on the Whitman massacre."[10]
This assessment has been questioned by later historians, with more focus given to the simmering cultural clashes between the Indigenous and the Missionaries along with the spread of infectious diseases on the Columbian Plateau.[11] Francis Haines in particular stated that while his teachings "undoubtedly helped cause the Whitman massacre... he had no part in plotting the attack."[1]