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Frenctown Rendezvous

Frenchtown was located roughly between Touchet and College Place where French-Canadians, often with their Indian wives, settled after working for the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Nez Perce, later known as Fort Walla Walla, a trading post established in 1818 at Wallula. The Frenchtown settlement began about 1823, and by the time the Whitmans arrived in 1836, numbered more than a dozen cabins.

In December of 1855, following the Walla Walla Treaty Council in June, the four-day Battle of Frenchtown, also called the Battle of Walla Walla, took place in the area. The fighting resulted in the killing of Walla Walla Chief Peopeomoxmox while a hostage of the volunteers, and an end to Indian control of the Walla Walla Valley.

n 1876, the St. Rose of Lima Mission and cemetery were established on a portion of the battlefield nearby. Though the mission was later abandoned, of the recorded burials of approximately 60 French-Canadians and several Indian wives at the site, there is no evidence any has been removed.

The ensemble will feature (clockwise from upper left) Rich Monacelli as Hudson Bay Chief Trader William McBean, Judith Fortney as Cayuse Indian woman Suzanne Cayouse Dauphin, Sam Pambrun as Hudson Bay Factor Andrew Pambrun, and Jeannot Poirot as Father J.B.A. Brouillet.

An interpretive park is planned by the Frenchtown Historical Foundation that will encompass the cemetery site, the grounds of the Catholic mission, and approximately 50 acres of land where the 1855 fighting took place, extending from the Walla Walla River to the hills just north of the cemetery where the new Highway 12 will be constructed.

Museum hours are 10 am to 5 pm daily. Admission is free to members, children under 6, and through a reciprocal agreement Tamástslikt Cultural Institute's Inwai Circle cardholders and enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; $3 for children ages 6-12; $6 for seniors (62+) and students; and $7 for adults. Your admission cost can be applied to a membership, which includes free admission to all Living History performances, priced beginning at $25. For more information, contact Fort Walla Walla Museum at 509-525-7703 or email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org