While in Washington , where he met with President James K. Polk ( whose wife Sarah Childress Polk , was Meek 's cousin ) , he argued forcefully for making the Oregon Country a federal territory . The following spring , Joseph Lane was appointed Territorial Governor and Meek was made Territorial Federal Marshal . Meek served as Territorial Marshal for five years . His account with the Hudson 's Bay Company was often in debt , the mountain man owing the company over $ 300 in 1849 , . In 1850 as Marshal , he supervised the execution of five Cayuse Indians found guilty of the Whitman massacre , despite Archbishop François Norbert Blanchet defending the men as innocent . Meek organized the Oregon Volunteers and led them in the Yakima Indian War and was promoted to the rank of major for his service
Whitman massacre
Whitman massacre
Joseph Meek