Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name: The Change of Worlds for the Native People and Settlers on Puget Sound

by David M. Buerge

This is the first thorough account of Chief Seattle and his times--the story of a half-century of tremendous flux, turmoil, and violence, during which a Native American war leader became an advocate for peace and strove to create a successful hybrid racial community.
When the British, Spanish, and then Americans arrived in the Pacific Northwest, it may have appeared to them as an untamed wilderness. In fact it was a fully settled and populated land. Chief Seattle was a powerful representative from this very ancient world. Historian David M. Buerge has been researching and writing this book about the world of Chief Seattle for the past 20 years. Buerge has threaded together disparate accounts of the time from the 1780s to the 1860s--including native oral histories, Hudson Bay Company records, pioneer diaries, French Catholic church records, and historic newspaper reporting. Chief Seattle had gained power and prominence on Puget Sound as a war leader, but the arrival of American settlers caused him to reconsider his actions. He came to embrace white settlement and, following traditional native practice, encouraged intermarriage between native people and the settlers, offering his own daughter and granddaughters as brides, in the hopes that both peoples would prosper. Included in this account are the treaty signings that would remove the natives from their historic lands, the roles of such figures as Governor Isaac Stevens and Chiefs Leschi and Patkanim, the Battle at Seattle that threatened the existence of the settlement, and the controversial Chief Seattle speech that haunts the city that bears his name to this day.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Indigenous, Cultural, Native Americans

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A frank and honest look at the history of Washington and Oregon from about 1800-1900, specifically the Puget Sound area. I wasn’t sure how biased a book written by a white man about native Americans would be, and the author acknowledges up front that he might seem like an odd choice, but there just aren’t any other books out there about our local native tribes. Buerge seems to have done a good job acknowledging the bias of the “histories” of Chief Seattle previously written and heavily influenced by the white men who told them. This line in particular made me go, “OOOOOOOOO SNAP! This guy is not holding back!”😆: “[Kitsap’s] violent personality brought him many enemies, and a grandson, William Kitsap, recalled that he was murdered, and that his body was buried in a secret location to prevent his foes from desecrating it. It was not secret enough, however, to prevent grave robbers from the Smithsonian Institution carrying off his bones in later years…”

Buerge is also straightforward and unequivocal in his analysis of racial relations as time went on, leading up to and after the death of Chief Seattle. White settlers to the area saw resources being used by natives, and decided that they had more right to them. It’s a story that can be told by native cultures around the world: “By their definition, civilized people lived in cities, and because the Indians on Puget Sound did not build cities, they were considered uncivilized and possessing none of civilization’s gifts. Americans, the builders of many cities, believed themselves to possess these gifts in abundance, and felt duty-bound to propagate them. Blessed with liberty, law, and wealth, they saw themselves as the children of God, the sons of light, and bearers of the future. Savagery was what their Northern European ancestors had emerged from a thousand years before, and they supported the notion that the delivering Indians from barbarism was part of the national project. That native people differed from Americans materially and culturally was obvious; that the stage that had been reached by settlers was intrinsically better, and in the nature of things inevitable, even necessary, was a judgement few Americans questioned.”

Native land was basically stolen via unjust “treaties” and the native populations were pushed out of their ancestral lands to make way for “progress.” And tribes that refused to sign a treaty that would move them far from the places they called home, like the Duwamish, thus became “landless” and have been fighting for federal recognition as a tribe and the protections that provides ever since. Prominent white figures vocalized their hopes that in the future, the native tribes would eventually die out. Of course, local racism wasn’t saved for just native people - in the 1880s, Chinese immigrants were also mistreated and forcibly driven out of the area, after white immigrants decided they were “taking their jobs and their land.” As if that land was theirs in the first place.

This book was definitely difficult to read at times, but it’s so important for everyone who lives on these lands to be aware of its history, honor its past, and support our native tribes as they battle to regain some of what was taken from them. While I enjoyed the audiobook, if you aren’t from the area, some of the place and native names might be confusing, so it’s definitely worth getting either a map of the area to reference, or getting the ebook or print version to see the supplemental maps.

“The life of Seattle the living man means more than the words of his ghost. Only now have we begun to appreciate his vision and understand that our city draws its greatest strength from the character, energy, and dreams of all its residents, living, loving, and working together in the house of his name. He lived with that hope, and died still believing it. If we believe that life and hope are greater than death, honoring his deeds, answering his request, and attending to his vision will be the proof.”

[Alli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in a suburb of Seattle and so I was curious to learn more about the life of Chief Seattle. I’d always known him as Chief Sealth - I listened to this on audio and my understanding is his name was difficult to pronounce so he’s called both? Regardless - one thing I liked about growing up in Seattle was there seemed to be native culture that carried over into names of cities and regions. Sadly the indigenous peoples were forced out as in other areas.

Chief Seattle’s tribe still hasn’t gotten federal recognition as an official tribe because they decided to not go to a reservation and claim land. I am not sure what year this book was written and if this has happened yet under the Biden Administration.

This was an interesting read in that Chief Seattle had a long view about the future of his lands and people and believed his people should mix with the white settlers to create a new society. In some ways he succeeded in this, with many mixed marriages occurring during his time. In the end the white settlers had a different vision.

I’ve been feeling homesick for the PNW, so it was nice to hear history behind familiar places, and although the narrator pronounced many of the places correctly there were others he did not and it made my ears hurt. As a side note, the narrator did the narration for a book with a truly despicable character in first person voice and that made the first part of listening quite difficult. The book was about a researcher that ends up destroying an indigenous people so I was mildly triggered. But thankfully I worked though it and enjoyed the book.

I think Chief Seattle was a great visionary and I’m always in awe of people with that ability. All in all an interesting and well researched read to learn more about the emerald city.

[Ken Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read late for church book club. Being a naturalized Seattleite (since 2002) I had always wondered about his story. This book certainly had interesting historical references filling in many of my knowledge gaps on local names, Denny, Bagley, Bell, Snohomish, etc...... The story of Seattle himself was not as interesting as I had hoped. He was a leader for sure, and adaptable. It struck me that Seattle is named for him in large part because he was a force in encouraging his people to live in harmony with the rapidly growing white population. Thus his name adorns the largest city on the planet named after a Native American as his people got screwed out of their land, lives, ability to self sustain for their efforts to get along. The tail end is an interesting bridge to Timothy Egan's book about Edwin Curtis who photographed an impoverished Angeline, Seattle's daughter on the streets of Pioneer Square in Seattle. The book was not written in a way that brought the story to life, but for me personally worth the read.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be worth rereading. The author’s voice was not easy to listen to, but I was impressed with his speaking the Indian languages. I learned a lot more about the people who lived in the Seattle area before western civilization took over. I keep asking people my age who grew up in Seattle how much of this history they were taught in schools and the answer has been uniformly zip, nada, nothing, zero. Only a few of my students tell me they are taught about the tribes in this area. One teen told me they learned about the Trail of Tears, but that is a different part of this continent. Is it too controversial to speak of the tribes who lived and live in this area?! Kind of like why we were not taught about the War in Vietnam in the 70’s?

[Katharine Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vital book thoroughly researched. The author makes a compelling case for Federal and local recognition of the Duwamish tribe.

This information is so important, but reading it was a slog. All we can hope is that someday someone will write a hiphop musical about this compelling, forward-thinking man.

[Jane Ginter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great biography of Chief Seattle. Good to learn more history of the area.

[David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a new resident in the Puget sound area, I found this an excellent introduction to the region's 19th century history. Chief Seattle's relatively scant historical record provides the author with an opportunity to describe him by focussing on his times, and, in so doing, provide a more complete overview of native life before and during the arrival of white settlers. The record suggests that Chief Seattle was a great leader who hoped to preserve native life by finding a means of coexisting with whites. Unfortunately, despite the city of Seattle's slow, wet, and muddy start, he underestimated the arrogance and greed of white settlers for an area that was little more than a raw material extraction site for San Francisco in its early days. If you've ever driven I-5 from Olympia to Bellingham and wondered why every exit seems to have a different native reservation and accompanying casino, it's because the many small tribes that lived freely in the area before the mid-19th century were granted even smaller reservations by the government as white settlers sought to capitalize on the fishing and lumber in the area.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of information there, but the detail is excessive for other than an academic. So much translation into the native language was admirable at first and proved that the author could do it, but then it became cumbersome. I love the title, being a resident of Seattle, and I love history of Chief Sealth (Seattle) but I found my mind losing focus while reading. I finally gave up.

[Jim Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the man whose name Washington State's largest city took.

[Beige Alert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I moved to the NW, I hadn't even considered the source of Seattle's name. Once there, I'd heard of "the great speech" of Chief Seattle and Buerge does a great job on the back half of the book breaking down how the speech was captured, synthesized, modified, and used.

The writing is crisp, but sometimes can get cramped in the cast of characters coming and going. The chronological structure was appreciated and helped with focus. Chief Si’ahl's early life information is spotty and the first half is more about the region and an array of individuals involved at first contact and a bit beyond. The tragedy falls out from there, synchronous of others experience to the East. Chief Si’ahl eventually chooses a course of acceptance and attempted assimilation - it's still unclear to many if there were anything more available than bad options given disease, technology advantages, and alcohol - but most of all a manifest destiny that saw a world that should only be possessed by those who plunder/add value to it (pick your preference).

Seattle had a population of 8000 in 1883 and now has a metro area in excess of 4.1 million. The industrial revolution, particularly for food production, has meant many more humans got to live than otherwise would, but the direct and opportunity costs for others (some of them human) have been high.



Michel Foucault said: “I am well aware that I have never written anything but fictions. I do not mean to say, however, that truth is therefore absent. It seems to me that the possibility exists for fiction to function in truth. One ‘fictions’ history on the basis of a political reality that makes it true, one ‘fictions’ a politics not yet in existence on the basis of a historical truth.”

I find this quote deeply sad and widely, if subconsciously shared. This book was refreshing that it wasn't written for politically engaged laypeople who want a simple fictionist history on the basis of a political reality that makes it true - which is why I don't think it's rated very highly on this site.

Google tells me "The Battle at (of) Seattle" happened in 1999 with no mention of 1856. They also want to recommend "Great cop movies" to me since I Googled "The Battle at Seattle".

Maybe history is dead.

When I visited Little Big Horn, it occurred to me that in a little over 100 years since that battle, the U.S. was producing Tomahawk Missiles which could carry low to intermediate yield two-stage thermonuclear warheads almost anywhere on the planet via the US Navy or Air Force. A 3,500lb explosive device that could level current downtown Seattle.

I wonder if in the next 100 years the Duwamish people will be recognized by the Federal Government as a Tribe? I think that or a nuclear war is an even wager.

Call it a politics not yet in existence on the basis of a future truth.

[Jessica Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR: Well-researched, wildly boring, worth it.
or, Chief Seattle was a real person and you need to know this.

Hats off to David M. Buerge for his acknowledgement that he shouldn't be the one writing this, but no one else has done it yet, and damn it, we're running out of time. There's one section where he focuses on the early 1900s and is generally pissed that no one sat down to talk to the people who were still alive to get a history of the guy they named the town after. Now it's 100 years later, and this is what we get.

And he really did research the hell out of this. There's an endnote that places him in the closet of a guy's house in in Orting, WA, trying to read a decaying manuscript that two descendants refuse to publish out of spite of the other.

But it's also to the book's fault that Buerge spent so much of his life as a research historian. There are swaths that I found almost unreadable—like when his focus encompasses years of skirmishes and wars between all of the Puget Sound tribes. Some battles concern Seattle's prowess in warfare, but a lot is filler. There are endless names of endless men—white and Native alike—which can be downright confusing. Deep research makes every small discovery monumental, but it doesn't always flow well for casual reading.

The last third of the book focuses less on Seattle and more on the titular "The Town That Took His Name". There's a lot that's cringe-worthy about the early pioneers (to put it mildly), and a lot carries over to our city today. The original peoples of this land, the Duwamish, are as yet federally unrecognized, despite a decades-long legal battle to gain rights and acknowledgement. I appreciate Buerge devoting the final pages to their fight.

[Pamela Okano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is billed as a biography--the first, for adults--of Chief Seattle. It isn't, at least not in the conventional sense, purely because there's not a lot of documentation out there that would allow a real biography to be written so many years after his death. Instead, this is more a book about the very early days of Seattle (the town), with a focus on the Native Americans who lived in Puget Sound, with what little is known about Chief Seattle thrown in. In that sense, it was fascinating, although I found it a somewhat difficult read because of the author's style. By the time the Denny Party arrived in Seattle, Native American society in this area was already in turmoil, since English and American ships had been visiting the area for some time, spreading alien culture as well as disease that wiped out large portions of the population. Although getting enough food was rarely a problem, wars between the tribes often broke out, ranging at least as far as what would become Central Washington and up to British Columbia.. In this backdrop, Chief Seattle eventually came to favor peace with the white settlers, promoting Native American employment in the mills and intermarriage, a tactic that tribes had previously used to bring intertribal peace. Of course, it wasn't until the Boldt decision that Native Americans were able to secure a significant part of what the Treaty of Point Elliott had promised them.

[Julia Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally recommend for some scholarly reading on who Chief Seattle was and how Seattle the city was founded. I didn’t learn this history in schools, and spent a lot of my childhood reading books like “little house on the prairie”, so obviously this was overdue.
This book taught me so much - about the PNW and native culture before Vancouver explores the coat on his boat, what the initial contact looked like (so much disease, so much death), and Seattle’s ability to lead and try to build a hybrid city. So many attempts to preserve tradition, to intermarry and regain stolen rights, to retain rights to land and fishing/hunting. So much “frontier justice” and battles. So much culture pilfered and cast out. This taught me so much, and I wish I had learned it so much sooner. This book was published in 2017 and is the first adult biography of Seattle. It is obvious in parts that the original draft was 700+ pages and it has been edited to 270 (it is DENSE and slow reading) but it is worth it. And some paragraphs (Leschi’s death high among them) are so heartbreaking it takes a while to pick the book back up. But it is worth it.

[L.A.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I love reading about history and I currently live in the greater Seattle/Tacoma area. But after a couple of weeks picking up this book, reading a paragraph or two, then putting it back down, I’m finally calling it. I cannot keep reading this book—the writing is tedious and dry, and the story fails to engage the reader.

I appreciate that a lot of time and research went into this book. But apparently there’s actually little documented or known about Chief Seattle, and so there is quite a bit of filler. As a result, the text bogs down and fails to bring the story to life. I’ve read some well done biographies (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. by Stephen Budiansky; The Wolves at the Door by Judith Pearson). This, however, is not such a biography. There are too many other books to read to waste my time trying to force myself to read it. So I’m DNF’ing it.

I gave it two stars simply for the time and effort the author put into the research.

[Dan. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was born and grew up in the city, even went to the school, named after Chief Sealth (Seattle) - but knew so little about him or why they were named after him. Now I know not only about his painstakingly researched pre-white history, but why he is worthy of such a biography. Seattle was ahead of his time: a realist with a plan based on his indigenous culture - work with the dominant culture to create a hybrid city of different races that would allow his people and their legacy to survive. As a result, Native people are still here and still a force to be reckoned with. Sadly and ironically, this seems not to have applied to his own Duwamish whom the federal government, at the behest of the city named after their leader, still refuse to recognize them as a tribe in their own right.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and informative and hard to read. I picked it up to learn more about the PNW history and who Chief Seattle was. The book was good at setting the stage for historic events and the growth of the area but the author at times seemed to have too many bits of information to share. I found it hard to read when so many names and dates were introduced and were never mentioned again. It was very interesting that native culture may have accepted assimilation with the white settlers had they been given the chance. Chief Seattle is a worthy historical figure, I'm glad I read it.

[Luke McCarnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical survey with helpful insight into the place I call home and the Man who helped shape it.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth and well-written history of the central area of Whulge/Puget Sound during the life of Chief Seattle. This book honestly covers a wide array of actors throughout this time period - a variety of Coast Salish tribes, British Hudson Bay Company traders, and Americans. What begins as a story of alliances and conflicts between this wide array of actors - who more or less seem to be on equal footing, despite the decimation of Coast Salish societies due to the introduction of disease by Europeans - becomes a story of continual betrayal and swindling of the Coast Salish peoples by American settler society.

Those who faced this injustice the strongest were the Duwamish - especially those Duwamish who followed Chief Seattle’s vision of multiracial partnership in the city that took his name. This vision seemed to hold possibility for a brief period in the years before the whirlwind of (coerced) treaties led by Governor Isaac Stevens in the winter of 1854-55. In these years, Duwamish people outnumbered Whites and numerous business partnerships existed. However, federal homesteading policies invited a tidal wave of White settlers to the region who claimed Native land even before the treaties were signed, let alone ratified. These treaties and racist exclusionary policies in Seattle crushed Chief Seattle’s vision of multiracial living.

Despite this, Chief Seattle held on to this vision and his partnership with settlers, warning them of planned attacks by other tribes. This kindness has only been repaid by tokenization. To this day, the Duwamish still lack federal recognition and a reservation in their traditional lands. This injustice - that the Coast Salish tribe that was most collaborative with Whites and eschewed war still lacks a land base and federal recognition - seems to be the most important takeaway from this book. Addressing this injustice - the City of Seattle’s ‘original sin’ is something everyone tied to this city must strive for.

[Lori Michael Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually haven't finished reading cover to cover. I will be perusing this book for a long time. I am fascinated by Chief SEALTH. My high school was named after him. I prefer to call him Chief Sealth which is arguably closer to his birth name. The author researched and studied the Chief for 20 years. His knowledge is very impressive, but I am not sure I am a huge fan of his writing style. There are several reasons for the 3 stars. It is VERY frustrating and difficult to read because he doesn't give you the pronounciation. He does have a section in the back of the book telling you how it is done but it is SO difficult, you have to keep flipping back and forth and still it is nearly impossible to come up with the proper name. (Let me add this after the fact. After more research I have learned that it would be nearly impossible to put the proper. pronounciation in the book. The Lushootseed language has quite a few sounds in it that you don't find in the English language. I have actually heard them on tape and my mouth just won't do them! VERY difficult!) Second, his writing style is that of a text book. I found myself having to read the same thing over several times to understand the point. Often, it is almost as if he is having a written discussion with himself about the subject. Much of the book is a history of the area and people and not of Sealth but that is not the fault of the author. There is so little known about this great warrior and chief. I am deeply grateful to the author for taking on this monumental task but if you are looking for an enjoyable, historical read, this isn't it. If you want a reference book, then this may be right up your alley. I do recommend the book to those who are interested in the history of the Puget Sound area and of Chief Sealth, in spite of my so so review. I guess it just wasn't what I had hoped it would be. Still...go get it!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a tour of Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, I was intrigued by the motivations of Chief Seattle to negotiate with the white settlers, and curious about the sentiments of the local tribes about him leading the negotiations on their behalf. I learned a lot.

The author was careful with his subject matter, and shared with the readers the constraints that he faced with limited and conflicting documented information from the times. (One example: no Puget Sound newspapers published any acknowledgment of the Chief’s death!)

I discovered, in short, that tribes weren’t totally aligned with the agreements Seattle was making, but treaties were frequently confusing and often changed, and some chiefs mistakenly believed they were still negotiating, not agreeing to a final resolution.

The Duwamish were mentioned in this book more times than any other tribe, yet they’re the ones who don’t have federal recognition!

I highly recommend this book for current or former Seattleites. You learn something about the namesakes of almost all of the landmarks in the area, native or settler origin. (Chief Leschi was probably the biggest eye opener for me.)

The schooling/education that I received (long ago) focused on the plains tribes and the “famous” battles. I really didn’t know a lot about tribes here, including how violent they were among tribes (including Chief Seattle planning raids and owning slaves.)

The author does a great job at the end of the book recapping and reflecting on Chief Seattle (Noah is his Christian Catholic name), so I won’t recap here.

So glad I read this!

[Chase Parsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historian David Buerge does a great service for the city of Seattle and historians by writing a well-researched biography of a poorly understood yet significant figure in our history: Chief Seattle. There is no other larger city named after a Native American.

Of course, this is a sad book in many ways as it chronicles the relationship between the Native Americans in the Puget Sound area with the oncoming waves of American settlers in the mid-1800s. After a more peaceful beginning, violence explodes and mistrust reigns; and by its end it is yet another chapter in the depressing book of US/Native American relations.

What I like about this book the most is that it skillfully exposes the myths around Chief Seattle, especially in the final chapter. Seattle was not an modern environmentalist nor a pacifist. Also notable, Seattle converted to Catholicism (Noah was his Christian name), was a son of a slave and later held slaves, had multiple wives, was a brave warrior, and the tribes he led (Dumanish and Suquamish) were only about 500 people each (about 2,500 total Native Americans were in the Puget Sound region). But, like in all history, we should be careful to make modern-day moral judgements; it is abundantly clear that Chief Seattle was a product of his culture and era. As Buerge demonstrates, Seattle was a pragmatic and far-sighted man who did a lot at a pivotal time in US/Native American history by choosing to work with the incoming Americans and do what he thought was best for his people.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a straight up history book about the colonization of the Puget Sound and the subjugation of its First People. Chief Seattle was a savvy leader who encouraged local natives to integrate with the white settlers. For his cooperation, his tribe, the Duamish, were disregarded. He signed the Point Elliott Treaty on their behalf in 1855 yet the government delayed ratifying the treaty for 4 years while rebellious tribes received their payments much sooner. As further insult, the Duamish are STILL not officially recognized as a tribe by the federal government because some of these early people didn't move away from their homelands onto the reservation. Thus, they were considered "landless" and basically nonexistent. The tribe has been petitioning the feds for years to be granted tribal status, most recently in May of 2022. https://www.duwamishtribe.org/stand-w...
Learn more about their petition here: https://www.change.org/p/federal-reco...
Published in 2017, this is the first book (besides one children's book) devoted to recounting the story of Chief Seattle. The author is even-handed in his approach but I am appalled by the colonizers' actions. And it continues with the current refusal to give the Duamish their recognition. It's embarrassing.

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

3-1/2 * rounded up to 4

There are very few records of the early life of Chief Seattle and what we do have is often contradictory. He was a drunk, a savage, a peace maker, a warrior, an orator, a man with a booming voice, environmentally conscious, and so on. Some, but not all, can be attributed to whether Seattle is being described as a young man or a man in his later years. The physical description of him also varies greatly: he was squat and ugly or he was tall and imposing and the handsomest Indian one white settler said he had ever seen. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Such variations are one of the problems with Buerge’s book. Much of the material in the early part of his book is guesswork. You plough your way through several paragraphs or often times pages and then he tells you that what you’ve just read is supposition and may not even be true. It is also a very dense book, filled with things you will never remember almost immediately after reading. He gets into the weeds! It’s easy to get bogged down in detail.

For all that, I’d still say his book is worth reading. Buerge did an immense amount of research and uncovers many little-known facts (and some semi-facts!) and he is respectful of the people he is covering.

Seattle was a 19th century chief/leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes and is thought to have been born in a location that is now Kent. Burge tells us that it wasn’t always easy for Seattle to gain respect because of his socially mixed ancestry. His father was a tribal chief but he took one of his slaves for a wife and Seattle was a child of that union.

Although the Indigenous people certainly are not pictured as perfect or sometimes not even as good, the familiar stories of how they were constantly betrayed by the White settlers are often heart-breaking. Chief Seattle, as he became in his adulthood, was particularly eager to be a friend to the White settlers, most especially in his later years. He could see the future and knew the White men were the future of his country but wanted his tribe to be as much a part of that future as possible so he befriended them. For the most part, they did not reciprocate. To the extent they did offer friendship, they (the White settlers) did so to the extent the Indigenous tried to reshape their lives and beliefs along Western lines. When they failed to do so, they were scorned as backward and savage. Some American missionaries, who tried to save the Indians’ souls and perhaps help them survive the onslaught of White civilization, believed the way to do this was by turning them into thrifty, self-reliant farmers who respected private property rights. All of these things were foreign to the indigenous way of life.

One of the things that made me very sad was what Buerge related about the attitude of Seattle’s first resident pastor and his wife, Methodist Episcopal minister David Blaine and his wife Catherine. The book is filled with stories of how Washington’s first territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, constantly betrayed the Indigenous people he was supposedly negotiating with for land in return for money, or other lands, or protections, or certain treaties and more; yet this is what the Rev. Blaine wrote:

“Governor Stevens is to hold a council here to treat with our Indians. When this is done and their lands are purchased it is supposed they will be removed from our midst. What a blessing it will be both to them and the whites, if this can be effected.”

And his wife Catherine, a signatory of the 1848 Seneca Falls petition calling for women’s suffrage, described the Indians as “coarse, filthy and debased,” and wrote after dismissing a native servant:

“You talk about the stupidity of the Irish. You ought to have to work with one of our Indians and then you would know what these words mean.”

Some of the Catholic priests were more kindly and Chief Seattle evidently was a sincere convert and went through the entire rites required to be received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Scattered throughout the book are various accounts of why the Duwamish never received a reservation of their own and thus no federal recognition. Perhaps the accounts vary somewhat because there was no single reason but the principal reason seems to be because of where the Duwamish wanted their reservation to be – along on Duwamish where they had always lived and had their livelihood, but they were only offered land elsewhere. The Duwamish River was becoming an industrial boom territory for the White settlers so they refused to let the Duwamish have their reservation there. Impasse - the Duwamish wouldn’t move and the White government wouldn’t let them have a reservation there, ergo they got nothing.

Among other things Buerge pays attention to (besides the endless wars and wrangling among tribes) are the Point Elliott Treaty and the famous speech attributed to Chief Seattle – did he actually say those things or did someone else write the speech. It appears to have been revised a couple of times by White writers after the original speech was published by a Dr. Smith (of Smith’s Cove) who was a well-known writer, publisher, and doctor at that time. He claimed to have heard the Chief give that speech and took copious notes and reproduced them. Those who were familiar with Dr. Smith’s writing say it was much more flowery than the one he published by Chief Seattle. If Smith wrote the speech, some said, it was the best thing he’d ever written.

Buerge reproduces without comment as to its authenticity a speech Chief Seattle gave to Indian agent, Michael Simmons. Here’s some of it. It’s a good way and a sad way to end this discussion of Chief Seattle.
“. . . I am and have always been a friend of the whites . . . nor do I or any of my people kill the whites. Oh! Mr. Simmons! Why don’t our papers come back to us? . . . I fear we are forgotton [sic] or are to be cheated out of our lands. I have been very poor and hungry all winter and am very sick now. In a little while I will die. I would like to be paid for my land before I die. . . . When I die my people will be very poor – they will have no property, no chief, and no one to talk for them. . . . The Indians are not bad. It is the mean white men who are bad to us. … I am very sick. I want you to write quickly to your great Chief..."

[Hannah Comerford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buerge did his research. I respect him for working so hard to get to the truth behind legends and claims, for immersing himself in the history so he could give as accurate a portrayal as possible.

However, he desperately needed an editor to tell him when to cut back on those details. He spent much too long describing things that were of little consequence to the main narrative (I did not need to know the life history of Henry Smith). It made the book significantly longer and more tedious than it needed to be.

Another major flaw was the lack of narrative structure and creativity. It was incredibly hard to follow because of the lack of flow, which of course was compounded by the excessive facts mentioned above. A little creativity could have gone a long way to make this more readable and overall enjoyable. I could see he tried to do this at the very beginning, when describing the seasons, but then the attempt at structure seemed to fall apart as he went from historical fact to historical fact without explaining its connection to Chief Seattle or giving transitions between stories.

I truly hope that an abridged version of this book is published someday. I believe this is an important story that gets lost in the weeds of poor editing and weak writing. Cutting the extraneous material might make it a solid historical book that I could recommend.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, providing a dual biography of Suquamish Chief Seathl (the exact spelling is unknown) and the early American settlements in Eliot Bay, what eventually became Seattle. The author, Pacific Northwest historian David Buerge, ties together various sources for this focused history of the Salish peoples of the Puget Sound and their early to mid 19th century interactions with Western settlers. At the center of the story is Seathl, a Native American leader whose own complicated background demonstrates the depth of culture amongst the Pacific Northwest peoples. Buerge shows Seathl as having a similar political savvy to his contemporaries in Europe and the U.S. At first Seathl was an opponent to White settlement, but then, seeing its inevitability, became its main proponent, seeking to find the economic and power advantages for his people. Many of the initial American business ventures in the Seattle area had Seathl at their center. With Seathl’s vision of progress at its foundation, it is no surprise that Seattle, a city that does not possess any particular resource or transport advantage over other sites in the Puget Sound, became the central economic hub of the region. A great book for understanding leadership in a time of transition.

[David Hirning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people (me included) can't quite believe that this is the first biography ever written about the man for whom my home city is named. (Seattle is the largest city in the the U.S. named after a Native American.) That obviously reflects our society's complete neglect of Native American history and culture, preferring to let what happened to the people who were here before the Europeans arrived fade into nothingness. Now, in 2021, there's a bill in the Washington state legislature that is going to require the public schools here teach some of this history--something long overdue.

The book itself is a fascinating look at how the Northwest was settled. It's a complex history of how white people basically showed up in what is now Puget Sound and, gradually, displaced the people who had lived here for thousands of years. It's kind of a slow-motion tragedy (we all know how it ends). Seattle was a complicated figure, and this book finally gives his story the full treatment it deserves. Kudos to Mr. Buerge for the achievement!

[David Clemens · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am one of the white people who have moved on, leaving the ashes and spirits of their fathers, just as my father before me moved and left his fathers ashes behind. Americans of two hundred years ago drove my ancestors off their land, forcing them to leave the United States and move to Canada to re-settle. My cynical nature suspects that during their re-settlement, they displaced the First Nation peoples living in southern Ontario, but thats another story. the author does a good job of exploring the story of Chief Seattle, weaving a complex fabric of history, legend and myth, pointing out many seeming variations and contradictions of his various sources. There are many portions of this story that are distressing and disturbing. The author has focused on those essences of Chief Seattle that are visible in the many scraps and versions of the histories that have survived.

[Cal Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chief Seattle, both the book and the person, is not without its flaws. But I commend the author on this sorely needed historical perspective that helped reshape my understanding of the region. Given the paucity of materials about Chief Seattle, it must have taken a herculean effort to compile 300+ pages. I think there could have been more work done to explain the existing landscape of tribes and languages that Seattle was born into. It was interesting to learn how their PNW world was not centered around modern day Seattle, but I needed some more understanding of which tribes spoke related languages and which didn't. I do like some of the overarching narratives that Buerge paints, of how much tumult Seattle saw in his lifetime and where he did show wisdom and strength.

[Maggie Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting first chapter, interesting last chapter... the middle was like reading an expository essay that never ends, so I guess this would be good if you were writing an essay. As a native Seattlite currently living on the Kitsap peninsula, I think the only thing that kept me going was the familiar locations. There is a much more interesting story hiding among the tedious details, but then again, the author warns us early on that he “won’t be romanticizing anything.” He was not kidding. I don’t know that that excuse satisfies my desire for more engaging narrative though. All in all, I think a highly fact driven person would like this book, but it wasn’t for me.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating (and depressing) read! It was super interesting to hear about all the original tribes for which so many parts of the greater Seattle area is named (as well as the white settlers 😑). Having lived in Kitsap country for seven years, it was really interesting to hear a bit of the story of the man behind the name and how his life intertwined with chief Seattle. If you currently live in or have lived in, or are just interested in learning more about how Seattle came to be and who the city was named for, read this book!