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The Chilcotin War: A Tale of Death and Reprisal
This colourful account of the Chilcotin War is an insightful and absorbing examination of an event that helped to shape the course of British Columbia history. In the spring of 1864, 14 men building a road along the Homathko River in British Columbia were killed by a Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) war party. Other violent deaths followed in the conflict that became known as the Chilcotin War. In this true tale of clashing cultures, greed, revenge and betrayal, Rich Mole explores the causes and deadly consequences of a troubling episode in British Columbia history that is still subject to debate almost 150 years later. Using contemporary sources, Mole brings to life the principal players in this tragic drama: Alfred Waddington, the Victoria businessman who decided to build the ill-fated toll road across the territory of the independent Tsilhqot'in, attempting to connect Bute Inlet to the Cariboo goldfields of the interior, and Klatsassin, the fierce Tsilhqot'in war chief whose people had already endured the devastation of smallpox.
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2026
It has sent me off in all sorts of directions looking for details and researching the area.
January 28, 2010
More local history I never learned about in school. And how individual and very human the natives and pioneers were, which seems like a dumb thing to say but stories like this one in which tragedy unfolds decision by decision, each perfectly understandable (not necessarily justified!) makes history feel so much more real than the kind that deals with big movements of armies and political currents.
October 9, 2019
Bought this book after Trudeau apologized for the hangings. It was topical and I wanted to know the whole story.
I found it odd for The Prime Minister of Canada to apologize for something that happened 3 years before Canada was even a country. Also, BC did not even join Canada until 7 years later.
After reading this I find the apology even more ridiculous and disrespectful to all the people murdered by this rampage. The people they killed were actually their employers and also just random people passing by.
The judge asked the five who were found guilty what Tsilhqot’in law was against murderers.
“Death,” the men replied.
“Our law, just the same,” Bigbie answered.
“We meant war, not murder,” they replied.
“Was it was,” Brown asked, “to fall upon a man who was at peace with you, to massacre him in his house, in the night, to cut down his tent pole, and break his head? That was murder, surely, not war,”
Depends on your point of view I suppose but surely such men are now playing a deadly game and being hanged is not an unexpected or unreasonable end for them.
I found it odd for The Prime Minister of Canada to apologize for something that happened 3 years before Canada was even a country. Also, BC did not even join Canada until 7 years later.
After reading this I find the apology even more ridiculous and disrespectful to all the people murdered by this rampage. The people they killed were actually their employers and also just random people passing by.
The judge asked the five who were found guilty what Tsilhqot’in law was against murderers.
“Death,” the men replied.
“Our law, just the same,” Bigbie answered.
“We meant war, not murder,” they replied.
“Was it was,” Brown asked, “to fall upon a man who was at peace with you, to massacre him in his house, in the night, to cut down his tent pole, and break his head? That was murder, surely, not war,”
Depends on your point of view I suppose but surely such men are now playing a deadly game and being hanged is not an unexpected or unreasonable end for them.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews