Editing Chief Seattle (section)

==Life==

[[File:Chief Seattle's bust.jpg|thumb|left|288x288px|[[Chief of the Suquamish&nbsp;– Chief Seattle|Chief Seattle's bust]] in the city of [[Seattle]]]]

=== Youth ===
Seattle was born between 1780 and 1786 to Schweabe, a Suquamish leader from {{Langx|lut|dxʷsəq̓ʷəb|label=none}}, the main Suquamish village on [[Agate Pass]],<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Buerge |first=David M. |title=Chief Seattle and Chief Joseph: From Indians to Icons |url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/buerge2.html |access-date=2024-03-17 |work=[[University of Washington]] |quote=}}</ref>{{Sfn|Waterman|2001|p=48-49, 199}} and Sholeetsa,{{Efn|also spelled Sholitza}} a Duwamish woman.<ref name="Duwamish">{{cite web |title=Chief Si'ahl |url=https://www.duwamishtribe.org/chief-siahl |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=[[Duwamish Tribe]]}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2024}}</ref><ref name="Suquamish">{{Cite web |date= |title=Chief Seattle |url=https://suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-us/chief-seattle/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201133926/https://suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-us/chief-seattle/ |archive-date=2017-02-01 |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=Suquamish Tribe}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2024}}</ref> By some accounts, his mother was born into slavery, while in others, she was a high-born noblewoman.{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=17-18}} His exact birthplace is also disputed. According to some historians, as well as the tradition of the [[Suquamish Tribe]], Seattle was born on [[Blake Island]] ({{Langx|lut|tatču|links=no}}),{{Sfn|Waterman|2001|p=232}} and his mother was from the village of {{Langx|lut|stəq|label=none}} on the [[White River (Puyallup River)|White River]].{{Efn|Now the [[Green River (Duwamish River tributary)|Green River]]}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Suquamish" />{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=17-18}}{{Sfn|Waterman|2001|p=133}} Seattle himself said he was born on Blake Island.<ref name=":0" /> According to the [[Duwamish Tribe]], Seattle was born at his mother's village on the Black River, near what is now the city of [[Kent, Washington]].<ref name="Duwamish" /> According to one of his contemporaries, an American settler named [[Emily Inez Denny]], he was born at the [[Old Man House]] at {{Langx|lut|dxʷsəq̓ʷəb|label=none}}.<ref name="Denny1899">{{Cite book |last=Denny |first=Emily Inez |author-link=Emily Inez Denny |title=Blazing the Way, or, True Stories, Songs, and Sketches of Puget Sound and Other Pioneers |publisher=Rainier Printing Company |year=1899 |location=Seattle |publication-date=1909}}</ref> 

Seattle grew up speaking both the Duwamish and Suquamish dialects of [[Southern Lushootseed]].<ref name="Duwamish" /> Seattle's Suquamish family was a powerful one, and they dominated parts of [[Kitsap Peninsula]], [[Vashon Island]], [[Bainbridge Island]], and Blake Island. Because power and authority in [[Coast Salish]] culture are traditionally not guaranteed through descent, Seattle had to prove his worth to his Coast Salishan society.<ref name="Suquamish" /> 

In 1792, when Seattle was around six years old, he met ''[[HMS Discovery (1789)|HMS Discovery]]'' and ''[[HMS Chatham (1788)|HMS Chatham]]'' under the command of [[George Vancouver]], who had anchored off Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island.<ref name="HistoryLink" />{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}} Seattle and his family, who were occupying nearby Blake Island gathering food, were visited by a party from the [[Vancouver Expedition|Vancouver expedition]].{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}} Seattle's father, Schweabe, and uncle, [[Kitsap (Suquamish leader)|Kitsap]], may have been the two "chiefs" that Vancouver invited onto his ship.{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}} Over several days, Vancouver and the Suquamish (who were soon joined by their Duwamish neighbors) interacted extensively, trading goods and observing each other.{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}} Seattle often talked about this experience later in his life.{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}} Seattle would also later visit [[Fort Nisqually]] to trade with the [[Hudson's Bay Company]].<ref name="HistoryLink" /> It is likely that these events taking place in his formative years encouraged his fascination with Europeans and their culture.<ref name="HistoryLink" />{{Sfn|Cummings|2020|p=19}}

At some time during his youth, Seattle participated in a traditional coming-of-age ceremony called a [[vision quest]] ({{Langx|lut|ʔalacut|links=no}}). His nobility was affirmed by the reception of a powerful [[spirit power]], the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|thunderbird]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Suquamish" /> In the traditional religion of the peoples of southern Puget Sound, having a strong spirit power is a symbol of strength, purity, and prestige.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Marian W. |author-link=Marian Smith |title=The Puyallup-Nisqually |publisher=AMS Press |year=1940 |isbn=9780231896849 |location=New York |publication-date=1969 |pages=56–57 |doi=10.7312/smit94070 |lccn=73-82360}}</ref> 

Seattle married into Duwamish families from {{Langx|lut|t̕uʔəlalʔtxʷ|label=none}}, a significant village at the mouth of the Duwamish River, where he took several wives, as expected from a man of his status. He would go on to have several children, the most famous being [[Kikisoblu]], his first child, born to his first wife, Ladalia. She died after the birth of her daughter, but Seattle had three sons and four more daughters through his second wife, Olahl.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Denny1899" />

=== A feared Suquamish warrior ===
As Seattle aged, he earned a reputation as a leader and a strong warrior. In his early 20s, Seattle participated in a coalition war against the [[Cowichan peoples]] of [[Vancouver Island]] led by his uncle Kitsap.<ref name=":0" /> Around 1810, Seattle led an ambush against a group of raiders in five canoes coming down the [[Green River (Duwamish River tributary)|Green River]]. Seattle's raiding party killed or enslaved the occupants of three canoes and sent the remaining two canoes back as a warning.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Suquamish" /> Seattle also led a raid against the [[Klallam people|S'Klallam people]] on the [[Olympic Peninsula]] and may have also led further raids against the [[Snoqualmie people]] as well. Coast Salish peoples historically practiced slavery, and, like many of his contemporaries, Seattle enslaved people whom he had captured during his raids, further increasing his prestige.<ref name=":0" /><ref>David M. Buerge (2017) ''Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name: The Change of Worlds for the Native People and Settlers on Puget Sound'' page 55, 60-61 {{ISBN|978-1632171351}}</ref>

By 1833, he had become known to the staff of Fort Nisqually as {{Langx|fr|Le Gros|lit=the big guy|label=none}}. He was seen as an intelligent and formidable leader, owing to his strong voice and towering physique, standing nearly {{convert|6|ft|spell=in}} tall. Francis Herron, the Chief Trader at the fort, considered him important and dangerous and requested him to sign a treaty forswearing murder. In 1837, however, Seattle murdered a [[Skykomish people|Skykomish]] shaman. The new Chief Trader, William Kittson, hoped that the Suquamish would kill him; however, they continued to value him as a leader.<ref name=":0" /> 

In 1841, Seattle led a raid on the village of {{Langx|lut|ʔilalqʷuʔ|label=none}}, located near modern-day [[Auburn, Washington|Auburn]] at the former confluence of the Green and White rivers. The raid was in retaliation for a murder committed by someone from the village, and it crippled the village. Later, in 1847, he was part of the leadership of the Suquamish war against the [[Chimakum|Chemakum]], who were decimated and effectively wiped out following the war. However, one of his sons was killed in battle with the Chemakum, leading Seattle to seek baptism into the [[Catholic Church]] around 1848. Seattle was probably baptized by the [[Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate]] in [[Olympia, Washington|Olympia]], where he chose the baptismal name of Noah after [[Noah|the prophet of the same name]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Friendship with American settlers ===
[[Image:NoahSealth.jpg|thumb|Statue of Chief Seattle, 1908 by James When, [[Tilikum Place]], Seattle, Washington. The statue is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].|312x312px]]After the death of his son and his conversion to [[Christianity]], Seattle began to seek cooperation with American settlers, retiring from fighting. He welcomed pioneers, inviting them to settle and trade with his people. Seattle began seeking contacts with businessmen and community leaders and gained a reputation as a "friend of the whites" among settlers.<ref name="HistoryLink" /><ref name=":0" /> Seattle and the Duwamish helped many early American settlers, guiding them along the Duwamish River and its tributaries, providing them with safe transportation, and helped clear forests for the cultivation of crops, and provided labor in early sawmills and farms.<ref name="Duwamish" />

Seattle was eventually contacted by [[Isaac Stevens]], the first Territorial Governor of Washington Territory, who recognized Seattle's prominence among his people. Seattle would go on to be the first signature on the 1855 [[Treaty of Point Elliott|Treaty of Point Elliot]] for the Suquamish, and all the peoples of the Duwamish River's watershed, including the Duwamish, [[Sammamish people|Sammamish]], [[Stkamish]], [[Smulkamish]], and [[Skopamish]] peoples, authorizing the cession of roughly 2.5 million acres of land to the United States.<ref name="HistoryLink" /><ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Lane|1973|p=34}} It has been argued that Seattle had no authority to sign the treaties for the peoples of the upriver Duwamish River according to traditional governance, and that he and others did not realize governor Stevens' desire to alter the indigenous political systems and control the native population.{{Sfn|Lane|1973|p=35-36}}

The unpopular treaties caused many Duwamish to renounce Seattle's leadership. Alongside many other tribes, the Duwamish participated in the [[Puget Sound War]], a part of the broader [[Yakima War|Yakima Indian War]]. Despite this, Seattle supported the Americans in the conflict, providing them with valuable military intelligence.<ref name=":0" /> Seattle warned the American settlers of the impending attack and brought as many people as he could away from the fighting to the Port Madison reservation.<ref name="HistoryLink" /> After the war's conclusion with the defeat of Native forces, Seattle tried to help his people regain their footing and sought clemency for the Native leaders in the war, such as [[Leschi (Nisqually)|Leschi]].<ref name=":0" /> One reason for the war was the unratified treaty and illegal enforcement, so Seattle continuously advocated for the final ratification of the treaties.<ref name="HistoryLink" /><ref name=":0" /> He also tried to stop slave murder and curtail the influence of alcohol on the [[Port Madison Indian Reservation|Port Madison Reservation]]; he continued to try to resolve disputes elsewhere.<ref name=":0" />

Seattle continued to seek relationships with American settlers, eventually gaining relationships with [[David Swinson Maynard|Doc Maynard]], William De Shaw, and George Meigs, who all helped Seattle further his goals in helping the local Native and Settler populations. Despite his friendships with the Americans, the town forced Seattle to leave the city that bore his name in 1865 after the [[Town of Seattle Ordinance No. 5]] banned all Native Americans from the town unless housed and employed by a white settler. Seattle then moved to the Suquamish Reservation, but continued to visit the city often both to visit his American friends and gather with other Native Americans in temporary waterfront campsites.<ref name=":0" />

The Suquamish people, with whom Seattle eventually settled, continued to take care of Seattle and recognized him as their leader until his death, bringing him food and water to his house.<ref name="HistoryLink" /> Seattle died June 7, 1866, on the Port Madison Reservation after suffering from a brief yet severe fever.<ref name="HistoryLink" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title = The Many Speeches of Chief Seattle (Seathl): The Manipulation of the Record on Behalf of Religious Political and Environmental Causes|last = Gifford|first = Eli|year = 2015|isbn = 978-1-5187-4949-0|pages = 38–39| publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform }}</ref> His funeral was conducted with both Catholic and Suquamish traditions, and he was buried on the Port Madison Reservation. Although he was mourned locally on the reservation and by his friend and sawmill owner George Meigs, no other pioneers of the city of Seattle attended his funeral, and no newspaper covered the event. However, years after his death, in 1890, some early Seattle historians and pioneers visited his gravesite, adding a stone marker to the grave.<ref name="HistoryLink" />