Battle of Seattle (1856)

Battle of Seattle
	Part of the Puget Sound War, Yakima War
	; Map of Seattle during the battle, drawn by Lieutenant Phelps of the USS Decatur
Date	January 26, 1856
Location	Seattle, Washington, United States
Result	United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Native Americans
Commanders and leaders
Guert Gansevoort	Chief Leschi (allegedly)
Casualties and losses
3 killed (includes Jack Drew, a deserter from the ship, killed by a settler)	Unknown, possibly 28 killed

The Battle of Seattle was a January 26, 1856 attack by Native American tribesmen upon Seattle, Washington.^[2] At the time, Seattle was a settlement in the Washington Territory that had recently named itself after Chief Seattle (Sealth), a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound.^[3]

European-American settlers were backed by artillery fire and supported by Marines from the United States Navy sloop-of-war Decatur, anchored in Elliott Bay (Seattle's harbor, then called Duwam-sh Bay^[3]). They suffered two fatalities. It is not known if any of the Native American raiders died. The contemporary historian T. S. Phelps wrote that they later "would admit" to 28 dead and 80 wounded. The battle, part of the multi-year Puget Sound War or Yakima Wars (1855–1858), lasted a single day.^[2]^[3]

^ Newell, Gordon (1956). Totem Tales of Old Seattle. Superior. pp. 21–26.
^ ^a ^b Walt Crowley and David Wilma, Native Americans attack Seattle on January 26, 1856, HistoryLink.org, February 15, 2003. Retrieved November 2, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c T. S. Phelps: Reminiscences of Seattle: Washington Territory and the U. S. Sloop-of-War Decatur During the Indian War of 1855-56. Originally published by The Alice Harriman Company, Seattle, 1908. Accessed online November 2, 2006 on the site of the U.S. Department of the Navy.

[batsea-1] Newell, Gordon (1956). Totem Tales of Old Seattle. Superior. pp. 21–26.

[Crowley-Wilma-2] Walt Crowley and David Wilma, Native Americans attack Seattle on January 26, 1856, HistoryLink.org, February 15, 2003. Retrieved November 2, 2006.

[Phelps-3] T. S. Phelps: Reminiscences of Seattle: Washington Territory and the U. S. Sloop-of-War Decatur During the Indian War of 1855-56. Originally published by The Alice Harriman Company, Seattle, 1908. Accessed online November 2, 2006 on the site of the U.S. Department of the Navy.

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