Ebey’s memory justly preserved

Upon reading Stanley G. Jones Sr.’s commentary, “Rename Ebey Slough for local leader,” I was amazed at seeing Isaac Ebey characterized as a “tyrant who slaughtered Native men, women, and children…” Exactly when and where did these slaughters take place?

I have done some inquiry into the late colonel’s career, and found no mention that he ever killed any Native people at all. He got the honorary title of “colonel” not from any military experience, but because he led a group of immigrants across the continent to the Pacific Northwest.

He served in the Territorial Legislature (it was he who introduced the bill changing the capital’s name to “Olympia.”) It was his prominence in the community that proved to be his undoing. When some prominent Native Americans were killed by the U.S. Navy on the Kitsap Peninsula, their tribesmen came looking for revenge. Being from Canada, the tribesmen in question had to ask around as to who was a suitably prominent man among the Americans. That man was Issac Ebey, who had settled on Whidbey Island.

They murdered him in cold blood as he stood in his doorway. They cut off his head and took it with them.

Col. Issac Ebey was well-known in his day, served this territory well, and his memory is justly preserved by the places named after him.

Charles J. DeBruler

Everett