A Murdered Pioneer's Scalp, Kept as a Relic in Olympia
A grisly relic of Col. Isaac Ebey's 1857 killing on Whidbey Island turns up in Olympia, a reminder of the violence that shaped Washington Territory.
We were shown yesterday the scalp of Col. Ebey, who was murdered on Whidbey Island by a party of Indians in August, 1857. The hair is fine, dark brown, and only slightly discolored with smoke. It is one of the sad mementos of border life. The scalp is in the possession of A. J. Pope, Esq., of Olympia, W.T., who received it from Capt. Dodd. It was to be sent to him by the Indians as a relic.
“It is one of the sad mementos of border life.”
Isaac Ebey was one of Washington Territory's most prominent early settlers, and his murder became a founding trauma for Whidbey Island. The scalp being shown and kept as a relic reveals how frontier violence was circulated and remembered. Today Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve preserves the landscape and asks visitors to reckon with that violent history.
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