číčməhán (also Cheech-Ma-Ham, Chits-Ma-Han or Chetzemoka) was born in 1808 at KaTai, to Quah-Tum-A-Low and Lach-Ka-Nam, chief of the S'Klallam. Cheech-Ma-Ham was forty years old when the first white settlers arrived at

Port Townsend, Washington Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition t ...

. The settlers found his name difficult to pronounce, so they changed it to Chetzemoka, and he was given the "royal" nickname Duke of York. His son La-kaa-nim was nicknamed Prince of Wales, and his two wives were See-Hei-Met-za (nicknamed Queen Victoria) and Jenny Lind. His older brother, next in line to become chief, was called King George. King George was quarrelsome, unlike the diplomatic Duke. One day, after a disagreement, he packed up all of his possessions and paddled off to board a ship for San Francisco, never to return. číčməhán traveled to San Francisco in the early 1850s, where he befriended James G. Swan. The Superintendent of Indian Affairs recognized Cheech-Ma-Ham as chief of the S'Klallam in 1854, holding him responsible for the "good behavior" of his people. At Point No Point, in 1855, Chief Cheech-Ma-Ham signed a treaty giving up all S'Klallam land in exchange for retaining the rights to fish, hunt and gather in the S'Klallam usual and accustomed areas. Such treaties, pushed by Governor

Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represe ...

and largely misunderstood by the Indians, provoked the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

in 1855–56. During these wars, a number of S'Klallam held a secret meeting to decide whether or not to kill the whites in Port Townsend. The S'Klallam deliberated for nine days, during which Cheech-Ma-Ham sent a daily signal of "danger." On the tenth day, the message from Signal Rock was, in essence, "danger is passed." The S'Klallam had given up their purpose. Cheech-Ma-Ham was considered a hero by the white population, and from that point on was immortalized by them. A bronze plaque was eventually placed on the rock he signaled from, and a park in Port Townsend bears the name Chetzemoka. Prior to his death, Cheech-Ma-Ham named his son, Lach-Ka-Nim (Prince of Wales), chief. It was from Lach-Ka-Nim's nickname that the present-day Prince family name was derived. Cheech-Ma-Ham died in 1888 and was buried in the white cemetery, Laurel Grove, in Port Townsend. MV ''Chetzemoka'' is a Kwa-di Tabil-class ferry built at Todd Pacific Shipyards in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

for the Washington State Ferries and named after Chief Chetzemoka.

References

{{Reflist * excerpted from Stauss, Joseph H., The Jamestown S'Klallam Story, 2002, page 140 1808 births 1888 deaths Native American leaders Klallam People from Port Townsend, Washington