Comcomly (or Concomly) (1765 – 1830) was a Native American leader of the Lower Chinook, a group of

Chinookan peoples Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (W ...

indigenous to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, who inhabited the area near

Ilwaco, Washington Ilwaco ( ) is a city in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 936 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1890, the city was home to the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company along the Long Beach Peninsula, with its core economy ba ...

. Concomly spoke

Lower Chinook Lower Chinook is a Chinookan language spoken at the mouth of the Columbia River on the west coast of North America. Dialects * Clatsop (Tlatsop) was spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop Plains ...

and was known for his skill with diplomacy and trade.

About

Concomly was described by

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

in the book ''Astoria'' as "a shrewd old savage, with but one eye," who also noted his trade and diplomacy skills. Comcomly was characterized by modern historian

James Ronda James P. Ronda (born May 30, 1943) is a now retired Western American historian. He is also an emeritus professor of history at the University of Tulsa. During his career, which began at Youngstown State University and finished at the University of ...

as a talented diplomat and shrewd businessman. He was friendly to the British and Euro-American explorers whom he encountered, including Robert Gray and

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

. Concomly met

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

in 1805 who awarded him with peace medals. He assisted the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

, also known as the Astor Expedition in the early 1810s, and offered to help the Americans fight the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, but

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

was sold to the British instead. Concomly piloted

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

ships up the Columbia and was entertained at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of th ...

John McLoughlin John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver fro ...

. In contemporaneous journals, Concomly was referred to as Chief or, at times, as "'King", a derogatory term.

Family

Concomly was reported to have several wives. His daughter Elvamox (also Marianne), married Duncan McDougall of the Pacific Fur Company, and after he left she remarried to Etienne Alexis Aubichon, also a fur trader. She was the mother of one son and six daughters. Comcomly's daughter Koale'xoa (also Raven or Princess Sunday), married Archibald McDonald a Scottish-born trader. She died giving birth to their son,

Ranald MacDonald Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Co ...

. Another of Comcomly's daughters, Ilchee, (also Princess Of Wales), married Alexander McKenzie, a clerk with the Hudson's Bay Company who was killed in 1828 by S'Klallem tribal members.

Descendants

Descendants of Comcomly include Chinook elder and historian

Catherine Troeh Catherine Herrold Troeh (January 5, 1911 – June 28, 2007) was an American historian, artist, activist and advocate for Native American rights and culture, especially in the Pacific Northwest. She was a member and elder of the Chinook tribe and a ...

and

United States Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. ...

J. Christopher Stevens, who perished in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

during the 2012 militant attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

Death

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

epidemic that occurred in 1830-33 in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

resulted in a tremendous loss of Native American lives. Malaria was one of several diseases brought by colonizers that killed an estimated 150,000 Native peoples near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in Oregon and Washington state between 1829–1833. Comcomly died in 1830 after an "intermittent fever" epidemic, also called "cold sick" and presumed to be malaria, struck his tribe. His remains were interred in a canoe, per Chinook custom, in the family burial ground. In 1835, Comcomly's elongated skull was stolen from his grave by Hudson Bay Company physician Dr. Meredith Gairdner and sent to Scotland for scientific study. It was displayed in England at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar Museum. Although damaged in

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

during World War II, the skull was eventually sent to the Clatsop County Historical Society in Astoria in 1953, and then to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in 1956. In 1972, Conconmly's skull was finally repatriated to Chinook tribal members for reburial.

Namesakes

There was a station of the

Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene. Service from Portland to Salem began in January 1908. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchased the system ...

in Marion County named "Concomly". His name also appears on Concomly Road in the

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

area. Chief Concomly Park in

Scappoose, Oregon Scappoose is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for a nearby stream, which drains the southern part of the county. The name "Scappoose" is of Native American origin, and is said to mean "gravelly plain."

opened in 2019 and is named for him.

References

External links

Comcomly (1760s?-1830)
at

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...

Leadership
from trailtribes.org includes The Succession of Comcomly
Drawing of Comcomly's tomb
from lewis-clark.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Comcomly Native American leaders Native American history of Oregon History of Washington (state) 1760s births 1830 deaths 18th-century Native Americans