Page "Whidbey Island" Paragraph 7

In 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey became the first permanent white settler on Whidbey Island, claiming a square mile ( 2. 6 km² ) of prairie with a southern shoreline on Admiralty Inlet.

Even though he was farming potatoes and wheat on his land, he was also the postmaster for Port Townsend, Washington and rowed a boat daily across the inlet in order to work at the post office there.

On August 11, 1857, Colonel Ebey was murdered and beheaded by Haida who traveled from the Queen Charlotte Islands when he was 39 years old.

Ebey was slain in proxy-retaliation for the killing of a Haida chief at Port Gamble.

Fort Ebey, named for the Colonel, was established in 1942 on the west side of the central part of the island, just northwest of Coupeville.