Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2014

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Chair

Daniel Herman

Second Committee Member

Brian Carroll

Third Committee Member

Stephen Moore

Abstract

Much has been written about Ulysses S. Grant's Indian Peace Policy. This paper will examine the progress of its implementation on the Skokomish Reservation in Washington Territory through the work of Indian Agent Edwin Eells and analyze the likely causes of his autocratic style of management. The paper will show that Eells' professional mindset was modeled by missionary parents with a tradition of intense, narrowly focused religious commitment and influenced general white racism towards Indians. However, while the peace policy was based on an earlier European colonial model, the paper will also show that while Eells attempted to exert his authority in everything involving the reservation and its native population, the Skokomish and S 'Klallam Indians continued to exercise a great deal of independence, which ultimately compelled Eells to realize the limits to his, and the federal government's, control.

Comments

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