Battle of Seattle (1856)

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The Battle of Seattle was a January 26, 1856 attack by a coalition of Native American tribes upon Seattle, Washington. At the time, Seattle was a small, four-year-old settlement in the then-Washington Territory. It had recently named itself after Chief Seattle (Sealth), a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound. The settlement was already made the seat of King County in 1852.

European-American settlers were backed by artillery fire and supported by Marines from the United States Navy sloop-of-war Decatur, anchored in Elliott Bay (Seattle's harbor, then called Duwam-sh Bay). They suffered two fatalities. It is not known if any of the Native American raiders died. The contemporary historian T. S. Phelps wrote that they later "would admit" to 28 dead and 80 wounded. The battle, part of the multi-year Puget Sound War or Yakima Wars (1855–1858), lasted a single day.