Squinteye
Squinteye, also known as Inuqa-Jem, was a Klahoose man.1 He worked as a packer for the Bute Inlet Road crew during the attacks known as the Chilcotin War.2 According to Squinteye’s testimony in this document, the leader of the Chilcotin War, Lhatŝ’aŝʔin, told them they need not go to the Ferry; that they would find nobody there, for he had killed Smith.3 Squinteye passed on the news of Timothy Smith’s death to Victoria, but little was done in response.4 Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and his party went on to kill a total of 14 people.5 After the main attack of the Chilcotin War, Squinteye assisted the three surviving workers and later testified against Lhatŝ’aŝʔin in court, in 1864.6 Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and five other Tsilhqot’in chiefs were hanged for killing the road crew.7 They have since been exonerated, and the Canadian government has recognized that the Tsilhqot’in were protecting their lands from encroachment.8
  • 1. Squinteye, Nobody Knows Him: Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and the Chilcotin War.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. Squinteye, Nobody Knows Him: Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and the Chilcotin War.
  • 5. Ibid.
  • 6. Welcome, Nobody Knows Him: Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and the Chilcotin War.
  • 7. Ibid.
  • 8. Ibid.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Klatsassin

Smith, Timothy

Places in this document

Bute Inlet Road

Victoria

The Colonial Despatches Team. Squinteye. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/squinteye.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)