Steilacoom is located on the southern shore of Puget Sound, just southwest of Tacoma. Its name is an anglicization of “č'tilqʷɘbš” (pronounced “CH'tilQWubSH”) in the
Steilacoom People's language, Whulshootseed, a subdialect of Puget Sound Salish.1
In 1792, Vancouver's crew sailed past and met with Indigenous people offshore from Steilacoom, and by
1824, the HBC visited the village.2
This 1856 despatch makes reference to a principal military station at Steilacoom.