Little White Father
Redick McKee on the California Frontier
by Ray Raphael
If U.S. Indian Agent Redick McKee had succeeded in his 1850s efforts, the bloodshed against Native Americans would have stopped and natives and immigrants might have lived in peace, leading to a more equitable multicultural society.
This fascinating book tells how McKee won the respect of native leaders and negotiated the treaties, then explores what went wrong.
224 pages, 6"x 9", 5 historical maps and 8 illustrations. Published by Humboldt County Historical Society.
ISBN 0-883254-00-0. trade paper
Price: $15.95
From the back cover:
IN AUGUST OF 1851, a United States Indian Agent named Redick McKee embarked from Sonoma on a five hundred mile journey through Northwest California. As a messenger from the "Great Father" in Washington, McKee gathered the native inhabitants in council and negotiated a series of treaties which he hoped would allow them to live in peace. McKee's treaties would have "forever guaranteed" to the Indians many of the best sites in the region: Clear Lake, the lower Eel River Valley, Scott Valley, and the Klamath-Trinity region.
What happened to McKee and his treaties? And what happened to the Native Americans whom he hoped to save?
Little White Father is the true story of one man's attempt to stop the bloodshed on the California frontier. Basing his study on journals and other documentary evidence, Ray Raphael paints a vivid picture of this early contact between two distinct cultures.
About the Author: Ray Raphael has written seven other books, including Tree Talk, Cash Crop, Edges, and, most recently, Comic Cops, co-authored with his son Neil. His Everyday History of Somewhere won the Commonwealth Club award for the best book of the year about California. Raphael teaches American history, California history, Native American studies, and other subjects at College of the Redwoods and the Whale Gulch High School.
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