Chief Comcomly or Concomly (1754? - 1830) was a Native American chief of the Chinookan people. He was the principal chief of the Chinook Confederacy, which extended along the Columbia River from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean.[1] Washington Irving described him in his book Astoria as "a shrewd old savage with but one eye".[1] He was friendly to the White explorers whom he encountered, and received medals from Lewis and Clark.[1] He also assisted the Astor Expedition and offered to help the Americans fight the British during the War of 1812, but Astoria was sold to the British instead.[1] Comcomly was friendly with the British as well.[1] He was entertained at Fort Vancouver by John McLoughlin and he piloted Hudson's Bay Company ships up the Columbia.[1]
Comcomly's daughter Elvamox, also known as Marianne, married Duncan McDougall of the Astor Expedition, and after he left she married Etienne Alexis Aubichon. She was the mother of one son and six daughters.
Comcomly died in 1830 when a fever epidemic struck his tribe.[1] His remains were interred in a canoe, per Chinook custom, in the family burial ground.[2] In 1834, Comcomly's skull was stolen from his grave by a Hudson's Bay Company physician and sent to England for display in a museum.[1] Although damaged in The Blitz, the skull was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in 1946. In 1972 it was finally repatriated to Chinook tribal members for reburial.
There was a station of the Oregon Electric Railway in Marion County named "Concomly" for the chief.[3]
Chinook elder and historian Catherine Troeh was a descendant of Comcomly.[4]
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