An 1860s portrait of U.S. Army Major General William Harney. During his 45-year career, Harney personally beat an enslaved mother to death, killed multiple dogs, was court-martialed four times, massacred Native American women and children, and nearly started a war with Britain [814 x 1024].

[Series: Harney Re-Examined: A New Look at a Forgotten Figure](https://www.nps.gov/articles/series.htm?id=27608386-E4A3-0C0A-4560DA3D8023BFC7)

[In April 2025](https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/09/renaming-harney-elementary-ogden-elementary-vancouver/), the school board in Vancouver, Oregon decided to rename two elementary schools. One had been named after Harney. The other was named after Canadian explorer [Peter Skene Ogden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Skene_Ogden). While his crimes were nowhere near as horrific as those committed by Carney, Ogden was on record for murdering an indigenous man outside a Canadian trading post during a dispute in 1816.

The look on his face there says he’d gladly do it all again.

Killing multiple dogs being listed first before slaughtering Indigenous people is a choice

Guy seems like a real douche