staged a surprise attack at dawn on the Penelahut natives of Kuper Island, a tribe of about 400 in number. About 225 Penelahuts were murdered in one of the worse massacres recorded. A Nanaimo chief named Winni-win-chin was visiting Kuper Island. He escaped to Nanaimo and reported the massacre to Mr. A.G. Horne, in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company post. Mr. Horne dispatched canoe men to Victoria to report the act. On April 20, 1863, the British gunboat HMS Forward attacked the native village on Kuper Island. The captain believed that the village harboured individuals of the separate Lamalchi tribe involved in two recent assaults in the Gulf Islands in which three Europeans had been killed in combat. The gunboat fired on the village but, unprepared for a naval landing, withdrew with one casualty after a fierce battle with island warriors. Following the event, the colonial government responded with one of the largest military assaults in British Columbia's history, which took place on the east coast of Vancouver Island and extended throughout the waters and islands of Active Pass, Trincomali Channel and Stuart Channel. Subsequently, having gained control of the region, the government publicly hanged four Indigenous men in Victoria and established colonial governance in the region, ultimately forming the Province of British Columbia. Gallery References Islands of the Gulf Islands First Nations history in British Columbia Indigenous conflicts in Canada