| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | U.S. Army |
William Cameron McKay (1824–1893) was a scout in the Snake War and Modoc War, a Captain in the U.S. Army, a member of the Warm Springs Scouts, and a physician and surgeon.
William Cameron McKay was born at Fort George on May 18, 1824, what is now Astoria, Oregon. He was the son of a famous trapper and guide Thomas McKay and his wife, Timmee T'lkul Tchinouk, daughter of Tshinouk (Chinook) chief Concomly. He was a grandson of Alexander MacKay and the step-grandson of Dr. John McLoughlin.[1]
Educated by his step-grandfather, he was sent with his brothers to be educated in the Eastern United States in 1838. He trained at Fairfield Medical College in Fairfield, New York.[2] At the age of 19 he was licensed to practice medicine.[1] He received an honorary medical diploma from Willamette University College of Medicine in 1873.[3]
He commanded a group of Warm Springs Indians that served as scouts for the U.S. Army in the Snake War, a campaign against the Northern Paiute in 1866–1868.
He was appointed on several occasions to serve as doctor at both the Warm Springs and Umatilla reservations.[4]
He died in 1893,[4] aged 74, in Pendleton, Oregon.