Bear River Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Bear River Massacre, or the Battle of Bear River and the Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Idaho
on January 29, 1863. The United States Army
attacked Shoshone
gathered at the confluence of the Bear River
and Beaver Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory
. The site is located near the present-day city of Preston
in Franklin County, Idaho
. Colonel
Patrick Edward Connor
led a detachment of California Volunteers as part of the Bear River Expedition against Shoshone Chief
Bear Hunter
.
Cache Valley
, originally called Seuhubeogoi (Shoshone
for "Willow Valley"), was the traditional hunting ground for the Northwestern Shoshone. They gathered grain and grass seeds there, as well as hunting small game such as woodchuck and ground squirrel
; large game animals including deer
, elk
, and buffalo
; and fishing for trout
from the rivers. This mountain valley had attracted fur trappers such as Jim Bridger
and Jedediah Smith
, who visited the region. Cache Valley was named for the trappers' practice of leaving stores of furs and goods (i.e., a cache) in the valley as a base for hunting in the surrounding mountain ranges.
So impressed were the trappers by the region that they recommended to Brigham Young
that he consider the valley as a location for his settlement of Mormon pioneers. Instead, Young chose Salt Lake Valley
. In the long term, Mormon settlers eventually moved to Cache Valley as well. As early as July 31, 1847, a 20-man delegation of Shoshone met with the Mormons to discuss their land claims in northern Utah.
and Oregon
trails, as well as the establishment of Salt Lake City in 1847 brought the Shoshone people into regular contact with white colonists moving westward. By 1856, European Americans had established their first permanent settlements and farms in Cache Valley
, starting at Wellsville
and gradually moving northward.
Brigham Young made the policy that Mormon
settlers should establish friendly relations with the surrounding American Indian
tribes. He encouraged their helping to "feed them rather than fight them". Despite the policy, the settlers were consuming significant food resources and taking over areas that pushed the Shoshone increasingly into areas of marginal food production. David II. Burr, Surveyor General of the Territory of Utah reported in 1856 that the local Shoshone Indians complained that the Mormons had so used the Cache Valley that the once abundant game no longer appeared. In addition, the foraging and hunting by settlers traveling on the western migration trails took additional resources away from the Shoshone. As early as 1859 Jacob Forney, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah, recognized the impact of migrants, writing, "The Indians...have become impoverished by the introduction of a white population". He recommended that an Indian Reservation
be established in Cache Valley to protect essential resources for the Shoshone. His superiors at the U.S. Dept. of Interior did not act on his proposal. Desperate and starving, the Shoshone attacked farms and cattle ranches for food, as a matter not just of revenge but survival.
In the early spring of 1862, Utah Territorial Superintendent of Indian Affairs, James Duane Doty
, spent four days in Cache Valley and reported: "The Indians have been in great numbers, in a starving and destitute condition. No provisions having been made for them, either as to clothing or provisions by my predecessors...The Indians condition was such-with the prospect that they would rob mail stations to sustain life." Doty purchased supplies of food and slowly doled it out. He suggested furnishing the Shoshone with livestock to enable them to become herdsmen instead of beggars.
On July 28, 1862, John White discovered gold
on Grasshopper Creek in the mountains of southwestern Montana
. Soon miners created a migration and supply trail right through the middle of Cache Valley between this mining camp and Salt Lake City. The latter was the nearest significant trading source of goods and food in the area.
began in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln
was concerned that California
, which had just recently become a state, would be cut off from the rest of the Union. He ordered several regiments to be raised from the population of California to help protect mail routes and the communications lines of the West. Neither Lincoln nor the U.S. War Department quite trusted the Mormons
of the Utah Territory
to remain loyal to the Union, in spite of their leader Young's telegrams and assurances. The Utah War
and Mountain Meadows massacre
were still fresh in the minds of military planners. They worried that the Mormons' substantial militia might answer only to Young and not the federal government.
Col. Patrick Edward Connor
was put in command of the 3rd California Volunteer Infantry Regiment
and ordered to move his men to Utah, to protect the Overland Mail Route
and keep peace in the region. Upon arriving in Utah, he established Fort Douglas (adjacent to the current location of the University of Utah
) as the primary base of operations for his unit. It was within sight of the Mormon Temple
construction site and downtown Salt Lake City.
and European-American settlers over almost the entire United States west of the Mississippi River
. The attention of most of the nation's population was focused on the Civil War in the eastern states. Modern historians have overlooked these incidents because they occurred near the ill-defined boundary of two different territories: those of Washington
and Utah
. While the incidents took place in proximity, the administrative centers dealing with them were more than 1000 miles apart, so it was difficult to integrate reports. As an example, for years residents and officials believed Franklin
and the area of conflict were part of the Utah Territory. Residents of Franklin sent elected representatives to the Utah Territorial Legislature and were part of the politics of Cache County, Utah until 1872, when a surveying team determined the community was in Idaho territory.
) found his horse missing, he accused a young Shoshone fishing in nearby Summit Creek of having stolen the animal. Robert Thornley, an English immigrant and first resident of Summit Creek, defended the young Indian and testified for him. Nonetheless, a jury of locals convicted him and hanged him for stealing the horse. Local history recorded the Shoshone's name as Pugweenee. Later information reveals that Pugweenee is the Shoshone word for "fish," so the man may have been saying, "Look at my fish," or "I was just fishing."
The young Indian man was the son of the local Shoshone
chief
. Within a few days the Shoshone retaliated by killing a couple of young men of the Merrill family who were gathering wood in the nearby canyon.
when they were attacked at night, by people they assumed were local Shoshone. Several members of the company were killed by gunfire. The survivors took refuge along the Portneuf River
, where they hid among the bullrushes
and willow trees
. Three days later, Lieutenant Livingston of Fort Walla Walla
, leading a company of dragoons, met the survivors. He investigated the incident, and documented what he called the brutality of the attack.
On September 9, 1860, Elijah Otter was leading migrants on the Oregon trail when they were attacked by a group of presumably Bannock and Boise Shoshone. In spite of settlers' attempts to placate the Native Americans, the Indians killed nearly the entire migrant party and drove off their livestock. Alexis Van Ornum, his family, and about ten others hid in some nearby brush, only to be discovered and killed. Their bodies were discovered by a company of U.S. soldiers led by Captain F.T. Dent. Lieutenant Marcus A. Reno came across the mutilated bodies of six of the Van Ornums. Reports from survivors were that four Van Ornum children were taken captive by the attacking warriors.
As a direct result of this attack, the Army established a military fort near the present location of Boise, Idaho
, along the migrant trail. Colonel George Wright requested $150,000 to establish a military post able to sustain five companies of troops.
Zachias Van Ornum, Alexis' brother, heard from a relative on the Oregon Trail that a small white boy of his missing nephew Reuben's age was being held by a group of Northwestern Shoshone, likely to be in Cache Valley. Van Ornum gathered a small group of friends and traveled to Salt Lake City to get some help from the territorial government. There he visited Col. Connor at Fort Douglas and asked for help to regain his nephew. Col. Connor agreed and sent a detachment of cavalry
under the command of Major Edward McGarry
to Cache Valley to rendezvous with Van Ornum near the town of Providence, Utah
.
Van Ornum located a small group of Shoshone warriors being led by Chief Bear Hunter
. He and McGarry's men followed the Shoshone as they retreated to nearby Providence Canyon. After the Indians opened fire, McGarry gave the order "to commence firing and to to kill every Indian they could see." A skirmish between the Shoshone and the U.S. Army lasted for about two hours after the Shoshone established a defensible position in the canyon. Finally Chief Bear Hunter signaled surrender by climbing a foothill and waving a flag of truce.
Together with about 20 of his people, Chief Bear Hunter was taken prisoner and transported to the soldiers' camp near Providence. When asked about the young white boy, Bear Hunter said that the boy had been sent away a few days earlier. McGarry instructed Bear Hunter to send his people to bring back the white boy. He held Bear Hunter and four warriors hostage. By noon of the next day, the Shoshone returned with a small boy who fit the description of Reuben Van Ornum. Zachias Van Ornum claimed the boy was his nephew and took custody, departing to return to Oregon.
The Shoshone protested, claiming that the boy was the son of a French fur trapper and the sister of Shoshone chief Washakie
. The federal troops left with Van Ornum and the young boy, McGarry reported to Col. Connor of their rescue of the boy "without the lost or scratch of man or horse." Bear Hunter complained to the settlers in Cache Valley, arguing they should have helped him against the soldiers. After a confrontation between Bear Hunter, some warriors from his band, and nearly 70 members of the Cache Valley militia, the settlers donated two cows and some flour as the "best and cheapest policy" as a kind of compensation.
freight-hauling service between mining camps of Montana and Salt Lake City, was attacked by Shoshone warriors. They killed two men who accompanied him, George Clayton and Henry Bean. Arriving in Salt Lake City, Conover told a reporter the Shoshone were "determined to avenge the blood of their comrades" killed by Major McGarry and his soldiers. He said the Shoshone intended to "kill every white man they should meet on the north side of the Bear River, till they should be fully avenged."
. They had come within two miles of the main Shoshone winter encampment north of Franklin. The miners missed a turn ended up mired and lost on the western side of the Bear River, unable to cross the deep river. Three men swam across to Richmond
, where they tried to get provisions and a guide from the settlers. Before they returned, the other five men were attacked by Shoshone. They killed John Henry Smith of Walla Walla
, and some horses. When the Richmond people returned with the advance party, they recovered the body of John Smith. They buried him at the Richmond city cemetery.
The surviving miners reached Salt Lake City. William Bevins testified before Chief Justice John F. Kinney
and swore an affidavit describing Smith's murder. He also reported that ten miners en route to the city had been murdered three days before Smith. Kinney issued a warrant
for the arrest of chiefs Bear Hunter, Sanpitch, and Sagwitch
. He ordered the territorial marshal to seek assistance from Col. Connor for a military force to "effect the arrest of the guilty Indians."
Due to such reports, Connor was ready to mount an expedition against the Shoshone. He reported to the U.S. War Department prior to the engagement:
Throughout most of January 1863, soldiers at Fort Douglas were preparing for a lengthy expedition traveling north to the Shoshone. Connor also wanted to keep word of his expedition secret, in order to make a surprise attack upon the Shoshone when he arrived. To do this, he separated his command into two different detachments, that were to periodically come together on their journey to Cache Valley. His main concern was to avoid the problems that McGarry had faced in the earlier action, where the Shoshone had moved and scattered even before his troops could arrive.
Reaction to this military campaign was mixed. George A. Smith, in the official Journal History of the LDS Church, wrote:
On the other hand, the Deseret News in an editorial expressed:
The first group to leave from Fort Douglas was forty men of Company K, 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
, commanded by Captain Samuel W. Hoyt, accompanied by 15 baggage wagons and two "mountain howitzers" totalling 80 soldiers They left on January 22, 1863.
The second group was 220 cavalry, led personally by Connor himself with his aides and fifty men each from Companies A, H, K and M of the 2nd Regiment of Cavalry, California Volunteers
which left on January 25. As orders specific for this campaign, Connor ordered each soldier to carry "40 rounds of rifle ammunition and 30 rounds of pistol ammunition". This was a total of nearly 16,000 rounds for the campaign. In addition, nearly 200 rounds of artillery shot were brought with the howitzers. As a part of the deception, the cavalry were to travel at night while the infantry moved during the day. Accompanying Connor was the former U.S. Marshal and Mormon scout, Orrin Porter Rockwell.
On the evening of January 28, Captain Hoyt's infantry finally arrived near the town of Franklin, where they spotted three Shoshone who were attempting to get food supplies from the settlers in the town. The Shoshone received nine bushels of wheat in three sacks. William Hull, the settler who was assisting the Shoshone, noted later:
The sacks of grain carried by these Shoshone were later found by the 3rd California Volunteers during their advance the next day, apparently dropped by the Shoshone in their attempt to get back to their camp.
Col. Connor met up with Hoyt that evening as well, with orders to begin moving at about 1:00 A.M. the next morning for a surprise attack, but an attempt to try and get a local settler to act as a scout for the immediate area led the actual advance to wait until 3:00 A.M.
It should be noted that this military action took place during perhaps the coldest time of the year in Cache Valley. Local settlers commented that it was unseasonably cold even for northern Utah, and it may have been as cold as -20°F (-30°C) on the morning of the 29th when the attack began. Several soldiers had come down with frostbite and other cold-weather problems, so that the 3rd volunteers were only at about 2/3 of their strength compared to when they left Fort Douglas. Among the rations issued to the soldiers during the campaign was a ration of whiskey held in a canteen
, where several soldiers noted that this whiskey froze solid on the night before the attack.
Most of the firearms that the Shoshone had at the time of the attack had been captured in various small skirmishes, traded from fur trappers, white settlers, and other Native American tribal groups, or simply antiques that had been handed down from one generation to another over the years. Clearly they were not as standardized or as well built as the guns issued by the Union Army to the soldiers of the California Volunteers.
Bear Hunter and the other Shoshone chiefs did, however, make some defensive arrangements around their encampment, in addition to simply selecting a generally defensible position in the first place. Willow branches had been woven into makeshift screens, hiding the position and numbers of Shoshone. They also dug a series of "rifle pits" along the eastern bank of Beaver Creek as well as along the Bear River.
Perhaps most ironic was that at the same time the arrest warrant was being issued by Justice Kinney, Chief Sanpitch (named in the warrant) was in Salt Lake City trying to negotiate peace on behalf of the Northwestern Shoshone. A correspondent for the Sacramento Union
reported "The Prophet (Brigham Young) had told Sanpitch the Mormon people had suffered enough from the Shoshoni of Cache Valley and that if more blood were spilled the Mormons might just "pitch in" and help the troops."
While it appears as though the deception by Connor to hide the numbers of his soldiers involved in the confrontation was successful, the Shoshone were not even then anticipating a direct military engagement with these soldiers. Instead, they were preparing for a negotiated settlement where the chiefs would be able to talk with officers of the U.S. Army and try to come to an understanding.
arrived at the battle scene at 6:00 a.m., just as dawn was breaking over the mountains. Due to the weather conditions and deep snow, it took time for Connor to organize his soldiers into a battle line. The artillery pieces never arrived as they got caught in a snow drift six miles from the Shoshone encampment.
Chief Sagwitch noted the approach of the American soldiers, saying, "Look like there is something up on the ridge up there. Look like a cloud. Maybe it is a steam come from a horse. Maybe that's them soldiers they were talking about." Soon afterward, the first shots of this incident occurred.
Initially Connor tried a direct frontal offensive
against the Shoshone positions, but was soon overwhelmed with return gunfire from the Shoshone. The California Volunteers suffered most of their direct combat-related casualties during this first assault.
After temporarily retreating and regrouping, Connor sent McGarry and several other smaller groups into flanking maneuvers to attack the village from the sides and from behind. He directed a line of infantry to block any attempt by the Shoshone to flee from the battle. After about two hours, the Shoshone had run out of ammunition. According to some later reports, some Shoshone were seen trying to cast lead ammunition during the middle of the battle, and died with the molds in their hands. After they ran out of ammunition, the battle quickly turned into a massacre.
, where he floated under some brush until nightfall.
Sagwitch's son, Beshup Timbimboo, was shot seven times but survived and was rescued by family members. Other members of the band hid in the willow brush of the Bear River, or tried to act as if they were dead. After the officers concluded the battle was over, they returned with the soldiers to their temporary encampment near Franklin. Sagwitch and other survivors retrieved the wounded and built a fire to warm the survivors.
Franklin residents opened their homes to wounded soldiers that night. They brought blankets and hay to the church meetinghouse to protect the other soldiers from the cold. Connor hired several men to use sleighs to bring wounded men back to Salt Lake City.
The California Volunteers suffered 14 soldiers killed and 49 wounded, 7 mortally. Connors estimated his forces killed more than 224 braves of 300 warriors. He reported capturing 175 horses and some arms, and destroying 70 lodges and a large quantity of stored wheat in winter supplies. He left a small quantity of wheat on the field for the 160 captured women and children.
There was a large difference between the number of Indians reported killed by Conners and the number counted by the citizens of Franklin, the latter being much larger. Also, the settlers claimed the number of surviving women and children to be much fewer than what Conners claimed. In his 1911 autobiography, Danish immigrant Hans Jasperson claims to have walked among the bodies and counted 493 dead Shoshone.
In 1918, Sagwitch's son Be-shup, Frank Timbimboo Warner, said, "[H]alf of those present got away," and 156 were killed. He went on to say that two of his brothers and a sister-in-law "lived", as well as many who later lived at the Washakie, Utah, settlement, the Fort Hall reservation, in the Wind River country, and elsewhere.
Chief Sagwitch and many members of his band allied with the Mormons. Many were baptized and joined LDS Church. Sagwitch later was ordained as an Elder in the Melchizedek priesthood
. Members of this band helped to establish the town of Washakie, Utah, named in honor of the Shoshone chief. Most of the remaining members of the Northwestern band of Shoshone built farms and homesteads under LDS Church sponsorship. Their descendants became largely integrated into mainstream LDS society. The Shoshone who did not get involved with this settlement went to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation
.
Col. Connor and the California Volunteers were treated as heroes when they arrived at Fort Douglas and by their community in California, according to published newspaper articles. Connor was promoted to the permanent rank of Brigadier General
and given a brevet
promotion shortly afterward to the rank of Major General
. Connor campaigned against Native Americans in the West for the remainder of the U.S. Civil War, leading the Powder River Expedition
against the Sioux
and Cheyenne
.
is located near U.S. Route 91
. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1990. Western Shoshone acquired the site in 2008 to protect it as a sacred burial ground. They intend to erect their own monument in memory of victims of the massacre.
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
on January 29, 1863. The United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
attacked Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
gathered at the confluence of the Bear River
Bear River (Utah)
The Bear River is a river, approximately long, in southwestern Wyoming, southeastern Idaho, and northern Utah, in the United States. The largest tributary of the Great Salt Lake, it drains a mountainous area and farming valleys northeast of the lake and southeast of the Snake River Plain...
and Beaver Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
. The site is located near the present-day city of Preston
Preston, Idaho
Preston is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 4,682 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Franklin County. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in Franklin County, Idaho
Franklin County, Idaho
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2000 Census the county had a population of 11,329 . The county seat and largest city is Preston. Franklin County is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.Established in 1913, Franklin County was named...
. Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Patrick Edward Connor
Patrick Edward Connor
Patrick Edward Connor was a Union General during the American Civil War. He was most famous for his campaigns against Native Americans in the American Old West.-Early life and career:...
led a detachment of California Volunteers as part of the Bear River Expedition against Shoshone Chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
Bear Hunter
Bear Hunter
Bear Hunter was a Shoshone chief of the Great Basin who strongly resisted white colonization of the area in the 1860s. He and his war parties attacked Mormon colonists, telegraph workers, and wagon trains heading west while federal troops were preoccupied with the American Civil War...
.
Early history and causes
Cache Valley
The Cache Valley is an agricultural valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre.-History:...
, originally called Seuhubeogoi (Shoshone
Shoshone language
Shoshoni or Shoshone is a Native American language spoken by the Shoshone people. Principal dialects of Shoshoni include Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming.Shoshoni-speaking Native Americans...
for "Willow Valley"), was the traditional hunting ground for the Northwestern Shoshone. They gathered grain and grass seeds there, as well as hunting small game such as woodchuck and ground squirrel
Ground squirrel
The ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known as marmots or prairie dogs, while the smaller and less...
; large game animals including deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, and buffalo
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
; and fishing for trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
from the rivers. This mountain valley had attracted fur trappers such as Jim Bridger
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites...
and Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith was a hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer, cattleman, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the 19th century...
, who visited the region. Cache Valley was named for the trappers' practice of leaving stores of furs and goods (i.e., a cache) in the valley as a base for hunting in the surrounding mountain ranges.
So impressed were the trappers by the region that they recommended to Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
that he consider the valley as a location for his settlement of Mormon pioneers. Instead, Young chose Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...
. In the long term, Mormon settlers eventually moved to Cache Valley as well. As early as July 31, 1847, a 20-man delegation of Shoshone met with the Mormons to discuss their land claims in northern Utah.
Immigrant pressures causing Shoshone starvation
The establishment of the CaliforniaCalifornia Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
and Oregon
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
trails, as well as the establishment of Salt Lake City in 1847 brought the Shoshone people into regular contact with white colonists moving westward. By 1856, European Americans had established their first permanent settlements and farms in Cache Valley
Cache Valley
The Cache Valley is an agricultural valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre.-History:...
, starting at Wellsville
Wellsville, Utah
Wellsville is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,432 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Wellsville is located at ....
and gradually moving northward.
Brigham Young made the policy that Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
settlers should establish friendly relations with the surrounding American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes. He encouraged their helping to "feed them rather than fight them". Despite the policy, the settlers were consuming significant food resources and taking over areas that pushed the Shoshone increasingly into areas of marginal food production. David II. Burr, Surveyor General of the Territory of Utah reported in 1856 that the local Shoshone Indians complained that the Mormons had so used the Cache Valley that the once abundant game no longer appeared. In addition, the foraging and hunting by settlers traveling on the western migration trails took additional resources away from the Shoshone. As early as 1859 Jacob Forney, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah, recognized the impact of migrants, writing, "The Indians...have become impoverished by the introduction of a white population". He recommended that an Indian Reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
be established in Cache Valley to protect essential resources for the Shoshone. His superiors at the U.S. Dept. of Interior did not act on his proposal. Desperate and starving, the Shoshone attacked farms and cattle ranches for food, as a matter not just of revenge but survival.
In the early spring of 1862, Utah Territorial Superintendent of Indian Affairs, James Duane Doty
James Duane Doty
James Duane Doty was a land speculator and politician in the United States who played a large role in the development of Wisconsin and Utah Territory.-Legal career:...
, spent four days in Cache Valley and reported: "The Indians have been in great numbers, in a starving and destitute condition. No provisions having been made for them, either as to clothing or provisions by my predecessors...The Indians condition was such-with the prospect that they would rob mail stations to sustain life." Doty purchased supplies of food and slowly doled it out. He suggested furnishing the Shoshone with livestock to enable them to become herdsmen instead of beggars.
On July 28, 1862, John White discovered gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
on Grasshopper Creek in the mountains of southwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Soon miners created a migration and supply trail right through the middle of Cache Valley between this mining camp and Salt Lake City. The latter was the nearest significant trading source of goods and food in the area.
Outbreak of the Civil War
When the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
began in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was concerned that California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, which had just recently become a state, would be cut off from the rest of the Union. He ordered several regiments to be raised from the population of California to help protect mail routes and the communications lines of the West. Neither Lincoln nor the U.S. War Department quite trusted the Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
of the Utah Territory
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
to remain loyal to the Union, in spite of their leader Young's telegrams and assurances. The Utah War
Utah War
The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
and Mountain Meadows massacre
Mountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...
were still fresh in the minds of military planners. They worried that the Mormons' substantial militia might answer only to Young and not the federal government.
Patrick Edward Connor
Patrick Edward Connor was a Union General during the American Civil War. He was most famous for his campaigns against Native Americans in the American Old West.-Early life and career:...
was put in command of the 3rd California Volunteer Infantry Regiment
3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
The 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. This regiment was organized at Stockton and at Benicia Barracks, from October 31 to December 31, 1861, to serve three years. The regiment was first commanded by Colonel Patrick...
and ordered to move his men to Utah, to protect the Overland Mail Route
Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company
The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was the parent company of the Pony Express.It was formed by William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, as a freighting company supplying goods to the western United States...
and keep peace in the region. Upon arriving in Utah, he established Fort Douglas (adjacent to the current location of the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
) as the primary base of operations for his unit. It was within sight of the Mormon Temple
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
construction site and downtown Salt Lake City.
Warnings and conflicts with Cache Valley settlers
Several incidents in the summer and fall of 1862 led to the battle between Bear Hunter and Col. Connor. These were related to broad struggles between indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
and European-American settlers over almost the entire United States west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. The attention of most of the nation's population was focused on the Civil War in the eastern states. Modern historians have overlooked these incidents because they occurred near the ill-defined boundary of two different territories: those of Washington
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
and Utah
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
. While the incidents took place in proximity, the administrative centers dealing with them were more than 1000 miles apart, so it was difficult to integrate reports. As an example, for years residents and officials believed Franklin
Franklin, Idaho
Franklin is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 641 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
and the area of conflict were part of the Utah Territory. Residents of Franklin sent elected representatives to the Utah Territorial Legislature and were part of the politics of Cache County, Utah until 1872, when a surveying team determined the community was in Idaho territory.
Pugweenee
When a resident of Summit Creek (now SmithfieldSmithfield, Utah
Smithfield is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 9,495 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the second largest city in the area after the county seat, Logan...
) found his horse missing, he accused a young Shoshone fishing in nearby Summit Creek of having stolen the animal. Robert Thornley, an English immigrant and first resident of Summit Creek, defended the young Indian and testified for him. Nonetheless, a jury of locals convicted him and hanged him for stealing the horse. Local history recorded the Shoshone's name as Pugweenee. Later information reveals that Pugweenee is the Shoshone word for "fish," so the man may have been saying, "Look at my fish," or "I was just fishing."
The young Indian man was the son of the local Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
. Within a few days the Shoshone retaliated by killing a couple of young men of the Merrill family who were gathering wood in the nearby canyon.
Massacre near Fort Hall
During the summer of 1859, a settler company of about 19 people from Michigan were traveling on the Oregon Trail near Fort HallFort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
when they were attacked at night, by people they assumed were local Shoshone. Several members of the company were killed by gunfire. The survivors took refuge along the Portneuf River
Portneuf River (Idaho)
The Portneuf River is a tributary of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho in the United States. It drains a ranching and farming valley in the mountains southeast of the Snake River Plain...
, where they hid among the bullrushes
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
and willow trees
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
. Three days later, Lieutenant Livingston of Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla is a fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. It was established in 1858. Today, the complex contains a park, a museum, and a hospital.Fort Walla Walla should be distinguished from Fort Nez Percés or Old Fort Walla Walla ....
, leading a company of dragoons, met the survivors. He investigated the incident, and documented what he called the brutality of the attack.
Reuben Van Ornum and the Battle of Providence
As a direct result of this attack, the Army established a military fort near the present location of Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, along the migrant trail. Colonel George Wright requested $150,000 to establish a military post able to sustain five companies of troops.
Zachias Van Ornum, Alexis' brother, heard from a relative on the Oregon Trail that a small white boy of his missing nephew Reuben's age was being held by a group of Northwestern Shoshone, likely to be in Cache Valley. Van Ornum gathered a small group of friends and traveled to Salt Lake City to get some help from the territorial government. There he visited Col. Connor at Fort Douglas and asked for help to regain his nephew. Col. Connor agreed and sent a detachment of cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
under the command of Major Edward McGarry
Edward McGarry
Edward McGarry , officer in the Mexican American War, California politician and officer of California Volunteers in American Civil War, leading cavalry at the Battle of Bear River, later Colonel, of the 2nd California Cavalry, and Commander of the District of California, and received a brevet...
to Cache Valley to rendezvous with Van Ornum near the town of Providence, Utah
Providence, Utah
Providence is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 7,075 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Providence is located at ....
.
Van Ornum located a small group of Shoshone warriors being led by Chief Bear Hunter
Bear Hunter
Bear Hunter was a Shoshone chief of the Great Basin who strongly resisted white colonization of the area in the 1860s. He and his war parties attacked Mormon colonists, telegraph workers, and wagon trains heading west while federal troops were preoccupied with the American Civil War...
. He and McGarry's men followed the Shoshone as they retreated to nearby Providence Canyon. After the Indians opened fire, McGarry gave the order "to commence firing and to to kill every Indian they could see." A skirmish between the Shoshone and the U.S. Army lasted for about two hours after the Shoshone established a defensible position in the canyon. Finally Chief Bear Hunter signaled surrender by climbing a foothill and waving a flag of truce.
Together with about 20 of his people, Chief Bear Hunter was taken prisoner and transported to the soldiers' camp near Providence. When asked about the young white boy, Bear Hunter said that the boy had been sent away a few days earlier. McGarry instructed Bear Hunter to send his people to bring back the white boy. He held Bear Hunter and four warriors hostage. By noon of the next day, the Shoshone returned with a small boy who fit the description of Reuben Van Ornum. Zachias Van Ornum claimed the boy was his nephew and took custody, departing to return to Oregon.
The Shoshone protested, claiming that the boy was the son of a French fur trapper and the sister of Shoshone chief Washakie
Washakie
Chief Washakie was a renowned warrior first mentioned in 1840 in the written record of the American fur trapper, Osborne Russell. In 1851, at the urging of trapper Jim Bridger, Washakie led a band of Shoshones to the council meetings of the Treaty of Fort Laramie...
. The federal troops left with Van Ornum and the young boy, McGarry reported to Col. Connor of their rescue of the boy "without the lost or scratch of man or horse." Bear Hunter complained to the settlers in Cache Valley, arguing they should have helped him against the soldiers. After a confrontation between Bear Hunter, some warriors from his band, and nearly 70 members of the Cache Valley militia, the settlers donated two cows and some flour as the "best and cheapest policy" as a kind of compensation.
Bear River crossing
On December 4, 1862, Connor sent McGarry on another expedition to Cache Valley, this time to recover some stolen livestock from Shoshone. The Shoshone broke camp and fled in advance of the Army troops and cut the ropes of a ferry at the crossing. McGarry got his men across the river, but had to leave their horses behind. Four Shoshone warriors were captured and held for ransom, although they did not appear related to the theft. McGarry ordered that if the stock was not delivered by noon the next day, these men were to be shot. The Shoshone chiefs moved their people further north into Cache Valley. The captives were executed by a firing squad, and their bodies were dumped into the Bear River. In an editorial, the Deseret News expressed concern that the execution would aggravate relations with the Shoshone.Incident on the Montana Trail
A.H. Conover, operator of a Montana TrailMontana Trail
The Montana Trail was wagon road that served gold rush towns such as Bannack, Virginia City and later Helena, Montana during the Montana gold rush era of the 1860s and 1870s. It branched from the Oregon Trail in southeastern Idaho and ran north through eastern Idaho along a well-established native...
freight-hauling service between mining camps of Montana and Salt Lake City, was attacked by Shoshone warriors. They killed two men who accompanied him, George Clayton and Henry Bean. Arriving in Salt Lake City, Conover told a reporter the Shoshone were "determined to avenge the blood of their comrades" killed by Major McGarry and his soldiers. He said the Shoshone intended to "kill every white man they should meet on the north side of the Bear River, till they should be fully avenged."
Attack on the Montana Trail
The final catalyst for Connor's expedition was a Shoshone attack on a group of eight miners on the Montana TrailMontana Trail
The Montana Trail was wagon road that served gold rush towns such as Bannack, Virginia City and later Helena, Montana during the Montana gold rush era of the 1860s and 1870s. It branched from the Oregon Trail in southeastern Idaho and ran north through eastern Idaho along a well-established native...
. They had come within two miles of the main Shoshone winter encampment north of Franklin. The miners missed a turn ended up mired and lost on the western side of the Bear River, unable to cross the deep river. Three men swam across to Richmond
Richmond, Utah
Richmond is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,470 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. Part of the film Napoleon Dynamite was filmed at Richmond. Richmond is home to three schools. An Elementary school, a middle...
, where they tried to get provisions and a guide from the settlers. Before they returned, the other five men were attacked by Shoshone. They killed John Henry Smith of Walla Walla
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, and some horses. When the Richmond people returned with the advance party, they recovered the body of John Smith. They buried him at the Richmond city cemetery.
The surviving miners reached Salt Lake City. William Bevins testified before Chief Justice John F. Kinney
John F. Kinney
John Fitch Kinney was a prominent American attorney, judge, and Democratic politician. He served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa, twice as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah and one term as the Territory of Utah's Delegate in the House of Representatives of the...
and swore an affidavit describing Smith's murder. He also reported that ten miners en route to the city had been murdered three days before Smith. Kinney issued a warrant
Warrant (law)
Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization; a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is...
for the arrest of chiefs Bear Hunter, Sanpitch, and Sagwitch
Sagwitch
Chief Sagwitch , his name meant "Orator", was born in 1822 on the lower Bear River . He was a nineteenth century chieftain of a band of Northwestern Shoshone that converted to Mormonism. His group were the ones killed in the Bear River Massacre...
. He ordered the territorial marshal to seek assistance from Col. Connor for a military force to "effect the arrest of the guilty Indians."
Due to such reports, Connor was ready to mount an expedition against the Shoshone. He reported to the U.S. War Department prior to the engagement:
- "I have the honor to report to you that from information received from various sources of the encampment of a large body of Indians on the Bear River, 140 miles north of this point, who had murdered several miners, during the winter, passing to and from the settlements in this valley to the Bear River mines east of the Rocky Mountains. And being satisfied that they were part of the same band who had been murdering emigrants on the Overland Mail Route for the last 15 years, and the principal actors and leaders in the horrid massacreMassacreA massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
of the past summer. I determined, although the season was unfavorable to military expedition in consequence of cold weather and deep snow, to chastise them if possible."
Military action in Cache Valley
In many ways, the soldiers stationed at Fort Douglas were spoiling for a fight. In addition to discipline problems among the soldiers, there was a minor "mutiny" among the soldiers where a joint petition by most of the California Volunteers made a request to withhold over $30,000 from their paychecks for the sole purpose of instead paying for naval passage to the eastern states, and to "serve their country in shooting traitors instead of eating rations and freezing to death around sage brush fires..." Furthermore, they stated that they would gladly pay this money "for the privilege (original emphasis) of going to the Potomac and getting shot." This request was declined by the War Department.Throughout most of January 1863, soldiers at Fort Douglas were preparing for a lengthy expedition traveling north to the Shoshone. Connor also wanted to keep word of his expedition secret, in order to make a surprise attack upon the Shoshone when he arrived. To do this, he separated his command into two different detachments, that were to periodically come together on their journey to Cache Valley. His main concern was to avoid the problems that McGarry had faced in the earlier action, where the Shoshone had moved and scattered even before his troops could arrive.
Reaction to this military campaign was mixed. George A. Smith, in the official Journal History of the LDS Church, wrote:
- "It is said that Col. Connor is determined to exterminate the Indians who have been killing the Emigrants on the route to the Gold Mines in Washington Territory. Small detachments have been leaving for the North for several days. If the present expedition copies the doings of the other that preceded it, it will result in catching some friendly Indians, murdering them, and letting the guilty scamps remain undisturbed in their mountain haunts."
On the other hand, the Deseret News in an editorial expressed:
- "...with ordinary good luck, the volunteers will 'wipe them out.' We wish this community rid of all such parties, and if Col. Connor be successful in reaching that bastard class of humans who play with the lives of the peaceable and law abiding citizens in this way, we shall be pleased to acknowledge our obligations."
The first group to leave from Fort Douglas was forty men of Company K, 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
The 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. This regiment was organized at Stockton and at Benicia Barracks, from October 31 to December 31, 1861, to serve three years. The regiment was first commanded by Colonel Patrick...
, commanded by Captain Samuel W. Hoyt, accompanied by 15 baggage wagons and two "mountain howitzers" totalling 80 soldiers They left on January 22, 1863.
The second group was 220 cavalry, led personally by Connor himself with his aides and fifty men each from Companies A, H, K and M of the 2nd Regiment of Cavalry, California Volunteers
2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry
The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, with most of its companies dispersed to various posts.-History:...
which left on January 25. As orders specific for this campaign, Connor ordered each soldier to carry "40 rounds of rifle ammunition and 30 rounds of pistol ammunition". This was a total of nearly 16,000 rounds for the campaign. In addition, nearly 200 rounds of artillery shot were brought with the howitzers. As a part of the deception, the cavalry were to travel at night while the infantry moved during the day. Accompanying Connor was the former U.S. Marshal and Mormon scout, Orrin Porter Rockwell.
On the evening of January 28, Captain Hoyt's infantry finally arrived near the town of Franklin, where they spotted three Shoshone who were attempting to get food supplies from the settlers in the town. The Shoshone received nine bushels of wheat in three sacks. William Hull, the settler who was assisting the Shoshone, noted later:
- "we had two of the three horses loaded, having put three bushels on each horse...when I looked up and saw the Soldiers approaching from the south. I said to the Indian boys, 'Here comes the Toquashes (ShoshoneShoshone languageShoshoni or Shoshone is a Native American language spoken by the Shoshone people. Principal dialects of Shoshoni include Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming.Shoshoni-speaking Native Americans...
for U.S. Soldiers) maybe, you will all be killed. They answered 'maybe the Toquashes will be killed too,' but not waiting for the third horse to be loaded, they quickly jumped upon their horses and led the three horses away, disappearing in the distance."
The sacks of grain carried by these Shoshone were later found by the 3rd California Volunteers during their advance the next day, apparently dropped by the Shoshone in their attempt to get back to their camp.
Col. Connor met up with Hoyt that evening as well, with orders to begin moving at about 1:00 A.M. the next morning for a surprise attack, but an attempt to try and get a local settler to act as a scout for the immediate area led the actual advance to wait until 3:00 A.M.
It should be noted that this military action took place during perhaps the coldest time of the year in Cache Valley. Local settlers commented that it was unseasonably cold even for northern Utah, and it may have been as cold as -20°F (-30°C) on the morning of the 29th when the attack began. Several soldiers had come down with frostbite and other cold-weather problems, so that the 3rd volunteers were only at about 2/3 of their strength compared to when they left Fort Douglas. Among the rations issued to the soldiers during the campaign was a ration of whiskey held in a canteen
Canteen (bottle)
A canteen is a drinking water bottle designed to be used by hikers, campers, soldiers and workers in the field. It is usually fitted with a shoulder strap or means for fastening it to a belt, and may be covered with a cloth bag and padding to protect the bottle and insulate the contents...
, where several soldiers noted that this whiskey froze solid on the night before the attack.
Shoshone battle preparations
It is apparent that the Shoshone chiefs were far from ignorant of the potential for conflict with Col. Connor's soldiers, and some minor preparations were made at the same time. Most of this involved mainly gathering foodstuffs from surrounding Mormon settlements, in a fashion very similar to the incident listed above with the residents of Richmond, Utah.Most of the firearms that the Shoshone had at the time of the attack had been captured in various small skirmishes, traded from fur trappers, white settlers, and other Native American tribal groups, or simply antiques that had been handed down from one generation to another over the years. Clearly they were not as standardized or as well built as the guns issued by the Union Army to the soldiers of the California Volunteers.
Bear Hunter and the other Shoshone chiefs did, however, make some defensive arrangements around their encampment, in addition to simply selecting a generally defensible position in the first place. Willow branches had been woven into makeshift screens, hiding the position and numbers of Shoshone. They also dug a series of "rifle pits" along the eastern bank of Beaver Creek as well as along the Bear River.
Perhaps most ironic was that at the same time the arrest warrant was being issued by Justice Kinney, Chief Sanpitch (named in the warrant) was in Salt Lake City trying to negotiate peace on behalf of the Northwestern Shoshone. A correspondent for the Sacramento Union
Sacramento Union
The Sacramento Union was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with The Sacramento Bee, which was founded in 1857, just six...
reported "The Prophet (Brigham Young) had told Sanpitch the Mormon people had suffered enough from the Shoshoni of Cache Valley and that if more blood were spilled the Mormons might just "pitch in" and help the troops."
While it appears as though the deception by Connor to hide the numbers of his soldiers involved in the confrontation was successful, the Shoshone were not even then anticipating a direct military engagement with these soldiers. Instead, they were preparing for a negotiated settlement where the chiefs would be able to talk with officers of the U.S. Army and try to come to an understanding.
Battle of Bear River
Major McGarry and the first cavalry units of the 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry
The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, with most of its companies dispersed to various posts.-History:...
arrived at the battle scene at 6:00 a.m., just as dawn was breaking over the mountains. Due to the weather conditions and deep snow, it took time for Connor to organize his soldiers into a battle line. The artillery pieces never arrived as they got caught in a snow drift six miles from the Shoshone encampment.
Chief Sagwitch noted the approach of the American soldiers, saying, "Look like there is something up on the ridge up there. Look like a cloud. Maybe it is a steam come from a horse. Maybe that's them soldiers they were talking about." Soon afterward, the first shots of this incident occurred.
Initially Connor tried a direct frontal offensive
Frontal assault
The military tactic of frontal assault is a direct, hostile movement of forces toward the front of an enemy force . By targeting the enemy's front, the attackers are subjecting themselves to the maximum defensive power of the enemy...
against the Shoshone positions, but was soon overwhelmed with return gunfire from the Shoshone. The California Volunteers suffered most of their direct combat-related casualties during this first assault.
After temporarily retreating and regrouping, Connor sent McGarry and several other smaller groups into flanking maneuvers to attack the village from the sides and from behind. He directed a line of infantry to block any attempt by the Shoshone to flee from the battle. After about two hours, the Shoshone had run out of ammunition. According to some later reports, some Shoshone were seen trying to cast lead ammunition during the middle of the battle, and died with the molds in their hands. After they ran out of ammunition, the battle quickly turned into a massacre.
Massacre and actions of U.S. soldiers
As the Shoshone used tomahawks and bows and arrows for defense, the soldiers appeared to lose control. After killing most of the men and many of the children, they raped and assaulted the women. In some cases, soldiers held the feet of infants by the heel and "beat their brains out on any hard substance they could find." Women who resisted the soldiers were shot and killed. One local resident, Alexander Stalker, noted that many soldiers pulled out their pistols and shot several Shoshone at point blank range. The soldiers burned the Shoshone dwellings and supplies; they killed anyone they found in the shelters.Casualties and immediate aftermath
The death toll was large, but some Shoshone survived. Chief Sagwitch gathered survivors to keep his community alive. Sagwitch was shot twice in the hand and tried to escape on horseback, only to have the horse shot out from under him. He went to the ravine and escaped into the Bear River near a hot springHot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
, where he floated under some brush until nightfall.
Sagwitch's son, Beshup Timbimboo, was shot seven times but survived and was rescued by family members. Other members of the band hid in the willow brush of the Bear River, or tried to act as if they were dead. After the officers concluded the battle was over, they returned with the soldiers to their temporary encampment near Franklin. Sagwitch and other survivors retrieved the wounded and built a fire to warm the survivors.
Franklin residents opened their homes to wounded soldiers that night. They brought blankets and hay to the church meetinghouse to protect the other soldiers from the cold. Connor hired several men to use sleighs to bring wounded men back to Salt Lake City.
The California Volunteers suffered 14 soldiers killed and 49 wounded, 7 mortally. Connors estimated his forces killed more than 224 braves of 300 warriors. He reported capturing 175 horses and some arms, and destroying 70 lodges and a large quantity of stored wheat in winter supplies. He left a small quantity of wheat on the field for the 160 captured women and children.
There was a large difference between the number of Indians reported killed by Conners and the number counted by the citizens of Franklin, the latter being much larger. Also, the settlers claimed the number of surviving women and children to be much fewer than what Conners claimed. In his 1911 autobiography, Danish immigrant Hans Jasperson claims to have walked among the bodies and counted 493 dead Shoshone.
In 1918, Sagwitch's son Be-shup, Frank Timbimboo Warner, said, "[H]alf of those present got away," and 156 were killed. He went on to say that two of his brothers and a sister-in-law "lived", as well as many who later lived at the Washakie, Utah, settlement, the Fort Hall reservation, in the Wind River country, and elsewhere.
Effects on settlement of Cache Valley and long term consequences
This conflict marked essentially the final significant influence of the Shoshone nation upon Cache Valley and its immediate surroundings. In addition to opening up the northern part of Cache Valley to Mormon settlement, Cache Valley also offered up a staging area for additional settlements in southeastern Idaho. Friction between the Mormons and Col. Connor continued for many more years with accusations of harassment of non-Mormons in the Utah Territory and criticisms by Mormons of Connor's attempts to begin a mining industry in Utah.Chief Sagwitch and many members of his band allied with the Mormons. Many were baptized and joined LDS Church. Sagwitch later was ordained as an Elder in the Melchizedek priesthood
Melchizedek priesthood
The Melchizedek priesthood is the greater of the two orders of priesthood recognized in Mormonism. The others are the Aaronic priesthood and the rarely recognized Patriarchal priesthood...
. Members of this band helped to establish the town of Washakie, Utah, named in honor of the Shoshone chief. Most of the remaining members of the Northwestern band of Shoshone built farms and homesteads under LDS Church sponsorship. Their descendants became largely integrated into mainstream LDS society. The Shoshone who did not get involved with this settlement went to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation
Fort Hall Indian Reservation
The Fort Hall Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is located in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain north of Pocatello, and comprises 814.874 sq mi of land area in four counties: Bingham, Power,...
.
Col. Connor and the California Volunteers were treated as heroes when they arrived at Fort Douglas and by their community in California, according to published newspaper articles. Connor was promoted to the permanent rank of Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
and given a brevet
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
promotion shortly afterward to the rank of Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
. Connor campaigned against Native Americans in the West for the remainder of the U.S. Civil War, leading the Powder River Expedition
Powder River Expeditions
The Powder River Expedition, or the Powder River War and Powder River Invasion, of 1865, was a military operation of the United States Army against native Americans in what soon became the Wyoming and Montana territories.-Expedition:...
against the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
and Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
.
Memorials and monuments
The Bear River Massacre SiteBear River Massacre Site
Bear River Massacre Site, near Preston, Idaho, is the site of the Bear River Massacre, in which a village of Shoshone Native Americans were attacked by the California Volunteers on January 29, 1863. Estimates of Shoshone casualties are as high as 384...
is located near U.S. Route 91
U.S. Route 91
U.S. Route 91 is a north–south United States highway. The highway currently serves as a connection between the Cache Valley area of Utah and Idaho to the Salt Lake and Idaho Falls population centers. Prior the mid-1970s, U.S. 91 was an international commerce route from Long Beach, California...
. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1990. Western Shoshone acquired the site in 2008 to protect it as a sacred burial ground. They intend to erect their own monument in memory of victims of the massacre.
Multimedia Reference
- The Bear River Massacre (2000); producers: Michael Mill, Chris Dallin, and Richard James; Imagic Entertainment; 66 min.
- The House of the Lord: Cache Valley and the Logan Temple (2003); producer: Dennis Lyman; Temple Hill Videos; 60 min.
External links
- The American Battlefield Protection Program, National Park Service battle summary
- FranklinIdaho.org, An Early History of Franklin
- NPS.gov Northwest Shoshone Utilization of the Promontory Area - includes references to the attack at Bear River.
- OHS.org, Zacheas Van Ornum Petition for Indemnity
- OHS.org n News Article, Snake River Massacre Account by One of the Survivors
- Everything2 Everthing2.com, node about the Bear River Massacre
- Jessie L. Bonner, "Tribe marks massacre with burial ground gathering", Indian Country Today, 12 Feb 2010