Intelligence reports had correctly located Bear Hunter's village on Bear River about 140 miles north of Salt Lake City, near present Preston, Idaho. Conditions in 1863 were nearly identical. Encased in snow and silence, the Shoshone Indian camp located near the banks of Bear River near present-day Franklin, Idaho, had little idea what that fateful day held in store for them. Both Irvine and Madsen agreed that the document should be made available to scholars and researchers, preferably those in Utah. Idaho State Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office, 2017. "[41], The final catalyst for Connor's expedition was a Shoshone attack on a group of eight miners on the Montana Trail. Some accounts put the Bear River death toll even higher than 350. "[14] Doty purchased supplies of food and slowly doled it out. Another Shoshone Chief Bear Hunter faced torture after soldiers captured him. Yet Bear River is generally ignored. While detachments sealed off the head and mouth of the ravine, others swept down both rims, pouring a murderous enfilading fire into the lodges below. But critics have questioned whether the warrants could legally be served, since the chiefs were no longer within the courts jurisdiction. [54], This military action occurred during perhaps the coldest time of the year in Cache Valley. !!!!!!! [50], The second group was 220 cavalry, led personally by Connor himself with his aides and 50 men each from Companies A, H, K, and M of the 2nd Regiment of Cavalry, California Volunteers, which left on January 25. [41], The surviving miners reached Salt Lake City. Franklin residents opened their homes to wounded soldiers that night. Sagwitch and other survivors retrieved the wounded and built a fire to warm the survivors. They gathered grain and grass seeds there, as well as fished for trout and hunted small game such as ground squirrel and woodchuck; and large game including bison, deer, and elk. [23], When a resident of Summit Creek (now Smithfield) found his horse missing, he accused a young Shoshone fishing in nearby Summit Creek of having stolen the animal. Sagwitch was shot twice in the hand and tried to escape on horseback, only to have the horse shot out from under him. Few remember it. The first monument to what happened on January 29, 1863 appeared in 1932 in southern Idaho. He masterminded the infamous Bear River. Most of the stories told about the Bear River Massacre exclude Shoshone voices, said Darren Parry at a U lecture in the days leading up to the event's 160th anniversary. He recommended that an Indian Reservation be established in Cache Valley to protect essential resources for the Shoshone. On January 23rd 1863 the River became the namesake of the Bear River Massacre, where more than 400 Shoshone men, women and children were slaughtered by United States Army soldiers under the command of Patrick Edward Connor. Many historians say the biggest reason the Bear River slaying is lost or ignored in history lessons is because its carnage [was] eclipsed by Civil War battles raging at the time, according to Charles S. Peterson, a historian at Utah State University who wrote the foreword on a book called The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre. He said its ironic that it receives so little attention, given that the well-known Native American woman Sacagawea was Shoshone and became famous for having served as a guide to explorers Lewis and Clark across the West earlier in the 19th century. Author Darren Parry of the Shoshone Tribe describes how the Daughter of Utah . Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement . The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, or the Battle of Bear River, or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho, on January 29, 1863. Mae Timbimboo Parry was the granddaughter of Sagwitch, a Shoshone chief who narrowly escaped death during the Bear River Massacre in 1863. But many stayed with Shoshone Chief Sagwitch. [6] When Irvine suggested a trade for Northwest documents or photos, Madsen contacted Gregory C. Thompson of the University of Utahs Marriott Library Special Collections. There are two large tears in the paper, one in the upper right corner of the first page and another across the bottom of the same leaf. [71], This conflict marked the final significant influence of the Shoshone nation upon Cache Valley and its immediate surroundings. Some were able to run and hide out along the icy river. In the early dawn hours, screams, gun smoke, and the feverish sounds of a . The Shoshone chiefs moved their people further north into Cache Valley. [45], Throughout most of January 1863, soldiers at Fort Douglas were preparing for a lengthy expedition traveling north to the Shoshone. 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. About two-thirds of the command succeeded in fording ice-choked Bear River. See Shoshoni Body counts vary widely in these histories, but typi- Frontier, 8, 20-24. . But when a spiritual leader told of a dream where Indians were killed by soldiers on horseback, about 50 left and went to another site. Lieutenant Marcus A. Reno came across the mutilated bodies of six of the Van Ornums. As Connor led his column east, Sergeant Beachs company was assigned to Major McGarry as he swung north to punish the Shoshoni who had attacked a wagon train near Gravelly Ford. [30] Van Ornum gathered a small group of friends and traveled to Salt Lake City to get help from the territorial government. Parry tells how the Native American perspective of this history as he learned it from his ancestors has been . The Shoshone who were not involved with this settlement went to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation or the Wind River Indian Reservation. [51] As a part of the deception, the cavalry were to travel at night while the infantry moved during the day. The fight lasted four hours and appeared more like a frollick than a fight the wounded cracking jokes with the frozen some frozen so bad that they could not load their guns used them as clubs No distinction was made betwen Officers and Privates each fought where he thought he was most needed. The Bear River Massacre, also known as the Battle of Bear River and Massacre at Boa Ogoi, occurred January 29, 1863. That he had been a participant at Bear River and had drawn a map of the battlefield was a surprise to his descendants. 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. Within a few days, the Shoshone retaliated by killing a couple of young men of the Merrill family gathering wood in the nearby canyon. While Connor tarried to hasten the crossing, Major [Edward] McGarry dismounted his troops and launched a frontal attack. Most of the firearms that the Shoshone had at the time of the attack had been captured in minor 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. 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. 2. Patrick Edward Connor from Co Kerry, a Union general during the civil war, played a central role in the assault on the Native American community. Currently, Madsen says, some traditional military historians are still opposed to using the term massacre relative to Bear River. Their bodies were discovered by a company of U.S. soldiers led by Captain Frederick T. Dent. . [4] In the past, the belief was that the warriors had been cut off from their herd of ponies. [73], Chief Sagwitch and many members of his band allied with the Mormons. Warfare. The Bear River Massacre On the morning of Jan. 29, 1863, Chief Sagwitch emerged into the sub-zero temperatures and noticed a strange fog gathering on the bluff above the river near present-day Preston, Idaho. Bear River Massacre On 29 January 1863 Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and about 200 California Volunteers attacked a Northwestern Shoshoni winter village located at the confluence of Beaver Creek and Bear River, twelve miles west and north of the village of Franklin in Cache Valley and just a short distance north of the present Utah-Idaho . He went to the ravine and escaped into the Bear River near a hot spring, where he floated under some brush until nightfall. White emigration traffic continued on the trails, dividing the great buffalo herds and shrinking them. [56], 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 simultaneously. In the early morning cold of January 29, 1863, between 270 and 400 Shoshone men, women, and children were killed by the U.S. Army near present-day Preston, Idaho." Advertisement Advertisement As early as 1859, Jacob Forney, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Utah, recognized the impact of migrants, writing, "The Indianshave become impoverished by the introduction of a white population". The Californians had been hurt, too: 14 dead, 4 officers and 49 men wounded (of whom 1 officer and 6 men died later), and 75 men with frostbitten feet. "The Sand Creek Massacre" by Robert Lindneaux portrays his concept of the assault on the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village by the U.S. Army. In 1862, Beach enlisted in Company K, Second California Volunteer Cavalry, and spent the next seven months at Camp Alert near San Francisco learning the basic skills of a soldier. 1870 Soldiers massacre sleeping camp of Native Americans Declaring he did not care whether or not it was the rebellious band of Native Americans he had been searching for, Major Eugene Baker. The Indians condition was such-with the prospect that they would rob mail stations to sustain life. historic name Bear River Massacre other names/site number Massacre at Boa Osoi. Then the 1918 flu hit. [1] Robert M. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 18481865 (New York: Macmillan, 1967), 22324. Other band members hid in the willow brush of the Bear River or tried to act as if they were dead. [65], Connor estimated his forces killed more than 224 out of 300 warriors. My List. 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. [15] Soon, miners created a migration and supply trail right through the middle of Cache Valley, between this mining camp and Salt Lake City. Yet Bear River is generally ignored. Several soldiers had come down with frostbite and other cold-weather problems, so the 3rd volunteers were at only about 2/3 of their strength compared to when they had left Fort Douglas. 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. On the battlefield the troops counted 224 bodies, including that of Bear Hunter, and knew that the toll was actually higher. In addition, nearly 200 rounds of artillery shot were brought with the howitzers. The death toll, historians say, exceeded some of the countrys most horrific Indian slayings, including the 1864 slaying at Colorados Sand Creek, where 130 Cheyennes were killed. [27][28] As a direct result of this attack, the Army established a military fort near the present location of Boise, Idaho, along the migrant trail. The latter was the nearest significant trading source of goods and food in the area. People became numb to them, Deiss said. [58], At the same time the arrest warrant was issued by Justice Kinney, Chief Sagwitch (named in the warrant) was in Salt Lake City trying to negotiate peace on behalf of the Northwestern Shoshone. His company participated in several later Indian campaigns, including the attack at Bear River and a fight near Fort Ruby in which fifty-three Goshiute were killed. The Colonels Voice was occasionally herd encourageing the men teling them to take good aim and save their amunition Majs McGeary and Galiger [Paul A. Gallagher] were also loud in their encouragement to the men. Later information reveals that Pugweenee is the Shoshone word for "fish" and so the man may have been saying, "Look at my fish," or "I was just fishing. The Mountain Meadows Massacre This was a massacre where the Malitia and the Piutes worked together to kill a passing group of poineers from Arkansas. May 21, 2017 - Explore Tedi Wixom's board "Indian massacres mid 1800's", followed by 213 people on Pinterest. Small detachments have been leaving for the North for several days. The event in question occurred when, on January 29, 1863, volunteer soldiers under Colonel Patrick Edward Connor attacked a Shoshoni camp on the Bear River, killing nearly three hundred men, women, and children. The morning of January 29, 1863 a detachment of cavalry and infantry from Camp Douglas near Salt Lake City attacked a Shoshone village on the banks of the Bear River in what is present day Idaho at the confluence of Beaver . They destroyed 70 lodges and quantities of provisions, seized 175 Indian horses, and captured 160 women and children, who were left in the wrecked village with a store of food. Although he determined that Joseph Russ had been alive when the regiment was organized in 1861, he could find no connection between the pioneer and the soldier to indicate how the manuscript had come into Russs possession. By mid-morning the fighting had ended. They also dug a series of "rifle pits" along the eastern bank of Beaver Creek and the Bear River. The battle narrative and map are presently in the possession of the Schindler family. Brigham Young University The late Harold Schindler was a former member of the Advisory Board of Editors for the Utah Historical Quarterly and an award-winning historian of Utah and the West. This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. He was promoted to corporal on March 1, 1862, and to sergeant five months later. The fight lasted more than four hours and appeared more like a frollick than a fight the wounded cracking jokes with the frozen some frozen so bad that they could not load their guns used them as clubs[.]. [47] Accompanying Connor was the former U.S. In September 2014 I visited the Bear River Massacre Site in the remote and hilly region of South Western Idaho. Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led a detachment of California Volunteers as part of the Bear River Expedition against Shoshone tribal chief Bear Hunter. [58], Major McGarry and the first cavalry units of the 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry arrived at the massacre scene at 6:00am, just as dawn broke over the mountains. The Bear River Massacre, also called the Battle of Bear River or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, was an attack on a Shoshone encampment by the United States Army that occurred near present-day Preston, Idaho on January 29, 1863. Six months later, the two tribes signed a treaty at Fort Bridger. [5] This mountain valley had attracted fur trappers such as Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith, who visited the region. The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation acquired the site in 2018 to protect it as a sacred burial ground. [64] After the officers concluded the battle was over, they returned with the soldiers to their temporary encampment near Franklin. They intend to erect a monument in memory of the massacre's victims. He eventually found his grandmother hiding in a teepee packed with people, according to Mae Parrys writings. Chased by soldiers with her baby strapped to her back, Anzee Chee a Shoshone woman jumped into the river and hid under an overhang along the bank. The Indians had very few rifles, according to Darren Parry. [57] Their weapons were not as standardized or as well built as the guns issued by the Union Army to the soldiers of the California Volunteers. Members of this band helped to establish the town of Washakie, Utah, named in honor of the Shoshone chief. Company K was transferred back to California in the summer of 1864 where Sergeant Beach was mustered out of the service in December that year. According to Irvine, he obtained the four pages from the estate of Richard Harville, a prominent Californian and a descendant of Joseph Russ, an early 1850s overland pioneer to Humboldt County who became fabulously wealthy as a landowner and rancher. Photo: Wilson44691, Public domain. On 29 January 1863 Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and about 200 California Volunteers attacked a Northwestern Shoshoni winter village located at the confluence of Beaver Creek and Bear River, twelve miles west and north of the . The history of the American West and the interactions with the American Indians is one full of violence and depredations on both sides. How can you move people in four feet of snow to anywhere you couldnt be followed? Parry said. John R. Gillis (Princeton, NJ: Prince- [George F.] Price then gave the command forward to their respective companies after which no officer was heeded or needed The Boys were fighting Indians and intended to whip them. In an argument about returning some livestock, a White man named John H. Smith was fatally shot. [72] 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. Hal Schindler died a year before the Beach map was published and the original document appears to have once again disappeared. [5] Historian Delights in Debunking Myths of Old West, San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 1997. Three men swam across to Richmond, where they tried to get provisions and a guide from the settlers. For example, for years, residents and officials believed Franklin and the area of conflict was part of the Utah Territory. Madsens comment points to the fact that, although Bear River has long been considered by those familiar with its details as the largest Indian massacre in the Far West, scholars and writers continue to deny the encounter its rightful place in frontier history. Mae was born to Moroni Timbimboo and Amy Hewchoo Timbimboo on May 15, 1919 in Washakie, Utah. They still regret it 400 years later. This article originally appeared in the Fall 1999 issue of Utah Historical Quarterly and is reprinted by permission of the Utah State Historical Society. By noon the next day, the Shoshone returned with a small boy who fit the description of Reuben Van Ornum. The willow and sagebrush in the valley helped protect them from the wind and snow of winter blizzards and the Big River, or Boa Ogoi as the Shoshones called it, had an abundance of fish, plus the area was rich with wild game. Soldiers) maybe, you will all be killed. Jeter Downs needs to play to develop. A girl of only five years old had her ears cut off, her eyes gouged out, both legs amputated at the knees, and by all appearances, was made to walk on her stumps. The attention of most of the nation's population was focused on the Civil War in the eastern states. [67], There was a large difference between the number of Indians reported killed by Connor and the number counted by the citizens of Franklin, the latter being much larger. Sergeant Beach rarely spoke about his army experience, saying only that he remained haunted by what he witnessed during his Indian fighting service in Utah Territory. [62] After about two hours, the Shoshone had run out of ammunition. to chastise them if possible. He told U.S. marshal Isaac L. Gibbs that Gibbs could accompany the troops with his federal warrants if he wanted, but it [p. 302] was not intended to have any prisoners.[3] Howeverand this is another controversythere have been many who have questioned whether Connors soldiers actually tangled with the guilty Indians. The manuscript and map came to light in February 1997 after Jack Irvine of Eureka, California, read an Associated Press story in the San Francisco Chronicle about Brigham D. Madsen, University of Utah emeritus professor of history, and learned that Madsen had written The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre. sen's claim that the Bear River Massacre was the largest comp., Records of California Men in the War of the in the Far West. Historians call the Bear River Massacre of 1863 the deadliest reported attack on Native Americans by the U.S. militaryworse than Sand Creek in 1864, the Marias in 1870 and Wounded Knee in 1890. Hundreds of Shoshone men, women, and children were killed near their lodges; the number of Shoshone victims reported by local settlers was higher than that reported by soldiers. . The rape victim was married. Failing in that, he worked at a variety of odd jobs until the outbreak of the Civil War. William Beach retired in Seattle, where he died on September 30, 1904. But Yeager raised his head and found himself looking into the barrel of a soldiers gun. Mustering three hundred warriors by Connors [p. 301] estimate, the camp lay in a dry ravine about forty feet wide and was shielded by twelve-foot embankments in which the Indians had cut firing steps. The California Volunteers suffered most of their direct combat-related casualties during this first assault. Their descendants became largely integrated into mainstream LDS society. The Bear River Massacre of 1863 near what's now Preston, Idaho, left roughly 350 members of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation dead, making it the bloodiest and most deadly . [9] After that, Sergeant William L. Beach may have faded away as old soldiers do, but his recollections of that frigid and terrible day in 1863 at Bear River will now live forever in Utah annals. [7] Beachs narrative and map would return to Utah. January 29, 1863, dawned bright and cold. The soldiers pushed the Indians closer to the river. Midst the roar of guns and sharp report of Pistols could be heard the cry for quarters but their was no quarters that day. He also owned a large collection of California memorabilia, which was put up for sale after his death in 1996. Despite a diligent search by his son through his fathers papers, this important historical document could not be located. When asked about the young white boy, Bear Hunter said that the boy had been sent away a few days earlier. Parry is the former chairman and current councilman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and is the author of "The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History." Franklin County Historical Society and Monument Committee. Kenneth L. Alford (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 22735. The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as the Chivington Massacre, the Battle of Sand Creek or the Massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was an incident in the Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 800-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated . This article was published more than1 year ago. Courtesy of History Colorado H.6130.37. [25] According to the Deseret News of September 21, 1859, a detachment of Lieutenant Livingston's dragoons found five bodies at the scene of the massacre were mangled. Men, women and children. Three days later, Lieutenant Livingston of Fort Walla Walla, leading a company of dragoons, met the survivors. From his map, historians learn for the first time that some of the Shoshonis broke from the fortified ravine on horseback. He held Bear Hunter and four warriors hostage. Several members of the company were killed by gunfire. Soquitch, Sagwitch's oldest son, served as a priesthood leader in the Washakie Ward for many years. He left a small quantity of wheat on the field for the 160 captured women and children. They were killed by the Army. It was within a few miles of the Mormon Temple construction site and downtown Great Salt Lake City. [60], Initially, Connor tried a direct frontal offensive against the Shoshone positions but was soon overwhelmed with return gunfire from the Shoshone. [49] They left on January 22, 1863. [68] In his 1911 autobiography, Danish immigrant Hans Jasperson claims to have walked among the bodies and counted 493 dead Shoshone. Because of their apparent role as principal actors and leaders in the horrid massacres of the past summer, I determined . [35] Finally, Chief Bear Hunter signaled surrender by climbing a foothill and waving a flag of truce. [38], On December 4, 1862, Connor sent McGarry on another expedition to Cache Valley to recover some stolen livestock from Shoshone. Local settlers commented that it was unseasonably cold even for northern Utah, and it may have been as cold as 20F (30C) on the morning of the 29th when the attack began. Colonel George Wright requested $150,000 to establish a military post to sustain five troop companies. These incidents were related to broad struggles between indigenous peoples and European-American settlers over almost the entire United States west of the Mississippi River. . Had the Volunteers been been in their position all hl could not have whiped them. His penmanship is quite legible though flavored with misspellings. The survivors reported that the attacking warriors took four Van Ornum children captive. After the federal troops left with Van Ornum and the young boy, McGarry reported to Col. Connor the boy's rescue "without the loss or scratch of man or horse. He also charted the course of the river at the time of the engagement and pinpointed the soldiers ford across the Bear. They brought blankets and hay to the church meetinghouse to protect the other soldiers from the cold. Soldiers got Medals of Honor for massacring Native Americans. I said to the Indian boys, "Here comes the Toquashes (Shoshone for U.S. bear river massacre By Brigham D. Madsen O n 29 January 1863 Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and about 200 California Volunteers attacked a Northwestern Shoshoni winter village located at the confluence of Beaver Creek and Bear River, twelve miles west and north of the village of Franklin in Cache Valley and just a short distance north of the present Utah-Idaho boundary line.
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