[39] In an editorial, the Deseret News expressed concern that the execution would aggravate relations with the Shoshone. 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. [3] Report of Col. P. Edward Connor, Third California Infantry, commanding District of Utah, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897), 185. 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. [40], A.H. Conover, the operator of a Montana Trail freight-hauling service between mining camps of Montana and Salt Lake City, was attacked by Shoshone warriors who killed two men accompanying him: George Clayton and Henry Bean. By then, cold weather had set in and the Shoshones were in their winter grounds for the season. They worried that the Mormons' substantial militia might answer only to Young and not the federal government. They had come within 2mi (3km) of the central Shoshone winter encampment north of Franklin. And the death count was nearly double the roughly 150 Sioux killed at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, four days after Christmas in 1890. When asked about the young white boy, Bear Hunter said that the boy had been sent away a few days earlier. We have that information from a participant, Sergeant William L. Beach of Company K, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, California Volunteers, who wrote an account and sketched a map just sixteen days after the engagement, while he was recuperating from the effects of frozen feet. Robert Thornley, an English immigrant and first resident of Summit Creek, defended the young Indian and testified for him. Sagwitch thought the colonel would ask for the guilty men, and he would hand them over, wrote Mae Parry, who was an activist and a tribal historian. By noon the next day, the Shoshone returned with a small boy who fit the description of Reuben Van Ornum. "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. 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. Native Americans fight for items looted from bodies at Wounded Knee. By 1856, European Americans had established their first permanent settlements and farms in Cache Valley, starting at Wellsville, Utah, and gradually moving northward. In September 2014 I visited the Bear River Massacre Site in the remote and hilly region of South Western Idaho. Perhaps one day, Sergeant Beachs map will once again reemerge and hopefully find its way into a public repository where it will be available for all those who wish to further explore this chapter of Utah history. Reaction to this military campaign was mixed. Battle of Bear River 2, Location street & number city, town n,,c Prr > . Although the United States was officially neutral, Americans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston led a rebellion against Mexican rule,. [33] After the Indians opened fire, McGarry gave the order "to commence firing and to kill every Indian they could see. 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. 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. The Bear River Massacre is a great first step in that direction that will hopefully open the door to more radical and diverse perspectives within the Native community. [citation needed], Col. Connor met up with Hoyt that evening as well, with orders to begin moving at about 1:00am the next morning for a surprise attack, but an attempt to get a local settler to act as a scout for the immediate area led the actual advance to wait until 3:00am. That he had been a participant at Bear River and had drawn a map of the battlefield was a surprise to his descendants. A granddaughter of massacre survivor Pisappih or Red Oquirrh (aka Yeager Timbimboo, born circa 1848, died 1937), Mae heard and felt the painful stories from her grandfather. The survivors reported that the attacking warriors took four Van Ornum children captive. Madsens book conservatively places the number of Shoshoni dead at 250. But critics have questioned whether the warrants could legally be served, since the chiefs were no longer within the courts jurisdiction. William Bevins testified before Chief Justice John F. Kinney and swore an affidavit describing Smith's murder. BEAR RIVER MASSACRE 83 1. Soldiers got Medals of Honor for massacring Native Americans. 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 . On Jan. 29, 1863, Connors unit of almost 300 infantry and cavalry came down a frozen, wintry bluff into the Shoshones winter camp. Reexamining the Bear River Massacre. The Indians had a very strong natural fortification as you will percieve by the sketch within it is a deep ravine {with thick willows and vines so thick that it was difficult to see an Indian from the banks} runing across a smooth flat about half a mile in width. Maybe it is a steam come from a horse. This was a total of nearly 16,000 rounds for the campaign. (See The Shoshoni Frontier, 8, 2024.) Furthermore, they said they would gladly pay this money "for the privilege (original emphasis) of going to the Potomac and getting shot." [37] The Shoshone protested, claiming that the boy was the son of a French fur trapper and the sister of Shoshone chief Washakie. Utah Public Radio Over 150 years ago, the United States Army attacked and killed as many as 500 Shoshone men, women and children in Northern Cache Valley. . 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. "[41], The final catalyst for Connor's expedition was a Shoshone attack on a group of eight miners on the Montana Trail. The report is currant that their was three hundred of the Volunteers engaged That is in correct one fourth of the Cavelry present had to hold Horses part of the Infantry were on guard with the waggons While others were left behind some sick with frozen hands and feet. Id.] [5] This mountain valley had attracted fur trappers such as Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith, who visited the region. Season 3 Episode 7 | 26m 47s |. Though there was a back and forth battle, either side sometimes instigating or retaliating, more often than not, it was the forces (whether military or citizen) of the United States that did the majority of the attacking and did so with the most lopsided . A firing squad executed the captives and dumped their bodies into the Bear River. [6] The manuscript was written in ink on a large sheet of letter paper folded in half to provide four pages measuring 19.3 cm by 30.6 cm. The miners missed a turn and ended up mired and lost on the western side of the Bear River, unable to cross the deep river. Yet Bear River is generally ignored. So it was that in deep snow and bitter cold. June 25 marks an important day in U.S. history: The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to Native Americans as the Battle at Greasy Grass and known to others as Custer's Last Stand, 1876. 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. On Jan. 5, 1863, 10 miners traveling south on the Montana Trail were said to have been murdered by Indians. He served three missions. 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. McGarry ordered that these men would be shot if the stock was not delivered by noon the next day. Between 1846 and 1873, California's Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. [7] 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 Im American Indian. In 1863, around 350 Shoshone people were killed in the Bear River Massacre. 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. It was repulsed with heavy loss. [60], Initially, Connor tried a direct frontal offensive against the Shoshone positions but was soon overwhelmed with return gunfire from the Shoshone. Chief Sagwitchs 12-year-old son Yeager Timbimboo, whose Shoshone name Da boo zee meant cottontail rabbit became caught in the gunfire and looked for shelter. A judge issued a warrant for some of the Shoshone men who were accused of killing him with orders for U.S. Army Col. Patrick E. Connor to effect the arrest of the guilty Indians, according to records from the National Park Service. It was a free fight every man on his own hook. He was promoted to corporal on March 1, 1862, and to sergeant five months later. [8] While the fight itself has been occasionally treated in books and periodicals, Sergeant Beachs narrative and map are singularly important for what they add to the known record. [9], Brigham Young made the policy that Mormon settlers should establish friendly relations with the surrounding American Indian tribes. William Beach retired in Seattle, where he died on September 30, 1904. Midst the roar of guns and sharp report of Pistols could be heard the cry for quarters but their was no quarters that day. 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. They will also discover the adaptability and determination of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone in their ability to repurpose the site. Chief Sagwitch gathered survivors to keep his community alive. Shoshone historians said Timbimboo later told of how the soldier raised his gun and lowered it twice, looking into his eyes. 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. [79], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}420846N 1115451W / 42.14611N 111.91417W / 42.14611; -111.91417, Wikisource has several original texts related to, Immigrant pressures causing Shoshone starvation, Warnings and conflicts with Cache Valley settlers, Reuben Van Ornum and the Battle of Providence, Effects on settlement of Cache Valley and long-term consequences, Official military records and the National Park Service's listing of Civil War Battlefields also include the Bear River massacre as part of the, 3rd California Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry, 2nd Regiment of Cavalry, California Volunteers, 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry, "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion", "The Surveyor General, the Prophet, and a War that Almost Happened", "California and the Civil War: Regiments of the California Volunteers in Federal Service: 2nd Regiment of Cavalry", "Military History Online The Bear River Massacre and the American Civil War", "Utah Local News Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive The Salt Lake Tribune", "Because it's sacred land: Shoshone Nation chairman is on a mission to share massacre site with world", "Smithsonian to Repatriate Bear River Massacre Remains to Northwestern Shoshone.