1863 — Jan 29, US Army massacre Shoshone, village on Bear River, Utah Terr., ID–250-493

Last edit by Wayne Blanchard January 23, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Blanchard note on fatalities: From the numbers reported in the sources below it is clear that it is not known how many Shoshone were killed. Numbers range from a low of over 224 found in Colonel Patrick Connor’s report to a high of 493, found in the autobiography of Hans Jasperson, who wrote that as a young man he walked through the battlefield soon after the massacre and counted 493 bodies. There are three different tallies of deaths in three different National Park Service documents – 250, 240-300, and 384. The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation put the loss as 350. I show death tolls from fourteen sources and thirteen of those are different. Only Madsen and the National Park Service, in the lowest of the three numbers they show, report the same number of fatalities – 250. Given such uncertainty we choose to employ a range. For the low end of the range we choose to use 250 as put forth by Madsen and one of the National Park Service documents. For the high end of the range we use the number 493, reported by Hans Jasperson, who walked through the “battlefield” shortly afterwards and counted 493 bodies twice.

–240-500  Salt Lake Tribune. “Idaho gets grant to study Bear River Massacre site.” 8-20-2013.[1]

—       493  Salt Lake Tribune. “Newly uncovered documents claim far higher number… 2-17-2008.

–250-493. Wikipedia, “Bear River Massacre” 8-18-2023 edit.

–240-400  Cannon Heritage Consultants. Bear River Massacre Site, Franklin County, Idaho. 3-21-2017.

                        –23 California Volunteers killed or mortally wounded; another 49 wounded

–260-400  Thatcher, Elaine. “The Bear River Massacre.” Utahhumanities.org. 1-25-2013.

                        –Additionally, 23 Army soldiers were killed.

–200-400  Wikipedia, “Bear River Massacre” 12-27-2008 edit.[2] 

—       384  National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program, “Bear River”

                        –Additionally,  67 California Volunteers were killed or mortally wounded.

—       350  Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. “Land acquisition…Bear River Massacre site.”

–240-300  National Park Service. Bear River Massacre Site – Idaho. (Special Resource Study).

                        –Additionally, 23  Third California Volunteers of the United States Army.

—       275  Lt. Col. George S. Evans, 2^nd California Cavalry Report[3]

—       255  James D. Doty, Superintendent for Indian Affairs, Utah Territory (Interior) Report[4]

—       250  Madsen, “Bear River Massacre, Utah History Encyclopedia, OnlineUtah.com, 1985.

                        –approximately 90 were women and children

—       250  National Park Service. The Civil War. “Battle Detail. Bear River.”

                        –Additionally,  65  US soldiers.

—   <  224  Colonel Patrick Connor Report.[5]

Narrative Information

Cannon, K.P. Bear River Massacre Site, Franklin County, Idaho. 3-21-2017:

“….On the morning of 29 January 1863 Colonel Patrick Connor and his regiment of California Volunteers attacked a Shoshone village along the Bear River in present day southeastern Idaho.  Historic estimates place the Shoshone dead between 224 and 400, many of them women and children.  Connor’s casualties included 23 dead or mortally wounded and 49 wounded.”

Madsen, “Bear River Massacre,” Utah History Encyclopedia: “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 boundary line. This band of 450 Shoshoni under war chief Bear Hunter had watched uneasily as Mormon farmers had moved into the Indian home of Cache Valley in the spring of 1860 and now, three years later, had appropriated all the land and water of the verdant mountain valley. The young men of the tribe had struck back at the white settlers; this prompted Utah territorial officials to call on Connor’s troops to punish the Northwestern band. Before the colonel led his men from Camp Douglas at Salt Lake City north to Bear River, he had announced that he intended to take no prisoners.

“As the troopers approached the Indian camp in the early morning darkness at 6:00 a.m., they found the Shoshoni warriors entrenched behind the ten-foot eastern embankment of Beaver Creek (afterwards called Battle Creek). The Volunteers suffered most of their twenty-three casualties in their first charge across the open plain in front of the Shoshoni village. Colonel Connor soon changed tactics, which resulted in a complete envelopment of the Shoshoni camp by the soldiers who began firing on the Indian men, women, and children indiscriminately. By 8:00 a.m., the Indian men were out of ammunition, and the last two hours of the battle became a massacre as the soldiers used their revolvers to shoot down all the Indians they could find in the dense willows of the camp.

“Approximately 250 Shoshoni were slain, including 90 women and children. After the slaughter ended, some of the undisciplined soldiers went through the Indian village raping women and using axes to bash in the heads of women and children who were already dying of wounds. Chief Bear Hunter was killed along with sub-chief, Lehi. The troops burned the seventy-five Indian lodges, recovered 1,000 bushels of wheat and flour, and appropriated 175 Shoshoni horses. While the troops cared for their wounded and took their dead back to Camp Douglas for burial, the Indians’ bodies were left on the field for the wolves and crows.

“Although the Mormon settlers in Cache Valley expressed their gratitude for “the movement of Col. Connor as an intervention of the Almighty” in their behalf, the Bear River Massacre has been overlooked in the history of the American West chiefly because it occurred during the Civil War when a more important struggle was taking place in the East. Of the six major Indian massacres in the Far West, from Bear River in 1863 to Wounded Knee in 1890, the Bear River affair resulted in the most victims, an event which today deserves greater attention than the mere sign presently at the site.”  (Madsen 1985)

National Park Service. Bear River Massacre Site – Idaho. (Special Resource Study): “In the early morning of January 29, 1863, Col. Patrick Edward Connor and the Third California Volunteers of the United States Army attacked a village of Shoshone people spending the winter at Bear River. Most of the 23 soldiers who died received their mortal wounds during the first half hour of the conflict. By noon, somewhere between 240 and 300 Shoshone men, women, and children lay dead on the massacre field.”

National Park Service. The Civil War. “Battle Detail. Bear River.”:

“Other Name:                          Massacre at Boa Ogoi

“Campaign:                             Expedition From Camp Douglas Utah to Cache Valley

“Date(s):                                  January 29, 1863

“Principal Commanders:         Colonel Patrick Connor (US) Chief Bear Hunter (CS)

….

“Estimated Casualties:            315 total (US 65; CS 250)

“Description:  Shoshoni raids under Chief Bear Hunter during the winter of 1862-63 provoked Federal retaliation. Troops under Col. Patrick E. Connor set out from Ft. Douglas, Utah, in the deep snow of January 1863 towards Chief Bear Hunter’s camp, 120 miles north near present-day Preston, Idaho. The Native American camp included about 300 Shoshoni warriors defensively placed in the Battle Creek ravine west of Bear River with high embankments in which the Indians had cut access trails. Shortly after dawn on January 29, Connor’s troops appeared across the river and began crossing. Before all of the men had crossed and Connor had arrived, some troops made an unsuccessful frontal attack which the Indians easily repulsed inflicting numerous casualties. When Connor took over, he sent troops to where the ravine debouched through the bluffs. Some of these men covered the mouth of the ravine to prevent any escape while others moved down the rims, firing on the Indians below. This fire killed many of the warriors, but some attempted to escape by swimming the icy river where other troops shot them. The battle stopped by mid-morning. The troopers had killed most of the warriors plus a number of women, children and old men-and captured many of the women and children.”

Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. “Land acquisition…Bear River Massacre site.”:

“….On January 29, 1863, an all-volunteer regiment of Californians rode down the frozen bluff and

massacred some 350 Northwestern Shoshone Indians wintering at the site—the largest slaughter of Native Americans in the history of the country. The unimaginable death and suffering that resulted, as well as the human remains in the area, both interred and unrecovered, make this traditional ceremonial ground all the more sacred among the Shoshone. The Shoshone tribe now holds an annual commemoration in a dirt parking lot near the site, many descendants of massacre

survivors in attendance….”

Salt Lake Tribune. “At Bear River Massacre site, the names of the dead ring out.” 1-30-2013:

“….It was at Bear River that hundreds of Shoshone – estimates range from 300-500 – were stabbed, shot and clubbed to death by the U.S. Army’s 3rd California Volunteers intent on punishing Indians for interfering with mining supply wagons and pioneers. The soldiers had ridden north from Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City for the dawn attack.

“….the Shoshone who died at Bear River hailed from throughout the region, from Nevada to Wyoming to Idaho to Utah. They were all gathered at the Bear River, which has hot springs, for the Warm Dance to hurry along the spring….”

Salt Lake Tribune. “Idaho gets grant to study Bear River Massacre site.” 8-20-2013:

“Boise, Idaho – The Idaho State Historical Society has received a $56,000 grant to study the Bear River Massacre site in southeastern Idaho where as many as 500 members of the Northwestern Shoshone were killed in a surprise attack by U.S. soldiers in 1863.

“On Jan. 29, 1863, Col. Patrick Edward Connor led about 200 California Volunteers in an attack on a friendly encampment of the Shoshone near the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek….

“Estimates of the number of dead range from 240 to 500, including many women and children. About 120 Shoshone survived…. In terms of the documented number of people it’s the largest number in all the western Indian wars…

“ ‘It was huge for us because it basically annihilated our entire existence of our people,” said Jason Walker, Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation….

“The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990….”

Salt Lake Tribune. “Newly uncovered documents…Bear River Massacre.” 2-17-2008.

“The autobiography of a Mormon pioneer written nearly a century ago and recently made public indicates the number of Shoshones killed in the 1863 Bear River Massacre could be much higher than previously believed. In his 1911 autobiography, Danish emigrant Hans Jasperson claims to have walked among the bodies, counting 493 dead Shoshones. “I turned around and counted them back and counted just the same,” Jasperson writes. He was just 19 at the time of the massacre.

“That is a far higher number than previous accounts of the Jan. 29, 1863, massacre when the U.S. Army’s Third California Volunteers – intent on punishing the region’s Indians for pestering mining supply wagons and pioneers in Cache Valley and along the California Trail – rode from Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, surrounded the Shoshones on the banks of the Bear River near Preston, Idaho, and slaughtered most of four bands.

“Accounts at the time said 210 to 300 Shoshones were killed (17 soldiers died on the battlefield and several more died of their wounds later).

“The highest previous number – nearly 400 Shoshones – was reported by three pioneers who rode horses through the battlefield the next day, says historian Scott Christensen, who wrote a biography of Sagwitch, a surviving chief….

“Jasperson, young but already experienced driving oxen teams, writes that he was hired to go to the Salmon River country (mining camps) and, as he was headed through northern Utah, came across Mormon frontiersman Lot Smith, who told him the Army was fighting the Indians up the river. Jasperson writes that he went with “him,”…to the battleground. His description of the battlefield – indeed most of the autobiography – rings true, said Christensen.[6] The verbiage fits the era, and Jasperson does not seem to exaggerate. The topographical details he supplies are accurate.

“Two aspects, however, trouble Christensen. Jasperson writes that Lot Smith told him the Indians had killed 60 soldiers and wounded 60 more, numbers far higher than the military casualties at Bear River…. Jasperson also does not mention Shoshone bodies piled eight and five deep, as the three pioneers who rode through the battlefield described, Christensen notes.

Thatcher, Elaine. “The Bear River Massacre.” Utahhumanities.org. 1-25-2013: “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. This was the largest number of victims in any Indian massacre west of the Mississippi, but because it happened during the Civil War, the event got little attention.

“Mormon settlers began coming to Cache Valley in the late 1850s, forcing the Northwestern Shoshone people into drier areas, which could not support them.  A number of Indian raids on settlers and on supply trains headed for Montana had the settlers asking the Army for help by 1862.

“Colonel Patrick Edward Connor, in command of the Third California Volunteer Infantry Regiment and charged with protecting the Overland Mail Route, responded. He was convinced that Chief Bear Hunter’s band, camped on Beaver Creek, was responsible for a number of murders and stolen goods. He thus felt justified in attacking the group.

“The first assault, in the early morning darkness, was a direct charge on the village. The Indians had expected some kind of attack and had prepared by digging into the river banks. They were successful in defending the village at first, but after Connor ordered some of his men to flank the camp, and after the Indians ran out of ammunition, the tide turned. Soldiers overran the village, burning lodges, and killing everyone in their path. Rape and murder of women and children followed.

“Twenty-three Army soldiers were killed in the action. A few Shoshones survived, most notably Chief Sagwitch, who worked to gather the survivors and keep the community together.

“The Bear River Massacre was the effective turning point in Indian-white relations in northern Utah, and resulted in the opening of more land for settlement. The Northwestern Band of Shoshone, led by Sagwitch, allied themselves with the Mormon Church and were eventually settled by the Church on land in northern Box Elder County.”

Wikipedia: “The California Volunteers lost 27 soldiers, including five officers. The Shoshone bands lost between 200 and 400, including at least 90 women and children, with the official U.S. Army report listing 272 dead. In his 1911 autobiography, Danish emigrant Hans Jasperson claims to have walked among the bodies, counting 493 dead Shoshones.” (Wikipedia, “Bear River Massacre”)

From a Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, seeking to designate the “Bear River Massacre” as a “National Historic Landmark (27 pages) dated January 30, 1990:

Section 8. Statement of Significance Summary (p. 3 of 27)

“The Bear River Massacre Site, the location of a desperate and bloody tragedy that resulted from 25 years of hostilities between the Northwestern Shoshonis –driven to desperation by loss of their traditional sources of food and lifeways – and the California Volunteers, is deemed to be nationally significant because it possesses ‘exceptional values in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States in history…’….

“…the Bear River Massacre Site, as the scene of the bloodiest massacre, or ‘promiscuous wholesale slaughter,’ of Native Americans to take place in the West in the years between 1848 and 1891, meets one of the criteria for designation as a National Historic Landmark:

(1) It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to, and are identified with…the broad patters of United States history and from which an understanding and appreciation of these patterns may be gained….

From “Historic Significance” section, page 6 of 27:

“The bodies of the several hundred Shoshonis killed on January 29, 1863, were left by the soldiers where they fell, a prey to wolves and magpies.”

From Colonel Connor’s report:

“We found 224 bodies on the field… How many more were killed than stated I am unable to

say, as the condition of the wounded [Californians] rendered their immediate removal a

necessity’.” (page 20 of 27)

Sources

Cannon Heritage Consultants. (K.P. Cannon). Bear River Massacre Site, Franklin County, Idaho. 3-21-2017. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: http://cannonheritage.com/archaeological-investigations-at-the-bear-river-massacre-site-franklin-county-idaho/

Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “National Historic Landmark – Bear River Massacre,” January 30, 1990, 27 pages (p. 20 of 27).  Accessed at:  http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/73000685.pdf

Madsen, Brigham D. “Bear River Massacre, Utah History Encyclopedia, OnlineUtah.com, 1985.  Accessed 12-27-2008 at: http://www.onlineutah.com/bearrivermassacre.shtml

National Park Service. “Bear River.” NPS, Heritage Preservation Services, American Battlefield Protection Program.  Accessed 12/28/2008 at:  http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/id001.htm

National Park Service. Bear River Massacre Site – Idaho – Final Special Resources Study Environmental Assessment. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: http://npshistory.com/publications/srs/bear-river-massacre-srs-ea.pdf

National Park Service. The Civil War. “Battle Detail. Bear River.” Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battles-detail.htm?battleCode=id001

Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. “Land acquisition, planning support, and collaboration for a center at the Bear River Massacre site.” Letter of Inquiry to the State of Utah Legislature. 2-1-2019. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://le.utah.gov/interim/2019/pdf/00001452.pdf

Salt Lake Tribune (Kristen Moulton). “At Bear River Massacre site, the names of the dead ring out.” 1-30-2013. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=55727028&itype=CMSID&_gl=1*1vphjok*_ga*MTExMDIyODI2Ny4xNzA1OTY4OTQx*_ga_DC2TJEE08T*MTcwNTk2ODk0MC4xLjEuMTcwNTk2OTQ1MC4yNC4wLjA.

Salt Lake Tribune. “Idaho gets grant to study Bear River Massacre site.” 8-20-2013. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=56754736&itype=CMSID

Salt Lake Tribune (Kristen Moulton) “Newly uncovered documents claim far higher number of Shoshones killed in Bear River Massacre.” 2-17-2008. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=8282225&itype=NGPSID&_gl=1*slkkn6*_ga*MTExMDIyODI2Ny4xNzA1OTY4OTQx*_ga_DC2TJEE08T*MTcwNTk2ODk0MC4xLjEuMTcwNTk2OTcwMi42MC4wLjA.

Utahhumanities.org. “The Bear River Massacre.” 1-25-2013. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/258

Wikipedia. “Bear River Massacre.” 12-27-2008 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_massacre

Wikipedia, “Bear River Massacre” 8-18-2023 edit. Accessed 1-22-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre

[1] “…as many as 500 members of the Northwestern Shoshone were killed in a surprise attack by U.S. soldiers in 1863.”

[2] Wikipedia:  “The Shoshone bands lost between 200 and 400, including at least 90 women and children.”

[3] In:  Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “National Historic Landmark – Bear River Massacre,” January 30, 1990, 27 pages (p. 20 of 27).  Accessed at:  http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/73000685.pdf

[4] DOI, NPS, “Bear River Massacre,” p. 20 of 27.

[5] DOI, NPS, “Bear River Massacre,” p. 20 of 27.

[6] Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scott Christensen, who wrote a biography of Sagwitch, a surviving chief.