Forgotten massacre
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By BRAD GILLMAN
Standard-Examiner staff
The soldiers were making their march up the Wasatch Front, on a mission to slaughter the Shoshone.
Tindup, an elderly resident of the Shoshone winter camp, awoke from the nightmare that showed soldiers killing his tribe.
For Tindup, this was not just a dream -- it was a vision.
" 'If you want to live, you will leave with me tonight,' " Bruce Parry, tribal chairman of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, quoted Tindup's warning.
Some of the tribe left while others stayed, perhaps not fearing an impending confrontation with the U.S. Army.
By noontime the following day, the bodies of hundreds of Indians -- men, women, and children -- were scattered across the snow and floating in the Bear River.
The date -- Jan. 29, 1863 -- eventually became known as the massacre at Bear River.
As shocking as it was, debates continue to break out around the event. One of the major points of argument stems from the fact that the massacre is not common knowledge.
"It's a pretty major event in Western history," said Sandy resident Rod Miller, author of "Massacre At Bear River: First, Worst, Forgotten" (Caxton Press, $18.95), which hits stores this week. "More Indians were killed that day by U.S. Army troops than in all of the West, all of history, and nobody's heard of it. It needs to be recognized."
The notion of a forgotten massacre prompted Miller to pen the book. Even Miller, whose works focus on western history, was not aware of the massacre until he stumbled upon it during his research. He turned to the research of Brigham Madsen, who wrote several books on the Shoshone tribes and the massacre. Madsen is the quintessential source for Shoshone research, Miller said.
Miller's first manuscript was actually a novel. Publishers didn't bite, but one was interested in a nonfiction book on the event. That led to many hours at Utah State University and the University of Utah, poring over historical documents and journals to find the truth behind the attack.
"With scholar historians, they're always interested in what was new, was there anything learned," Miller said. "Well, when it comes to the Bear River massacre, for a vast majority of people, everything is new."
And new information continues to come to light in this century. The recently discovered journal of a Danish immigrant, Hans Jesperson, casts doubt over the number of Indians killed.
In his journal, Jesperson wrote that he walked across the battlefield -- twice -- counting corpses. His final tally was 493, nearly double the original count.
Miller suggests that Jesperson's account could be wrong. The journal mentions a bridge over the Bear River that had not been built yet. Jesperson came on a freight train, yet the trains could not enter the area until the snow had melted away.
The original number listed by Gen. Patrick Connor, who led the expedition against the Shoshone, was 250 Indians killed. The Shoshone tribe believes the number is larger.
Robert Voyles, director of Fort Douglas Military Museum in Salt Lake City, said the number could be closer to 400 if you consider that Connor may not have counted the deaths of women and children, some bodies thrown into the river may have washed away, and there may have been those who escaped but succumbed to their injuries later.
With all the documents generated by the event, the one side of the story that is almost entirely missing is from the Shoshone people.
"The approach I take in the book is kind of driven by that," Miller said. "There were three major players in the event. There were the Mormon settlers, the military, and the Shoshone.
"So there were a lot that were recorded by Mormons, and a lot recorded by the military, and virtually nothing by the Shoshone."
Miller notes that the few survivors had more on their minds -- surviving as a tribe -- than writing down a journal of events.
Although these events had already been covered in Madsen's book from 1985, Miller wanted his book to serve as a motivational tool for legislation today.
"The one thing that this book does that Brigham Madsen's book doesn't, is talk about what's happened with the site since," Miller said.
Legislation has been introduced to designate the area as a protected historical site, but those efforts have stalled. The original camp, which is just north of Preston, Idaho, covered about 150 acres.
The Northwestern Band of Shoshone has secured a few dozen acres and is looking into purchasing another 90 acres from local farmers.
"They would like to acquire more of the land, because they've said that they kind of feel uncomfortable visiting their own graveyard, essentially," Miller said.
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