Massacre at Bear River: First, Worst, Forgotten

Description

Rod Miller tells the story of the West’s worst, but least remembered attack on Native Americans in Massacre at Bear River: First, Worst and Forgotten. Although they have been largely ignored by historians, it was the war waged against the Shoshoni tribe that opened the book on Indian massacres in the West. The Shoshoni were victims of a bloodbath more extreme than that at Wounded Knee, and more deadly than the more famous slaughter at Sand Creek. The Bear River Massacre, on January 29, 1863, claimed at least 250 Shoshoni lives. And it changed the culture of the natives who lived in the area along what later became the Utah-Idaho border. The author provides a compelling narrative account of the Bear River Massacre and the events leading up to the bloody clash on a frozen river-bank in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He gives historical context to three major players in the massacre–the Shoshoni, the military, the Mormon settlers and their leaders–and the interplay among those groups. Miller also explains why the massacre has remained in the historical shadows for 145 years and details the fight by Shoshonis and a few dedicated researchers to move the event to its rightful place in Western history.