Shoshone

TheShoshoneorShoshoni(/ʃoʊˈʃoʊni/shoh-SHOH-neeor/ʃəˈʃoʊni/shə-SHOH-nee), also known by the endonymNewe, are anIndigenous people of the United Stateswith four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
They traditionally speak theShoshoni language, part of theNumic languagesbranch of the largeUto-Aztecan languagefamily. The Shoshone were sometimes called theSnake Indiansby neighboring tribes and early American explorers.
Their peoples have become members offederally recognized tribesthroughout their traditional areas of settlement, often co-located with theNorthern Paiutepeople of the Great Basin.
The name "Shoshone" comes fromSosoni, aShoshoneword for high-growing grasses. Some neighboring tribes call the Shoshone "Grass House People," based on their traditional homes made fromsosoni. Shoshones call themselvesNewe, meaning "People".
Meriwether Lewisrecorded the tribe as the "Sosonees or snake Indians" in 1805.
TheShoshoni languageis spoken by approximately 1,000 people today.It belongs to theCentral Numicbranch of theUto-Aztecanlanguage family. Speakers are scattered from central Nevada to central Wyoming.
The largest numbers of Shoshoni speakers live on the federally recognizedDuck Valley Indian Reservation, located on the border of Nevada and Idaho; andGoshute Reservationin Utah.Idaho State Universityalso offers Shoshoni-language classes.
The Shoshone are aNative American tribethat originated in the westernGreat Basinand spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed theRocky Mountainsinto theGreat Plains. After 1750, warfare and pressure from theBlackfoot,Crow,Lakota,Cheyenne, andArapahopushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them moved as far south as Texas, emerging as theComancheby 1700.
As moreEuropean Americansettlers migrated west, tensions rose with the indigenous people over competition for territory and resources. Wars occurred throughout the second half of the 19th century. The Northern Shoshone, led by ChiefPocatello, fought during the 1860s against settlers in Idaho (where the cityPocatellowas named for him). As more settlers encroached on Shoshone hunting territory, the natives raided farms and ranches for food and attacked immigrants.
The warfare resulted in theBear River Massacre(1863) when U.S. forces attacked and killed an estimated 250Northwestern Shoshone, who were at their winter encampment in present-dayFranklin County, Idaho. A large number of the dead were non-combatants, including children, deliberately killed by the soldiers. This was the highest number of deaths which the Shoshone suffered at the hands of United States forces. 21 US soldiers were also killed.
During theAmerican Civil Wartravelers continued to migrate westward along theWestward Expansion Trails. When the Shoshone, along with theUtesparticipated in attacks on the mail route that ran west out ofFort Laramie, the mail route had to be relocated south of the trail throughWyoming.
Allied with theBannock, to whom they were related, the Shoshone fought against the United States in theSnake Warfrom 1864 to 1868. They fought U.S. forces together in 1878 in theBannock War. In 1876, by contrast, the Shoshone fought alongside theU.S. Armyin theBattle of the Rosebudagainst their traditional enemies, theLakotaandCheyenne.
In 1879 a band of approximately 300Eastern Shoshone(known as "Sheepeaters") became involved in theSheepeater Indian War. It was the lastIndian warfought in thePacific Northwestregion of the present-day United States.
In 1911 a small group of Bannock under a leader namedMike Daggett, also known as "Shoshone Mike," killed four ranchers inWashoe County, Nevada.The settlers formed aposseand went out after the Native Americans. They caught up with the Bannock band on February 25, 1911, and in a gun battle killed Mike Daggett and seven members of his band. They lost one man of the posse, Ed Hoglein theBattle of Kelley Creek. The posse captured an infant named Mary Jo Estep, along with two children and a young  woman. The three older captives died of diseases within a year;Mary Jo Estepsurvived, and passed away in 1992, around the age of 82.
A rancher donated the partial remains of three adult males, two adult females, two adolescent males, and three children (believed to be Mike Daggett and his family, according to contemporary accounts) to theSmithsonian Institutionin Washington, D.C., for study. In 1994, the institution repatriated the remains to theFort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe.
In 2008 theNorthwestern Band of the Shoshone Nationacquired the site of theBear River Massacreand some surrounding land. They wanted to protect the holy land and to build a memorial to the massacre, the largest their nation had suffered. "In partnership with the American West Heritage Center and state leaders in Idaho and Utah, the tribe has developed public/private partnerships to advance tribal cultural preservation and economic development goals." They have become leaders in developing tribal renewable energy.
The Shoshone were scattered over a vast area and divided into many bands, therefore many estimates of their population did not cover the entire tribe. In 1820Jedidiah Morseestimated the Shoshone population at 60,000 and 20,000Eastern Shoshone.According toAlexander Rossthe Shoshone were on the west side of the Rocky Mountains what the Sioux were on the east side - the most powerful tribe - and he estimated that in 1855 the Shoshone numbered 36,000 people.They were much reduced in number after they had sufferedinfectious diseaseepidemicsand warfare. According toJoseph Lanethe Shoshone were divided into many bands and it was almost impossible to ascertain their exact numbers. According to Indian Affairs 1859 in Utah there were 4,500 Shoshones. Indian Affairs 1866 reported in Utah 4,500 eastern Bannock and Shoshone intermingled and 3,800 western and northwestern Shoshone as well as 2,000 Shoshone in Nevada and 2,500 Shoshone in Idaho, as well as an unspecified number in Oregon. The completion of thefirst transcontinental railroadin 1869 was followed by European-American immigrants arriving in unprecedented numbers in the territory. Indian Affairs 1875 gave the Shoshone as 1,740 in Idaho and Montana, 1,945 in Nevada, 700 in Wyoming and 244 (besides those intermixed with the Bannock) in Oregon. The census of 1910 returned 3,840 Shoshone.In 1937, theBureau of Indian Affairscounted 3,650 Northern Shoshone and 1,201 Western Shoshone. As of the2000 U.S. census, some 12,000 persons identified as Shoshone. As of 2020 there were in the USA 17,918 Shoshone including 3,638 in Nevada and 3,491 in Wyoming.
Shoshone people are divided into traditional bands based both on their homelands and primary food sources. These include: