page_title: Bear River Massacre
section_title: Early history and causes
hierarchical_section_title: Bear River Massacre / Early history and causes
caption_attribution_description: English: A Shoshone encampment in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, photographed by W. H. Jackson, 1870. See variation from Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives [#1668] here: [1] TITLE: Shoshoni Indians--Skin tepies [sic] CALL NUMBER: LOT 12337-4 REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-115466 (b&amp;w film copy neg.) No known restrictions on publication. NOTES: No. 2687.
context_page_description: The Bear River Massacre, or the Battle of Bear River or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranches, the United States Army attacked a Shoshone encampment, gathered at the confluence of the Bear River and Battle Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory, near the present-day city of Preston. Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led a detachment of California Volunteers as part of the Bear River Expedition against Shoshone tribal chief Bear Hunter. Hundreds of Shoshone men, women and children were killed near their lodges; the number of Shoshone victims reported by local settlers was higher than that reported by soldiers.
context_section_description: Cache Valley, originally called Seuhubeogoi (Shoshone for "Willow Valley"), was the traditional hunting ground for the Northwestern Shoshone.  They gathered grain and grass seeds there, as well as fished for trout and hunted small game such as ground squirrel and woodchuck; and large game including buffalo, deer, and elk.  This mountain valley had attracted fur trappers such as Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith, who visited the region.  Cache Valley was named for the trappers' practice of leaving stores of furs and goods (i.e., a cache) in the valley as a base  for hunting in the surrounding mountain ranges.
  So impressed were the trappers by the region that they recommended to Brigham Young that he consider the valley as a location for his settlement of Mormon pioneers.  Instead, Young chose Salt Lake Valley.  In the long term, Mormon settlers eventually moved to Cache Valley as well.  As early as July 31, 1847, a 20-man delegation of Shoshone  met with the Mormons to discuss their land claims in northern Utah.
caption: A Shoshone encampment in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, photographed by W.H. Jackson, 1870
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