Pocatello (Civ5)/Civilopedia

=== History ===
Chief Pocatello, leader of the Bannock-Shoshone tribe, spent his life attempting to find some means of coexistence with the white settlers encroaching on the Shoshone territory throughout the 19th century. Although the Shoshone under Pocatello did attack settlers and wagon trains, such acts were largely retaliation for depredations and attacks by the whites. Pocatello's band of warriors were blamed for increasing attacks on whites along the California Trail, the Salt Lake Road, and the Oregon Trail.
In the autumn of 1862 Colonel Conner and the Third California Infantry of the U.S. Army arrived from Fort Douglas with orders to "chastise" the natives. Pocatello learned of the approach and led his tribe northward, thus escaping the infamous Bear River Massacre. Pursued by the U.S. Army for five years, Pocatello would sign the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty by which his tribe was relocated to a reservation on the Snake River. He died there, despairing for the future of his people.
=== Early Life ===
Born in the Grouse Creek region of what is present-day northwest Utah in the United States, little is known of Pocatello's childhood or early manhood. His given name was Tonaioza, meaning "Buffalo Robe"; likely the name Pocatello was given by white trappers, although why and when is unknown. Pocatello grew to manhood during the fur trapping era of the 1820s and 1830s.
As he grew, his reputation as a warrior and a sage grew also. At the time that Brigham Young led the first Mormon settles into Utah in 1847 AD, Pocatello had been elevated to chief among the Shoshone. Young followed a policy of appeasement and conciliation with Pocatello, who expressed his concerns over the destruction of game and grass lands by the emigrant farmers. Pocatello became increasingly concerned by the migration and movement of whites into and through Shoshone lands, especially in the wake of the discovery of gold in California and Montana.
=== Defiance ===
Raids on wagon trains and isolated farms, as well as the theft of horses and cattle, increased dramatically in the late 1850s. Whether due to rogue natives, white outlaws, or restless young Shoshone, Pocatello was soon being blamed for every attack. Over the next few years, white settlers and natives engaged in a number of clashes and murders. The intermittent hostilities culminated in August 1862 when Pocatello himself led an attack on a wagon train moving through the City of Rocks in south-central Idaho. A few days later, Shoshone war bands attacked two other wagon trains near the Snake River.
Concerned about the security of overland routes to the west coast as the Civil War progressed, the Lincoln administration ordered Colonel Patrick Connor and his Third California Volunteer Infantry Regiment into Utah to quell the unrest, where they established Camp Douglas three miles east of Salt Lake City. Additional raids by Chief Bear Hunter of the Great Basin Shoshone spurred Connor, along with the Second Regiment California Volunteers Cavalry, to move against the winter encampment in Cache Valley where several Shoshone tribes, including Pocatello's, had gathered. Aware of the approaching white troops, as other chiefs prepared their warriors to fight, Pocatello decided to lead his away. In the process, he avoided the Bear River Massacre, which resulted in approximately 500 Shoshone men, women, and children being killed.
The U.S. Army continued with the pacification program, roaming the area seeking to arrest the remaining Shoshone chiefs, especially Pocatello. Avoiding capture for nearly five years, eventually Pocatello's band was forced to surrender due to illness and starvation. At the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868, Pocatello agreed to forfeit two-thirds of his Shoshone hunting grounds, to permit transit of their lands by whites, and to relocate to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation on the Snake River; for their part, the U.S. government pledged to supply $5000 worth of food and supplies annually.
=== Reservation ===
As was far too common, the U.S. Indian Bureau failed to keep its promises; food supplies usually arrived spoiled, the promised cash annuities were rarely paid, and the land was unsuitable for farming. In the years following their confinement, the natives suffered severely from disease and hunger. In 1875, after a particularly poor growing season, Pocatello led his tribe off the reservation to a Mormon missionary farm near Corinne, Utah, helping to plant and maintain wheat, corn, potatoes, and garden vegetables, all of which thrived. Pocatello hoped that mass conversion of his people to Mormonism would avoid starvation. White settlers in the area, however, were less obliging and called for their return to the reservation, through force if necessary. When the U.S. Army threatened hostilities, Pocatello led his tribe back to the reservation.
Feeling betrayed yet again, Pocatello and most of the Shoshone rejected Christianity. The old chief, now in his 60s, grew increasingly discontented and withdrew from reservation affairs. Pocatello's health declined precipitously, and he died in 1884. At the request of his tribe, Pocatello was interred dressed in full war attire in a deep spring near the Snake River, along with his best clothing, knives, guns, and 18 of his horses.
=== Judgment of History ===
As many Native American leaders did, Pocatello struggled to come to terms with the influx of whites. On the one hand, he sought to co-exist with them; on the other, he was determined to protect his people's rights and freedom. Despite being fearless and cunning, in the end all Pocatello could do was bow to the inevitable, leading his surviving people onto a reservation. Although unsuccessful in his efforts to keep his people free to roam their tribal homeland, he is greatly respected by the Shoshone for preserving their cultural heritage. His legacy is reflected in the number of geographic and man-made (not the least of which is Pocatello, Idaho) features named for him - ironically, mostly by whites.