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<\/a><\/p>\nChief Washakie\u2019s early life still holds many mysteries. The year of his birth and the year he joined the Shoshone tribe have both been speculated upon by numerous Indian agents, religious leaders and historians.\u00a0 An early biographer, Grace Raymond Hebard records the year of his birth as 1798, however, his gravestone is inscribed with an 1804 date. Washakie, in an interview with an Indian Agent at the Wind River Reservation Captain Patrick H. Ray provides some hints that would place his birth closer to 1808 or 1810. Regardless of the year Washakie was born, or joined the Shoshone tribe he became a fierce warrior and a great leader for the Eastern Shoshone.<\/p>\n
Even the name by which he would be widely known has been translated in various ways. Although, it apparently dealt with his tactics in battle. One story details a large rattle Washakie devised by placing stones in an inflated and dried balloon of buffalo hide which he tied on a stick. He carried the device into battle to frighten enemy horses, earning the name \u201cThe Rattle.\u201d Another translation of Washakie is \u201cShoots-on-the-Run,\u201d or \u201cShoots-buffalo-on-the-run.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the relationships that provide clues to Washakie\u2019s birth year is his friendship with But while trapping and trading were valuable activities to the fur trappers these were not enough to gain prominence with Shoshone culture. In order to do this, young men had to prove themselves in battle. So at the same time Washakie was immersed in the fur trade, he also made war on the tribe responsible for his father\u2019s death, the Blackfeet.<\/p>\n The first few raids into Blackfeet country, Washakie tells Ray he was young, unmarried and he followed another leader, until he gained enough prowess to lead other raids. \u00a0One of the most remarkable things about each of the journeys to Blackfeet country was that Washakie and his fellow Shoshones started on foot from their Idaho or Wyoming base and attacked the Blackfeet near the Three Forks area or even farther east or north. There were two goals for each of these raids, first to steal horses, secondly, to take Blackfeet scalps.<\/p>\n By early 1830s, Washakie matured enough and had achieved enough acclaim in the raids on the Blackfeet to marry his first wife. Shoshone men typically married in their early to mid-20s, depending on their prowess as warriors and their economic viabilities as hunters.\u00a0 Shoshone women typically married at a younger age, usually fifteen or sixteen.<\/p>\n Washakie continued to maintain his hunting, trapping, trading, and warring activities from his home in the Green River, Bear River and Cache Valley throughout the 1830s and into the 1840s. During this time, the Shoshone bands were under the leadership of several powerful headmen who amassed over 2000 Indians in the buffalo hunting trips to the plains of Montana and Wyoming.\u00a0 These leaders were identified by trapper William A. Ferris as: Horn Chief, Iron Wristband, Little Chief, and Cut Nose.\u00a0 Cut Nose was the leader of Shoshones who intermarried and lived in a mixed Indian-White community in the Green River region. It is believed this was Washakie\u2019s band.<\/p>\n Osborne Russell, another trapper, met Iron Wristband in 1834, and stated Iron Wristband was known as Pahdahewakunda and Little Chief was his brother. Little Chief was called Mohwoomha by the Shoshones.\u00a0 Making clear distinctions about Shoshone leaders proved impossible for white observers. To outsiders, it seemed as if certain leaders controlled thousands of people, but in reality, such men generally were leaders of specific events, such as annual massed buffalo hunts, rendezvous, or ceremonials such as the Sun Dance, not overarching rulers. Shoshones organized themselves into loose-knit family bands for various composition and size. The economics of providing food and fodder for thousands of Indians and their horses acted against maintenance of large-scale communities. Once large gatherings ended, Shoshones dispersed into more manageable and smaller groups of 10 to 150 people.\u00a0 Each of these had their own designated leaders, or headmen.<\/p>\n Trappers, like Jim Bridger, used their trade relationships to foster the \u201ccareers\u201d of their friends. In 1849, Indian Agent John Wilson noted that Washakie, Mono, Wiskin, and Big Man were the main leaders. Wilson took his information directly from reports by Bridger. Washakie denied this in his interview with Captain Ray stating that Gahnacumah was the leader of his band and Washakie was the war chief. \u00a0It is also of note that close to the same time Bridger elevates Washakie to that of a leader of the Shoshone, Washakie\u2019s daughter, Mary, became Jim Bridger\u2019s third wife. She was about 17 years old and Bridger was 46.<\/p>\n Whether Washakie was \u201cchief\u201d of the Shoshones or not, he quickly moved into that position in the eyes of white officials. The same year of Wilson\u2019s report, he asked Washakie to help solve an intertribal feud over horse stealing between the Utes, Paiutes, and Shoshones.\u00a0 For the first time the federal government officially recognized Washakie as an important leader. The actual meeting took place in 1852. Before this meeting could take place, the government called a more important meeting to establish peace on the Plains between the Mandan, Sioux, Crow, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Blackfeet and other tribes in an attempt to provide safe passage for emigrants traveling the overland trails.\u00a0 Jacob Holeman, recently appointed Indian Agent for the newly created Utah Superintendent of the Office of Indian Affairs, thought other tribes whose lands were affected by the overland emigrants should also attend the meeting.<\/p>\n Holeman sent Bridger to gather the Shoshones and bring them to the council. This would not be an easy task, as the site of the meeting, on Horse Creek about 30 miles from Fort Laramie, was squarely in the enemy territory as far as Shoshones were concerned. The timing was off for the Shoshones, as well. It was August, when most Shoshones were on fall buffalo hunts. Bridger found the band that included Washakie camped along the Sweetwater River. The leader of the band, Gahnacumah was hunting buffalo and refused to attend the council. And to sour things further, a raiding party of Cheyenne attacked a small group of Shoshone hunters near the camp, killing two and stealing horses.\u00a0 The few leaders in camp immediately mistrusted the upcoming peace council and argued for three days. A desperate Bridger asked Washakie to take charge and resolve the issue.\u00a0 Washakie stated he:\u00a0 \u201ccalled in all the young men who had been to war [with me]\u201d and told them, \u201cI was going to stay with the white men and they must make up their minds to go or to stay and they all said they would stay. There were a good many of them.\u201d\u00a0 They also elected Washakie as their war chief.<\/p>\n Washakie was the clear leader of choice for white officials. There were other prominent Shoshone headmen, chiefs in their own right, who led various bands, but Washakie was the primary leader to whom whites turned for guidance concerning most of the buffalo-hunting Shoshones. As for Washakie, he learned the intricacies of negotiating within the white world from his long relationship with Jim Bridger and other trappers and traders.\u00a0 He used these skills to obtain goods, supplies, and food from government officials.<\/p>\n The 1850s also saw change in Washakie\u2019s band. \u00a0Shoshones and Bannocks of Idaho began more frequent campaigns of armed resistance to the invasion of their lands by emigrants and settlers.\u00a0 As a result, Washakie began to lose some of his followers, especially younger warriors who resisted Washakie\u2019s continued friendship toward the whites.\u00a0 By 1858, Washakie began making overtures to white officials to set aside land specifically for the Shoshones. He first suggested land along Henry\u2019s Fork, a tributary of the Green River near the border of Utah and Wyoming.\u00a0 Later, he proposed a reserve near the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah. But his negotiations led to gifts of food, clothing, and good will, but not a secured track of land for his people.<\/p>\n Spurred into action by the growing number of raids on settlers, government officials finally sought to set aside lands for the Shoshones and Bannocks.\u00a0 At the same time, Colonel Patrick Connor led a large-scale militia attack on a Shoshone winter camp near the Bear River. Connor\u2019s attack led to the massacre of over 240 Indians.\u00a0 While Washakie was not at the camp near Bear River, when the government sought to make a treaty he was called to the negotiations at Fort Bridger along with ten other leaders.\u00a0 The Fort Bridger Treaty of 1863 set aside over 44,000,000 acres of land for \u201cShoshone country.\u201d\u00a0 The land was east of the Wind River Mountains and north of the main immigrant trails through the Basin regions.<\/p>\n This agreement, like most during this time period, brought peace for a time between Shoshones and whites, but was riddled with problems.\u00a0 Settlers and emigrants now had free access to traditional Shoshone hunting grounds in the Fort Bridger, Bear River, and Salt Lake region, and started spreading up the Green River Valley. \u00a0Therefore, Washakie and other Shoshone leaders were forced to increasingly turn to hunting in Crow territory, or even onto the Plains east of Powder River and the Big Horn Mountains. As a result, Shoshones became vulnerable to attacks by Crows, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapahos, all vying for the same hunting grounds. \u00a0At the same time, as previously discussed in past posts, white prospectors were flooding into South Pass, Miner\u2019s Delight, Atlantic City and farmers were claiming land near some of the tributaries of the Big Wind River. [See last week\u2019s post on the Battle of Crowheart Butte for details on the escalation of violence between the Shoshone and Crow]<\/p>\n With violence between tribes escalating, the end of the Civil War, the building of the first transcontinental railway and more gold discoveries in South Dakota and Montana, a new round of negotiations with many of the Indian tribes was sparked in 1867 and continuing through 1868. Washakie took advantage of this situation upon hearing the Crow relinquished their claim on the Wind River he met with officials again at Fort Bridger and signed the Fort Bridger Treaty in 1868. This treaty created the Shoshone and Bannock Indian Agency in the Wind River Valley. Today, the Wind River Reservation is the only one in the United States which occupies land chosen by the tribe that lives there.<\/p>\n A treaty on paper did not create immediate benefits. Sioux warriors under Red Cloud continued to raid both whites and Shoshone towns and camps along the Wind River, making it too dangerous to make a permanent home there. The government, under Washakie\u2019s petitions, established a military base at Camp Brown (later called Fort Washakie) to provide protection to the agency.\u00a0 By 1871, the first agency buildings had been erected, and Washakie and his Shoshones began to learn a new way of life. Washakie included demands for new schools, physicians, teachers, carpenters and other skilled craftsmen in his treaties with the government.<\/p>\n But changes were already in the air that would limit Washakie\u2019s choices about keeping even part of their traditional ways. The Brunot cession of 1872 ceded nearly one-third of the reservation.\u00a0 Settlers in towns such as Lander, promoted more settlement in the \u201cunoccupied\u201d lands to be used for stockgrowing, hunting, and logging.<\/p>\n While changes and Washakie\u2019s increasing age limited his power it did not end entirely.\u00a0 In the mid-1880s, Wind River Indian agents signed on Shoshones to the tribal police service, but Washakie named the men who would serve in these positions. He often nominated the Shoshone Indian employees for agency positions as teamsters, farmers, herders, etc. While younger men played increasingly important roles in Shoshone councils, Washakie was still the dominant voice well into the 1890s. His last major act took place in the 1896 Hot Springs land cessions, when Shoshones and Arapahos gave in to the demands of the government to sell a ten-square mile parcel of land at the northeast corner of the reservation. This parcel contained natural hot springs (present day Thermopolis).\u00a0 Washakie insisted that the springs remain open to all peoples; this condition is still honored today.<\/p>\n Washakie became ill in the winter of 1899 and succumbed to the illness on February 20, 1900. Buried with full military honors and with a funeral train that stretched for miles, Washakie\u2019s death was a symbol, as his life had been, of the effort made to bring peace to disparate peoples, to listen to ideas and adapt to new ways while honoring the traditions of a proud people. \u00a0No other leader emerged from the Shoshones who achieved his stature.<\/p>\n Over one-half of the adult males expressed their loss a few months after his death in a letter written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:<\/p>\n “Our Great Father: We your children The Shoshones, Would be pleased if you would appoint some one [sic] of our number to be our Chief or in some way give us a head.\u00a0 As you must know, that our old Chief Washakie is dead, and we are now left with out [sic] a head to look too.\u00a0 It is now with us like a man with many tongues all talking at once and every one of his tongues pulling every which way.\u00a0 We are feeling bad that things should be in such shape among us.\u00a0 So we leave it to you to say who shall be our chief, or you name any number say nine or eleven but we want you to say and we will abide by what you say.”<\/p>\n Suffice it say, the \u201cGreat Father\u201d did not appoint a new chief.\u00a0 Instead, after many years of struggle, the Eastern Shoshones are now governed by a democratically elected Joint Business Council.<\/p>\n Next week folks we\u2019ll be back ridin\u2019 the rough trail over new ground. That is if I can get Cookie\u2019s pie soaked behind back on the wagon and the horses can pull the extra weight\u2026that\u2019s right plum embarrassin\u2019 jawin\u2019 with the good Chief and you shovin\u2019 pie down your gullet\u2026<\/p>\n See y\u2019all next time on the trail!!<\/p>\n SOURCES:<\/p>\n http:\/\/wyoarchives.state.wy.us\/Research\/Topics\/FTopic.asp?SubID=4&nav=1&homeID=1<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.windriverhistory.org\/exhibits\/washakie_2\/life.htm<\/a><\/p>\n Stamm, Henry E., IV.\u00a0 People of the Wind River: The Eastern Shoshones, 1825-1900<\/em>.\u00a0 Norman:\u00a0 University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I tell ya folks Cookie and me have been whippin\u2019 up some more trails to blaze and wild paths to follow!!\u00a0 Fact is we\u2019ve turned the wagon toward our next destination, but then the ol\u2019 coot reminded me I promised … Continue reading <\/a>Originally named Pinaquana (smell of sugar), he was born in his father\u2019s Salish (Flathead) tribe. His mother was Lemhi-Shoshone. When Washakie was just a boy, his tribe was attacked by Blackfeet and his father was killed. The survivors of the attack scattered with Washakie\u2019s mother taking him and his siblings to the Lemhi-Shoshone. Later his mother returned to the Flathead, but Washakie and his sister stayed with the Lemhis.\u00a0 At about the age of sixteen Washakie joined a band of Bannocks. The Bannocks, linguistically related to the Shoshones, were trading and hunting partners with the Shoshone tribe and frequently joined them on massed buffalo hunts in Montana and Wyoming. This particular band considered the Green River basin area of southwestern Wyoming their home.<\/p>\n<\/a>Jim Bridger. Washakie, in his interview with Ray, stated he met Bridger when he was sixteen after joining the Shoshone tribe and that Bridger was a few years older than Washakie.\u00a0 Bridger who was born in 1804 did not enter Shoshone country until 1824. It was during Bridger\u2019s time with William Ashley\u2019s Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Company and at the rendezvous in the vicinity of Henry\u2019s Fork of the Green River when the two met. Washakie then hunted and trapped with Bridger attending rendezvous with the famous trapper and explorer. This is also the time when Washakie cast his lot with a band of Shoshone who claimed the Green River and Bear River regions there Washakie lived in proximity for many years with fur trappers and traders. He learned their mannerisms and languages, English and French. He traded with these men and earned a reputation as a friend among the whites.<\/p>\n<\/a>So, along with the leaders mentioned above, fur trappers noted other important warriors.\u00a0 Russell called three young warriors \u201cthe pillars of the nation and [men] at whose names the Blackfeet quaked with fear.\u201d\u00a0 These three warriors were: Inkatoshapop, Fibebountowatsee, and Whoshakik. Whoshakik refers to the warrior we know as Washakie. \u00a0Another trapper, William Hamilton, camped for part of 1843 with Washakie and noted the Shoshone warrior led hunting trips into Crow territory of the Big Horn River.\u00a0 In each account the trappers note Washakie\u2019s friendly relationships with trappers and traders.<\/p>\n<\/a>As far as the whites were concerned this began Washakie\u2019s chieftainship.\u00a0 Sixty to eighty warriors followed him to the Fort Laramie\/Horse Creek council.\u00a0 There the Shoshones entered in full dress regalia that reportedly started their enemies scrambling for weapons thinking the Shoshones intended to attack. Despite their grand entrance, the Shoshones were excluded from official participation since the meeting was called for the Plains tribes only and the Shoshones resided primarily west of the Rocky Mountains. \u00a0The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, established territorial claims for the Plains tribes. The Indians guaranteed safe passage for settlers on the overland trails in return for an annuity of fifty thousand dollars for ten years. Also, the nations would allow roads and forts to be built in their territories. \u00a0Although, left out of the council, Washakie adhered to the terms of the treaty and he played on this \u201cfriendship\u201d with the whites to gain whatever advantages he could for his followers.<\/p>\n<\/a>The pioneers who passed through his territory had tremendous impact on Washakie\u2019s Shoshones.\u00a0 Washakie\u2019s band was headquartered around Jim Bridger\u2019s fort during the 1840s. In the early 1850s, following his rise to a more prominent role, Washakie\u2019s activities remained centered around Fort Bridger and also Salt Lake City. Washakie had built trade relationship with Brigham Young, where the Shoshones traded buffalo hides and other game pelts for goods and supplies. By the mid-1850s the continuous flow of white settlers through this area disrupted life and hunting to such a great extent Washakie began to seek out areas where whites had not yet settled.\u00a0 He believed trading in Salt Lake was still important in the summer, but in late fall, Washakie\u2019s Shoshones headed north to the Three Forks area of Montana for their buffalo hunts.\u00a0 If you\u2019ll recall this is the place where Washakie had gained his prowess as a warrior against the Blackfeet.\u00a0 The band whose members formed the majority of the Plains-going Shoshones, made the change to their geographical range from the mid-1850s through early 1860s. Washakie\u2019s plan was two-fold: first, it prevented factions within his band from raiding or killing white travelers, and second he could still lead his people to buffalo in relative safety without violating the territorial boundaries marked out by the Treaty of Fort Laramie.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>For the next 30 years, Washakie walked a thin line between adhering to the new demands placed on his people to become \u201ccivilized,\u201d while at the same time maintaining traditional Shoshone ways. Through the 1870s he encouraged his children to attend agency schools, but still took them on fall buffalo hunts. [Again please refer to last week\u2019s post for information on agency schools and Rev. Roberts]\u00a0 He moved from living in hide teepees to log houses, yet still led warriors into battle against the Sioux and Cheyenne in the U.S. Army campaigns of 1876. He insisted white officials abide by Shoshone council decisions regarding distribution of food, annuities, and supplies.\u00a0 He maintained his role as the spokesman for the tribe, but also respected the leadership of the various Shoshone bands who lived on the reservation. He refused to allow an Indian police force (who often served as spies for white officials) to be created through the 1880s stating, the Shoshone could police themselves and provide good order.\u00a0 He farmed a small plot of land, as an example to other Shoshones, and insisted white farmers and ranchers pay for the use of reservation lands in livestock or grazing fees.<\/p>\n<\/a>Washakie\u2019s influence waned even more regarding reservation policies. The Arapahos, long-time enemies of the Shoshones, were moved to the reservation in 1878. Supposedly a temporary placement, the Arapahos became equal shareholders in the resources of the reservation. This severely limited Washakie\u2019s ability to shape council decisions and limit the impact of official decisions. A more telling blow was the elimination of buffalo hunting as a mainstay of the Shoshone economy.\u00a0 As long as Washakie and the Shoshones could depend on buffalo as their main source of food and economic activity, they could thwart attempts of the Indian agents to turn them into farmers. \u00a0The last buffalo were killed in 1885 and the Wyoming livestock industry expanded into Wind River country, curtailing off-reservation hunting access to other big game such as elk. This forced the Shoshone to pay more attention to farming, ranching and wage labor.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Folks, I tell ya that\u2019s one heck of a history! Proud and heartbreaking all wrapped in one bedroll of a man who saw the need to adapt to new ways, while tryin\u2019 to retain the honor and traditions of his people. The country as a whole could benefit from more men like Chief Washakie.<\/p>\n