Bannock War
| Bannock War | |||||
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| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United States |
Bannock Shoshone Paiute |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Oliver Otis Howard |
Buffalo Horn Egan |
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- This event should not be confused with the Bannock War of 1895.
The Bannock War was a series of conflicts in 1878 between various Bannock, Northern Shoshone and Paiute tribes against the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Camas, Camassia quamash, is a plant with a blue or purple flower which has a nutritious bulb about the size and shape of a tulip bulb. For many of the tribes in Idaho, Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, and Western Montana, camas was a major source of food. It was gathered in late spring or early fall. It was either eaten raw or steamed in a pit for immediate consumption. To preserve the camas, the bulbs were pounded in a mortar to make a kind of dough which was then shaped into loaves, wrapped in grass, and steamed again. After cooking it for a second time, the loaves were made into smaller cakes and dried in the sun. Without adequate stock of camas, people would be ill prepared for the cold winter months. In Idaho, one of the most important camas areas was known as Great Camas Prairie.[1]
The Bannock tribe was restricted to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho by the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868. The tribe was experiencing a famine as they competed with local settlers for game, and the rations provided by the U.S government were too few to support the people on the reservation. In the spring of 1871, the Bannocks and Shoshone traveled to nearby Great Camas Prairie to harvest camas roots.[2] They discovered that settlers had grazed their hogs and livestock on the land, and many of the camas tubers had been eaten. This increased the starvation pressure on the tribes and lead to increased hostility.[3][4]
General George Crook, a contemporary United States military officer, commented that
"...it was no surprise...that some of the Indian soon afterward broke out into hostilities, and the great wonder is that so many remained on the reservation. With the Bannocks and Shoshone, our Indian policy has resolved itself into a question of war path or starvation, and being merely human, many of them will always choose the former alternative when death shall at least be glorious."
[edit] Battles
Led by Chief Buffalo Horn the tribe left the reservation and soon joined with Northern Paiutes from the Malheur Reservation under Chief Egan and the Umatilla tribes. Chief Buffalo Horn would have known that success was highly unlikely, as he had served as a scout for General Oliver Otis Howard during the Nez Perce War the previous year. The two procured food by raiding settlements of the white settlers. The United States government of the time sent General Oliver Otis Howard to aggressively quell the raids: he achieved victory in two battles. Following a final battle in Idaho, the remaining tribe members surrendered.
[edit] See also
- Indian Campaign Medal
- Sheepeater War
- Yakima War
- Nez Perce War
- Palouse War
- Cayuse War
- Rogue River War
[edit] References
- Zuljan, Ralph (2000). Bannock War 1878 article at OnWar.com. Retrieved 27 February 2005
- ^ The Bannock War Retrieved on 21 February 2010.
- ^ The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' Unresolved Claim to the Great Camas Prairie Retrieved on March 1, 2008.
- ^ Native American History: The Bannock War Retrieved March 1, 2008.
- ^ Brimlow, George Francis. Harney County and Its Range Land, 1951, Binfords & Mort, Portland, Oregon, p. 102ff.
