Bear River Massacre

Bear River Massacre
Part of the American Indian Wars[a]

A monument erected by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers commemorating the event.
DateJanuary 29, 1863
Location
Bear River, Washington Territory
Present-day: Franklin County, Idaho
Result United States victory
Participants
 United States Shoshone
Commanders and leaders
United States Patrick Edward Connor Bear Hunter †
Strength
~200 ~300[3] +families
Casualties and losses
21 killed
46 wounded		 ~250 killed
~160 wounded or captured[4]

The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, 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.

  1. ^ "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion". Cornell University. US Government Printing Office. 1897. p. 184. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  2. ^ Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields Technical Volume II: Battle Summaries (PDF). National Park Service. 1998. p. 29. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Moore1865 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Brigham D. Madsen. The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre (1985, University of Utah Press, page 192)


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