Box Elder Treaty

Last updated

The Box Elder Treaty is an agreement between the Northwestern Shoshone and the United States government, signed on July 30, 1863. It was adopted after a period of conflict which included the Bear River Massacre on January 29, 1863. The treaty had little effect until 1968, when the United States compensated the Northwestern band for their land claim at a rate of about 50¢ per acre.

Contents

Background

Of the large and disparate Shoshone nation, about ten villages of people lived in the "Northwest" area and followed Chief Bear Hunter. They understood how to live in the desert and followed a pattern of seasonal migrations. [1]

Incursions by the California Trail, the Oregon Trail and the Mormon pioneers created conflict between the Shoshone and the white settlers. The Shoshone attacked and killed a relatively small proportion of white immigrants—usually people who encroached far into Shoshone lands. [2]

The 3rd California Volunteers, led by Patrick Edward Connor, initiated military contact with the Shoshone around October 31, 1860, when they executed "about 14 or 15 Indians" in retaliation for a reported attack on a wagon train. [3] [4] More were taken hostage and then killed when they did not produce Indians culpable for the wagon attack. [5] Violent conflict between the two groups continued. [6] Although the Mormon settlers generally disapproved of these actions by the U.S. military, they also became fearful of violent Indians, and executed an Indian resident of Brigham City after a dispute over payment. [7] Conditions for the Shoshone deteriorated quickly. [8]

The U.S. military launched an attack of unprecedented size on the Indian groups. [9] On January 29, 1863, they encountered a number of Indians at Bear River. The exact intensity of the battle that followed is not fully known. The U.S. troops used howitzers, rifles, and pistols to kill several hundred Indians (including women and children), in an incident now called the Bear River Massacre. [10] After the Indians were militarily defeated, the U.S. soldiers raped and violently attacked the survivors. [11] According to Shoshone oral histories, Chief Bear Hunters was captured and tortured before he was killed. [12]

This killing had a devastating effect on the indigenous people of the Great Basin, and compelled many groups to accept treaties in 1863. [13] [14] White settlers in the Great Basin accused the Shoshone band led by Chief Pocatello of ongoing hostility. According to one story, Pocatello had been hostile to White people since around 1860, when his father was hanged by settlers in wagon train. [15]

James Duane Doty and General Patrick Edward Connor were the lead negotiators for the United States. Pocatello was the lead negotiator for the Indian groups. [16] Some of the bands who agreed to the treaty had been reduced to just a few members after the events of January. [17]

Terms

The treaty calls for peaceable relations between the two groups. It contains a promise by the U.S. to pay the Shoshone $5,000 yearly as compensation for the "utter destitution" inflicted by war. It also recognizes the claim of Chief Pocatello and his people to the land "bounded on the west by the Raft River and on the east by the Porteneuf Mountains".

Text of the Box Elder Treaty

Articles of agreement made at Box Elder, in Utah Territory, this thirtieth day of July, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, by and between the United States of America, represented by Brigadier-General P. Edward Connor, commanding the military district of Utah, and James Duane Doty, commissioner, and the North Western Bands of the Shoshonee Indians, represented by their chiefs and warriors:

  • Article I. It is agreed that friendly and amicable relations shall be reestablished between the bands of the Shoshonee Nation parties hereto, and the United States; and it is declared that a firm and perpetual peace shall be henceforth maintained between the said bands and the United States.
  • Article II. The treaty concluded at Fort Bridger on the 2nd day of July 1863, between the United States and the Shoshonee Nation, being read and fully interpreted and explained to the said chiefs and warriors, they do hereby give their full and free assent to all of the provisions of said treaty, and the same are hereby adopted as a part of this agreement, and the same shall be binding upon the parties hereto.
  • Article III. In consideration of the stipulations in the preceding Articles, the United States agree to increase the annuity to the Shoshonee Nation five thousand dollars, to be paid in the manner provided in said treaty. And the said Northwestern Bands hereby acknowledge to have received of the United States, at the signing of these articles, provisions and goods to the amount of two thousand dollars, to relieve their immediate necessities—the said bands having been reduced by the war to a state of utter destitution.
  • Article IV. The country claimed by Pokatello for himself and his people is bounded on the west by Raft River and on the east by the Porteneuf Mountains.

Done at Box Elder, this thirtieth day of July, A. D. 1863.

Signatories to the Box Elder Treaty
Signatories to Box Elder Treaty.jpg

Ratification

The U.S. Congress ratified the treaty, amending an additional article:

Article V: Nothing herein contained shall be construed or taken to admit any other or greater title or interest in the lands embraced within the territories described in said treaty in said tribes or bands of Indians than existed in them upon the acquisition of said territories from Mexico by the laws thereof.

This amendment counteracted the Shoshone's land claim, which had never been incorporated into Spanish or Mexican law. [14] On November 18, 1864, six of the nine original Shoshone signers of the Box Elder treaty, including Pocatello, signed their agreement to the Senate's treaty amendment after meeting U.S. commissioners at Box Elder. [18] : 10–11  Lincoln announced the treaty publicly on January 17, 1865. [18] : 12 

Outcome

After the treaty was signed, most of the Northwestern Shoshone gathered in the Cache Valley and Box Elder County. The U.S. successfully moved many of them to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho after establishing it in 1868. Others converted to Mormonism and assimilated into Utah settler culture. [14] [19]

Indians were forcefully ejected from areas they attempted to settle within their supposed territory. Continuing white immigration destroyed the ecosystems upon which they relied and made their nomadic life impossible. [20] They were resettled on a 500-acre tract in Box Elder County, which was owned and administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). [21] Later, they were encouraged to move to the Fort Hall Reservation. [22]

Outside humanitarian assistance to the Shoshone came not from the U.S. government but eventually from the LDS Church headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. [23]

Chief Pabawena wrote Utah Senator Arthur V. Watkins in 1949 to report: [23]

We are the northwestern band of the Shoshone pretty poor conditions and their childrens starving there fathers no work everything pretty hard for us no money.

And later in 1949: [23]

We are have received no anything from the Government since the treaty was made in Box Elder treaty on July 30, 1863.

In 1927–1929, the U.S. Congress passed a law allowing the United States Court of Claims to hear arguments from the Northwestern Shoshone. [24]

The Northwestern Shoshone brought a lawsuit in 1930 alleging that the U.S. had reneged on promises made in the Treaty. In 1942, the Court of Claims denied their claim. The U.S. at first told the Shoshone that they were owed $10,800.17; this decision was reversed after the U.S. invoked previous monies it had spent on Indian affairs. [24]

Northwestern Shoshone v. United States

The Supreme Court took the case and ruled in Northwestern Shoshone v. United States 324 U.S. 324 / 335 / 335 ( 1945 ) that the Box Elder Treaty was a non-binding "treaty of friendship". [25]

The Court split 5–4 on its decision. Stanley F. Reed wrote in the majority opinion that the signatories of the treaty "did not intend" to respect the Shoshone's right to the land in question. The majority opinion says that, as the original signatories were dead and the situation of their descendants was hopeless, white people had a "moral obligation" to address the "sociological" problem, but not a legal obligation under a treaty. [26]

Robert H. Jackson wrote in a concurring opinion that the 1929 law did not envision legal damages paid directly to indigenous groups.

William O. Douglas and Frank Murphy wrote two dissenting opinions. [27] Douglas argued that by 1863 standards, the territory agreement described by the Box Elder Treaty "could hardly have been plainer". [28]

The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the ruling as a restriction of rights based on "dubious technical grounds". [29]

Indian Claims Commission

The Indian Claims Commission later acknowledged the validity of the claim, by way of the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty. The Commission found on 13 February 1968 that 38,319,000 acres had been wrongfully taken from the northwestern Shoshone. Subtracting acres awarded by the Fort Hall Reservation and Wind River Reservation, it awarded $15,700,000—a price of slightly less than $0.50 per acre. [25]

Attempted termination

Watkins and other members of Congress sought to "terminate" the special relationship with the Northwestern Shoshone in 1957. The group was persistent in arguing that it should retain its sovereignty, and avoided the termination of status which befell other groups. [30] [31]

Notes

  1. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 40.
  2. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), pp. 41–42. "Careful research into the peak years of overland emigration, 1840 through 1860, shows that of more than 300,000 white travelers, only 362 were killed by Indians. Very few were killed by the celebrated tribes of the Great Plains. [...] the vast majority of clashes and killings between natives tribes and westbound settlers occurred in the heart of the Shoshoni homelands.
  3. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 52.
  4. ↑ Madsen, "Encounter" (1984), p. 10.
  5. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 53.
  6. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 59.
  7. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 77.
  8. ↑ Madsen, "Encounter" (1984), p. 11.
  9. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 87.
  10. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), pp. 102–105.
  11. ↑ Madsen, "Encounter" (1984), p. 22.
  12. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 106.
  13. ↑ Fleisher, The Bear River Massacre (2004), p. 66.
  14. 1 2 3 William B. Fawcett & Walter Robert Lewelling, "Lemuel's Garden: Confronting Issues of Race, Class, and Power Through the Preferential Preservation of Archaeological Sites in Northern Utah"; in Lines That Divide: Historical Archaeologies of Race, Class, and Gender, ed. James A. Delle, Stephen A. Mrozowski, & Robert Paynter; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000; pp. 43–44.
  15. ↑ King, "Do Not Execute Chief Pocatello" (1985), pp. 240–241.
  16. ↑ Wilkins, Masking of Justice (1997), pp. 141–142.
  17. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), pp. 124–125.
  18. 1 2 "Treaty made at Box Elder, Utah Territory, with the North Western Bands of Shoshone Indians, 30th July 1863" (PDF). Wikimedia Commons. 1864. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  19. ↑ Crawford, "The People of Bear Hunter" (2007), p. 30.
  20. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 130.
  21. ↑ Crawford, "The People of Bear Hunter" (2007), pp. 30–32.
  22. ↑ Miller, Massacre at Bear River (2008), p. 131.
  23. 1 2 3 Grattan-Aiello, "Watkins and the Termination of Utah's Southern Paiute Indians", pp. 279–280.
  24. 1 2 Wilkins, Masking of Justice (1997), pp. 143–144. "The Court of Claims ruled in 1942 that the Shoshone were not entitled to any recovery under the treaty of July 3, 1863, or any other treaty for a taking of any portion of their lands described in the agreements. The Shoshone were initially informed that they were entitled to recover $10,800.17 for unfulfilled treaty annuities. But, upon a further hearing, even this amount was dismissed on the grounds that the United States’ gratuitous expenditures offset this amount."
  25. 1 2 Parry, "The Northwestern Shoshone" (2000), pp. 70–71.
  26. ↑ Wilcomb E. Washburn, ‘’Red Man’s Land, White Man’s Law: The Past and Present Status of the American Indian’’, 1971; 2nd ed., Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995; p 102.
  27. ↑ "Shoshones Lose Suit for $15,000,000: Supreme Court, 5–4, Rejects Claim Over Indian Land Taken by White Settlers", New York Times, 13 March 1945; p. 21.
  28. ↑ Robert H. Keller, Jr., American Indian Law Review 3(2), 1975, p. 340. JSTOR   20067917
  29. ↑ "Our Own Minority", Washington Post, 7 April 1945; p. 4.
  30. ↑ Parry, "The Northwestern Shoshone" (2000), p. 72.
  31. ↑ Grattan-Aiello, "Watkins and the Termination of Utah's Southern Paiute Indians", p. 273. [ ISBN missing ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indian Wars</span> Frontier conflicts in North America, 1609–1890s

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, United States of America, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas against various American Indian tribes in North America. These conflicts occurred from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the end of the 19th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors, the most common being the desire of settlers and governments for Indian tribes' lands. The European powers and their colonies enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear River Massacre</span> 1863 massacre of Shoshone by U.S. military

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.

The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cache Valley</span> US geographical feature

Cache Valley(Shoshoni: Seuhubeogoi, “Willow Valley”) is a valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho, United States, that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre. The name, Cache Valley is often used synonymously to describe the Logan Metropolitan Area, one of the fastest growing metro areas in the US per capita — both in terms of economic GDP and population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah and Northern Railway</span> Former American railroad company

The Utah & Northern Railway is a defunct railroad that was operated in the Utah Territory and later in the Idaho Territory and Montana Territory in the western United States during the 1870s and 1880s. It was the first railroad in Idaho and in Montana. The line was acquired by a Union Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line, and is today operated by the Union Pacific Railroad as the Ogden Subdivision, part of the Pocatello Subdivision, and the Montana Subdivision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocatello (Shoshone leader)</span> Native American leader (1815–1884)

Chief Pocatello was a leader of the Northern Shoshone, a Native American people of the Great Basin in western North America. He led attacks against early settlers during a time of increasing strife between settlers and Native Americans. After making peace with the U.S. Government, he moved his people to their present reservation in Idaho and led the Shoshone during their struggle to survive following their deportation. The city of Pocatello is named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Hall Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Shoshone-Bannock

The Fort Hall Reservation is a Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in the U.S. state of Idaho. This is one of five federally recognized tribes in the state. The reservation is located in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain about 20 miles (32 km) north and west of Pocatello. It comprises 814.874 sq mi (2,110.51 km2) of land area in four counties: Bingham, Power, Bannock, and Caribou. To the east is the 60-mile-long (97 km) Portneuf Range; both Mount Putnam and South Putnam Mountain are located on the Fort Hall Reservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Edward Connor</span> Union general in the American Civil War (1820–1891)

Patrick Edward Connor was an Irish American soldier who served as a Union general during the American Civil War. He is most notorious for his massacres against Native Americans during the Indian Wars in the American Old West.

The Snake War (1864–1868) was an irregular war fought by the United States of America against the "Snake Indians," the settlers' term for Northern Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone bands who lived along the Snake River. Fighting took place in the states of Oregon, Nevada, and California, and in Idaho Territory. Total casualties from both sides of the conflict numbered 1,762 dead, wounded, or captured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Shoshone</span> Grouping of Shoshone tribes in the Great Basin

Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related culturally to the Paiute, Goshute, Bannock, Ute, and Timbisha tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Utah</span>

The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.

Bear Hunter (died January 29, 1863), "also known as Wirasuap " was a Shoshone chief of the Great Basin in the 1860s.

The Treaty of Ruby Valley was a treaty signed with the Western Shoshone in 1863, giving certain rights to the United States in the Nevada Territory. The Western Shoshone did not cede land under this treaty but agreed to allow the U.S. the "right to traverse the area, maintain existing telegraph and stage lines, construct one railroad and engage in specified economic activities. The agreement allows the U.S. president to designate reservations, but does not tie this to land cessions."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sagwitch</span>

Sagwitch Timbimboo, which translates to "Speaker" and "One Who Writes on Rocks," was a nineteenth-century chieftain of a band of Northwestern Shoshone that converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of his tribe, he was one of the very few survivors of the horrific Bear River Massacre, which is considered the greatest loss of Indigenous life through wars with Anglo-Saxon people. Within the battle, Chief Sagwitch led his people away from the preemptive attack that the United States government had levied upon the people. Losing the majority of his own tribe, Chief Sagwitch helped rebuild his tribe and as the leader, led his people to a thriving life. Living the majority of his life in what is now Cache Valley, which is located in Northeast Utah and Southeast Idaho, Chief Sagwitch was an instrumental leader within the Shoshone Tribe and within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Helping build a temple with the Latter-day Saints in Logan, Utah, Chief Sagwitch became an Elder for the Church shortly after his conversion in 1873. Along with Chief Sagwitch being baptized, 101 of His tribe members also took the oath of baptism. Chief Sagwitch died on March 20, 1887, leaving a lasting legacy as an influential member of the Indigenous community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washakie, Utah</span> Ghost town in Utah, United States

Washakie is a ghost town in far northern Box Elder County, Utah, United States. Lying some 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Portage, it was established in 1880 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the settlement of the Northwestern Shoshone. The Washakie Indian Farm was home to the main body of this Native American band through most of the 20th century. By the mid-1970s, Washakie's residents were gone and the property sold to a private ranching operation. Today the tribal reservation consists of a small tract containing the Washakie cemetery, and the tribe is seeking to acquire more of the surrounding land. The old LDS chapel in Washakie is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Shoshone</span> Native American tribe in Wyoming

Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains during the 1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition and adopted Plains horse culture in contrast to Western Shoshone that maintained a Great Basin culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Shoshone</span> Indigenous people of North America

Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People.

The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Shoshone people, located in Box Elder County, Utah. They are also known as the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigham D. Madsen</span> American historian (1914-2010)

Brigham Dwaine Madsen was a historian of indigenous peoples of the American West, of the people of Utah and surrounding states, and of Mormonism. He was a professor at the University of Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mae Timbimboo Parry</span> Native American storyteller

Mae Timbimboo Parry was a storyteller for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation of Utah, activist, and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She is known for her recounting of the Bear River Massacre and for her work with the Shoshone Nation and the state of Utah, as well as for lobbying for legislation that would protect the culture and land-rights of Native Americans. For her work, Parry has received multiple awards.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.