One of the deadliest single attacks on Native Americans by the US military, killing up to 493 Shoshone at a winter encampment in 1863.
Key Facts
- Date
- January 29, 1863
- Shoshone killed (est.)
- 250 to 493 people
- US soldiers killed
- 21 soldiers
- US commander
- Colonel Patrick Edward Connor
- Location
- Bear River & Battle Creek confluence, Franklin County, Idaho
- Unit
- California Volunteers (Bear River Expedition)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Years of skirmishes, food raids on settlers' farms and ranches, and the displacement of Shoshone people from their ancestral lands created escalating tension between Northern Shoshone communities and US settlers and military forces in the region. These conflicts prompted the US Army to organize the Bear River Expedition targeting Shoshone chief Bear Hunter.
On January 29, 1863, Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led a detachment of California Volunteers in a dawn assault on a large Northern Shoshone winter encampment at the confluence of the Bear River and Battle Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory. Between 250 and 493 Shoshone — including children, women, and men — were killed, making it among the deadliest military attacks on Native Americans in US history.
The massacre effectively destroyed the Northern Shoshone community centered around Bear Hunter's band, opening the region to further settler expansion. It is described by some sources as the largest single episode of genocide in US history, though it remained largely obscured in national historical memory for generations before gaining wider recognition.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Colonel Patrick Edward Connor.
Side B
1 belligerent
Chief Bear Hunter.