Looking for the site of the worst Indian massacre in American history.

1863 65438+1October 29th, at the cold dawn, Biaogoy or Sagwitch, the leader of the great river, walked out of his hut and saw a strange fog moving along the cliff and coming at him through a semi-frozen river. However, fog is not fog. This steam rises from the sub-zero air of hundreds of American infantry, cavalry and their horses. In the next four hours, 200 soldiers led by Colonel Patrick Connor killed more than 250 people, including at least 90 women, children and babies. Little Windsor was shot, stabbed and beaten to death. Some people were forced to drown or freeze to death in the frozen river. At the same time, Shawshank and some women managed to shoot or injure 24 soldiers. Historians say that the Bear River Massacre in 1863 was the deadliest attack on Native Americans by the US military, which was more serious than the knee injuries in 1864 Shaxi, 1870 Maria and 1890.

It is also the least known. 1863, most of the country's attention was focused on the civil war, not the distant western regions. At that time, newspapers in Utah and California only published some eyewitnesses and second-hand events. The local people hid in this place with bones and hair for many years, and the rest of the Bia ogai family quietly dispersed. But their descendants still tell the story of a bloody day long ago, and now archaeologists have begun to dig up the remains of this village, which no longer exist.

The valley where the Bear River massacre took place is now criss-crossed with farms and roads. (courtesy of Ken Cannon) Darren Parry is standing on a mountain called Cedar Point. He is a member of Shawshank Northwest Band and a great-grandson of Sagovic. He looked down at the historical battlefield in the braided river basin. There is an irrigation canal winding at the bottom of the cliff, and several pickup trucks are driving along American Highway 9 1, along a route used by Shoshone people 200 years ago. These changes to landscape roads, farms and an aqueduct, coupled with the changes in the route of the river winding through the valley, make it difficult for the river to determine the location of Xiaoendong Village from the perspective of scientists. However, Parry does not have this problem.

"This place overlooks all the important things of our tribe," he said. "Our band is here to spend the winter, rest and spend time with their families. Utah has warm places, but there are hot springs and canyons to prevent storms.

So Goi, or hikers, have lived in Bia Ogoi for generations. All the food, clothes, tools and shelter they need are met by rabbits, deer, elk and bighorn sheep on land, fish in rivers and chamomile, pine nuts and other plants that ripen in short and hot summer. They live in a loose community with a big family and often leave the valley to look for resources, such as salmon in Oregon and bison in Wyoming. In the cold months, most of them stay in Gougou village, eating carefully stored food and occasionally eating fresh meat.

The white-skinned stranger entered the valley from the mountain pass, looking for fur like beavers. These people gave this place a new name, Kaki Valley, which is 1825. They gave Sugoy a new name, Sean. Little Sean deals with hunters and hunters. They seldom attract attention because they are few in number and just passing by.

But then people who called themselves Mormons came to the northern valley. Mormons are looking for a place to live well. There were many of them, so they stayed and called this place Franklin. Newcomers cut down trees, build wooden houses, enclose land to raise livestock, plow crops on the grass and hunt the remaining prey. They even renamed the river Bear.

At first, the relationship between sunshine and Mormons was cordial. Settlers have valuable things to trade, such as pots, knives, horses and guns. Kenneth Reid, an Idaho archaeologist and director of the Idaho Historical Protection Office, wrote that when the first crops of Mormonism failed, Xiao Song's knowledge of land life was crucial.

However, in the end, in the eyes of Mormons, Windsor "became a beggar", which is the latest summary of the National Park Service's American battlefield protection plan on the Holocaust. Hunger, fear and anger promote unpredictable philanthropy and demand deals between Mormon settlers and the increasingly desperate and provocative Shoshone. Indians pretend to be friendly and Mormons pretend to take care of them, but neither excuse can reassure the other side.

In Salt Lake City, the territorial envoy in charge of Indian affairs is well aware of the growing disharmony between the two peoples and hopes to solve this problem through treaty negotiations. Of course, he will also provide land and food for the Shoshone family. However, the conflict continues. When a small group of miners were killed, Colonel Connor was determined to "punish" those he thought were responsible. They just grew up living in Beishan Canyon.

Parry pointed to a corner of the cedar and said, "My grandmother told me that her grandfather (yeager, son of Sagovic, 12 years old, feigned death and survived the massacre) told her that all the Tippi people were in the canyon here, hugging one side of the mountain." He continued, "Most of the killings took place between here and this river. Because the soldiers drove people into the open space and then drove them into the river.

It's a group of Shoshone people from Wyoming, photographed at 1870. (Library of Congress) In 20 13, the Idaho Historical Society began to draw and protect what might be left on the battlefield. The following year, Kenneth Cannon, an archaeologist at Utah State University, and Molly Cannon, director of the Utah State Anthropology Museum, began to investigate the site.

Written and oral accounts of the He Xiong incident show that the artillery will find the remains of the battle in a canyon where a stream flows into a river. Soon they found cultural relics after the massacre, such as buttons, buttons, barbed wire and nails. They even found traces of prehistoric stoves around 900 AD.

But their main target, the location of Shawshank village, turned into a killing field, which proved elusive. There should be thousands of bullets fired from rifles and revolvers, as well as 70 stump holes, hardened floors, fireplaces, jars, kettles, arrows, grocery stores and garbage dumps covering 400 people.

Still the core goal, scientists have only found one conclusive evidence: one was launched by soldiers or fighters at that time. 44 caliber round shot put.

The cannon is back in the data. Their team combined historical maps with magnetometer and ground penetrating radar studies (showing potential cultural relics in the ground) and geomorphological maps (showing how floods and landslides reshaped the terrain). Kenneth Cannon said that it was then that they discovered "something really exciting".

Molly cannon used ground penetrating radar to find the location of the bear river massacre. The combination of these three different types of data sources (provided by Ken Cannon) supports the view that in the ten years after the massacre, He Xionghe moved at least 500 yards south and reached its present position. He said:

Archaeologists now suspect that the place where the fiercest fighting and the largest number of deaths occurred has been buried by sediments for a century, and all Shawshank's relics have been buried. "We're in the wrong place," Kenneth Cannon said. If his team can get funds, the cannon will return to Bear Valley this summer and continue to search for Biaogoy.

Although the exact location of this village is still unknown, the massacre that destroyed it may finally get the attention it deserves. In 20 17, the Idaho Museum in Boise will hold the Bear River Massacre exhibition. Shoshone people in the northwest are acquiring land for an interpretation center, which will describe the life of their ancestors in the He Xiong River valley, the conflict between indigenous people and European immigrants, and the killing in 1863.

This is a story, Parry said. It should be noted that,

Editor's note, 20 16 May 13: After this report was published, two corrections were made. First of all, it clarified a sentence, indicating that archaeologists found evidence of prehistoric fireplaces, not houses. Secondly, a sentence was deleted to avoid suggesting that scientists are looking for or collecting human bones as part of their research.