of Wyoming, photographed by W. H. Jackson, 1870 The Shoshone are a
Native American tribe that originated in the western
Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the
Rocky Mountains into the
Great Plains. As one of the first northern tribes to incorporate horses and firearms into their economy, hunting and warfare, the Shoshone nation became a dominant power feared by their enemies. The Eastern Shoshone in particular expanded their territory well into the northern plains through mastery of horsemanship, while another Shoshone branch moved as far south as Texas, emerging as the
Comanche by 1700. During the
American Civil War travelers continued to migrate westward along the
Westward Expansion Trails. When the Shoshone, along with the
Utes participated in attacks on the mail route that ran west out of
Fort Laramie, the mail route had to be relocated south of the trail through
Wyoming. Allied with the
Bannock, to whom they were related, the Northern and Western Shoshone fought against the United States in the
Snake War from 1864 to 1868. They fought U.S. forces together in 1878 in the
Bannock War. By contrast, from 1863 onward, the Eastern Shoshone led by
Chief Washakie allied with the American government and secured treaties at Fort Bridger in 1863 and 1868. In 1876, Eastern Shoshone fought alongside the
US Army in the
Battle of the Rosebud against their traditional enemies, the
Lakota and
Cheyenne. In 1859, a band of approximately 300
Eastern Shoshone (known as
Sheepeaters) became involved in the
Sheepeater Indian War. It was the last
Indian war fought in the
Pacific Northwest region of the present-day United States. In 1911, a small group of Bannock under a leader named
Mike Daggett, also known as Shoshone Mike, killed four ranchers in
Washoe County, Nevada. The settlers formed a
posse and went out after the Native Americans. They caught up with the Bannock band on February 25, 1911, and in a gun battle killed Mike Daggett and seven members of his band. They lost one man of the posse, Ed Hogle in the
Battle of Kelley Creek. The posse captured an infant named Mary Jo Estep, along with two children and a young woman. The three older captives died of diseases within a year;
Mary Jo Estep survived, and died in 1992, around the age of 82. A rancher donated the partial remains of two adult males, two adult females, two adolescent males, and three children (believed to be Mike Daggett and his family, according to contemporary accounts) to the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for study. In 1994, the institution repatriated the remains to the
Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe. In 2008 the
Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation acquired the site of the
Bear River Massacre and some surrounding land. They wanted to protect the holy land and to build a memorial to the massacre, the largest their nation had suffered. "In partnership with the American West Heritage Center and state leaders in Idaho and Utah, the tribe has developed public/private partnerships to advance tribal cultural preservation and economic development goals." They have become leaders in developing tribal renewable energy. ==Historical population==