The Boise Massacre on the Oregon Trail (Snake Country Series, Vol. 1) [Paperback]

Donald Harold Shannon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Snake Country | Publication Date: July 30, 2004

Only some half-dozen of the adverse encounters between Indians and emigrants on the Oregon and California Trails can be termed "massacre". The Ward Party Massacre that occurred on the BOise river is the mos is one of those unfortunate, and often overlooked events. Author Donald H. Shannon explores the relations between the peoples of the "Snake Country" of Southern Idaho, Shoshoni, Northern Paiutes, Bannocks and Emigrants, in a attempt to describe the environment that led to several of the most violent conflicts that occurred along the Oregon and California trails.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Snake Country Publishing (July 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096358281X
• ISBN-13: 978-0963582812
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,217,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A complete account of the Ward Massacre, April 1, 2008

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Patroo "patroo" (the High Desert) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Boise Massacre on the Oregon Trail (Snake Country Series, Vol. 1) (Paperback)

I was interested in this book because I am descended from the Ward family that experienced this tragedy (two boys survived and lived to have families of their own). While this does not include references to some of the material I've found by independent research (an article in the New York Times, for one), there is far more of the contemporary accounts of what happened, or may have happened. All was confusion, and the two survivors were knocked out during part of the battle, unable to give more than a partial account of their part of it. Rescuers had differing reports of what had happened, but all agreed that the men were killed in the fight, leaving the women and children to be tortured to death.
The author does not attempt to fix blame or suggest what might have been a better course of action. The Ward party was trailing another group of travelers by approximately a day, and had they kept up, or waited for another group, they would have been part of a more formidable train. The small family group was easy prey, and one member of the group might have provoked anger among the Indians by thoughtlessly and cruelly shoveling hot coals on the bare feet of a man standing too close to his cooking fire. This is the first mention I have ever found of this particular action, and it may be the reason that the party was later attacked. Indians constantly visited the travelers along this part of the Oregon Trail to trade fish for bread and clothing, and some thefts of livestock and horses occurred. As the Indians grew bolder and suffered slights, imagined or real, they became more aggressive. The trail travelers were an easy target for goods and animals.
This is an interesting book, and it will join the others in my history collection. Names associated with the party in this book will give me more material for extending my own research, and as it turns out, we have a lot more cousins and such than we ever knew of.