Sagwitch: Shoeshone Chieftain, Mormon Elder, 1822-1887 [Hardcover]

Scott R. Christensen (Author), Brigham D. Madsen (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

"The Northwestern Shoshone knew as home the northern Great Salt Lake Valley, Bear River, Cache Valley, and Bear Lake - northern Utah. Sagwitch was born in this core fur trapping region at a time when his people had close associations with the mountain men. Sagwitch came to manhood and a leadership position as wagon trains began crossing his people's territory. Wagons later brought Mormon settlers, who by the late 1850s were occupying Cache Valley, the Northwestern Shoshone heartland. Emigrants and settlers reduced Shoshone access to traditional village sites and food resources. It only took a few violent incidents for a gung-ho army colonel to seek severe punishment of the Northwestern Shoshone on an early winter morning in 1863. The Bear River Massacre was among the most bloody engagements of America's Indian wars. Hundreds of Shoshone, including Sagwitch's wife and two stepsons, died; he was wounded but escaped."--BOOK JACKET. "The following years were very hard for the survivors. The federal government negotiated a treaty with them but failed to get Sagwitch's signature when, enroute to the meeting, he was arrested and then wounded by a white assassin. With the world around him changed, Sagwitch sought accommodation with the most immediate threat to his people's traditional way of survival - the Mormons occupying Shoshone homelands. This, then, is also the story of the conversion of Sagwitch and his band to the Mormon Church. Though not without conflicts and problems, that conversion was long lasting and thorough. Sagwitch and other Northwestern Shoshone would demonstrate in important ways their new religious devotion."--BOOK JACKET.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Christensen is a historian and archivist and is employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Archives in Salt Lake City, Utah. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Utah State University Press (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874212715
• ISBN-13: 978-0874212716
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,133,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional book on an exeptional man, April 29, 2000

By 

Steve Murdock (Logan, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sagwitch: Shoeshone Chieftain, Mormon Elder, 1822-1887 (Hardcover)

Scott Christiansen's book is a superby researched, sensitively written and highly readable account of this exceptional man of the Northwest Shoshone. Until his book little was known of Sagwitch or of this unique band. Readers will find a very balanced account concerning the Bear River Massacre and how it affected the Shoshone survivors, their way of life, and how the local Mormon settlers dealt with the tragedy.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, February 9, 2011

By 

Carole Warburton "Carole Thayne" (Logan, Ut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sagwitch: Shoshone Chieftan, Mormon Elder, 1822-1887 (Paperback)

I read this book and have referred to it many times in writing a fictional book set in Paradise, Utah. It is well-researched with photos and stories from the history of the Shoshone people and Chief Sagwitch. It is important reading for anyone in Cache Valley, Utah or Southern Idaho. It's an important part of the history of the American West and a remarkable people.