Customer Reviews

Washakie, Chief of the Shoshones

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The author of this book, Grace R. Hebard, was a professor and it shows. This is an awkward book to read. She hops around in space and time and that can be quite confusing to someone who doesn't have her familarity with the history of the region.

What the book lacks in structure, it more than makes up for with its compelling subject: Chief Washakie. I'm sure that few Americans outside of Wyoming have ever heard Chief Washakie's name, yet his accomplishments as a statesman, unifier and leader of his people is unequalled.

He led the Shoshone people through most of the 19th century, into the 20th century. He was a remarkable individual speaking English, French and Shoshone. His charismatic hold on his people only ended when he died in 1900 at the age of 102.

One thing that repeatedly struck me is, in the scheme of things, this was so recent. Another aspect that I enjoyed was that Chief Washakie encountered so many of the characters that we identify with the settling of the West: Kit Carson, Scajawea, Jim Bridger and many others.

The sensibilites of the times described in this book are not what we expect now, and the author brings contemporary (1930) biases to her interpretation. The updated introduction in this edition tries to alert the reader to some of the biases that influence Hebard's comments.

As difficult a read as this book is, I couldn't put it down. As a footnote, Chief Washakie will be memorialized in Statuary Hall the U.S. Capitol in the fall of 2000. He is one of two individuals chosen to represent the spirit of the State of Wyoming.

This is the first published biography of Chief Washakie, the legendary leader of the Eastern Shoshone Indians, and is reprinted from Grace Raymond Hebard's original edition, "Washakie: An Account of Indian Resistance of the Covered Wagon and Union Pacific Railroad Invasions of their Territory " (1930). Hebard (1861-1936) was a professor of politcal economy at the University of Wyoming and became enamoured of Chief Washakie and the Shoshones during the early 1900s. Her book is basically an unstructured anecdotal read that jumps around in time and place.

I used her as a resource in my own book, "People of the Wind River: The Eastern Shoshones, 1825-1900," but only with great care and corroborating evidence. Hebard's sources were sons of Chief Washakie (including Dick, Charles, and George Washakie, all of whom were paid informants), the Reverend John Roberts (Episcopal priest on the Wind River Reservation from 1883-1948), Fincellius G. Burnett (Wind River agency farmer & ancestor of former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson), and retired Indian agents and Army officers who had personal contact with Washakie. She also relied on some of the published annual reports of the Office of Indian Affairs (forerunner of the current Bureau of Indian Affairs).

That said, Hebard reveals family stories and legends about Washakie and often quotes verbatim from published government documents. Hers is a good introduction to the the famous chief and his people, but should be read with a cautionary eye. It is not a biography in the modern or scholarly sense, but functions more as remembrances of a cherished relative. Many of the events or actions attributed to Washakie by Hebard cannot be substantiated with other archival evidence and thus her work borders on hagiography. On the other hand, the very fact that such stories exist are testimony to the impact Chief Washakie had on those who knew him. He was a fascinating individual, leader, and statesperson during a difficult time of transition for the Eastern Shoshones.