Remember the Bear River Massacre, Climax of the American Holocaust
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Since 2005, the United Nations and its member states have honored Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The purpose of this day is twofold, says the United States Holocaust Museum on its website: “to serve as a date for the official commemoration of the victims of the Nazi regime” and to “develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.”
Education to prevent future genocides.
Bloodbath at Bear River
Just two days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Native Americans remember the largest and among the least-known massacres to occur on American soil, the Bear River Massacre. On Jan. 29, 1863, United States Col. Patrick Connor and California volunteers attacked approximately 500 Northwestern Shoshone Indians, leaving them bloodied and frozen in the snow, or floating down the crimson red and half-frozen Bear River in southeastern Idaho.
There was no mass grave for the Shoshone after the massacre. The victims were left to the elements, to the crows and the wolves.
There was no official body count, and the recorded number of slain Shoshones range from the earlier estimates of 250 to later estimates of 450 and 490 . According to oral stories from one tribal elder who has since passed, the number of deaths was much greater than that. Conversely, the Shoshone managed to kill or mortally wound 24 soldiers in the first hour of the four-hour massacre, before the skirmish turned into an all-out hunt for every remaining Shoshone.
In the same year as the Bear River Massacre, a series of treaties was struck with nearby Shoshone bands. Fearful and suffering their own series of assaults from settlers, tribal historians say, the Shoshone signed treaties “under the gun,” making egregiously lopsided agreements with the United States government.
The Box Elder Treaty was signed in July 1863, with the Shoshone forfeiting two-thirds of their hunting grounds in eastern Idaho. The Ruby Valley Treaty , signed on Oct. 1, 1863, granted the United States the right to cross through western Shoshone territory in northern Nevada with telegraphs, stage lines and railroads and engage in economic activities in Shoshone territory, which eventually meant mining the mountains for silver and gold.
Over a century later, in 1986, and after Northwestern Shoshone descendants of the Bear River Massacre survivors had spent years advocating for a memorial, the legislatures of Utah and Idaho jointly resolved to create a “Battle of Bear River Monument.” But the bloodbath at Bear River was clearly much more than a battle. The surviving Northwestern Shoshone threatened suit to force a shift toward their point of view. Finally, in 1990, after an investigation by historian Edwin C. Bearss, the federal government officially recognized the fight as a massacre, and designated the site as a National Historic Landmark.
Despite this designation, little is known about the Bear River Massacre today, which, according to the Smithsonian Institute , is said to be the deadliest massacre in American history.
Remembering the American Holocaust
The danger lies in forgetting. Forgetting, however, will not only affect the dead. Should it triumph, the ashes of yesterday will cover our hopes for tomorrow.
—Elie Wiesel, Jewish author and professor
I am among the millions who have visited the deeply moving Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. I felt the knots in my stomach walking through the shoe exhibit with piles of thousands of musty leather shoes of all sizes belonging to Jewish victims, standing as a sensory reminder that these were human beings who were exterminated by Hitler’s regime. They had life. They had shoes. They had names.
Their names, their faces and their stories are thoughtfully integrated into the museum experience to remind us of our humanity. All throughout the museum, I felt sick. I was heartbrokenly sick, not simply because of the sheer level of atrocity around me, but because of the forgotten American atrocities that lie beneath my feet.
There is blood beneath the foundation of the Holocaust Museum. There is blood beneath our homes. The American Holocaust is forgotten, and forgotten by design.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said:
Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles of racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.
You see, hunting down human beings —men, women, children and infants— at dawn, and because they were Indian and less worthy of life, because they were an obstacle to settler colonialism, simply does not fit into the lily-white narrative of Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism . Acknowledging its own genocide of indigenous peoples just does not sit well with America, overall.
Ostensibly, in an attempt to paint and repaint fresh layers of whitewash over American history, our institutions honor and remember international crimes against humanity, feigning complete ignorance of American crimes or outright denying the truth of the American Holocaust. But the truth is found beneath the peeling whitewash.
Bear River . The Dakota 38 + 2. Wounded Knee . Sand Creek . Washita River . Pit Rive r. The Marias Massacre . The heartbreaking list goes on and on. Many more massacres we may never know about.
Indian boarding schools. The involuntary sterilization of Native American women. Missing and murdered indigenous women. Highest youth suicide rates in the nation among Native American people.
All of the social ills of struggling tribal communities today are connected by a common thread, and we must remember and understand why: Indigenous peoples have suffered brutality and compound traumas at the hands of settler colonialists and the United States government, with little to no time or space to heal, no acknowledgment or compassion from the masses, no admission of the crimes which began in 1492.
And on Jan. 27 every year, America honors International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
But we must never forget. The road to Auschwitz was paved with indigenous blood.
In remembrance of Bear River, Jan. 29, 1863. The Shoshone babies and children had faces. They had names, and moccasins. They giggled and smiled. The women, the men and the elders, they had stories, too. They cared for and protected their families. They loved, and they wanted a good life for their people. Remember them. Remember us. We are still here.
For a list of the Native American massacres -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_massacres
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In remembrance of Bear River, Jan. 29, 1863. The Shoshone babies and children had faces. They had names, and moccasins. They giggled and smiled. The women, the men and the elders, they had stories, too. They cared for and protected their families. They loved, and they wanted a good life for their people. Remember them. Remember us. We are still here.
What so many in the U. S. fail to realize is that, from 1492 until the present time, over 90 million Native Americans have been killed in the U. S. by dominant society. That doesn't count the Indians in South and Central America's. Adding them to the numbers would bring the total death toll to the neighborhood of over 300 million Indians.
"Indian Givers" - Jack Weatherford
"Native Roots" - Jack Weatherford
"1491" and "1493" - Charles Mann
“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shore, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it. Our children are still taught to respect the violence which reduced a red-skinned people of an earlier culture into a few fragmented groups herded into impoverished reservations.”
― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Indeed. And the Trail of Tears was meant to be a means of ridding our country of as many Indians as possible, as those who were force marched to what was then Indian Territory were meant to die of starvation and disease.
However, there were two things that the government did not count on.
#1. The Cherokee Reservation was sitting on top of one of the largest oil fields in America and the government would have to pay the much hated indians to pup out that oil.
and
#2.
So all the inhumane and heinous efforts over the many years intending to eradicate the first people of America, were for naught. We are still here, and we are still the first people of America.
Love your meme. It goes well with the metaphor of the Holocaust Museum.
During Passover, in the Haggadah, the book that tells of the exodus from Egypt it says:
In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. And the Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hands.
I have often thought this about Indians, too. That whether you call it god or the great spirit, somehow Indians have been watched over, as they are still here. And as Raven points out.. here they are, like seeds, with the Cherokee Reservation sitting on top of one of the largest oil fields in America.
May the great spirit always watch over all the remaining tribes.
Indeed. What they thought would be the end of the wretched Indians was actually a land that was very survivable by a people who knew how to farm and grow their own food. Mother Earth provides the necessary ingredients if people know how to use them.
What the government didn't count on was that an ancient people who have survived all types of terrain and climate over the centuries since coming to this land, they knew how to survive in even the harshest environment.
And as you said, the Creator/Great Spirit has taken care of His children for many centuries, as He always will. While Dominant Society may think they have the last word, there is another who does not think so, and has proven it over many centuries.
Sadly Kavika - Dr. King stated what has occurred to the Native Americans and the horrific issues with the division of race, but Dominant Society has gone down the drain on both.
I wish it would start sinking into more heads.
This article reminds me of this article.
By the way, when the reader sees the phrase "lasts for decades", substitute "lasts for centuries".
Over 500 years and 300,000,000 lives.
Protracted armed conflict
27 June 2017
Protracted armed conflicts are characterized by their longevity, intractability and mutability. This is not a new phenomenon, but some particular trends seen in today's protracted conflicts, such as emerging technologies, pervasive media coverage, and so on, are specific to our times.
The lack of respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) is a major source of suffering in protracted conflict. Due to the prolonged nature of these conflicts, they may fuel a cycle of revenge, undermining respect for the law. Even where international law is not violated, the conduct of hostilities can cause severe humanitarian consequences due to the cumulative impact on infrastructure, basic services and livelihoods over time, as well as the widespread displacement these armed conflicts can cause.
The needs of affected people are wide-ranging and extend over many years, sometimes even generations. As a result, humanitarian agencies need to adapt their programming to respond both to urgent and long-term needs. Effective operations in protracted conflicts are an institutional priority for the ICRC. As of 2016, some 20 ICRC delegations were operating in protracted crises and around two thirds of the ICRC's budget was spent in protracted conflicts. Prolonged humanitarian action in conflicts of various kinds means that the traditional binary paradigm of relief and development is giving way to policies adapted to address needs when people are struggling to survive in conflicts that last for decades. In 2015, the ICRC cut the word "emergency" from its annual appeal in recognition of the fact that its work is often a mix of both urgent and long-term programming. The ICRC is by no means alone in this effort. The protracted conflicts seen today attract a large humanitarian sector.
This issue of the Review will discuss strategies being put in place to respond to humanitarian needs arising in protracted armed conflict, such as multi-year funding and programming, and to bridge the "humanitarian-development divide". It will also address the definition of the term "protracted conflict", the different types of protracted conflicts and the new challenges they pose for humanitarian actors. Authors could also submit contributions discussing the effects of protracted conflicts on infrastructure, economies, political entities and regional and international spheres.
Evening..You look back on the pages of history in many countries, mine included and you just think..."What happened to Humanity and Respect for other people and cultures??" I know different times, different values and the White Man was "meant to be superior"...All we can do is learn from these massive disastrous and murderous times...Shake your head in utter and total disbelief...And hope it is never ever, repeated anywhere else on this earth...But as I have said previously...Us humans are slow learners at times...We do not heed the lessons of our past History and that at times is to our own detriment...For all the generations that have gone before us, your descendants are still here and always will be....
Not one of the more glorious episodes in American military history.....
A battle that didn't need to be fought as the Shoshone were not at war with anyone, they were just trying to survive..... they were on at least speaking terms with the local area leaders and in some cases were actually helping each other out......
Hard to justify this as anything but a massacre in my mind.......
Reminds me of the writings of Chief Joseph and his telling of his history......
Col. Connor, promoted to Brigader General (also breveted as Maj. Gen.) after this campaign then went on to lead the Powder River Expedition which was a massive failure. His forces were so badly composed after that they were separated from the service and sent home and Gen. Connor was recalled to the Utah Territory as a failure.
Connor believed that the only way to treat with the native was to exterminate them, Even the Indian Agents of the government disagreed with his plan and tactics on this campaign...... His orders to his troops in the Powder River campaign..... "You will not receive overtures of peace or submission from Indians, but will attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age.", were countermanded by both Generals Pope and Dodge before they set out but the orders never arrived before the columns left Fort Laramie.....
Colonel Connor was the epitome of evil, power gone to his head...... He never should have been given command of a latrine much less a regiment. (and his handling of the subsequent Powder River campaign proved it beyond any doubt).......
If there was ever an American General that should have been tried for war crimes and executed, it is General Connor. he is a disgrace to the uniform....