Sagwitch: Shoshone Chieftain, Mormon Elder, 1822-1887

by Scott Christensen

The Northwestern Shoshone knew as home the northern Great Salt Lake, Bear River, Cache, and Bear Lake valleys-northern Utah. Sagwitch was born at a time when his people traded with the mountain men. In the late 1850s, wagons brought Mormon farmers to settle in Cache Valley, the Northwestern Shoshone heartland. Emigrants and settlers reduced Shoshone access to traditional village sites and food resources. Relationships with the Mormons were mostly good but often strained, and the Shoshone treatment of migrants, who now traveled north and south as well as west and east through the area, was increasingly opportunistic. It only took a few violent incidents for a zealous army colonel to seek severe punishment of the Northwestern Shoshone on a winter morning in 1863. The Bear River Massacre was among the bloodiest engagements of America's Indian wars. Hundreds of Shoshone, including Sagwitch's wife and two sons, died; he was wounded but escaped. The band was shattered; other chiefs dead. 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 sessions, 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 the Shoshone's valleys. This, then, is also the story of the conversion of Sagwitch and his band to the Mormon Church. Though not without problems, that conversion was long lasting and thorough. Sagwitch and other Shoshone would demonstrate in important ways their new religious devotion. With the assistance of Mormon leaders, they established the Washakie community in northern Utah. Though efforts to secure a land base had an uneven history, they partly succeeded, and the story of these Shoshone's attempts at rural farming diverged significantly from what happened on government reservations. When Sagwitch died, his death went almost unnoticed outside of Washakie, but his children and grandchildren continued to be important voices among a people who, after experiencing near annihilation, survived in the new world into which Sagwitch led them.

Genres: History, Native American, Read For School

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

Reviews

[Spencer Bytheway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sagwitch is was an eye opening view of the early history of my home, which turns out to be much more fascinating than the whitewashed version I was raised with. Christensen’s account of the Bear River Massacre and the events that led up to it is not sensationalist, but it also does not minimize or excuse the atrocity. By recounting the events as they were described by contemporary sources, he lets them speak for themselves, and the effect is arguably more powerful than if he had condemned them outright.

The book imparts a human perspective: both Shoshone and Mormons come across as complex three dimensional actors. Christensen clearly portrays Sagwitch in particular as an agent and not a mere victim, which helps set his book apart from the typical account of such a tragedy. He is a savvy protagonist who, while severely limited by violence and loss of resources, brilliantly negotiates his changing world to make the most of a bad situation for his people.

With that said, the book is by no means merely a book about the tragedy near Preston. Retold in the first few chapters, the massacre rather serves as a backdrop for the Shoshone struggle for identity and survival under the guidance of the ingenious and tenacious Sagwitch.

I have a personal connection to the book as well. The middle third of the book is as much about George Washington Hill, the Mormon emissary to the Shoshone as about Sagwitch. Hill is my thrice great grandfather, and I grew up with a hagiographic image of Hill as a great Mormon saint who saved and baptized hundreds of Indians in Northern Utah. In recent years, I was disillusioned when I learned that as a young man, he sold his mother in law’s elderly slave for money for a team and wagon to take the family from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City. Christensen’s account was once again humanizing and helped me see my ancestor as a real person, with both real foibles and real virtues. In his dealings with the Shoshone, he was naïve in his zeal, but big-hearted in his generosity and sympathy for his Indian friends. I was happy to see that more than those who came before or after him, he seemed to see Sagwitch as a partner and colleague on his great mission, rather than a subservient ward.

Sagwitch and the Northwest Band of Shoshone have left barely a footprint on the collective memory of Northern Utah today. Their farming community at Washakie, disintegrated in the mid twentieth century and band members largely integrated into neighboring Utah communities. Some found their way North to Fort Hall. Things may be starting to change though. Earlier this year, the band arranged to purchase the massacre site and tribal members led by Chairman Darren Parry visited Preston on a first-of-its-kind outreach mission in that community to memorialize the massacre and celebrate Shoshone heritage.

[Mikemower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many books have been written about Mormon pioneers and other settlers of the West. Few have been written about the Native Americans who were here when they arrived. This well-written biography shares the moving story of Sagwitch. He was a young survivor of the Bear River Massacre and overcame that horror to help his people and live an incredible life.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I had a hard time putting this book down! Living in the same area that Sagwitch lived, I knew almost nothing about him, the Shoshone, the incredible trials they suffered, and their early and deep conversion to the Mormon Church until I read this book. Everyone who lives in Northern Utah or Southern Idaho ought to read this. It is heartbreaking in the extreme, but also hopeful. I am left with an immense respect for the tribe of Sagwitch.

[Jeff Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written account of the life of a great Native American leader and his people.

[Mary Etta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Met the author yesterday, currently archivist at LDS Church History Library. Snooper White Hair, is his Shoshone name given to him shortened to White Hair as there's no Shoshone translation for Snooper. They were pleased with his book. They had given their story to many but no other had passed it on as it should be. Sagwitch and the Shoshone Indians lived in Parkinson country of Southern Idaho; rather Parkinsons settled in Shoshone country in 1860. Samuel Rose and Arabella Parkinson adopted one of the three surviving 3-year old children of Bear River Massacre. Looking forward to the read.

Available at Utah State University Press.

I was surprised how much I liked this book. Perhaps because it relates to my family's history I'm place and time. The author treats all the participants fairly. The Shoshone attempts at farming were remarkable. I don't recall having read of another American Indian group who were as successful, albeit, after many tries and trials. Nor have I read of other Anglos who assisted with such dedication as did the several in this case. A truly remarkable effort by all those involved. Some things such as Bear River Massacre take a long time getting an accurate name. Battle of Bear River was hardly sufficient.

[Nancy Breinholt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story about the leader of a band of Shoshone in Northern Utah/Southern Idaho. The book jumped around chronologically (within a few years) and it frustrated me. It talks about the death of Brigham Young in 1877 and jumps in the next paragraph back to 1868. I also would have preferred more discussion about the conversion of hundreds of Shoshone to the Mormon religion. Was it convenience? Did they see the writing on the wall? Or was it an honest declaration of faith. Not a very well written book, but the subject matter made it worth plowing through.

[Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great monograph about a Shoshone warrior who was willing to work out compromises with early Utah settlers. Although there is very little source material about Sagwitch himself, this book was fleshed out from a Master's thesis and gives a wider view through that time's window frame of the indigenous populace and white settlers in the Great Basin.

[Kathryn Pritchett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the Shoshone in Northern Utah. Well-written with useful photos and maps.