Eastern Shoshone Tribe

History

In 1868 the war being fought in northeastern Wyoming, southeastern Montana, southern Idaho, southwestern Montana, and western Wyoming was negotiated to a peaceful end. In southern Idaho, southwestern Montana, and western Wyoming, the war is known as the Snake River War. In northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, it is known as Red Clouds War. Both conflicts were the same war. On July 3, 1868 a treaty was signed which ended the Snake River War and established the Wind River Reservation. The Shoshone settled down to live on the large Reservation but the Arapaho continued to resist ceding land. They continued to fight the invading whites up to 1878, when they were forced to relocate to the Wind River Reservation.

Originally, the Reservation was considerably larger but the United States refused to honor treaty agreements. Through srupulous dealings the United States used Reservation leaders to reduce the size of the large Reservation. Arapaho leaders strongly opposed ceding Reservation land, while Shoshone leaders fell easy to the land acts.The land cession agreement of 1904 led to the Arapaho murdering the Shoshone leader, George Terry, who signed the land cession agreement. 

The once large Reservation was significantly reduced in size and white settlers eventually settled down on the Reservations best farm land. The white city of Riverton is located within the Reservation. And a large area in the east central part of the Reservation is disputed land. The Arapaho never agreed to cede that land.

Bands, Groups and Subdivisions of Shoshone Indians and Their Reservations

The Eastern Shoshone or Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation -- Wind River Reservation (Wyoming)

Records

Agency Records

Correspondence and Census

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-1880 Correspondence M234 RG 75 Rolls 962 Roll Number	FHL Film Niumber	Post 1885-Census M595 RG 75 Rolls 693	FHL Film Number
Shoshone	Wind River Agency, 1873-1952	Denver	-		167, 498-504, 631, 663	581873-581879

Vital Records

• Wind River Agency, M595 births and deaths, 1938-39, FHL Film: 583122 and births and deaths 1924-1932 FHL Film: 581878

Important Web Sites

• The Shoshone Indians -- History and description of the Shoshone Indian, especially the Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Reservation.
• Shoshone Tribe Wikipedia

References

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.