WASHAKIE

born c. 1804, , Montana died Feb. 20, 1900, Ft. Washakie, Wyo., U.S. Shoshoni chief who performed extraordinary acts of friendship for white settlers while exhibiting tremendous prowess as a warrior against his people's tribal enemies. The son of a Umatilla father and Shoshoni mother, he left the Umatilla while an adolescent to join his mother's tribe. By the 1840s Washakie was chief of the Eastern Band (sometimes called Washakie's Band) of Wyoming Shoshoni. Although quite vain-he loved to be the centre of elaborate ceremonies-Washakie was kind and generous to whites passing through Shoshoni territory under his control. He and his people assisted emigrants in crossing dangerous rivers and in recovering stray animals. Nine thousand grateful settlers once signed a document commending Washakie and his Shoshoni Band for their exemplary treatment. Even when livestock belonging to whites destroyed his people's root and herding grounds, Washakie made sure no violent repercussions occurred. In the fall of 1862, however, Washakie was unable to prevent a large number of his followers from joining the Bannocks in attacking and plundering white settlements. He took loyal members of his band with him to Ft. Bridger in Wyoming and then reunited with the surviving Shoshoni hostiles after the Bannocks were crushed at Bear River on Jan. 29, 1863. Washakie served as representative for both the Shoshoni and the Bannocks at the 1868 Ft. Bridger negotiations. As a result of these negotiations, Washakie's people surrendered the Green River Valley of eastern Utah and southern Wyoming to provide the right of way for the Union Pacific Railroad. During the Sioux War of 1876, Washakie sent many of his warriors to fight alongside U.S. government troops against the traditional enemies of the Shoshoni. In fact, the Chief himself frequently served as a scout during the U.S. Army's campaigns against the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Ute, and other tribes hostile to the United States. Washakie spent his last years on the Shoshoni reservation, where he continued to rule as absolute dictator. When younger aspirants sought to depose him, the 70-year-old chief disappeared for two months. Then, just as the tribal council met to select a new leader, in strode Washakie with six scalps collected on the warpath as proof of his undiminished prowess.