Snake War
The Snake War was a conflict involving the Snake Indians, also known as the Gens du Serpent, who were part of the Great Basin culture in North America. Starting in the mid-19th century, this conflict arose as tensions escalated between the Snake people and U.S. military forces, particularly due to the impacts of westward expansion and mining activities in the region. The U.S. Army, under General George Crook, took over military operations against the Snake people in 1866, responding to persistent attacks on miners during the Civil War years.
The campaign led by Crook involved numerous battles, ultimately resulting in significant casualties among the Snake population and the death of their chief, Pauline. By 1868, after enduring a sustained military effort, many Snake individuals, under the leadership of Chief Weahwewa, sought peace and were relocated to reservations along the Klamath and Malheur Rivers. The Snake War highlights the challenges faced by indigenous populations in the context of U.S. territorial expansion and underscores the complex dynamics of resistance, survival, and eventual displacement of the Snake people.
Snake War
Date: 1866-July, 1868
Place: Southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho
Tribes affected: Northern Paiute (especially the Yahuskin and Walpapi bands), Shoshone
Significance: After two years of guerrilla warfare, peace talks between Brevet Major General George Crook and Snake leader Old Weawea effectively pacified most Snake bands
The Snakes (named Gens du Serpent by early French explorers) were ancient inhabitants of the Great Basin culture area along upper reaches of the Missouri River southward to the Sweetwater River. From the seventeenth century onward, they invariably had been described as a very poor, largely itinerant people whose chief preoccupation was scrounging food from hard country.
After the failure of Oregon and Nevada volunteers to end Snake attacks on miners during Civil War years, the U.S. Army’s First Cavalry and Fourteenth Infantry under General George Crook assumed responsibility for operations in 1866. Thereafter, in a remorseless campaign of forty-eight battles, resulting in five hundred Indian casualties and the death of Chief Pauline, Crook suppressed the Snakes’ guerrilla war by exhausting them. Eight hundred Snakes were led to Fort Harney, Oregon, in July, 1868, by Old Weawea, signaling peace. Most Snake survivors retired to the Klamath and Malheur River reservations.