Ward Massacre

In early September, 1854, Major Granville Hallar set out with a US military force from their post in Oregon to avenge the Ward-party deaths. Upon arrival at the rebuilt Hudson Bay's Fort Boise near the mouth of the Boise River, the Indians they encountered were arrested, but released after proving their innocence. The next day, four Indians were arrested - three were killed and one was wounded, but escaped.

The expedition next advanced up the Payette River tracking a suspect Indian band to a 15-lodge encampment. The soldiers charged the hastily-abandoned camp where they found a saddlebag inscribed with one of the victims names, a silver goblet from Germany, $50 in a silk purse, and other Ward party items. Two men from the tribe were discovered nearby and were killed. The military then went to the site of the massacre and reburied the Ward party. The following year, Hallar set out again. While camping near Fort Boise, four Indians entered the camp and were arrested. One confessed, implicating his companions, and was shot while attempting to escape. The three remaining men were tried, found guilty, and hanged on gallows erected over the mass grave of the Ward party.

The Ward Massacre changed the course of Western history. Following the attack, Hudson's Bay abandoned their trading posts at Ft. Hall and Ft. Boise. With no permanent forts for protection in southern Idaho, the US adopted a policy of providing horse soldiers, who were often local volunteers, to escort travelers braving the trail. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, troops were pulled. In the following years, use of the Oregon Trail plummeted.

It took a giant gold strike to bring travelers back to southern Idaho. Travel resumed mid-way in the Civil War when large gold deposits were discovered in the Boise Basin. Mindful of the Ward Massacre, President Lincoln's administration established a military Fort Boise in 1863. The Fort, located at the upper end of the Boise Valley, protected miners and other travelers in southern Idaho and assured that Idaho gold was directed into the Union treasury.

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Show me all markers in:  Caldwell, ID  |  Canyon County  |  83605  |  Idaho  |  United States of America

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