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[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]

http://www.sltrib.com/01292000/utah/21589.htm

Massacre Documentary To Premiere in Idaho

Saturday,  January 29, 2000
BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

A new documentary video about the 1863 Bear River Massacre will
premiere Saturday evening in Preston, Idaho, the site of the bloodiest
killing field of American Indians in the history of the West.

The premiere of the 90-minute documentary is part of a series of
events to mark the 137th anniversary of an attack by the U.S. Army's
California Volunteers on an encampment of the Northwest Band of
Shoshone Indians on Jan. 29, 1863. What started as a battle quickly
degenerated into a massacre, with soldiers under the command of
Col. Patrick Connor told to "give no quarter" even as members of the
tribe asked to surrender.

Virtually all adult Indian males were killed, as were a number
of women and children. Body counts range from 240 to 368,
significantly exceeding other Indian massacres at the turn of the 19th
century and roughly approximating the 263 soldiers and attached
personnel massacred at  Little Bighorn in 1876 at the hands of
thousands of Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors.

The new documentary was produced by historians Chris Dallin and
Dick James with filmmaker Michael Mills, all of northern Utah.

"We began this project to capture some of the oral history of the
Northwest Shoshone because many of these people who know
the traditions are getting very old and we wanted to preserve those
old  ways," said Dallin, who is the director of the North Davis
Chamber of Commerce.

"The Bear River Massacre is such a central part of their story, and
it is not well known even in this area, we just felt it needed to be told."

The documentary includes interviews with people who share
conflicting views over the necessity and severity of Connor's attack
on the encampment, which was just outside Preston on the Utah-
Idaho border.

Filmmakers collected comments from several sources, including
Northwest Shoshone elder Mae Perry, Fort Douglas military historian
Jess  McCall and University of Utah emeritus professor of history
Brigham Madsen, who wrote a definitive history of the massacre.

The free premiere will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Preston High
School (150 W. 200 South), and copies of the video can be purchased
for $20 by calling (801) 479-3905.

As part of the commemoration Saturday, the public is invited to
meet at the Franklin County Senior Citizens Center at noon.

"We're just going to ask people to share any remembrances or
thoughts they have about the massacre before we go out to the
site," said Kerry Brinkerhoff of the Friends of the Native Americans
of Northern Utah.

>From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., informal tours will be given of the
massacre site, located just outside Preston along U.S. 91. The
National Park  Service has asked Congress to pass legislation
purchasing the privately  owned land where the massacre occurred
and protect it from development as a national monument, but no
such bill has been introduced.

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