Box Elder (Fort Bridger) 1863: no recognized title, no compensation (Northwestern Shoshone)

What happened

The Treaty of Box Elder was signed on July 30, 1863, a few months after the Bear River Massacre of January 29, 1863, when the U.S. Army under Colonel Patrick Connor attacked a Shoshone camp. The Supreme Court describes it as a treaty of friendship and peace. Article 3 raised the Shoshone annuity by five thousand dollars. Article 4 said only "The country claimed by Pokatello for himself and his people," bounded by Raft River and the Portneuf Mountains. ICT News says the signers gave up about two-thirds of their traditional hunting grounds and that the money "was not enough to feed his people."

Before the Senate ratified it, an added article said nothing in the treaty "shall be construed or taken to admit any other or greater title or interest" than the bands held when the United States acquired the territory from Mexico. In 1929 Congress passed a law letting the Northwestern Bands sue in the Court of Claims over claims "arising under or growing out of the treaty." They sought about fifteen million dollars for some fifteen million acres they said they held by aboriginal title.

In Northwestern Bands of Shoshone Indians v. United States (1945), Justice Reed's opinion held that the treaty did not recognize Indian title, so the claim did not arise under the treaty. Four Justices disagreed. Justice Douglas wrote that a government that bargains for a right of way across land a people call their own recognizes their claim to it.

Justice Jackson, in a concurrence joined by Justice Black, wrote that the finding "does not restrict Congress" from making appropriations. The Bands recovered nothing in this case.

Good to know. The Court held the treaty never recognized Shoshone title, which is different from breaking a promise about recognized land. The "two-thirds of hunting grounds" figure is a journalist's summary.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error