‘I had a company stationed who shot them as they ran out….Few tried to escape but continued fighting with unyielding obstinacy, frequently engaging hand to hand with the troops.’

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After about four hours of bloody battling on a bitter cold day, the soldiers, many of whom had been killed, wounded or frozen themselves, had almost completely annihilated the Indian encampment.

A San Francisco Bulletin reporter described the battle scene: ‘The carnage presented in the ravine was horrible. Warrior piled on warrior, horses mangled and wounded in every conceivable form, with here and there a squaw and papoose, who had been accidentally killed.’

The howitzers, which might have shortened the battle considerably, never arrived. The smoothbore cannon could fire a variety of shells, the standard being a steel ball filled with explosives, but the guns had been too heavy to transport in the deep snow. The infantry used the 1861 rifle, a muzzle-loaded, percussion .58 caliber; the cavalry had two weapons, the saber and a .44-caliber revolver. The Indians used blackpowder rifles, knives and bows and arrows.

Connor’s force killed between 250 and 300 Indians (Connor’s estimate), including Chiefs Bear Hunter and Lehi. Chiefs Sandpitch, Sagwitch and Pocatello escaped, along with about 50 warriors. Soldier casualties were 21 dead and 46 wounded.

Conditions on the night following the battle were described by one soldier: ‘The night of January 29th 1863, I shall never forget (how can I). There we camped on the bank of Bear River with our dead and dying wounded and frozen, 2 feet of snow on the ground. Nothing for fire but green willows which would burn about as well as snow. Oh, the groans of the frozen seems to ring in my ears and the poor fellows, some lost their toes and some a portion of their feet. I worked nearly all night bringing water from the river to wet clothes to draw frost from their frozen limbs. It was a dreadful night to me, but I managed to get through it while some never saw the morning.’

Chief Sagwitch was shot through both legs during the fight. The intense cold, hovering below zero, congealed the blood and prevented him from bleeding to death. Under fire from the soldiers, the chief dragged himself down to Bear Creek, jumped into the water and swam one-eighth of a mile almost entirely submerged. He then dragged his frozen body ashore and crawled and slid 20 miles across the snow to a friendly lodge. He remained on the Fort Hall Reservation until the day of his death, badly crippled and deeply dejected.

The Mormon bishop of Franklin sent William Head, captain of the local militia, and two other men to check the battlefield and discover if any Indians were still alive. The men found bodies everywhere–in several places, three to five deep. Two Indian women whose thighs had been broken by bullets were found alive, as well as two boys and one girl about 3 years old. The little girl had eight flesh wounds in her body. The victims were taken back to Franklin for care.

A nephew of Chief Sagwitch also ran toward the river during the fight, with soldiers in close pursuit. When the lad reached the river he fell into the water, feigning death, and then floated under the ice, making an air hole just far enough out of the water to allow him to breath. The soldiers spotted him and fired again, wounding him in the thumb. After the troopers gave up their attempts to kill him, the boy swam to some willows and lay hidden for several hours in the intense cold. He would later settle on the Washakie Reservation and live to be 100 years old.

Chief Sagwitch’s son Yeagar Timbimboo was about 12 years old at the time of the massacre and also miraculously escaped death. The youngster came upon a small grass tepee that was so full of people that it was actually moving along the ground. Inside the shelter, Yeagar found his grandmother. At her urging, the two of them went outside to lie down among the dead before the soldiers could set the tepee on fire. Near the end of the battle, as the soldiers were searching among the dead Indians, one of the volunteers came across the inquisitive youngster who was looking around to see what was happening. The soldier stood over Yeagar with his gun pointed at him. The two stared at each other; the gun was lowered, then raised a second time before finally the soldier lowered it and walked away.

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