Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, we hear from M.B. in Granby, MA:
In 1861, Henry King made the long journey from Enfield, CT, to Yuba City, CA, where his brother had settled a few years earlier to cash in on the Gold Rush. Had Henry stayed home in Connecticut, he likely would have enlisted with a local regiment to fight the Confederacy in the South. Instead, he signed up with the 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry, which was formed to safeguard overland mail routes and transcontinental telegraph lines.
A family genealogy from the early 1900s credits Henry with "very efficient service in the campaign against the hostile Indians in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Dakota." The most notable engagement of that campaign occurred at Bear River in what is now southeastern Idaho. By all accounts, it was a brutal, merciless, military action.
To reach Bear River, the 2nd California marched 140 miles from Fort Douglas at Salt Lake City. The mid-winter conditions were severe. The snow was 4 feet deep. In the subzero weather, their fingers froze and their rifles jammed with ice. Dozens of the soldiers suffered frostbite so severe they lost fingers, toes, and feet. Nonetheless, they were able to surround the enemy and attack at dawn.
The Bear River Massacre is now considered the deadliest attack on Native Americans in U.S. history. An estimated 450 Shoshone were killed—the vast majority of them were women and children.
The 2nd California Volunteers had mustered to replace the regular army that went to fight in the Civil War. Instead of preserving the Union, they massacred hundreds of Indians who stood in the way of Western expansion.
Henry Albert King was my great-great-grandfather. I have no idea of what he thought of his three years in the Union army. Perhaps he was proud of his service. His obituary notes his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Civil War veterans.
If he told any stories about his combat experiences, they were never passed down. Aside from his claims of Native American ancestry, his son had nothing to say about Indians.
Thanks, M.B. (Z)