AUGUST 12:

1990 Montreal Quebec Chief Justice Alan Gold of Quebec Superior Court reaches deal accepting Mohawk conditions for resumption of talks at Oka; Tom Siddon & John Caccia sign.

1764 Erie Pennsylvania John Bradstreet 1714-1774 holds peace talks with Pontiac Rebellion tribes of the Delaware and Shawnee at Fort Presqu'ile; sent to attack them.

1756 Oswego New York Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm 1712-1759 sets up a battery on high ground 80 yards from British post of Fort Ontario and starts firing on it with cannon, some of which were Braddock's own cannon, seized after the Battle of the Wilderness. At 4 pm, Col. James Mercer decides the fort is no longer tenable, and orders his regiments - the 15th and 51st - to evacuate across the river to old Ft. Oswego; the French then open fire with every gun, and the walls of Fort Oswego start to break apart under the cannonade. The defenders will hold out for two more days before being massacred by Montcalm's Indian allies.

1615 Midland Ontario Joseph Le Caron c1586-1632 arrives with Champlain as first missionary to the Hurons; celebrates first recorded Mass in Ontario at Carhagonha, near Midland.

August 12, 1878:  The Paiute chief Oytes and his followers surrendered. This effectively ended the Paiutes' participation in the Bannock war.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

Buffalo Horn, Chief of the Bannocks, knew all too well what was in store for him and his people. He had participated as a scout for General Howard in the Nez Perce War. As he looked over the Camas Prairie, land given to the Bannocks in the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1867, he saw the slow encroachment of white poachers grazing cattle on the land that supplied his people with the camas root. Many of the local Indian groups were dissatisfied with the poor amount of rations promised by the Indian agency. The U.S. Government was supplying the Indians with about three days worth of rations per week.

General Crook stated, "It was no surprise .. that some of the Indians soon afterwards broke out into hostilities, and the great wonder is that so many remained on the reservation. With the Bannocks and Shoshone, our Indian policy has resolved itself into a question of war path or starvation, and being merely human, many of them will always choose the former alternative when death shall at least be glorious." It was time to take a stand knowing all too well that it would mark the end of a way of life forever ...

... Buffalo Horn's son and another brave rode out on the prairie to confront three ranchers and their herd of twenty-five hundred head of cattle. They shot and wounded Lou Kemler and George Nesby, while William Silvey escaped. The Bannocks had warned the whites of their transgressions in the past. General Howard was already on his way to Boise to mitigate the differences when these events took place. The die had been cast and it was the war path. Buffalo Horn had planned with the Malheur Paiutes under Chief Egan, and Umatilla tribes to take a stand. Chief Tendoy was against war and took his band and left for his reservation on the Lemhi River in eastern Idaho ...

... Captain Bernard arrived on the Camas Prairie June 1st reports that the Indian have taken refuge in the lava beds seven miles from the Camas Prairie. Buffalo Horn and about two hundred of his warriors are forced from the Lava Beds and cut a path of destruction and killing through southern Idaho westward to Oregon. The plan was to join forces with Chiefs Egan and Oytes in the Steen mountains of Oregon. Captain Bernard follows the hostiles to the headwaters of the Owyhee River. The Bannocks relocate their camp on Battle creek. On June 8th Captain Harper and twenty volunteers from Silver City attack Buffalo Horn. The undertrained volunteers bolted and barely escaped annihilation, but in the engagement Buffalo Horn was killed ...

... The Bannocks (later) moved to Silver creek and united with Egan's Malheurs, the Northern Paiutes, Chief Eagle Eye's Weisers, some Shoshones and possibly some Umatillas. The Indian strength was about eight hundred or more. Captain Bernard and the First Calvary proceeded towards Silver Creek. On June 23rd at eight o'clock in the morning he attacked the Indians. Outnumbered three to one, he managed to drive them into the shelter of crags. Calling for reinforcements the Indians pressed northward killing all who came in their way. Captain Bernard pressed forward ahead of Howard pushing the hostiles into the Fox Valley above the John Day River. On July 2nd General Howard ordered Captain Egbert to move the 12th Infantry toward Walla Walla and block all stragglers to the east and be ready to move in any direction. General McDowell orders two companies of the eight infantry from Arizona to take passage on the steamer for the Columbia ...

... The Indians fooled Howard into thinking they were moving into Nez Perce Territory, doubling back they appeared at the Umatilla Agency, near Pendleton. Captain Miles with the 21st Infantry clashed with the hostiles on the 12th of July. Large numbers of Umatilla Indians watched the battle under a white flag. The next day the Umatillas took it upon their own initiative and pursued Chief Egan's band. After deceiving Chief Egan the Umatillas killed him and brought the head in for identification. The Bannocks now broke and moved east cutting a path of destruction, while the Paiutes headed south in small groups. Along the Salmon River the Bannocks were reported threating settlers. Major Sanford and Captain Egbert of the 12th Infantry attacked them at the mouth of Bennet Creek. The commands of Egbert, Sanford, Bernard and Drum kept busy in late August and September rounding up small bands of Indians in southern Idaho ...

.. The surrender of Oytes on August 12th marked the end of Paiutes Hostilities. Other troops headed off the Bannocks intercepting one group that succeeded in crossing the Yellowstone National Park. The Paiutes were held at Camp Harney in Oregon and later colonized on the Yakima Reservation. The Bannocks were held through the winter and returned to their reservation on the upper Snake River.
 

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