Native American Musket  Ca. 1845

Native American Musket  Ca. 1845

This historic European percussion musket can be traced to being carried by George Van Ornum during the Utter -Van Ornum wagon-train travel along the Oregon Trail in Idaho in September, 1860. While heading northwest, the Utter – Van Ornum wagon train was  attack near Castle Butte by about 100 Indians, who were a mix of Shoshone and Bannock, who stampeded the stock. The wagons formed a defensive circle, and the attackers withdrew without major damage.

According to family accounts;

• The following day, September 9, the train was attacked again.
• Two of the discharged soldiers, Privates William Utley and Charles Kisnell, were killed.
• Later that day, Judson Kressey, a Van Ornum party member, was also killed.
• The survivors, including George Van Ornum, decided to break out by leaving half the wagons and all the stock to distract the attackers. I
• n the chaos, John Myers was killed, and wounded Elijah Utter was shot down. His wife, Abagel, and four of his children refused to leave him and all perished.
• The survivors fled on foot and were pursued by the natives.
• Survivors, including the George Van Ornum, escaped down the trail.
• George dropped his musket with his named carved in the stock and was picked up by a Native American.
• George Van Ornum survived while both the Utter and the Van Ornum families suffered multiple deaths during the massacre.

The Utter–Van Ornum Massacre, is considered one of the deadliest attacks on Oregon Trail emigrants. The attack left 29 killed or captured and only 10 survivors found in dire condition by October 24, 1860. The brutality of the attack, including reports of cannibalism, made it one of the most infamous incidents of the Oregon Trail.

This musket was purchased from Chief Tendoi at the Shoshone-Bannock – Festival on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southeast Idaho, in 1973, by George Carroll, Urbana, Ohio. The musket had been altered to a Native American weapon making it a genuine Native American Warrior’s weapons favored for attacks against frontiersmen and soldiers.

Condition: Crudely altered with short barrel as preferred by Native Americans for use on horseback and decorated with buffalo leather for easy grip.

Provenance:

Chief Tendoi – Shoshone – Bannock Festival- Fort Hall, Idaho

George Carrol – Urbana, Ohio (1973)

Gordon Barlow, Swope, Virginia (1996)