{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Fort Lemhi | nrhp_type = | image = FortLemhiCirca1900.jpg | caption = Fort Lemhi Circa 1900 | coordinates = {{coord|44.9838|-113.6408|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | nearest_city = Salmon, Idaho | locmapin = Idaho#USA | built = {{Start date|1855}} | architect OR builder = | architecture = | added = February 23, 1972 | area = {{convert|9|acre}} | refnum = 72000443<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> }}
'''Fort Lemhi''' (originally spelled Fort Limhi) was a Mormon settlement from 1855 to 1858 located approximately two miles (3 km) north of present-day Tendoy, Idaho, that served as the base of operations for the Salmon River Mission. The mission was initially created as part of a larger effort to proselytize Native Americans throughout western North America; however, the fort eventually became a critical piece of Brigham Young's strategy in the Utah War. The surprise attack on Fort Lemhi in 1858 was the catalyst for bringing the Utah War to a resolution.
==Formation== left|thumb|A map of Lemhi Valley hand-drawn by Benjamin F. Cummings Brigham Young called twenty-seven men from the Salt Lake Valley to form the Salmon River Mission and preach to the "remnants of the House of Jacob," meaning the Native Americans <ref name="Ensign Peak" /><ref name="Garner2024">{{cite web |last1=Garner |first1=Bridget |title=The Rise and Fall of Fort Limhi |url=https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/286 |website=Intermountain Histories |publisher=Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at BYU |access-date=2 July 2024}}</ref> Thomas S. Smith led the group and George Washington Hill served as their main Shoshonean language interpreter.<ref>Leonard J. Arrington. ''History of Idaho'', Vol. 1 (Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1994)</ref> The party travelled about 380 miles north of Salt Lake City to the Salmon River valley (then in Oregon Territory).<ref name="Ensign Peak" /> They selected a permanent site to build a settlement on June 15, 1855 on land used by Bannock, Shoshone, Nez Perce and Flathead peoples.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Access to each of these nations made the location ideal for a missionary outpost.<ref name="Wells1971" /> The Nez Perce and Bannock leaders agreed to let the missionaries use the land for fishing, hunting, and log cutting, as long as it was not done to make a profit.<ref name="Hartley2001">{{cite journal |last1=Hartley |first1=William G. |title=Dangerous Outpost: Thomas Corless and the Fort Limhi/Salmon River Mission |journal=Mormon Historical Studies |date=2001 |volume=2 |issue=2 |url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mhs2.2Hartley.pdf |access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref>
The community grew to over 200 people. The settlers brought stock raising and irrigated farming to the region, and dug ditches which are still in use.<ref name="ishs329">{{Cite web |url=http://history.idaho.gov/Reference%20Series/0329.pdf |title=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series No. 329 |access-date=2010-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707155601/http://www.history.idaho.gov/Reference%20Series/0329.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At the direct behest of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bigler |first=David L. |url=https://archive.org/details/fortlimhimormona0006bigl/mode/2up |title=Fort Limhi : the Mormon adventure in Oregon territory, 1855-1858 |date=2003 |publisher=Spokane, Wash. : Arthur H. Clark Co. |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87062-324-0 |pages=162–165}}</ref> at least three of the Mormon missionaries at Fort Lemhi married Shoshone women: Ezra J. Barnard, Thomas Day, and Richard B. Margetts.<ref name="Hartley2001" /><ref>"An Enduring Legacy", Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Vol. 10, p. 419-420.</ref> thumb|Lemhi Pass According to tradition, Sacajawea was born in an area near where the fort would eventually stand.<ref name="Ensign Peak">{{cite web |title=Fort Limhi Site, Lemhi County, Idaho |url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/fort-lemhi-site/ |publisher=Ensign Peak Foundation |access-date=24 July 2024}}</ref> She led Lewis and Clark's company through the Continental Divide through what is now known as Lemhi Pass.<ref name="Ensign Peak" />
===Name=== The mission was named Fort Limhi for King Limhi, a king in the Book of Mormon.<ref name="Ensign Peak" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Idaho-Highway-Historical-Marker-Guide.pdf | title=Idaho Highway Historical Marker Guide | publisher=Idaho Transportation Department | accessdate=6 July 2019 | pages=59}}</ref> In Mormon scripture, King Limhi organized an expedition that lasted 22 days, the same duration it required the Mormon missionaries to reach the Salmon River. Consequently, they named their mission after King Limhi, and Limhi eventually became "Lemhi."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lemhi-shoshone.tripod.com/ | title=How the Agaidikas (Salmon-Eater Shoshone and Sheep-Eater Tribes) became known as the Lemhi | publisher=The Fort Lemhi Indian Committee}}</ref> Over time the surrounding valley, mountains, pass, a branch of the river, county, and Native Americans took on the name "Lemhi."<ref name="ishs329"/><ref name="Ensign Peak" />
==Significance during the Utah War== Gaining Native American allies was a key part of Brigham Young's strategy to maintain independence from the United States.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011">{{cite book |last1=Bigler |first1=David L. and Will Bagley |title=The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War 1857-1858 |date=2011 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806141350}}</ref> Brigham Young and other church leaders taught that by accepting baptism and intermarriage with Mormons, Native Americans would fulfill a Book of Mormon prophecy that Lamanites would return to the house of Israel.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> While it is no longer a core tenet of the Latter-day Saint faith, at the time leaders taught that "the time had arrived when all the wicked should be destroyed from the face of the earth, and that the Indians would be the principal means by which this object should be accomplished."<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />{{rp|76}} Fort Lemhi was particularly significant to Brigham Young's war strategy because it would be a way station in case of a northern evacuation from Utah.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Garner2024" />
===Bitterroot Valley exploration=== As tensions between the US government and the Utah territory increased, Young developed a contingency plan to evacuate his followers north via Fort Lemhi as far north as Canada if necessary.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> In October 1856, Fort Lemhi missionary Pleasant Green Taylor was instructed to contact an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company about purchasing Fort Hall.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> Taylor and three other missionaries travelled to the Bitterroot Valley to meet with Hudson's Bay agent Neil McArthur.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> McArthur agreed to pass Young's interest along to Hudson's Bay, and the four Fort Lemhi missionaries returned to Brigham Young with a map and favorable reports of the valley.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> They were impressed with the area's agricultural, defensive, and transportation potential as a new home for Young's followers.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Furthermore, Brigham Young felt there might be more security living on the upper Missouri among the Native peoples of the Northwest, as they would be stronger military allies than the tribes of the Great Basin.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> After receiving the report on the Bitterroot Valley, Young decided to visit the area himself and attempt alliances with the Lakota, Blackfoot, Bannock, Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Flathead nations.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
===Visit from Brigham Young=== Brigham Young visited Fort Lemhi in spring of 1857 to turn the mission into a more permanent settlement.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Wells1971" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> He traveled in a mile-long caravan of 115 men, 22 women, 5 boys, 168 horses and mules, 54 carriages and wagons, and two light boats for river crossings.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Notable members of the party included Heber C. Kimball, Daniel H. Wells, Chief Arapeen and his wife Wispit, and interpreter Dimick B. Huntington.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" />
Young was pleased with the growth of the mission and friendly relations he felt the colonizers had with the local Native American tribes.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> He told the missionaries to move their families to Fort Lemhi.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> Young also made plans for a second fort on the Salmon River's east fork.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> In a sermon, Heber C. Kimball reminded the missionaries of their duty to intermarry with the Native Americans and become one people. Nine men responded by leaving the fort to propose to native women and were refused.<ref name="Hartley2001" /> General Daniel H. Wells drilled the Fort Lemhi militia.<ref name="Hartley2001" />
Upon his return to Salt Lake, Young told his followers the purpose of the trip north had been to "rest the mind and weary the body" and downplayed the quality of land he had visited.<ref name="Garner2024" /> However, to his inner circle he praised the abundance of good soil and grazing land and made plans to settle the Bitterroot valley and beyond.<ref name="Garner2024" /> After a prayer circle meeting with Young where they discussed Fort Lemhi, Wilford Woodruff wrote, "This [Fort Limhi] is the key of this continent and I think we had better keep near the lock and keep the key in our own hand."<ref name="Garner2024" />
According to Moulton, "While Young claimed it was a 'pleasure ride,' most recognized it as something altogether different. Young nurtured friendly relations with local Indian tribes, and this trip north was a reconnaissance to find an escape route from the oncoming federal troops."<ref name="Moulton2019">{{cite book |last1=Moulton |first1=Candy |title=The Mormon Handcart Migration: "Tongue nor pen can never tell the sorrow" |date=2019 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=9780806162614 }}</ref>{{rp|159}}
====Consequences of the visit from Brigham Young==== While the local Native American tribes had agreed to a small mission outpost, they were against a permanent settlement.<ref name="Wells1971" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> The colony required more buildings, fences, and land, which soured relationships with local native tribes.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="Wells1971">{{cite web |last1=Wells |first1=Merle |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Fort_-Lemhi_72000443.pdf |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref><ref name="Hartley2001" /> Furthermore, Flathead leaders throughout the Northwest worried the Mormons "should overrun and occupy their lands in force."<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> 200px|left|thumb|Salmon River
Brigham Young's visit to Fort Lemhi also came under federal scrutiny.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> The journey took Young outside of his jurisdiction as superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Utah Territory.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> His visits with Native Americans of the Oregon Territory and the gifts he gave them violated federal law; Young later documented these items as gifts for Utah Indians.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> The visit also spawned rumors from Native American leaders and U.S. Indian agents that Mormons were supplying the Nez Perce, Walla Walla, Snakes, and Flatheads with weapons, inciting hostilities, and encouraging them to fight against the U.S. Government. Commissioner of Indian Affairs J. W. Denver reprimanded Young, writing, "you fitted out an expedition yourself, and conducted it northward, out of your superintendency, to give presents to Indians not under your control."<ref name="Bigler1994">{{cite journal |last1=Bigler |first1=David L. |title=Garland Hurt, The American Friend of the Utahs |journal=Utah Historical Quarterly |date=1994 |volume=62 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/45062161 |jstor=45062161 |url=https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume62_1994_number2/s/163737 |access-date=1 August 2024}}</ref> This letter, along with 46 other files from the Office of Indian Affairs, was included in President Buchanan's report to Congress justifying his order to send troops into Utah.<ref name="Bigler1994" />
===Attack on Fort Lemhi=== Native tribes became less friendly with the settlers as they awaited the outcome of the impending Utah War and more colonists arrived to the fort and competed for resources.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/mormon-historical-studies-fall-2001-vol-2-no-2/ |title= Dangerous Outpost: Thomas Corless and the Fort Limhi/Salmon River Mission |author= William G. Hartley |journal=Mormon Historical Studies |date = Fall 2001}}</ref> The settlers also interfered in a Bannock, Shoshone, and Nez Perce tribal dispute over horses, though they were largely ignorant of their complex relationships.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.trailtribes.org/lemhi/missionaries-and-emigrants.htm |title=article on Lemhi area |access-date=2010-10-23 |archive-date=2012-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609220629/http://www.trailtribes.org/lemhi/missionaries-and-emigrants.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> In December 1857, the Mormons at Fort Lemhi held mountaineer John W. Powell in custody when asked to by the Nez Perce, which angered the Bannocks, with whom Powell had connections.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
In need of supplies to survive a winter encampment, US Army Col. Albert Sidney Johnston sent a party northward from Camp Scott to buy 500 cattle from the mountaineers around the upper Columbia and Missouri rivers.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> Led by Benjamin Franklin Ficklin, the party was made up of entirely civilian volunteers, and not directly under army supervision. On January 4, 1858, around fifty miles east of Fort Lemhi, the party realized the mountaineers had abandoned the area, taking their animals with them.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> The mountaineers had abandoned their normal winter quarters due to rumors originating from Fort Lemhi that the Mormons were to soon emigrate north and overrun the land.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Unable to convince any remaining non-Mormons to trade, Ficklin turned his attention toward the 250 cattle and 40 horses at Fort Lemhi. He was possibly aided by Powell, who had some influence among the Bannocks.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
On February 25, 1858, Bannock Chief Le Grand Coquin led 250 Bannock and Shoshone warriors in a surprise attack on Fort Lemhi, possibly with John Powell.<ref name="Garner2024" /> They killed two Mormon settlers, wounded five, and forced the remaining 69 colonists to retreat to the log fort.<ref name="Garner2024" /> They also captured over 200 cattle and 30 horses.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> In March, after a rescue effort made by Lehi militia members, the colonizers abandoned the fort and returned to Utah.<ref name="Garner2024" /> Ficklin returned with Powell to Camp Scott in April, with only about thirty horses, as Le Grand Coquin kept the rest of the animals for himself.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
====Rescue==== The people at Fort Lemhi endured siege conditions for roughly three weeks while waiting for a rescue.<ref name="Hartley2001" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> On February 28, 1858, Ezra J. Barnard and Baldwin J. Watts snuck away from the fort and travelled the four hundred miles to arrive in Salt Lake on March 8.<ref name="Hartley2001" /> The last two days of their journey they had no food and only one horse.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Details of the attack were stitched into the lining of Barnard's coat.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
Brigham Young ordered his followers to abandon the mission.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /><ref name="Hartley2001" /> He also ordered Colonel Andrew Cunningham to lead three companies of men from Davis, Weber, and Utah Counties to aid the evacuation.<ref name="Hartley2001" /> The military escort of 150 militia men led the remaining members of the Salmon River Indian Mission home.<ref name="Hartley2001" /> An advance party of ten men were ambushed and missionary Bailey Lake was killed.<ref name="Hartley2001" />
====Consequences of attack on Fort Lemhi==== This attack took Brigham Young by surprise and frustrated his plans to evacuate his followers north.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Young had hoped the northern tribes would welcome their alliance and join the Mormons in the fight against the United States.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> In contrast, the attack demonstrated the Bannocks' hostility and a willingness to work with the US army.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> The attack also forced the closure of Fort Lemhi, a key supply station in the event of a northern evacuation.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
With nowhere to go, Young began peacemaking efforts with the U.S. government.<ref name="Garner2024" /><ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Throughout the first week of March, Thomas L. Kane had attempted to convince Brigham Young to send provisions to the US army to show their peaceful intentions, but was unsuccessful in persuading them to pursue peace.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Kane then prepared to visit the US army at Camp Scott to attempt brokering peace.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> News of the Fort Lemhi attack reached Brigham Young on March 8, the day Kane planned to leave.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Kane noted a dramatic change in Brigham Young's demeanor, though Young did not mention the attack to the ambassador.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> While enroute to the army, Kane was overtaken by messengers with a letter from Young, stating he had just found out the army needed provisions and he would be happy to supply them as a show of good will.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
On April 14, 1858, the ''Deseret News'' reported that Johnston's soldiers had instigated the attack on Fort Lemhi and "offered the Indians $150 for every Mormon they delivered to them."<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Although Ficklin was a private citizen, Johnston had authorized the mission without army supervision.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Because Ficklin failed to include the attack in his initial report but later claimed in an affidavit that the Mormons had brought it on themselves, it appeared to coverup a US army attack on civilians.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" /> Johnston's official investigation attempted to separate the US army from the Fort Lemhi attack and maintain favorable public opinion.<ref name="BiglerBagley2011" />
==Reoccupation== Fort Lemhi was reoccupied in 1862 by miners, who grew vegetables there for sale.<ref name="ishs329" /><ref name="Hartley2001" />
The name Lemhi became applied to the Lemhi River and valley surrounding the mission site, as well as to the Lemhi Shoshone whom the mission served, the Lemhi Pass and eventually Lemhi County.<ref name="ishs329" /><ref name="Hartley2001" />
The site is on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp NPS website] </ref>
==See also== * Fort Supply * Lemhi, Idaho * Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~idlemhi/pages/Places/lemhi_county_history_ft_lemhi.htm History of Fort Lemhi]
{{Registered Historic Places}}
Category:History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:1855 establishments in Oregon Territory Category:History of Idaho Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho Lemhi Category:National Register of Historic Places in Lemhi County, Idaho Category:Lemhi Shoshone