Shoshone
The broader Shoshone nation encompassed multiple groups of Numic-speaking peoples spread across a vast territory from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Basin, including the Wind River Shoshone (Eastern) and various Northern Shoshone bands in present-day Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Lewis and Clark's planning relied heavily on the expectation that the Shoshone would possess the horses needed to cross the Continental Divide, a calculation that proved correct when they reached the Lemhi band in August 1805. The Shoshone had once ranged freely onto the northern Plains for bison hunting but had been pushed westward into the mountains by Blackfeet and Hidatsa raiders who possessed firearms obtained through the Canadian fur trade. The expedition's journals document Shoshone material culture, subsistence strategies in a challenging mountain environment, and the acute military disadvantage faced by peoples without access to Euro-American weaponry.
Biography
The Shoshone (also known as the Snake Indians) occupied territory in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Snake River plains. The expedition’s encounter with the Lemhi Shoshone band in August 1805 was one of the journey’s most consequential events.
The captains knew they needed Shoshone horses to cross the Rocky Mountains — this was one reason they valued Sacagawea’s linguistic abilities. When Lewis finally made contact with Cameahwait’s band and Sacagawea discovered the chief was her brother, the diplomatic breakthrough ensured the expedition received the horses and guides they desperately needed.
The Shoshone were a horse-rich but gun-poor people, frequently raided by the better-armed Blackfeet and Hidatsa. They eagerly sought the trade relationship the expedition promised, though the hoped-for American trading posts were slow to materialize.
