Ward Massacre
In 1854, a 20-person wagon party made its way west on the Oregon Trail. As they passed through Canyon County toward Fort Boise, a Shoshone war party attacked the party. The spark for this particular fight is unclear, but the Shoshone attacked on They killed the entire party except for two young boys, William and Alexander Ward. The attack promoted military action against the tribes.
The tribes fought back, and the resulting conflict left Fort Boise and Fort Hall abandoned. This left emigrants along the route with no trading posts in southern Idaho. The Oregon Trail, from the mid-1850s until larger-scale migration during the 1862 Gold Rush, was considered a dangerous, vulnerable passage unless parties had a military escort.
