Embedded Files
A Podcast by Matthew Voelkel
Competing Visions of Peace in Oregon's Snake War
Competing Visions of Peace in Oregon's Snake War
"This Desire for Peace" is a podcast dedicated to giving a more complete picture of the events leading up to, during, and after the Snake War. The war, fought against the Northern Paiutes and their relatives, raged for four bloody years from 1864-1868. This project incorporates new research, oral histories from the Northern Paiute community, and additional commentary from local historians.
"The chiefs of the Northern Paiute were only doing the same thing with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams...and George Washington were doing. And they weren't murderers, they were called patriots. And that's what my people were, we were protecting our land, our resources, our women and children and elders." -Wilson Wewa, Member of the Tribal Council for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
"All of it is evidence to a heinous crime committed by the United States government and representatives in the military of the United States government." -Perry Chocktoot, Director of Culture and Heritage for the Klamath Tribes
Episodes
Two different cultures collide and march toward armed conflict. In the decade before the Snake War, the Northern Paiutes narrowly avoid a war of genocide.
(Pictured: Northern Paiute child in cradleboard near Lakeview, Oregon)
While the Bureau of Indian Affairs makes crooked treaties, the army begins its campaigns against the Northern Paiutes.
(Pictured: J.W. Perit Huntington, Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs)
The intentions of the army, the Indian Bureau, and the settlers align as the war rises to a climax.
(Pictured: Lieutenant Colonel George Crook)
The army's indiscriminate warfare forces the exhausted Northern Paiutes to accept the white man's peace, as well as an uncertain future.
(Pictured: Northern Paiute camp near Lakeview, Oregon)
Concerning Genocide
A short examination of genocide in the context of the Snake War
"It is sincerely hoped that not a red skin will be spared in all that great scope of country...Exterminate the race is the word, and we hope it may be fully done." -Oregon City Enterprise, November 10, 1866
Concerning Wording
An explanation of the terminology and choice of wording in the podcast.
This Desire for Peace was created to fulfill the requirements of a Master's Degree of Historical Research at Boise State University.
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