Shoshone Mike's band after Death, February 26, 1911

Charles Ferrel and survivors Battle of Kelley Creek

Mike Daggett, original

Shoshoni The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, east ...

name Ondongarte (died February 25, 1911), was a Shoshone man who is best known for his involvement in the

Battle of Kelley Creek A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, during which he was killed with several members of his family. Daggett was also known by many other names, including "Shoshone Mike" (only after his death), "Indian Mike," "Rock Creek Mike," and "Salmon River Mike."

Background

Daggett fathered twelve to thirteen children and is first recorded in history in 1890 when he and his family were removed from their lands on

Fort Hall Indian Reservation The Fort Hall Reservation is a Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone- Bannock Tribes (Shoshoni language: Pohoko’ikkateeCrum, B., Crum, E., & Dayley, J. P. (2001). Newe Hupia: Shoshoni Poetry Songs. University Press ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

by settlers who claimed they had purchased the land. Twenty years later, in the spring of 1910, Daggett led his family off the reservation and they traveled to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

where they worked at various jobs.

Cattle theft

Finally, in January 1911, the Daggetts were encamped in Little High Rock Canyon in Washoe County, Nevada. Their winter stores were running low so Mike decided to steal and slaughter some cattle belonging to a local rancher.

Death and legacy

The theft did not go unnoticed and a posse of four men went to the canyon to deal with the situation, but when the four entered, Mike and two of his oldest sons ambushed the posse and killed all of them on January 19. The bodies were later found mutilated and piled in a creek bed by a search party on February 8, after which a posse of Nevada and California policemen and citizens was sent to apprehend the Daggett party. On February 25, 1911, the posse discovered Mike Daggett and his followers at a place known as Kelley Creek in Humboldt County, Nevada. During a battle that lasted three hours, Mike was killed, along with seven others, and four of his children were taken into police custody. The four later attended Stewart Indian School near Carson City, Nevada, but three died because of illness; by 1913 only one, Daggett's baby granddaughter, was still alive, renamed

Mary Jo Estep Mary Josephine Estep (1909 or 1910 — 19 December 1992) was a Shoshone child survivor of the Battle of Kelley Creek, "the last massacre" of Native Americans in the United States, in 1911. Early life Mary Josephine Estep was born in 1909 or 191 ...

. She died in 1992. The remains of the dead were buried near Golconda, Nevada. Eventually, the remains were donated by a local rancher to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. In 1994 the remains were repatriated to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daggett, Mike Shoshone people 1911 deaths 19th-century Native Americans 20th-century Native Americans Year of birth missing Native American history of Nevada