John Bozeman
John M. Bozeman | |
---|---|
Born | January 1835 |
Died | April 20, 1867 | (aged 32)
Resting place | Sunset Hills Cemetery Bozeman, Montana |
Occupation(s) | Explorer, trail guide, merchant |
John Merin Bozeman (January 1835 – April 20, 1867) was a pioneer and frontiersman in the American West who helped establish the Bozeman Trail through Wyoming Territory into the gold fields of southwestern Montana Territory in the early 1860s. He helped found the city of Bozeman, Montana, in 1864, which is named for him.
Life
Bozeman was born in Pickens County, Georgia, in January 1835[2] to William and Delila Sims Bozeman.[3]
Bozeman married Lucinda Catherine Ingram, and the couple had three daughters.
Seeing that it would be more profitable to "mine the miners" than to mine for gold, Bozeman enlisted the support of another unsuccessful Bannack prospector and friend, John Jacobs, to explore a new and shorter route into Montana Territory from the east.
In 1865, federal troops began guarding the trail from hostile Indian attacks, since the trail ran through lands reserved by treaty to Indian tribes.[4] The federal government constructed Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and C. F. Smith to defend the trail.[3] The Sioux tribe "succeeded by closing the road by a massacre near Fort Kearny" in 1866.[4] The trail was briefly abandoned.[3]
Death
Bozeman was murdered on April 20, 1867 (aged 32), while traveling along the Yellowstone River to Fort C.F. Smith to secure a flour contract.[7] His partner, Tom Cover, reported they had been attacked by a band of Blackfeet Natives, but some historians suspected that Bozeman was killed by Cover himself, or perhaps even by a henchman of pioneer Montana rancher Nelson Story named Thomas Kent.[11] The end of Bozeman's life is still a subject of debate today, and some theorize that he was murdered in revenge for his habit of flirting with married women.[9]
Archives
John M. Bozeman's papers are now held by Archives and Special Collections at Montana State University.
See also
- List of unsolved murders
Notes
- ^ Hebard, Grace Raymond; Brininstool, E.A. (1922). The Bozeman Trail-Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Routes into the Northwest, and the Fights with Red Cloud's Warriors - Volume II. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Company. frontispiece.
- ^ JSTOR 1897956.
- ^ a b c d "John Bozeman – Blazing the Bozeman Trail – Legends of America". www.legendsofamerica.com. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ a b c "John M. Bozeman | Montana Trailblazer, Pioneer & Explorer | Britannica". www.britannica.com. January 1, 2024. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "The Murder Of John Bozeman". Frontier Partisans. September 6, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Brown, Krissy (April 30, 2019). "The Bozeman Boom - C&I Magazine". Cowboys and Indians Magazine. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ a b Scott, Kim Allen. “Historical Note.” John M. Bozeman Collection, 1866-1965. Montana State University, Special Collections and Archival Informatics, 2009.
- ^ "Origins of Names on Milwaukee". Roundup Record-Tribune & Winnett Times. August 22, 1940. p. 6. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
- ^ a b Goodman, Kent. "The Real John Bozeman With sneaky ways and low morals". bozemanmagazine.com. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ "YourDictionary: Definitions and Meanings From Over a Dozen Trusted Dictionary Sources". www.yourdictionary.com. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Schontzler, Gail (October 3, 2014). "Historians find new suspect in John Bozeman murder mystery". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050404124520/http://bozemantrail.org/bt-corridor.html
- John Bozeman at Find a Grave (as John Marion Bozeman)
- John M. Bozeman Collection|https://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/finding-aids/0680.html