Editing Boise, Idaho (section)

===Oregon Trail===
Starting from early 1840s, developments further West, in modern Oregon, meant significant changes to the region of Boise. At this time, [[Hudson's Bay Company|HBC]] and the British started moving their operations further North into [[British Columbia]], while there was a slow and steady rise in number of settlers in [[Oregon Country]], who demanded annexation. These developments eventually culminated in the [[Oregon Treaty]], in which the British gave the region up to the US, thus ending the era of "Joint occupation". This meant that Boise valley and much of Snake Country was claimed as [[Oregon Territory]].

With the discovery of gold in [[California]] in 1848 and the passage of [[Donation Land Claim Act]], the settler incursions increased exponentially. The increased settler incursions through [[Northern Shoshone|Shoshone]] and [[Bannock people|Bannock]] territories, and their increased exploitation of the valley's game and resources on their trip, resulted in an increasing sense of frustration among the Indigenous bands along the entire Oregon Trail. Thus, starting from early 1850s, to deter settler caravans from using the route and trespassing on their lands, Native peoples along the entire length of the trail, from modern Eastern [[Idaho]] to modern Central [[Oregon]] started staging low-intensity attacks against passing caravans.<ref>Hubert Howe Bancroft, ''History of Oregon, Volume II, 1848-1888'', The History Company, San Francisco, 1888, p.462 note 4.</ref><ref name="Schlicke">Schlicke, Carl P. “MASSACRE ON THE OREGON TRAIL IN THE YEAR 1860.” COLUMBIA: The Magazine of Northwest History 1, no. 1 (1987). [https://www.washingtonhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/01-1_Schlicke-1.pdf Link]</ref>

One such attack, referred to as "Ward Massacre", was in Boise Valley, about 20 miles west of modern Boise. On August 20, 1854, Alexander Ward's five-wagon caravan of 20 emigrants was passing through, when a group of [[Northern Shoshone|Shoshone]] and [[Bannock people|Bannock]] warriors ambushed the caravan. The goal of the ambush was initially to take away the horses of the caravan. However, the shooting of one of the Shoshone warriors with a revolver, resulted in the killing of everyone except for two of Alexander Ward's children by the Shoshone warriors.<ref name="Dave High">High, Dave and Daniel Newcomer. "The Ward Massacre." Clio: Your Guide to History. June 20, 2016. Accessed May 6, 2022. [https://theclio.com/entry/23713 Link]</ref> In response, the [[United States Army]] launched the [[Winnas Expedition]], which involved raids on Native encampments for a period of several months during Summer of 1855. In the period between 1846 and 1856, 700 white settlers were killed along the entire length of the Oregon Trail due to attacks and raids by Native warriors on their caravans while intruding native land. American military intrusion and retaliation only further angered the native tribes and escalated the conflict, which forced the [[United States Army]] to abandon [[Fort Boise#Old Fort Boise (1834-54)|Old Fort Boise]]. Intensified attacks against passing caravans made travel impossible for settlers except with [[United States Army|US Army]] escort, which started from 1858.