John M. Bozeman | |
|---|---|
 John Bozeman fromThe Bozeman Trail, Vol II (1922)[1] | |
| Born | January 1835 |
| Died | April 20, 1867(1867-04-20) (aged 32) |
| Resting place | Sunset Hills Cemetery Bozeman, Montana |
| Occupation(s) | Explorer, trail guide, merchant |
John Merin Bozeman (January 1835 – April 20, 1867) was an American pioneer and frontiersman in theAmerican West who helped establish theBozeman Trail throughWyoming Territory into the gold fields of southwesternMontana Territory in the early 1860s. He helped found the city ofBozeman, Montana, in 1864, which is named for him.
Bozeman was born inPickens County, Georgia, in January 1835[2] to William and Delila Sims Bozeman.[3]
Bozeman married Lucinda Catherine Ingram, and the couple had three daughters.[3] In 1860, John Bozeman headed west to join in thePike's Peak Gold Rush inColorado, leaving behind his wife and children.[4] After his mining claims in Colorado failed, Bozeman traveled toDeer Lodge in westernMontana Territory in 1862 to work the gold fields discovered by James andGranville Stuart. Bozeman later joined the January 1863 rush to newly discovered gold inBannack, Montana, but his claims there proved unsuccessful.[2]
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.[5] In 1863, he and John Jacobs blazed theBozeman Trail, a cutoff route from theOregon Trail inWyoming toBannack, Montana, and guided miners toVirginia City through theGallatin Valley. Bozeman settled in the Gallatin Valley at a site "standing right in the gate of the mountains, ready to swallow up all tenderfeet that would reach the territory from the east, with their golden fleeces to be taken care of".[6] The route spanned the eastern front of the Rockies north to the Yellowstone River, then west across the Bozeman Pass.[7] In 1864, he laid out the town ofBozeman, Montana.[8] Its proximity to the trail helped it to grow in the following years,[9] especially as migration to Montana increased after the discovery of gold atVirginia City in 1864.[10]
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]
Bozeman was murdered on April 20, 1867 (aged 32), while traveling along theYellowstone River to Fort C.F. Smith to secure a flour contract.[7] His partner, Tom Cover, reported they had been attacked by a band ofBlackfeet Natives, but some historians suspected that Bozeman was killed by Cover himself, or perhaps even by a henchman of pioneer Montana rancherNelson 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]
John M. Bozeman's papers are now held by Archives and Special Collections atMontana State University.
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