The Bannock War was a 1878 United States civil war primarily between the Bannock Indians, a tribe of Native Americans, and the United States government.

The tribe, having been restricted to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho by the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1867, were suffering a famine due to white poachers killing cattle and rations which served just three days a week. General George Crook, a contemporary United States militarian, commented that "it was no surprise...that some of the Indian soon afterward broke out into hostilities, and the great wonder is that so many remained on the reservation. With the Bannocks and Shoshone, our Indian policy has resolved itself into a question of war path or starvation, and being merely human, many of them will always choose the former alternative when death shall at least be glorious".

Led by Chief Buffalo Horn the tribe escaped and soon joined with the Malheur Paiute Indians under Chief Egan and the Umatilla tribes. Chief Buffalo Horn would have known that success was highly unlikely due to him having served as a scout for General Oliver Otis Howard during the Nez Perce War the previous year. The two procured food by raiding settlements of the caucasian settlers. The United States government of the time sent General Oliver Otis Howard to aggressively quell the raids: he achieved victory in two battles. Following a massacre in present-day Charles' Ford , Wyoming of 140 Native Americans, the tribes surrendered.

References

• Zuljan, Ralph (2000). Bannock War 1878 article at OnWar.com. Retrieved 27 February 2005