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Shoshone Chief Pocatello

Pocatello was an 19th-century Shoshone chief, leader of the Northwestern Shoshones of what is now Utah. After the Shoshones and Bannocks were defeated by the US Army and compelled to move to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, Pocatello also became an important tribal leader there.


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Pocatello's personal name was Tonaioza or Dono-Oso, which means "Buffalo Robe" in Shoshone. Pocatello may have been his name in the language of the closely allied Bannock tribe, or it may have been an English corruption of a Shoshone title earned by him in war, since it resembles the Shoshone words for "does not follow the path."

Books about Pocatello

Chief Pocatello:
    Biography of Pocatello for sale online.

Pocatello Resources

Here are some links to online information about Pocatello:
 Chief Pocatello's Struggle to Survive
 When Lincoln Spared Chief Pocatello
 Wikipedia: Pocatello

And here are our webpages about the Shoshone tribe and language:
 Shoshone language
 Shoshone tribe
 Bannock tribe
 Native peoples of Utah



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