A new book hopes to give the Bear River Massacre of Shoshone Indians just north of the Utah state line its proper place in history as the first, and the worst, act of genocide against American Indians.

According to author Rod Miller:

The precedent-setting attack on the Shoshoni winter camp . . . set a standard for butchery, mutilation, infanticide, rape, slaughter of noncombatants, and cold-blooded savagery that others would imitate in the Indian wars of the West, but no one would equal.

Though the memory of the massacre was systematically erased by the army and Mormon settlers — it didn't hurt that the Civil War was reaching a bloody crescendo — records remain that between 250 and 500 Shoshones, the tribe of Sacagawea who guided Lewis and Clark and graces the $1 coin, were killed on Jan. 29, 1863.