Вождь восточных шошонов Вашаки́

Eastern Shoshone chief

Washakie (1804/1810 – February 20, 1900) was a prominent leader of the Shoshone people during the mid 19th century. He was first mentioned in 1840 in the written record of the American fur trapper, Osborne Russell. In 1851, at the urging of trapper Jim Bridger, Washakie led a band of Shoshones to the council meetings of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Essentially from that time until his death, he was considered the head of the Eastern Shoshones by the representatives of the United States government.

Much about Washakie's early life remains unknown, but some information is revealed. Washakie was born between 1798 and 1810. His mother Lost Woman, was a Tussawehee (White Knife) Shoshone by birth. His father, Crooked Leg (Paseego), was an Umatilla rescued as a boy from slave traders at Wakemap and Celilo in 1786 by Weasel Lungs, a Tussawehee dog soldier (White Knife) Shoshone medicine man. Crooked Leg was adopted into Weasel Lungs' clan. Smells of Sugar met his first "white men" in 1811. Wilson Hunt's main party of Astorians, with the Pacific Fur brigade, were traveling down the Boise River from the mouth of the Bruneau River. Seven months late for their scheduled arrival at Fort Astoria, they happened into Crooked Leg's camp on the Boise. They needed horses, which Crooked Leg refused to sell to them; instead reluctantly selling them a few camas roots, dried fish, and four dogs. Crooked Leg was killed in 1824 by members of the Piegan Blackfeet when they raided a Shoshone hunting camp inside the Blackfoot hunting Boundary. In 1866, Washakie fought one on one with Crow Chief Big Robber to end a stalemate over rights to occupy the Wind River Basin, which the Crow claimed through the 1851 Horse Creek Treaty of Fort Laramie, though the area had long been used by the Shoshone. Washakie emerged victorious and displayed his enemy's heart on a lance. This event is memorialized in the place name of Crowheart Butte on the Wind River Indian Reservation, though the actual battle took place along a nearby draw. In 2005 a sculpture of the event was unveiled at the University of Wyoming's Washakie Dining Center in Laramie.

Washakie's band evidently participated in the fur trade rendezvous (1825–1840), since those rendezvous took place within the Green River, Wind River, and Snake River regions claimed by the horse owning and buffalo hunting Shoshone and Bannock bands of eastern Idaho. Late in life, Washakie reported that he and Jim Bridger became fast friends, and indeed, Bridger became Washakie's son in law in 1850 when he took Washakie's daughter as his third wife. Bridger, born March 17, 1804, entered Shoshone country in 1824 (Washakie said Bridger was the older of the two). Washakie learned French and some English from trappers and traders. Washakie's close association with the trappers developed into a similar relationship with U. S. officials.

In 1863, and again in 1868, he signed treaties with the U. S. at Fort Bridger, Wyoming. The Fort Bridger Treaty of 1863 established a generic Shoshone country, whose borders extended eastward to the crest of the Wind River Mountains, south to the Uintah Mountains of Utah, and on the northern side, to the crest of the Bitterroots. The western border was left undefined, but was understood to include most of the Snake River as far as the Oregon border. This treaty included a number of Shoshone and Bannock Indian bands besides that of Washakie. The Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868 was established at the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868 and it proved more significant, for it established the Shoshone and Bannock Indian Agency located in west central Wyoming. Moreover, this was land selected by Washakie and his headmen of the Eastern Shoshones. The initial reservation included about in Wyoming's Wind River country for his people. Although an 1872 land cession reduced the size by , this valley remains the home of the Eastern Shoshones today. He was also determined that Native Americans should be educated, and he gave land to Welsh clergyman John Roberts to establish a boarding school where Shoshone girls learned traditional crafts and language.

Washakie was a friend of Brigham Young and expressed sadness at the fighting his people had often done with the Utahns. It was not until after 1880, after Young's death, that Washakie became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He was baptized on September 25, 1880 by Amos R. Wright. About 300 other Shoshone joined the church at this point.

In 1883, the Episcopal Church assigned John Roberts to minister to the Shoshone and Arapahos on the Wind River Reservation. Roberts established several churches on the reservation, as well as within his designated 150 mile radius. Although Washakie's son was killed by a white man in 1885 during a dispute over alcohol, which purportedly led Washakie to vow revenge against whites, Roberts purportedly earned the Chief's respect by offering his own life in exchange. Furthermore, Roberts learned Shoshone customs, beliefs and language, and translated the Bible into Shoshone (and Arapahoe). c. 1888, Washakie helped Roberts establish a boarding school where Shoshone girls from distant villages could learn traditional crafts and language, by donating 160 acres near Trout Creek, which many considered sacred ground. Washakie chose Episcopalianism as his faith, was baptized again in 1897, and ultimately buried in a service officiated by his friend Roberts, on February 22, 1900. Congress reaffirmed the church's ownership of the school in 1909, when it deactivated the fort named after Chief Washakie.

His prowess in battle, his efforts for peace, and his commitment to his people's welfare made him one of the most respected leaders in Native American history. In 1878, a U. S. Army outpost located on the reservation was renamed Fort Washakie, which was the only U. S. military outpost to be named after a Native American. Upon his death in 1900, he became the only known Native American to be given a full military funeral. Washakie was a hide painter. An 1880 painted elk hide at the Glenbow Museum is attributed to him. The hide painting portrays the Sun Dance. One of his sons, Cotsiogo (also known as Codsiogo and Katsikodi), was a prominent hide painter.

The Chief Washakie Foundation was founded in 2004. It supports educational programs and research into the history and cultural traditions of the Shoshone and Arapaho of Central Wyoming and advocates for Native American education. as of April 2013 Washakie's great great grandson James Trosper serves as Chair and Executive Director.

Chief Washakie appears in the album Le Fil qui chante of the Franco Belgian comics series Lucky Luke created by Morris and René Goscinny. Chief Washakie figures prominently in Amy Harmon’s historical fiction novel “Where the Lost Wander”.