Washakie

thumb|right|Washakie holding a pipe 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. In 1979, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

==Early life== Much about Washakie's early life remains unknown, but some information is revealed. Washakie was born between 1798 and 1810. The information below is mostly cited to Oregon historian Gale Ontko — who did extensive research and wrote a five volume popular history on the Western Shoshones, but whose interpretations and details vary from many other Shoshone historians that make no mention of Washakie having a connection to the Oregon Country.