THE LAST FREE MAN: The True Story Behind the Massacre of Shoshone Mike and His Band of Indians in 1911

by Dayton O. Hyde ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 1973

Shoshone Mike, really a Bannock, was a free spirited, tradition-minded Indian who, rejecting confinement on a reservation, roamed the Nevada hills with his family in the early 1900's, eking out a living by food-gathering and doing odd jobs for neighboring settlers. Although the band had been friendly with the local ranchers (a daughter had married a Negro hand) Mike was suspected of a horse theft which most probably had been carried out by a group of outlaws from a prominent white family, and, fearing persecution, disappeared. Only when in flight and fighting for its bare survival did the band become retaliatory -- stealing and killing before it was cruelly cut down by a posse which had chased it for many winter weeks. Hyde describes the incident as ""the simple pursuit of one predator after another,"" but considers it as part of the ranchers' last stand as well as the Indians', although it again shows that whites refused to tolerate an Indian who was not emasculated and caged. The episode is also one suspects (although Hyde does not mention this), an indication of man's timeless propensity to seize upon a scapegoat to bear the responsibility for any disturbance of his peace. Hyde himself is a naturalist, rancher and frustrated frontiersman, and tries (perhaps too hard) to prove himself a spokesman for all kinds of vanishing Americans. By inserting himself as a character he has blunted the force of a narrative which could have stood on its own strength.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION