Fort Lemhi

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Fort Lemhi (Fort Limhi) – a short history

Fort Lemhi was a Mormon settlement in what is now Idaho. From 1855 to 1858 it stood about two miles north of Tendoy and served as the Salmon River Mission. The colony grew to more than 200 people and introduced stock raising and irrigated farming to the area.

Formation
Brigham Young sent 27 men from the Salt Lake Valley to establish the Salmon River Mission. Led by Thomas S. Smith, with George Washington Hill as interpreter, the group traveled roughly 380 miles north to the Salmon River valley (then part of the Oregon Territory). They chose a permanent site on land used by Bannock, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Flathead peoples. The Nez Perce and Bannock allowed the missionaries to use the land for fishing, hunting, and log cutting as long as it wasn’t for profit. The settlement grew into a thriving farming and ranching community, with irrigation ditches that are still in use today.

Name
The mission was named Fort Limhi after King Limhi from the Book of Mormon. Over time, Limhi became Lemhi, and the name came to identify the river, valley, Lemhi Shoshone people, Lemhi Pass, and Lemhi County.

Significance during the Utah War
Fort Lemhi was part of Brigham Young’s strategy to keep Mormon influence in the region even if federal authority tightened. Leaders taught that baptism and intermarriage with Native Americans could fulfill a Book of Mormon prophecy. Young visited in 1857 to turn the fort into a more permanent settlement and planned a second fort farther up the Salmon River. Some missionaries looked to intermarry with local tribes, while others did not.

Attack and siege (1858)
As tensions rose, relations with Native peoples grew more strained. On February 25, 1858, Bannock and Shoshone warriors attacked Fort Lemhi, killing two settlers, wounding five, and driving the 69 remaining colonists into the fort. Raiders seized hundreds of cattle and horses. The fort endured a siege of about three weeks before a relief effort and militia evacuated the settlers back to Utah. Ezra J. Barnard and Baldwin J. Watts escaped the fort and rode 400 miles to Salt Lake City, arriving March 8 with details of the attack. The incident drew federal scrutiny of Brigham Young and became a notable episode in the Utah War.

Rescue and aftermath
The attack disrupted Young’s plans for northward evacuation and complicated relations with both Native tribes and the U.S. government. The fort was eventually abandoned, and efforts were made to bring the settlers home.

Reoccupation and legacy
Fort Lemhi was reoccupied in 1862 by miners who grew vegetables there. The Lemhi name came to apply to the Lemhi River and valley, the Lemhi Shoshone people, Lemhi Pass, and Lemhi County. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.