Introducing 2009 Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductee…
Louis Shambo (1846-1918)
Louie Shambo was born in Louisiana in July, 1846 of French descent. His parents moved to Minnesota when he was quite young, and his formal education was very limited, having attended a Roman Catholic school only briefly. His given name was Louis Chambeau, but the Minnesota Chippewa Indians gave him the nickname “Louie,” and a misspelling on his first paycheck from the US Government changed his name to Shambo. He went by Louie Shambo from that day forward. He is reported to have said, “That way if I get in trouble it won’t reflect on my folks.”
He was around age six when his folks moved north to Minnesota. Settlers in Minnesota were few and far between in the 1850’s and Louie’s friends were his Chippewa neighbors. Riding a grey horse his father had gotten for him to ride to school, 12 year old Louie and an Indian friend ran away from home. The two young adventurers pulled out for points west.
He first landed in North Dakota where he moved in with the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes living in the Turtle Mountain area. He stayed there a few years learning their languages and culture, and traveling with them into eastern Montana on buffalo hunts.
He also spent some time with the Crow, Cheyenne and Shoshone people of southern Montana and Wyoming. The many years he spent learning the Indian ways would later serve him well as a scout for the US Army. In all, he could fluently speak six Indian languages as well as French and English and was also proficient at Indian sign language.
He bounced around the West, from Colorado to Nevada and eventually on to California, but didn’t find that to his liking, so ventured back to Nevada where he worked as a cowboy on a big cow outfit. The Nevada ranch where he worked sold a herd of cattle to the Harris outfit near Fort Benton, Montana and Louie was one of six cowboys hired to trail the herd there.
Louie liked Montana, and the next year had the opportunity to return with another herd of cattle purchased from the Nevada ranch by Simon Pepin and L.K. Devlin, who had a contract to furnish beef for Fort Assiniboine in northern Montana.
Northern Montana seemed to fit Louie just fine, and he went to work as a packer and scout for General Phil Sheridan. His jobs were many and varied, but perhaps one of the most interesting was riding south to Denver to carry the military payroll in a money belt to Fort Assiniboine. Because of his trustworthy nature, he was also called upon to make trips north to the forts in Canada. He refused to discuss the nature of the business or dispatches that he carried, but only remarked that, “they were a secret.”
He also worked with Yellowstone Kelly as a scout for General Crook, where they covered most of what is now eastern Montana from the Yellowstone country north to the Canadian line.
When trouble with the Nez Perce began to brew, General Nelson A. Miles sent Kelly north for Louie who was at the time working as a packer for Fort Assiniboine. Because of Shambo’s vast experience, General Miles attempted to hire him to be his head scout, and told him he would be paid top scout wages, offering him $75.00 per month.
Louie wasn’t impressed with General Miles’ arrogant assuming manner, besides he was making $125 per month as a packer. He did tell the General that he might consider scouting for him for the same wages, but the General refused. Being the independent westerner he was, Shambo told General Miles he’d see him in hell before he’d work for him for $75.00 per month.
That would have normally been the end of any meaningful negotiations, but as the Nez Perce headed east out of their Idaho homeland, they were really on the warpath, raiding and burning the bull trains destined to supply the frontier forts. The situation was now even more serious, and General Miles again sent for Louie Shambo, this time saying that money was no object and he would pay him $300.00 per month and give him ten Cheyenne scouts. Louie agreed.
In the end, he only wound up with six Cheyennes to help, but in short order they cut the trail of the Nez Perce band north of the Bear Paw Mountains. Louie Shambo and Cheyenne scouts, Young Two Moon, Hump, and Starving Elk followed one of the Nez Perce rear guards back to the Indian camp, crawling on their stomachs for a great distance to avoid being seen.
Although they didn’t get close enough to see the camp itself, they saw the horse herd, and knew they’d found what they were looking for. Louie sent a scout back to General Miles with the news, while he and the remaining Cheyennes laid low until General Miles arrived, knowing they had no business being too near the war party.
The Nez Perce were camped under cut banks on Snake Creek, approximately 17 miles south of where Chinook, Montana now stands, and a mere 40 miles from the Canadian border and safety. General Miles with the 2nd and 7th cavalry and the mounted 5th infantry, being led by Shambo and the Cheyenne scouts, followed the Indian’s trail, but didn’t catch sight of them until they were a mere 80 yards away. General Miles ordered the bugler to sound double quick, and the 7th Cavalry charged the Nez Perce camp just before noon on September 30, 1877.
The attack was a complete disaster, as the Indians were well fortified and lying in wait. The charge was repelled and Louie’s horse was shot from beneath him, being hit by three rounds. Two other soldiers near him were killed. Shambo took refuge behind a rock and was pinned down all day. He later commented that the Nez Perce were the best marksmen he’d ever seen, and hit the rock he was hiding behind with every shot.
He had soon expended all of his ammunition as well as that of one of his fallen comrades. Yellowstone Kelly daringly brought him a horse at dusk and the two made a run for the army camp. Totally exhausted, they fell into their bed rolls, too tired to eat. In all, Louie had killed nine of the Indians, but was never proud of the fact.
“It was in the line of duty.”
They buried 22 soldiers from the first day of battle. The next few days leading up to the eventual surrender of Chief Joseph were miserable for both sides. A cold north wind blew in an early winter storm and several inches of snow. General Howard and reinforcements eventually arrived, but Miles remained in command of the forces.
Louie was later very critical of the manner in which General Miles had handled the battle strategy, stating that many officers and men were lost needlessly, and if the General had been a more skilled tactician, the situation could have ended in short order. Even though the Nez Perce warriors numbered less than 100, and the presence of their women and children greatly impeded their movements in battle, they were able to stave off the repeated charges by General Miles’ forces, which numbered around 600. Also, the Nez Perce horse herd was successfully captured by Shambo’s scouts, making escape or counter attack very difficult, and was a significant factor in the battle’s outcome.
A lengthy siege ensued, with Chief Joseph finally agreeing to surrender because of the suffering the women and children were enduring due to the cold and lack of food and shelter. One of Joseph’s terms of surrender was that he and his people be allowed to return to their homeland in Idaho. General Miles agreed, but later General Sheridan refused to honor that battlefield commitment, and the Nez Perce were sent south to Fort Leavenworth. Louie was not pleased and maintained they got a dirty deal. The Battle of the Bear Paws, as it was named, was the last major Indian battle fought in the West.
After his service in the Nez Perce campaign, Louie returned to Fort Assiniboine to work under General Pershing, and later returned to cowboying after the fort was closed. In 1890 he moved to Bull Hook Bottoms, the site of present day Havre, where he worked as a bartender in the winters and as a cowboy in the summer.
He married a Gros Ventre Indian woman, who bore him five children. His wife later missed her people and moved the kids to the Fort Belknap Reservation to be near her folks. Louie visited them, but remained living in Havre.
He was once offered $1500.00 for the rights to the story of his life but refused, saying, “I’ve still got relatives living, and I’m not money hungry.” The would-be writer was very persistent, but Louie steadfastly refused and finally told the man to go away and not bother him again.
When part of the former Fort Assiniboine military reservation was opened for homesteading, Louie filed for a claim eighteen miles south of Havre and built a shack there in 1916.
Louie Shambo died on November 4, 1918. He not only lived the history of Montana; he made it. At one time there were both a school and a post office south of Havre that bore his name, and the little stream on his old homestead carries the name of Shambo Creek to this day.
Footnotes
The following sources were used in compiling information on Louis Shambo:
Grit, Guts, and Gusto, 1976 Hill County Bicentennial Commission The Life Story of Louis (Chambeau) Shambo, by Mrs. Vina Stirling The Havre Daily News, July 29, 1960 The Chinook Opinion, August 23, 1956 The Blaine County Museum, Chinook The H. Earl Clack Museum, Havre Louis Shambow, by A.J. Noyes Land of Chinook, by AJ Noyes Montana Historical Society Archives
