PRESTON, Idaho — Spiritual leaders from the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation offered a blessing on the site of the Bear River Massacre near Preston, Idaho, Jan. 29.

Representatives from Hill Air Force Base attended the remembrance ceremony on the 155th anniversary of the event.

On Jan. 29, 1863, approximately 500 of the Shoshone ancestors were killed, known to be the deadliest attack on Native Americans by the U.S. military.

The ceremony honored those who lives were lost, but also celebrated the recent purchase of 550 acres around the site, bringing the land back into the hands of the Shoshone Nation.