John Merin Bozeman was a pioneer and frontiersman in the American West who helped establish the Bozeman Trail through Wyoming Territory into the gold fields of southwestern Montana Territory in the early 1860s. He helped found the city of Bozeman, Montana, in 1864, which is named for him.
John Bozeman from The Bozeman Trail, Vol II (1922)
The Death Of John Bozeman by Edgar Samuel Paxson
The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863 to 1868. Despite the fact that the major part of the route in Wyoming used by all Bozeman Trail travelers in 1864 was pioneered by Allen Hurlbut, it was named after John Bozeman. Many miles of the Bozeman Trail in present Montana followed the tracks of Bridger Trail, opened by Jim Bridger in 1864.
Bozeman Trail, Fort C.F. Smith, Fort Phil Kearny and Fort Reno and relevant Indian territories of 1851. All three military forts along the Bozeman Trail were located in Crow Indian treaty territory, which had been invaded by buffalo hunting Lakotas.
Bozeman Trail marker, Wyoming, 2003