Yellowstone National Park has renamed one of its largest peaks, Mount Doane, after new research into the man it was named for revealed a massacre of indigenous people.
The National Park Service has renamed the 10,551-foot-high peak "First Peoples Mountain" to honor Native Americans. The mountain is located east of Yellowstone Lake in the southeastern portion of the park.
The peak was previously named after Gustavus Doane, a key member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition in 1870, prior to Yellowstone becoming America's first national park.
Historians say Doane led attacks against local Native American tribes in response to the alleged murder of a white fur trader.
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"During what is now known as the Marias Massacre, at least 173 American Indians were killed, including many women, elderly Tribal members, and children suffering from smallpox," park officials said in a statement. "Doane wrote fondly about this attack, and bragged about it for the rest of his life,"
The park system said it reached out to 27 associated Tribes with historic connections to the lands and resources now found within Yellowstone National Park, and none were opposed to the name change.
Based on recommendations from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council, subsequent votes within the Wyoming Board of Geographic names, and with support of the National Park Service, the new name was forwarded to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and affirmed by a 15-0 vote.
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Yellowstone officials say more name changes could be coming in the months ahead.
William Snell, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, applauded the name change.
"It is a victory, yes," Snell told NPR. "Is history being rewritten and retold truthfully? I hope so."
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