Shortly after Fort Utah had been erected in Utah Valley in 1849, three men: Rufus Stoddard, Richard Ivie, and Gerome Zabrisky began to heckle an elderly Indian man, whom whites called Old Bishop, near the fort. They accused him of stealing the shirt he was wearing from off a wash line. Old Bishop denied that he stole the shirt from anyone, saying he had made a fair trade for it. Ivie aimed his gun on Old Bishop and told him to take it off. The old Indian man stood his ground and refused. Ivie took aim directly at his head and pulled the trigger, murdering the Old Bishop in cold blood.

Concerned that what they had done would spark retribution from the Indians, the men then gutted the old man. They then filled his cavity with rocks, and tossed him in the Provo River. Quoting from History of the Utah Stake by James Goff, one of the colonists stated later: "The men who killed the Indian ripped his bowels open, and filled them with stones preparatory to sinking the body." However, scholars claim that the argument was not over a shirt, but over cattle that had been stolen.

Long omitted from history are the horrifying events at Fort Utah in 1850 that would haunt Mormons for many decades to follow—even to the present day. Following a two-day battle at Fort Utah, Dr. James Blake, who was a surgeon among the Stansbury company led by Gen. Wells, was greatly influenced by "Wild Bill" Hickman's trophy of Old Elk's head that he had hacked from his frozen corpse during the militia's foray into Rock Canyon located today above the LDS temple in Provo. The Danite serial killer Hickman said, "I took off his head for I had heard the old mountaineer Jim Bridger say he would give a $100.00 for it." A witness at Fort Utah told reporters, "...it was hung pendant by its long hair from the willows of the roof of one of the houses. I well remember how horrible was the sight." - Robert Carter Fort Utah (Please see Danites)

Following the two-day battle that resulted in the deaths of 70 Indian people, Dr. Blake ordered troops Abner Blackburn and James Or to go out and behead each of the frozen corpses lying about in the snow. Dr. Blake told the men he "wanted to have the heads shipped to Washington [to sell them] to a medical institution." There the heads would be used for scientific examination. The men severed from the frozen corpses as many as 50 heads. As Dr. Blake stood by, watching over his men, he hunted Mallard ducks. His men piled human heads on the ground along with a dozen or so Mallard ducks. The human heads were then taken to the fort and there placed in view of Nuch, "Black Hawk," who was then barely in his 20s. He, along with his traumatized kin, innocent of any wrongdoing, were thus tortured as they were forced to view the grizzly remains of their clansmen before them for a period of two long excruciating weeks. "Abner, keeping the agreement, delivered the rotting heads and ducks to Blake in Salt Lake. Dr. Blake settled up, and invited Abner to dinner. Blackburn declined, saying he had lost his appetite." How amusing that it was noted by historians that Abner "lost his appetite" while nothing is said about those who had to sit surrounded by the bodiless heads of their kin while being held captive at Fort Utah.

The excuse behind these heinous acts was to "teach them [the Indians] a lesson"  by making an example of one clan to show the rest who was in charge. Fear ran rampant throughout Indian country, and following the Fort Utah battle, many frightened Native people were baptized into the church—willing to do anything to stay alive.

Fort Utah 1850

In brief summary the Battle Creek Massacre (4 murdered) in 1849;) Fort Utah (70 killed) 1850; the Mountain Meadows Massacre (129 murdered) 1857; the Bear River Massacre (480 murdered) 1863; the Black Hawk War 1865 - 1872 (460 killed); the Grass Valley Massacre(10 murdered) 1865;the Diamond Battle(6 killed) 1866; the Circleville Massacre and over 100 other altercations which stand in testament to the circumstances of which I speak? There are 958 recorded deaths of Utes who died at the hands of Mormon settlers between 1850 and 1872, and of  225 whites who died at the hands of the Indians.

In 1861, President Lincoln set aside over four million acres of land in the northeastern region of Utah as reservation land for the Utes. But before he did, he asked Brigham Young if he felt the land was suitable. Brigham answered, "The only purpose the land has is to hold together the two halves of the world." In other words, it was perfect for a reservation. That President Lincoln would ask Brigham his opinion suggests that Mormon leaders had a working relationship with the President, in spite of the fact that only four years earlier Brigham had committed the treasonous act of destroying government property, leaving Johnston's army stranded—a crime for which neither Brigham nor the perpetrators were ever held  accountable. Some things just defy logic. Chief Walkara, a uncle of Nuch, or Black Hawk, had been in the leadership of the Utes since the arrival of the Mormons. When he was poisoned 1855, Walkara's brother Yenewoods (aka Jake Arapeen) became chief by succession, and continued in this role until 1865. By now tensions were running high on both sides. In a last-ditch effort to diffuse the situation, a meeting was called at Manti. But a drunk rancher named  John Lowry would make the mistake of jerking Arapeen from his horse by his hair. This was the final straw, Arapeen, now humiliated before his people, vowed revenge. Nuch/Black Hawk took command as war chief, following the Mormons’ failed attempt to bring peace. Nuch amassed an army of 3000 warriors, eventually driving back white expansion and  resulting in some 70 Mormon villages being vacated. (Please see Walkara, The Black Hawk War Begins)

The Black Hawk War of Utah, in itself, was not a single incident. There were over 150 bloody altercations and battles that took place over a seventeen-year period throughout Utah territory. It spread into Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, and Arizona while tens of thousands of Mormon pioneers continued to sprawl out across Indian land. The Ute, Paiute, Goshute, Navajo, Hopi, Jicarilla, Shoshoni, Comanche, Apaches, and all 16 bands of the Ute were consequently affected.

On 23 February 1865, sixteen years after Apostle George Albert Smith declared the Utes have no rights, congress passed an act to extinguish the Indian title to the lands in the territory of Utah—land that was suitable for agriculture and mineral purposes. But as quick as the news came, more news arrived of the outbreak of the so-called Black Hawk War in southern Utah,  followed by reports of men killed, homes destroyed and livestock driven into the mountains.

On March 28, 1865, Brigham Young made the following promise to Chief Sanpitch and seven bands of the Ute at Spanish Fork. He said, "Sanpitch, Soweett, Tabby and all of you, I want you to understand what I say to you. I am looking out for your welfare...if you go to Uintah they will build you houses make you a farm, give you cows, oxen, clothing, blankets, and many other things you will want and then the treaty that colonel Irish has here gives you the privilege of coming back here on a visit. You can fish, hunt, pick berries, dig roots, and we can visit together. The land does not belong to you nor to me nor to the government. It belongs to the Lord. But our father at Washington is disposed to make you liberal presents to let the Mormons live here. If you will go over there and have your houses built and get your property and money, we are perfectly willing you should visit with us. I know that this treaty is just as liberal and does everything for you and for your people that can be done. Now, if you can understand this, you can see at once that we do not want anything to wrong any of you."

The treaty was agreed to, but it was an illegal document as no one had the legal right to make treaties with the Indian people except the federal government. And, while gifts of blankets and trinkets were given to the trusting First People, none of the promises Brigham made them were ever honored, except that they were removed from their land.

On April 20, 1866, Circleville residents captured 26 peaceful Indians and locked them up in the meeting house. On the evening of the following day some of the Indians were able to cut themselves loose from their bindings and make a break. In the excitement, two Indians trying to free themselves were shot and killed by the guards. The remainder of the Indians were then taken to a potato cellar and imprisoned there. The captured Indians knew they were going to be killed. They could feel it. The settlers had another meeting and it was decided among them to kill the remaining captured Indian people. One by one they were led out of the cellar, 24 in all—women, men, and children—and one by one their throats were cut ear to ear and their bodies held to the ground until they bled to death. Two young boys and one girl, seven or eight years of age, feeling the horror, decided to try to make their escape. When the door was opened for the next victim, the three made a break, forced their way past the guards and ran. The guards fired several shots at the three but were unable to hit them. One was shot in the side but the bullet barely grazed his rib—not enough to stop him. All of the Paiute males, five women, and two older children were killed. (See Circleville Massacre here)

Conclusion...