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"Wakara (sic) was a Ute Indian leader who was born about the year 1815 near the Spanish Fork river in Utah, an area which was a meeting ground for the many bands of Utes based in the eastern Utah canyons area. Kinship ties connected him to other Ute leaders such as Sowiette and Arapeen. From his father, a Ute leader, and other older make kin, Wakara learned skills of hunting and horsemanship. At an early age, Wakara became known for his prowess and came to lead groups of young men in hunting and raiding expeditions. He was also skilled in learning languages--Spanish and English, and so became a trader and negotiator with the non-Indians invading Ute lands.

In the 1820s Wakara was one of the Ute leaders who established trade relations with intruding Euro-American fur traders--relations which proved profitable on all sides. After the 1829 opening of the Old Spanish Trail, Ute leaders regularly stopped the caravans and demanded tribute for crossing Ute lands. Wakara formed an alliance with mountain men Thomas "Pegleg" Smith and James Beckworth and began regularly raiding for horses from settlements at both ends of the trail, in New Mexico and California. By 1837 Wakara and his followers were getting wealthy through tribute and trade, and Wakara was becoming legendary, often reported in several places at the same time.

Wakara was also involved in the slave trade. Spaniards had made expeditions into Utah since the 1740s, trading cloth and metal objects for furs and people. Raiding more sedentary Great Basin Indian groups such as the Paiute, Wakara traded to Spaniards young men and women to work in the mines of northern Mexico and in the homes of Spanish colonists.

One observer described Wakara in 1843 as the "principal ruling chief...ow [ing] his position to great wealth. He is a good trader, trafficking with the whites and reselling goods to such as his nation are less skillful in striking a bargain." Wakara was becoming the leader of larger numbers of people as several bands coalesced with the invasion of the Europeans. This larger band came to be known as the Tumpanawach.

In 1847 Mormons entered Ute lands. At first Wakara accepted their arrival, even inviting them to settle. He was in hopes they would prove useful trading partners as had the fur traders, most of whom had abandoned the area. Wakara even agreed to be baptized in the Mormon Church (13 March 1850) and several times allayed fears and misunderstandings on both sides.

However, the Mormon population grew and the Indian population declined through disease and destruction of food resources. Mormon leaders moved to disrupt the Mexican trade in horses and people (a law against the Mexican slave trade was passed by the territorial legislature in 1853), thereby undermining Wakara's wealth and power. Wakara grew to distrust the white settlers as they encroached on Ute hunting lands and began resisting that encroachment.

In July 1853, while Wakara and his followers were camped on Spring Creek near Springville, a altercation over trade took place in which a Mormon settler killed a Ute and wounded two others. Wakara demanded the killer be brought before him. His request was refused. This incident precipitated the Walker (Wakara) War.

The war was mainly a series of raids led by Wakara on the Mormon settlements. Utes attacked Fort Payson; the Mormon Nauvoo Legion responded. During the next ten months fewer than twenty whites were killed; many more Utes died, including nine "shot down without one minute's notice," after they came into a Mormon camp looking for protection and bread.

The war, however, was futile. Brigham Young sent out word to "fort up," and to curtail the trading of arms and ammunition to the Utes. And not all Utes were united in the controversy. In March 1854 Young sent major E. A. Bedell, the federal Indian agent, to meet with Wakara and other Ute leaders. Bedell was to inquire if they would treat with Young for the sale of their land. During the meeting with Bedell, Wakara stated that "he would prefer not to sell if he could live peacefully with the white people which he was anxious to do."

In May, Young and several other Mormon Church leaders and their families went on a tour of southern Mormon settlements. Presents were sent to Wakara and arrangements made for him and other Ute leaders to meet Young and his party at Chicken Creek. The issue of Mormon occupation of Ute lands was not settled; however, Wakara agreed to peace. The treaty was never formalized by federal government action, but Wakara kept his word. He died of pneumonia on 28 January 1855. The story of his body being buried with his goods, including horses and young Indian slaves, has become the stuff of legend."

See: Conway B. Sonne, World of Wakara, (1962); and Gustive O. Larson, "Wakara's Half Century," The Western Humanities Review 16 (1962).

1855, January 29th.-----Walkara, the Ute leader, who had so long defended his people and land, died at Meadow Creek, in Millard County, and was succeeded by his brother Arropeen. Walkara before his death become convinced that the Mormon's were his friends, and among his final words was the injunction to his tribe to live at peace with the settlers and not molest them.

Note: Walkara is the correct spelling aka Walker aka Wakara aka Wakera aka Wakeera. American Indian names were spelled phonetically is the reason for so many variations. Walkara is a Shoshoni name means "Hawk."

Walkara was Black Hawk's uncle and would become a member of the LDS Church, was Chief at the time, but would die an untimely death from pneumonia in 1854. However, some scholars say there is strong evidence that Walkara was poisoned, as his death was sudden. And, it is one of Utah's darkest truths that it was not uncommon for anti-Indian settlers to poison the Indians’ food and water sources.

According to Ute tradition it is highly unlikely that Walkara was made leader because of his alleged personal wealth. It is more likely he was made leader because of his ability to provide well for his community. Even to this day wealth is distributed evenly throughout the Ute community from sources such as oil, mineral, and water royalties for example.

Walkara's vengeance was fueled by previous events that unfolded at Battle Creek when his family was murdered, and Fort Utah where his kin were brutally attacked and beheaded. Throughout his life among the Mormons he made every effort to live peacefully with them.

All Ute leaders came from the same bloodline dating back centuries, whether they were the warriors, the spiritual leaders, weavers, medicine men, etc., each family bloodline maintained individually traditions all of which contributed to the well-being of the community.  

Note: See personal interview of Walkara by M. S. Martenas 1853 click here