Man's
Inhumanity To Man
The
following accounts deal with the hard realities of the Black Hawk
War of Utah. Taken from personal journals, state and LDS Church
archives, old newspapers, records and books; each giving firsthand
eyewitness accounts of the mistreatment of Utah's American Indian at
the hands of the Mormon pioneers. Many of the stories come from
Peter Gottfredson's Indian Depredations in Utah, a man, a
journalist, who spent most of his time living in the Indian camps
during the war.
Of the some 150 bloody confrontations that took place between 1849
and 1870, 238 non-Indians were killed, and 932 American Indian people
were killed. This does NOT include the untold thousands of Native Indian
people who died from starvation and disease. Scholars estimate there
being between 40,000 and 70,000 Indian peoples when the settlers
arrived in 1847. United States government census of 1909 reveals
just 2300 Indian people remained alive when they were forced on the
reservation where 500 more died in the first year from starvation.
Today the Ute population is about 3500.
The
following are some of those confrontations arranged chronologically according to date.
The Black Hawk War
of Utah 1847-1873
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Historical events
CHIEF Walkara
1847-1850
Ute Chief Walkara Aka (Walker)
Uncle of Black Hawk. At first Walkara accepted their arrival, even inviting them to settle. But
according to historical accounts Walkara
was poisoned to death by
Mormon militia who wanted him out of the way. History by Tina Kelley and Kathryn L. MacKay
- Comments by Phillip B Gottfredson
INTERVIEW OF CHIEF WALKARA BY
INTERPRETER MARTENAS 1853
Statement, M. S. Martenas, Interpreter, Great Salt Lake
City, July 6 1853, Brigham Young Papers, MS 1234, Box 58,
Folder 14, LDS Archives.
Will Bagley Transcription
FORT UTAH
and Battle Creek 1849-1850
Committing the worst kind of
atrocities upon the Native American inhabitants Jim Bridger offered Hickman $100 for the head of Chief Old Elk.
Barely in his twenties, young Black Hawk is witness the
murder of his family and the decapitation of his 50 kin.
Note:
The Bear River Massacre occurred in 1863, scholars are reporting
that some 500 Shoshoni were brutally murdered in Utah near
Tremonton. I have not yet written about this event. This was the
worst massacre in US history. This event was covered up and was not
discovered until 1973.
HOW THE BLACK HAWK WAR BEGAN
1865 (No.1
Most read)
"We had to do these things, or be run over by them.
It was a question of supremacy between the white man and the Indian."
GRASS VALLEY
MASSACRE 1865 Over a dozen Ute women and children murdered.
THE MURDER OF CHIEF SANPITCH NEAR MANTI
1866 Wounded, the Ute chief makes his escape only to have his throat slit near Moroni.
CIRCLEVILLE MASSACRE 1866
One by one their throats were cut. Three children escape and take refuge in nearby cave.
EXCERPTS From Indian Depredations in Utah
1865-1873 First hand accounts of the battles they fought.
DIAMOND CREEK BATTLE JUNE 26, 1866 Ute Chief Mountain, Black Hawk's
brother, wounded. Research finds discrepancies in the story!
THE OLD
Peace Treaty TREE
Black Hawk promised their friendship would
last, as long as water continued to run in the creek. The creek is
still there, and running with water.
CHIEF BLACK HAWK WOUNDED IN BATTLE AT
GRAVELLY FORD IN 1866
But..."Black Hawk's
good fortune again befriended him."
SIGNING OF THE TREATY? AT MOUNT PLEASANT ENDING THE BLACK HAWK WAR 1872
"You need never to fight the Indians, but if you want to get rid of them try to civilize them." Brigham Young also advocated that "a sack of flour will kill more Indians than a keg of powder." -1866 the Denver Rocky Mountain News
BLACK
HAWK DIES the LDS CHURCH LOOTS GRAVE Black
Hawk passes over in 1870, then for some
strange reason his remains were put on public display in the window of a hardware
store in downtown Spanish Fork, Utah, and later in the Church
museum on Temple Square as a curiosity.
EXAMINATION OF BLACK HAWKS PHYSICAL
REMAINS
By
permission from the NAGPRA.
