Phillip B Gottfredson Research Archive

Author: Phillip B Gottfredson has been devoted to researching the Utah Black Hawk War for decades, from 1989 to the present. The following is a random collection of unedited articles and notes Gottfredson wrote while on his journey-of-discovery throughout North and South America, learning the life-ways of Native Americans that he wrote about in his book "Black Hawk's Mission Of Peace."

 

Nathan Chasing Horse is a person I won't forget I can't recall there being a moment in my life when I was so sacredly overwhelmed.

I just saw the movie September Dawn in Provo, Utah I don't know how they could have been anymore fair or objective. Yet critics of the film are saying it is a lie...

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." So the Mormons have never had to face their dark past, and now 150 years later the truth comes to light...

D. Robert Carter's Founding Fort Utah But I am most impressed by his accuracy of the event, but is the victor's point of view, and most importantly the respectful way he has portrayed our Native people.

An Amusing Story? But when they write anything about the Native Indian their remarks are rude, racist, degrading...

Its a new day here in Utah I see the mountains blackened from fires. I have gone into the mountains and where the rivers and streams used to run freely they are dry...

I spent a day talking to a Dine' medicine man Well, we carried on a conversation non stop for six hours at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.

The Silent Victims ..there are those who live their lives in shame, who have no voice or ears to hear their agony.

Synopsis of the Black Hawk War in Utah "If the inhabitants of this Territory, my brethren, had never condescended to reduce themselves to the practices of the Indians, to their low, degraded condition, and in some cases even lower, there never would have been any trouble between us and our red neighbors. Treat them kindly, and treat them as Indians, and not as your equals."

Secret of the Bones An extensive analysis of seven American Indian skeletons unearthed in a mass grave in Nephi last year shows that the men and boys did not die in a skirmish with Mormon settlers, as most historical records suggest, but were killed execution-style.

Forgive, yes, but never should we forget We can say "that's all in the past and we just need to forget about it." But it would be criminal to do so.

GIVE ME A BREAK! I normally don't get upset at other people's articles, but this one really made my blood boil.

Our goal, the Black Hawk War Project We need to stop blaming each other, and look upon the past as a human condition.

Yesterday I was in a meeting interviewing an individual of social influence I was being accused of poking my nose into Indian affairs and assuming the role as a spokesperson...

Bear Butte Update Here we have American citizens with good intentions, asking their government leaders to project their religious rights but are denied protection under the law in favor of those who want to use a sacred site so they can get drunk.

Fort Duchesne School Closed After Failing To Meet Fed Standards West Middle School in Fort Duchesne is shutting its doors. The school was technically the worst in the state.

It's Not About Me or the Indian people that I work with. Its about human rights.

LDS Admit to Mountain Meadows Massacre, BUT In a recent article that appeared in the church's Ensign magazine, church historian Richard E. Turley gives what is said to be the church's official account of the Massacre.

See: Utah Black Hawk War Facts for more