Washakie (1804?–1900) served as a chief in the Utah–– area for sixty years. Noted for his friendliness to whites, he considered , James Bridger, and General Albert Sidney Johnston as his friends. He was given a U.S. military funeral when he was buried at Fort Washakie, near Lander, Wyoming. (Utah State Historical Society) Chapter 12

Kenneth L. Alford

I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War

ative Americans1 played a small, but history of the United States. Settlers arrived; Ninteresting, role during the Civil War. Indians were displaced. In Utah Territory it During the first year of the war, the U.S. happened quickly. From the arrival of the secretary of the interior reported that “our first Mormon pioneers, it was just over thirty Indian affairs are in a very unsettled and years until the last Indians were removed to unsatisfactory condition. The spirit of rebel- government reservations. This essay provides lion against the authority of the government, an overview of the complicated and often which has precipitated a large number of violent relationships that existed in Utah Ter- States into open revolt, has been instilled into ritory during the Civil War between Indians, a portion of the Indian tribes by emissaries settlers, and the federal government. from the insurrectionary States.”2 Both Union and Confederate armies courted tribe mem- Utah’s Indians bers in an effort to recruit additional soldiers Several Indian tribes lived in Utah Terri- and were met with some success. Confeder- tory during the nineteenth century with three ate General Stand Watie, for example, the last tribes accounting for the majority—Utes­ (often Southern general to surrender to Union forces referred to as Utahs—the namesake of Utah (in June 1865), was a Cherokee Indian.3 Territory), (sometimes referred to While most regions of the country expe- as Snakes), and Paiutes (who lived in the cen- rienced few Indian problems during the war, tral and southern parts of the territory).4 Mem- Utah had to contend with numerous chal- bers of smaller and neighboring tribes, such lenges. What happened in Utah when settlers as Bannock, Goshute, and Washoe, also lived and Indians came into contact is the same within the territorial boundary. As Jacob For- story that occurred throughout the early ney, a Utah Territory superintendent of Indian 204 Kenneth L. Alford

Affairs who was later dismissed for misman- Territory’s superintendent of Indian Affairs agement, explained in September 1858, “The in 1861, Utah’s Indians were “unquestion- principal tribes are, of course, divided into a ably the poorest Indians on the continent.”7 great number of small bands but all submit to In an 1850 Indian agent’s annual report, the authority of one or the other of the chiefs Paiutes, for example, were categorized as of their respective tribes.”5 “benumbed by cold, and enfeebled, intel- The exact number of Indians who lived in lectually and physically, by the food upon Utah Territory is unknown. An 1861 report which they subsist; it consisting only of roots, from J. F. Collins, Utah superintendent of vermin, insects of all kinds, and everything Indian Affairs, acknowledged that no one that creeps, crawls, swims, flies, or bounds, “had ever been able to obtain satisfactory they may chance to overtake.”8 Many Indians information in regard to their numbers.” struggled to stay alive and eagerly consumed ­Collins’s estimate at the beginning of the “everything containing a life-sustaining ele- Civil War suggested, though, that there may ment, such as hares, rabbits, antelope, deer, have been fifteen to twenty thousand Indians bear, elk, dogs, lizzards [sic], snakes, crickets, prior to the arrival of the first Mormon set- grasshoppers, ants, roots, grass, seeds, bark, tlers.6 The best approximation prior to the etc. . . . With some of the Indians stealing Civil War may be an estimate included in cattle, horses, mules, &c, is a matter of Superintendent Forney’s 1859 annual report necessity—steal or starve.”9 While sent to to the federal commissioner of Indian Affairs Utah to serve both the government and the (see figure 1). Indians, the personal prejudices of individual Indian agents often crept into reports to their Indian Tribe or Band Estimate superiors as evidenced by the 1850 report Sho-sho-nes or Snakes 4,500 of Indian agent J. S. Calhoun, who charged Ban-nacks 500 that Indians “feed upon their own children. Uinta Utes 1,000 Such a people should not be permitted to Spanish Fork and San Pete farms 900 live within the limits of the United States, Pah-vant (Utes) 700 and must be elevated in the scale of human Pey-utes (South) 2,200 existence, or exterminated.”10 Yet the same Pey-utes (West) 6,000 Indians were defined by other Indian agents Elk mountain Utes 2,000 as “very industrious,” “honest, amiable,” and Wa-sho of Honey lake 700 “peaceable,” who “conducted themselves Total 18,500 well” and were “friendly disposed toward us Figure 1. Supposed total number of Indians in Utah Territory [Indian agents] destitute as they are.”11 (1858). Source: Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1858 (Washington, DC: George W. Pr ior to the Civil War ­Bowman, 1859), 365. (“Farms” were Indian reservations. Utah’s first Mormon settlers arrived in the Original spelling retained.) Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. Mormons iden- Living conditions in Utah Territory were tified American Indians as a lost branch of the difficult for everyone—but especially so for house of Israel and felt a sense of responsibil- Indians. According to Benjamin Davies, Utah ity to convert and civilize them. There were I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 205

many Indian baptisms, but conflict occurred reflection that those [Mormons] whose mis- more frequently than conversion. sion it is to convert these aborigines by the For security reasons, new Mormon settle- sword of the spirit should thus be obliged ments often began with the building of an to destroy them.”18 (Gunnison himself was enclosed fort. Lieutenant John W. Gunnison, killed by Utes in October 1853 near Fill- a U.S. Army topographic engineer sent to more, then the capital of Utah Territory.) Utah in the early 1850s to survey potential Prior to the Utah War (1857–58), Indian rail routes, described the first settlement in relations and diplomacy had been a shared Salt Lake City: “A fort enclosing about forty responsibility, divided by proximity and acres was built, by facing log-houses inward, interest between the Mormon population and picketing four gateways on each side of and federal Indian agents. After the Utah the square, making a line nearly a mile and a War, Indian policy was most often made and half in length—the timber being hauled sev- enforced by the U.S. Army and the federal eral miles, and cut in the distant kanyons.”12 government’s Indian agents. Among the many Indians did not appear to be concerned challenges this presented was that “army with the initial arrival of Mormons in the Salt leaders and their volunteers often had little Lake Valley because that valley was a neu- training in and patience for the protocols of tral buffer zone between the Ute, Goshute,­ Indian diplomacy.”19 and Shoshone tribes. Trouble began when According to an 1861 government report, the Mormons expanded into Utah Valley. among the many causes of Indian hardship The Mormon fort in Provo was built on were “the natural poverty of the country, the a ­centuries-old Indian campsite that was destruction of the wild game by the intro- near several major hunting trails.13 During duction of white men, and the selfish policy 1848, just one year after the first pioneers of the Mormon people”—although exactly arrived, settlers suffered attacks by a band of what that policy might have been was left Shoshones and sought to administer a “chas- unstated.20 Perhaps it was the fact that the tisement” of their own to the Indians.14 The arrival of Mormon pioneers upset the delicate following year, in the winter of 1849, Indians and fragile natural balance within the region. “became insolent in Utah Valley, killed cattle Indians were continually being displaced as and boasted of it, entered houses and fright- the Mormons established new settlements. ened women and children, took provisions Competition for limited natural resources forcibly, and compelled those on the farms to became “a constant source of irritation and retire within the fort.”15 In 1850, during what vexation to the whites” as well as to the Indi- is sometimes termed the Timpanogos War, ans.21 Indians were soon “deprived of their Mormon forces from Salt Lake and Utah Val- accustomed means of subsistence” and were leys attacked and killed dozens of Indians.16 “driven to the alternative of laying violent Additional Indian-settler skirmishes, such hands upon the property of the whites or of as the Walker War in 1853–54 (named after perishing by want.”22 the Timpanogos Ute Indian chief Wakara), Violence between Indians was another continued throughout the 1850s.17 Gunni- problem, with intermittent conflicts occur- son wryly noted, “It is a curious matter of ring within and between the numerous tribes 206 Kenneth L. Alford

Paiutes, who were generally nonequestrian, tended to move to reservations and adopt settler ways more easily than other tribes within the territory (circa 1860). (Library of Congress) and bands.23 Lieutenant Gunnison observed nonequestrian Indians, which caused many that the “different tribes of the Utahs are fre- Paiutes to seek protection from nearby Mor- quently at war with each other.”24 Comparing mon settlements.26 Utah’s local Indian wars to the Civil War, one Disease (including several new diseases Deseret News writer suggested in 1861, “In introduced into Indian communities by con- their way, and according to their numbers, tact with whites) and violent conflicts with they [warring Indians] may destroy as many settlers contributed to a decline in the Indian lives as the armies of the North and South, in population.27 Indians within Utah Territory the civil war now raging in the States.”25 The did not fare well in the years immediately fact that many Ute and Shoshone bands were preceding the Civil War; they had “degener- equestrian, while Paiutes seldom had horses, ated very rapidly during the last twelve years influenced the relationship each tribe devel- or since white men have got among them.”28 oped with Mormon settlers. Horses enabled In 1860, Utah Indian agent A. Humphreys a migratory lifestyle that made their owners reported that “the sufferings of these poor less interested in farming on government Indians during the past winter were horrible, reservations. Utes also captured and enslaved many of them dying from starvation and I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 207 exposure. It was a common circumstance to categorized as alcoholics who “worship[ped] find them frozen to death. . . . On several at the shrine of Bacchus.” While the news- occasions I parted with my own blankets to paper took most federal appointees to task, bury them in.”29 one category of government workers “who have come here since Buchanan’s disastrous Federal Indian Officials expedition was planned and executed [the Congress created the Utah Territorial Utah War]” was singled out for especially Indian Agency in February 1851, just one harsh rhetoric—“those connected with the year after Utah was organized as a territory.30 Indian Department.” Indian superintendents Throughout much of its history as a territory, and agents were criticized for being “unbusi- Utah had a difficult and strained relationship nesslike,” committing numerous “unlawful with many of the federal appointees sent to acts,” and for seldom attending “to the duties direct its affairs. Utahns wanted to govern of their office.” The paper charged that Utah themselves and viewed federal office holders residents were left to feed and clothe “the as an unnecessary burden. The Utah War, Indians that were in their midst and around which ended less than three years before the about them, and when the various bands have beginning of the Civil War, was caused in part been hostile towards each other, or towards by the role that disgruntled territorial federal the whites, waged war upon them and com- officials played in shaping the Buchanan mitted depredations the superintendents and administration’s view of Utah’s perceived their subordinates, with few exceptions,” the rebellion. Relations were particularly bad paper continued, the Indian Department took when it came to Utah’s Indian superinten- “little or no notice of their belligerent and dents and agents, many of whom recognized lawless proceedings.” In what might be an that a Utah appointment would do little to overstatement based on the emotion of the further their career. Problems ranged from time, the editorial suggested that “superinten- apathy and incompetence to open corrup- dents and agents have held out inducements tion. Part of Utah’s Indian difficulties must be to the Indians to steal the stock of the settlers, laid at the feet of Utah’s Indian officials. informing them where they could find a mar- In a lengthy October 1861 editorial, the ket for all they stole which they did not need Deseret News summarized the frustration for their own use. It is notorious that when Utahns had with many federal Indian agents. horses, mules and cattle have been stolen While recognizing that some “of the gov- by the natives and known to have been thus ernment officials who have been sent here taken and in their possession, but feeble or no within the last three or four years have been efforts have been made, generally speaking, honorable men, and a few others might be to recover the property and restore it to the called so without much perversion of lan- owners; and seemingly the more lawless acts guage, having done no particular harm to the Indians committed, the better were those any one excepting to themselves,” the News government functionaries pleased with their categorized a “majority of the United States’ doings.” It was the opinion of the Deseret News officers” as being “neither moral, honest, or that to list all of the “ridiculous and unlawful virtuous.” Federal officials were generally acts” committed “would require much time 208 Kenneth L. Alford

and space” and “would be exceedingly bulky.” with persons whom it had selected but who The only remedy available was to “sincerely were not the accepted leaders of the entire hope that no other than honorable men will tribe.”35 Indians were viewed as a nuisance be appointed to or hold office in this Territory that needed to be contained, and treaties hereafter.” If any more “miserable specimens were the legal mechanism to do so. The first of humanity be sent here in that capacity, it is treaty—negotiated between Mormon lead- hoped that they will be induced, shortly after ers and Ute chiefs—was signed on Decem- their arrival, to retrace their steps or continue ber 30, 1849.36 A second treaty, for which no their journey across the continent.”31 record exists today, apparently followed in April 1850.37 Indian Treaties The reality was that “the distressed condi- and Reservations tion of the Indians in this Territory” became The United States government officially worse each year as more settlers arrived and recognized each Indian tribe as a separate taxed the limited natural resources even fur- nation, which meant that Indian relations ther. Beginning in 1851, in an effort to both were the responsibility of the federal govern- assist and contain Indians within the territory, ment and not individual states or territories.32 Mormons established a series of Indian farms Legal issues, such as land titles, were usually (reservations) to assist Indians in learning to determined through treaties. When Utah was feed themselves.38 With Indian poverty and established as a territory, though, the federal starvation increasing each year, the “exten- government “took over Utah without a single sion of the farming system” was seen as “the Ute land title settled and without any treaty proper remedy” to help Indians become self- of cession negotiated.”33 Land ownership sufficient again.39 As Luther Mann Jr., one of was problematic from the earliest days of the Utah’s numerous Indian agents, wrote, “Wild territory. When Mormon pioneers arrived in Indians, like wild horses, must be corralled 1847, the land they settled was claimed by upon reservations.”40 The government’s goal Mexico and occupied by Indians—neither was to “entirely reclaim them from savage life of whom could provide a transferable title. and cause them to become useful and good Further complicating the situation, when citizens.”41 To domesticate and feed the terri- Mormon pioneers settled along the northern tory’s Indian population, several government Wasatch Front, they chose land that was reservations were established in Utah before claimed by several tribes.34 the Civil War. Using Mormon Indian farms as Although each tribe was formally viewed the foundation, three reservations—Spanish as a separate sovereign nation, the treaty Fork reservation in Utah Valley south of Provo, system never treated Indians equally or fairly. the San Pete reservation in San Pete Valley, Indians were always “at a disadvantage. Trea- and the Corn Creek reservation located near ties were written in English, and often the Fillmore (approximately one hundred miles terms were not explained adequately to the north of Mountain Meadows)—were estab- Indians. Land ownership and government lished by the Utah Indian Agency in 1854. systems were concepts often foreign to Indi- Two additional reservations, Deep Creek and ans. And the government often negotiated Ruby Valley farms, were established during I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 209

spring 1858, shortly before the Utah War’s of taking possession of it.” The Corn Creek conclusion; those reservations became part reservation was “closely surrounded by white of Nevada Territory in 1861.42 settlements which renders it very nearly Living conditions on the reservations were valueless as an Indian reservation because of always difficult as the newly minted Indian the Indians continually coming into contact farmers battled drought, crickets, disease, with the whites,” and the San Pete reservation hunger, government bureaucracy, and a host was said to have been “worthless and aban- of cultural challenges, as well as the fact that doned by the superintendent in the spring of the reservations themselves were often not 1860.”47 maintained “in a promising condition.”43 In 1861, a Utah Indian agent complained that T he Coming of the Civil War an army officer had “taken away many of the For most settlers in Utah Territory, Indian implements, such as ploughs, hoes, harrows, relations were probably more important and wagons” from Indians at both the Corn than events in the distant civil war. As talk Creek and San Pete reservations, which “quite of Southern secession increased following discouraged the poor Indians” and caused Lincoln’s November 1860 election to the them “to ask if the great father has thrown presidency, a letter from Carson City, Utah them away.”44 The result was that only a small Territory, published in January 1861 may percentage of Utah’s Indians chose to relocate have adequately summed up local residents’ to a reservation by the beginning of the Civil feelings regarding the coming war as well as War. Territorial Indian agents often sent opti- their Indian problems. The writer stated, “We mistic annual reports regarding their efforts to have nothing to do with Secession here, and alleviate Indian starvation and suffering, and it does not trouble us. When we want to fight those reports frequently had some version of all we have to do is to give one shot in the the sentiment that the suffering, “I trust, will be direction of an Indian camp, and then we got obviated next year.”45 Indian agents appealed it [all the fighting we can handle].”48 “in the sweet name of ‘charity’” that something The Civil War influenced Utah Territory’s be done to better the condition of the Indians Indian policy in ways that could not have because their “present state is intolerable,” been envisioned at the beginning of the war. but the agents recognized that genuine relief The last commander of the army’s Depart- would not be forthcoming that year.46 ment of Utah and Camp Floyd (renamed Fort In 1861, a few months after the Civil War Crittenden) was Colonel Philip St. George began, Utah’s three main Indian farms— Cooke. A native of Virginia, Cooke (not to be Spanish Fork, Corn Creek, and San Pete— confused with the similarly named and fel- were declared as being deficient by Utah low Virginian Philip St. George Cocke—who Indian agents. The Spanish Fork reservation served the Confederacy as a brigadier gen- was characterized as being “surrounded by eral) had ties to Mormons that stretched back a large Mormon population who have no to his service with the Mormon Battalion in particular regard for the welfare of the Indi- the 1840s during the Mexican War.49 Cooke’s ans from the fact that they have surveyed southern roots and secessionist family mem- said reservation with the avowed intention bers—J. E. B. Stuart, the famous Confederate 210 Kenneth L. Alford

cavalry commander, was Cooke’s son-in-law, in Salt Lake City with “Mormon pioneers and and his own son, John Rogers Cooke, fought Nauvoo Legion militia” members during the in the Army of Northern Virginia as an infantry city’s 1861 Fourth of July parade.53 brigade ­commander—caused some concern Utah’s geographic isolation diminished in within the army, but Colonel Cooke declared October 1861 when the telegraph reached his loyalty to the Union and earned the rank Salt Lake City and linked the nation together. of brevet major general by the war’s end. When the soldiers stationed in Utah were Under Cooke’s command, withdrawn in 1861 to fight Indian policy in Utah Terri- the war in the East, the tele- tory had been dominated by graph lines, mail lines, and frequently changing Indian emigrant trails, as well as the superintendents and agents. citizens who lived within the That would change the fol- territory, were left with little lowing year with the arrival protection. With the tele- of Colonel Patrick Edward graph’s arrival, Utah’s new Connor and his California superintendent for Indian Volunteers. Affairs, Dyman S. Wood, In May 1861, hostile warned Washington officials actions by Indians on the that the “establishment of the emigrant trails caused Utah’s overland daily mail and tele- governor, Alfred Cumming, graph lines and their recent to request that a detachment completion through this of Union soldiers from Fort Patrick Edward Connor (1820–91) Territory—consummations Crittenden be sent to guard advocated a disciplinarian approach of such vital importance to toward Indians. Connor was promoted to the Overland Trail “for brigadier general following the Bear River the people throughout the the protection of the Mail, Massacre in January 1863. (Utah State Union—render it necessary Express, and emigrants, Historical Society) that steps should be imme- and, if need be, for the chastisement of the diately taken by the government to prevent Indians.”50 Soldiers were not sent at that time the possibility of their being interrupted by but were ordered instead to leave Utah and the Indians.”54 join the growing fight in the East. In June, Tensions in Utah continued to rise, and by the New York Times reported that Utah’s gov- mid-April 1862, Frank Fuller (acting governor), ernor felt that removing the soldiers “would I. F. Kinney (Utah Supreme Court chief justice), leave the inhabitants too much exposed to Edward R. Fox (Utah’s surveyor general), and attacks from unfriendly Indians.”51 As the officials from the Overland Mail Company and soldiers from Fort Crittenden marched east, Pacific Telegraph Company appealed directly Indians “helped themselves to a goodly toll to Edwin M. Stanton, President Lincoln’s of Army cattle”—stealing over one hundred secretary of war, for assistance in controlling head.52 While a few Indians took advantage “the Indians in Utah” who were robbing and of the distraction offered by the Civil War, the destroying Overland Mail Company stations majority did not. Some Indians even marched and killing cattle. They asked Secretary Stanton I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 211

to “put in service” under the command of of robbery and murder on Sublette’s Cutoff James D. Doty, Utah’s superintendent of Indian [an alternate and fifty-three-mile shorter Affairs, “a regiment [of] mounted rangers from route on the Oregon Trail in Wyoming and inhabitants of the Territory.”55 Yet just three southern Idaho], which exhibit[s] beyond days later, Brigham Young informed John M. all doubt that the Indians have thrown off Bernhisel, Utah Territory’s original delegate in all restraint, and indulge their thieving and the U.S. House of Representatives: “So far as I murderous propensities without the slightest know, the Indians in Utah are regard to the sex, age, or unusually quiet and instead condition of the subjects of 2,000 hostile Shoshones of the attack.” The news- coming into our northern paper blamed much of the settlements, Washhekuk, Indians’ behavior on “the their chief, has wintered in unfortunate associations the city and near it, perfectly they had some years ago friendly, and is about to go to with a few renegade whites, his band. Besides, the militia . . . and as it is much easier of Utah are ready and able, as to descend a hill than it is they ever have been, to take to climb one, the red skins care of all the Indians, and took much easier their les- are able and willing to protect Brigham Young (1801–77), president of sons of corruption than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day the mail line if called upon so Saints, advocated a gentler, more mentoring their lessons of right.” to do. The statements of the approach to Indian relations than the stern The journalist was certain policies followed by the army. (Photo by aforesaid telegram are with- Charles R. Savage, Harold B. Lee Library, that until “another kind of out foundation in truth so far Brigham Young University) relationship [is] established as we know.”56 between the Indians and On April 28, Brigham Young received a those who should see to them, no life will be telegram requesting that an active duty cav- secure on [the Sublette] road.”58 alry company be raised within Utah. During In May 1862, after learning that sol- the ninety-day period (May–August 1862) diers would again be stationed in Utah, a that the Utah cavalry company, under the New York Times reporter suggested that it was command of Captain Lot Smith, guarded a “much more likely that these Gentile Soldiers portion of the Overland Trail, the New York from California will create difficulties in Utah Times reported that Indians were “again than that they will ever settle them. If the troublesome” and had cut telegraph lines, troops are designed to operate against the stolen one hundred and fifty mail animals, fragments of dying savages west of the Rocky killed employees of the mail company as well Mountains, we are likely to have an Indian as some emigrants, and burned down one war on our hands this Summer, which, or two mail stations.57 As the Utah Cavalry though barren enough of value, will be fertile ended their active duty military service, the enough of expenses.”59 At the beginning of Deseret News reported that “during the past August, an Indian chief named Little Soldier few weeks we have heard of several instances warned Doty and others that Shoshone and 212 Kenneth L. Alford

Bannock Indians “inhabiting the northern Department of the Interior, issued an official part of this Territory and the southern por- warning to “all persons contemplating the tion of eastern Washington Territory have crossing of the plains this fall, to Utah or united their forces for the purpose of making the Pacific coast, that there is good reason war upon and committing to apprehend hostilities depredations on the prop- on the part of the Bannack erty of the white people.” and Shoshone or Snake Little Soldier warned “very Indians, as well as the Indi- urgently” of a “great danger” ans upon the plains and and cautioned settlers to along the Platte river.” Mix “have their guns with them reported that those Indians at all times in the cañons were “numerous, power- and in their fields.”60 Also ful, and warlike” and could during August, James D. make crossing the plains Doty, Utah’s Indian Affairs “extremely perilous.”64 The superintendent and future following day, Luther Mann governor, reported a series Jr., an Indian agent at Fort Chief Little Soldier, a Weber Ute, warned of Indian attacks: several whites of a possible Indian uprising Bridger, charged Shoshone immigrant wagon trains during the summer of 1862. and Bannock Indians with (Utah State Historical society) had been robbed; “many “some of the most brutal people killed;” “many murders committed;” murders ever perpetrated upon this conti- and hundreds of head of livestock had been nent” and stated he was certain “that a gen- stolen.61 Historian Brigham D. Madsen sug- eral outbreak of hostilities will take place gested that during that time perhaps “as many throughout this entire region of country.”65 as 400 people lost their lives as a result of It was into that tense environment that raids and murders at the hands of Shoshoni, U.S. Army California Volunteers under the Bannock, and Northern Paiute warriors on command of Colonel Connor entered Utah the Humboldt and Snake rivers.”62 in late fall 1862 and established Camp Concern regarding real and potential Douglas on the foothills overlooking Salt Indian actions continued to build. By the Lake City. An eastern newspaper reported end of August, Ben Holladay, who owned that Colonel Connor’s “particular business stage routes and the federal contract to is generally understood to be to keep the deliver mail to Salt Lake City, reported, in a Western mail and emigrant route clear of classic case of overstatement, that a “general Indians.”66 war with nearly all the tribes of Indians east of the is close at hand. I am Diffrn e i g Policy Approaches expecting daily an interruption on my [mail] Connor’s arrival brought into sharper line, and nothing but prompt and decisive focus two contrasting and coexistent philoso- action on the part of government will pre- phies regarding Indian relations. The first, vent it.”63 Three weeks later, Charles E. Mix, epitomized by Brigham Young, might be acting commissioner of Indian Affairs in the termed a “welfare approach,” and the second, I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 213

Chief Washakie (front, center) with members of his tribe. (Utah State Historical Society) personified by Patrick Connor and the U.S. expending millions of dollars vested in an Army, was a “disciplinarian approach.” army to fight and kill the Indians. Feed and The welfare approach. Brigham Young clothe them a little and you will save life; fight taught that Indians should generally be them, and you pave the way for the destruc- treated with kindness. He believed that Indi- tion of the innocent. This will be found out ans did not commit aggressive acts “without after a while, but now it is not known except provocation on the part of the whites.”67 His by comparatively a few.”68 Commenting on the Indian philosophy may be summed up in an federal government’s poor record of honoring address he gave in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on treaty obligations with Indians, Young stated: March 8, 1863 (during a period of particularly tense relations with Colonel Connor and the I will ask every person who is soldiers stationed at Camp Douglas). From acquainted with the history of the the Tabernacle podium, Young declared: “I colonization of the Continent of North will, comparatively speaking, take one plug and South America, if they ever knew of tobacco, a shirt and three cents’ worth of any colony of whites to get along any paint, [give it to the Indians] and save more better with their savage neighbors than life and hinder more Indian depredations the inhabitants of Utah have done. than they [the federal government] can by Talk about making treaties with the 214 Kenneth L. Alford

Indians! Has there been any one treaty Not surprisingly, Brigham Young’s approach with the Indians fulfilled in good faith made him popular with many Indian bands. by the Government? If there is one, I He was so popular, in fact, that O. H. Irish, wish you would let me know. But we Utah’s superintendent of Indian Affairs, wrote call them savages, while at the same in 1865, “The fact exists, however much some time the whites too often do as badly might prefer it should be otherwise, that he as they have done, and worse, when [Young] has pursued so kind and conciliatory difference of intelligence and training a policy with the Indians that it has given him are taken into account. This has been great influence over them.”72 so in almost every case of difficulty The disciplinarian approach. In contrast to with the red skins. When soldiers have Brigham Young’s welfare-like approach, the pounced upon these poor, ignorant, U.S. army in general, and Colonel Connor low, degraded, miserable creatures, specifically, often favored a strict policy of mention a time, if you can, when they Indian correction and punishment. Connor’s have spared their women and children. Indian policy was outlined to Major Edward They have indiscriminately massacred McGarry, one of his subordinate officers, in a the helpless, the blind, the old, the ­September 29, 1862, dispatch—issued even infant, and the mother.69 before his soldiers reached Salt Lake City. Connor instructed McGarry that if hostile President Young suggested that his fol- Indians resisted capture “you will destroy lowers should “take the Indians, become them.”73 If any Indians were known to have acquainted with them and know their feelings committed murder, “immediately hang and spirits and you will find as large a pro- them, and leave their bodies thus exposed portion that have good feelings and spirits as as an example of what evil-doers may expect among the whites. . . . If you see an Indian give while I command in this district. . . . This him a biscuit instead of half an ounce of lead, course may seem harsh and severe, but I then they will be your friends.”70 In remarks desire that the order may be rigidly enforced, made in Salt Lake City’s public square to as I am satisfied that in the end it will prove emigrants passing through Utah in July 1863, the most merciful.”74 Connor also ordered Young taught, “You have heard of Indian hos- McGarry, though, that in “no instance will tilities, . . . but you will have no trouble with you molest women or children.”75 Connor’s them, if you will do right. I have always told views reflected those of General George the traveling public that it is much cheaper to Wright, commander of the Department of feed the Indians than to fight them. Give them the Pacific and Connor’s immediate supervi- a little bread and meat, a little sugar, a little sor, who wrote that Indian difficulties “have tobacco, or a little of anything you have which been growing worse and worse for years, and will conciliate their feelings and make them I am determined to settle them now for the your friends. . . . I am satisfied that among last time. Every Indian you may capture, and the red men of the mountains and the forest who has been engaged in hostilities present you can find as many good, honest persons as or past, shall be hung on the spot. Spare the among the Anglo Saxon race.”71 women and children.”76 I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 215

In 1863, Utah governor James D. Doty to follow his policies,”78 just as Patrick Con- reflected the army’s attitude when he shared nor recognized that force was not always jus- with Colonel Connor that many Indians who tified. With few exceptions, though, once the were “suing for peace—pro- army returned in 1862, the test that they are friendly to Mormons generally deferred the whites and are afraid the to military authority regard- soldiers will kill them. This ing Indian relations and “the is the condition in which I Saints tended merely to look desire to see all the tribes on as bystanders.”79 in this Territory. They now Little love was lost be- realize the fact that the tween Connor and Young. Americans are the masters One contributing factor to of this country, and it is my Connor’s dislike of almost purpose to make them con- all things Mormon is that he tinue to feel and to acknowl- believed Latter-day Saints edge it. Without this there James Duane Doty (1799–1865) filled encouraged and instigated can be no permanent peace several government appointments in Indian raids throughout his Utah Territory—first as superintendent here and no security upon of Indian Affairs and then as governor area of responsibility. “Mor- the routes of travel. . . . Your (1863–65). He had previously served mons,” Connor complained in the U.S. House of Representatives troops have displaced the (from Wisconsin’s Third Congressional to his superiors, “instead of Mormon power over these District) and as governor of the Wisconsin assisting to punish Indians Indians.”77 Territory. (Utah State Historical Society) for bad conduct actually encouraged them. . . . From Iondian P licy in Practice the evidence before me I am well satisfied Differences in the Indian policies of that the Mormons are the real instigators [of Colonel Connor and President Young quickly trouble].”80 He believed “the Indians are com- became apparent after the army’s arrival. pletely under his [Brigham Young’s] control Neither the welfare approach nor the oppos- and do just as he tells them.”81 ing disciplinarian approach, however, could Brigham Young, on the other hand, had resolve every trying situation. The reality little tolerance for the army’s forceful and was, of course, much more complicated. “The often violent Indian policy. Young was also simple fact,” as historian John Alton Peterson a realist, though, and he recognized that observed, “was that two honorable peoples “there are a few Indians that are wickedly were hopelessly trapped not only by their disposed, just as it is among all white settle- own cultures, goals, and interests but also by ments” and encouraged his listeners to “keep the larger political and national forces of their your horses under a strong guard and then time. Both were victims of violent demo- you will be safe.”82 Increasing Indian hostility graphic and political changes that threatened throughout 1861 and 1862 meant that the their very existences as communities. . . . optimistic “feed-rather-than-fight policy was The simple truth is that, try as he [Brigham given lip service” but there were increasing Young] might, he could not induce his people strains on adhering to it as settlers desired a 216 Kenneth L. Alford

Looking east across the site of the . Colonel Connor and his soldiers came down the bank below where the ranch stands on the hill. (Utah State Historical Society) more permanent resolution to their Indian before the battle, thousands of Indians had problems.83 assembled in the Bear River area to hold a Warm Dance—a gathering designed to “drive Bear River Massacre out the cold of winter and hasten the warmth Connor’s disciplinarian Indian policy was of spring.” Most of the Indians left the area forcibly demonstrated at the Battle of Bear following completion of the Warm Dance River (now more frequently referred to as the ceremonies.86 If Connor had attacked earlier Bear River Massacre) in January 1863 about that month, many more Indians presumably 150 miles north of Camp Douglas near Pres- would have been killed. ton, Idaho. Several historians have argued Two weeks before the battle, there were that given the circumstances of that time, reports of murders committed by Indians the massacre was probably inevitable.84 Six “to avenge the blood of their comrades, weeks before the battle, a report in the Deseret who were killed by the soldiers” during the News expressed hope that “the Indians [will previous fall.87 The day before the battle, the be] so thoroughly whipped that they will Deseret News reported that Colonel Connor retire into the Bannock country [in Idaho], and four companies of cavalry had marched there to remain during the winter.” If not, through Salt Lake City “with the expectation, the reporter feared, settlements in northern no doubt, of surprising the Indians.” The Utah and southern Idaho “will not be as safe report surmised that Connor’s forces would hereafter as they were before the expedition “come up with the red skins about eighty or was sent out to punish them.”85 A few weeks ninety miles from here on Bear River, and I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 217

that with ordinary good luck the volunteers observed, “Had the savages committed this will ‘wipe them out.’ . . . The Indian has ever deed, it would pass into history as a butchery been a difficult subject to handle with nicety or a massacre.”91 Commended by General and justice.”88 Henry W. Halleck, U.S. army general-in- Some Indians reportedly escaped prior to chief, for his “heroic conduct and brilliant the attack. During the night of January 27, victory on Bear River,” Connor was promoted 1863, an older Indian by the name of Tin- to brigadier general on March 29, 1863.92 dup “foresaw the calamity which was about to take place. In a dream he saw his people Folin l ow g the Massacre being killed by pony soldiers. He told others Less than one week after the battle, the of his dream and urged them to move out of Deseret News reported that “Col. Connor and the area that night.” Some families believed the Volunteers who went north last week to him, left the area, and survived.89 look after the Indians on the Bear River have, Early in the morning of January 29, 1863, in a very short space of time, done a larger with Colonel Connor commanding, soldiers amount of Indian killing than ever fell to the attacked and killed at least 224 Indians; only lot of any single expedition of which we have fourteen soldiers were lost.90 The nineteenth- any knowledge.”93 Had it occurred during century Utah historian Hubert Howe Bancroft a period of peace, the attack at Bear River

This painting, entitled Returning from the Battle of Bear River, hangs in the Fort Douglas Officers Club. The man waving his hat is Orrin Porter Rockwell, and the other central figure on horseback is Colonel Patrick Edward Connor. (Utah State Historical Society) 218 Kenneth L. Alford

would have been front page news across the this Territory will [still] require your future country. As it was, the battle received little attention. Roaming as they do through all our notice in the American press outside of the settlements south of this City, they are and West, because of more pressing news from have been since the settlement of the Terri- the Civil War. tory, a great annoyance to, and a continual, Connor worked quickly to capitalize on burthensome tax upon the people.”98 his victory. Shortly after the battle, which News of the January 1863 massacre at according to Bancroft “completely broke Bear River spread quickly among both Indian the power and spirit of the Indians,”94 Con- and white populations, and it generally nor held a conference with Indian leaders had the effect that General Connor desired. near Brigham City. His official dispatch to Several treaties were signed in rapid succes- his superiors reported that he informed the sion: a treaty at with Shoshone Indians “that the troops had been sent to this Indians (signed July 2, 1863), a treaty of region to protect good Indians and whites Box Elder (signed July 30, 1863), a treaty at and equally to punish bad Indians and bad Tuilla (Tooele) Valley (signed on October 12, whites; that it was my determination to visit 1863—that treaty contained a special provi- the most summary punishment—even to sion that required that “Indians agree to give extermination—on Indians who committed up their roving life and settle upon a reser- depredations upon the lives and property vation whenever the President of the United of emigrants and settlers.”95 The prevalent States shall deem it expedient for them”), popular sentiment regarding Indians was and a treaty at Soda Springs (signed on Octo- summed up in February 1863 by a New ber 14, 1863).99 York Times report from Utah: “If an Indian Then, as now, Congress often moved be starving, he must and will steal. Notwith- slowly. Although President Lincoln had standing, if Col. Connor succeeds in leaving signed an executive order in October 1861 a few of the really guilty Indians beneath the creating a large Indian reservation in Utah at sod, it will be a good thing, and may teach a Uintah Valley, it was not until May 5, 1864, necessary and salutary lesson.”96 In April and that Congress formally designated Uintah May 1863, there were again reports of hostile Valley as a reservation—a location that the Indian activity across northern Utah—west governor of Utah declared was “most admi- of Utah Lake, at Pleasant Grove, near Pay- rably adapted to that purpose.”100 In Febru- son, outside North Ogden, five miles east of ary 1865, a few months before the end of the Brigham City, in southern Idaho, and along Civil War, Congress finally acted to extinguish the Overland Trail mail routes.97 the “Indian title to lands in the Territory of In December 1863, during his annual Utah suitable for agricultural and mineral message to the legislative assembly of Utah, purposes.”101 While the federal government Amos Reed, the territory’s acting governor, normally moved “quickly to extinguish title claimed that the soldiers had achieved a “ter- through formal treaties before or in the early mination of hostilities and depredations by stages of white settlement,” in this instance the Indians,” but he informed the legislature the government “as a result of Utah’s unique that the “condition of the Utah Indians in situation, purposely allowed eighteen years I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 219

Two Native American Utes standing in front of a tepee wearing decorative clothing including hair pipe breastplates, chokers, and beaded leggings (between 1860–70). (Denver Public Library) to pass before extinguishing native title and sue for a suspension of hostilities, and on the providing for Indian removal to reservations. resumption of peace, kindness and leniency Even then, Congress authorized the move toward the redskins. They fully understand only because of an expected massive influx of that honesty and peace constitute their best gentiles into the territory.”102 and safest policy.”104 Yet by February 1865, Connor and others felt that subsequent just seven months later, General Connor events had justified the attack at Bear River. reported that Indians had “again returned One year after the massacre, the New York in increased force” and suggested that the Times reported that “the Bear River and “troops [stationed in Utah] are insufficient to other conflicts . . . [pre]pared the way for the contend with them.”105 subsequent treaties and the present burial of An 1865 article in the New York Times the tomahawk, and were, in short, the main commented on the continuing cycle of vio- causes of the peace which is now enjoyed lence between Indians and white settlers: in the Territory and around its borders.”103 “The Indian’s wrath is poured out, with During July 1864, General Connor reported: indiscriminate discrimination, upon the pass- “The policy pursued toward the Indians has ing emigrant, or the industrious settler, and had a most happy effect. That policy, as you thus a general character is given in a murder- are aware, involved certain and speedy pun- ous struggle which commenced with a few. ishment for past offenses, compelling them to . . . They will do a little stealing, get saucy, 220 Kenneth L. Alford

impudent, presuming, and when very ‘mad’ In the resulting Spanish Fork Treaty, will be cruel and kill.” The violent cycle some- signed on June 8, 1865, Indians relinquished times escalated when “whites, irritated and the “right of possession to all of the lands provoked, even when the Indians do not mur- within Utah Territory occupied by them . . . der, but steal only, shoot at the marauders, if a with the exception of the Uintah valley which sight can be obtained of them.”106 Utah’s 1865 [was] to be reserved for their exclusive use.” superintendent of Indian affairs, Orsemus H. The treaty required Indians to give up their Irish, offered his view that the “cruelties prac- Spanish Fork, San Pete, and Corn Creek ticed by hostile savages have prejudiced our reservations. It also gave the president of the people against the whole race. The emigrants United States authority to place other bands . . . and the officers and soldiers who are here of “friendly Indians” on the Uintah reserva- for their protection, are almost entirely in tion without prior Indian approval, and the favor of the extermination of all Indians. . . . Indian signatories agreed to move to the res- Under my observation and within my own ervation “within one year after ratification of experience, I know of only one case of Indian the treaty.”110 Indians were to receive annual outrage and depredation that has not commenced payments of $25,000 for ten years, followed in the misconduct of the whites.”107 by $20,000 per year for the next twenty In 1865 the federal government took years, and finally $15,000 for an additional action to resolve land ownership questions thirty years. The United States Congress did in Utah. William P. Dole, commissioner of not ratify the treaty, though, and the govern- Indian Affairs, directed Superintendent Irish ment failed to pay the promised amounts.111 in February 1865 to negotiate additional Indian treaties, as required, to place Utah’s Af ter the Civil War remaining Indians onto a reservation. The While the Civil War ended in 1865, Utah’s commissioner additionally instructed Irish Indian problems did not. Toward the conclu- that because the government had not previ- sion of the Civil War, a Utah-based New York ously accepted Indian titles to any land in Times reporter complained, “What to do with Utah, he was to ensure that the resulting the red men is still a problem which, it appears, treaties were framed so that the Indians relin- cannot be satisfactorily solved. For this Spring quished “the right of occupancy” to the lands there seems to be as much chance of difficul- identified by Congress and moved to the ties with them, all around, as ever. We hear of reservation land “reserved for their use.”108 Indian troubles [in Utah] from every quarter Not all of the federal officers involved with nearly.”112 In the midst of the Civil War, an the resulting treaty negotiations were pleased article about Utah in the New York Times pro- to resolve the confusion that existed in Utah claimed that the “Indians here, as elsewhere, regarding land titles. Some government dwindle away before the onward march of officials “declared, that rather than associate the white man. Chief after chief is passing with Brigham Young on such an occasion, away from the small Utah bands, until it is they would [prefer to] have the negotiation said to be difficult to find eligible and aspiring fail; that they would rather the Indians, than braves to fill the vacancies.”113 Indians found the Mormons, would have the land.”109 an able commander and strategist, however, I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 221

in the Ute chief Antonga (called Black Hawk the last major challenge that Indians in Utah by the whites), who was able to consoli- Territory mounted against white authority date factions of the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo and encroachment. The last Utes were moved tribes.114 The same day—April 9, 1865—that onto the Uintah Reservation by 1882, mark- General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General ing the completion of a thirty-five year effort Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, is to “reclaim and civilize the Indians” and place often cited as the beginning of Utah’s Black them on reservations “for their permanent Hawk Indian War. The war continued off and and happy homes.”116 The Uintah reservation on, primarily in central and southern Utah, is still in existence (and is known today as for the next seven years. Most of the conflict the Uintah and Ouray Reservation). Covering and skirmishes between Indians and white over 4.5 million acres, it is the second-largest settlers occurred between 1865 and 1867. In Indian reservation in the United States.117 1866, “Indian attacks were so damaging and Utah’s Indian society went into a steady threats so ominous” that Mormon militia lead- and irreversible decline after 1847 that cul- ers required settlers to vacate twenty-seven minated in marginalization on isolated reser- settlements in nine Utah counties.115 Dozens vations. The decades when white and Indian of Utah settlers were killed during the Black societies lived in close proximity to each other Hawk War. The number of Indians killed is brought successes and failures. Charity and unknown, although it was no doubt higher violence were both in evidence as the cultures than the number of settler deaths. intermingled and attempted to live with each While there were continuing Indian other. Benjamin Davies, an 1861 superinten- problems in Utah Territory throughout the dent of Indian Affairs in Utah, perhaps said Civil War, they dramatically escalated in the it best when he inadvertently complimented years immediately after the war. By Civil War the local Mormon population by noting that standards, the total deaths on both sides were Utah’s Indians were “not so demoralized and insignificant, but the Black Hawk War had an corrupted as those who have been brought influence on the history and settlement of into closer association with white men in central and southern Utah that was greater other localities.”118 It is difficult to envision than the loss of life would imply. The war was how things could have ended differently.

Kenneth L. Alford is an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University.

Notes 1. While current usage often favors the term “Native Irish, “Utah Superintendency,” March 28, 1865, in Americans” or “native peoples,” the remainder of Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the this article will use the term “Indians” to conform Year 1865 (Washington, DC: Government Printing to common nineteenth-century usage. It was also Office, 1865), 148–49. common at that time to refer to settlers simply as 2. The secretary’s report continued: “The large tribes “whites.” See, for example, William P. Dole to O. H. of Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws situated 222 Kenneth L. Alford

in the southern superintendency have suspended 6. J. F. Collins to Hon. Wm. P. Dole, “Indian Super- all intercourse with the agents of the United States.” intendency,” in Report of the Commissioner of Indian See “Extract from the report of the Secretary of the Affairs, . . . 1861, 21, 125. Interior in relation to Indian affairs,” in Report of 7. Benjamin Davies to Hon. Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Super- the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the intendency,” June 30, 1861, in Report of the Commis- Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, for the sioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861, 132. Year 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing 8. J. S. Calhoun to Orlando Brown, March 29, 1850, Office, 1861), 3. in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 3. Edward E. Dale, “Some Letters of General Stand Transmitted with the Message of the President at the Watie,” Chronicles of Oklahoma 1, no. 1 (Janu- Opening of the Second Session of the Thirty-Second ary 1921): 30–59. See also Frank Cunningham, Congress, 1850 (Washington, DC: Office of the Com- General Stand Watie’s Confederate Indians (Norman, missioner of Indian Affairs, 1850), 99. OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998). 9. J. Forney to Hon. A. B. Greenwood, “Utah Super- 4. Spelling of Indian names varied widely. An 1849 intendency,” September 29, 1859, in Report of the Indian history refers to the Utes as “Yutas.” See John Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1858, 365. Frost, Thrilling Adventures among the Indians: Compris- 10. J. S. Calhoun to Orlando Brown, March 29, 1850, ing the Most Remarkable Personal Narratives of Events 99. in the Early Indian Wars, as Well as of Incidents in the 11. See Dyman S. Wood to Major H. Martin, October 1, Recent Indian Hostilities in Mexico and Texas (Philadel- 1861, and J. F. Collins to Wm. P. Dole, October 8, phia: J. W. Bradley, 1849), 294. The historian Hubert 1861, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Howe Bancroft refers to the Ute Indians as “Yutas, . . . 1861, 137, 125; see also A. Humphreys to Utaws, or Youtas” and notes that others also referred Charles E. Mix, “Utah Agency,” November 12, to them as the “Eutaws.” Hubert Howe Bancroft, The 1860, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft: The Native Races, vol. 1 Accompanying the Annual Report of the Secretary (San Francisco: The History Company, 1882), 465. of the Interior, for the Year 1860 (Washington, DC: Duncan lists eleven major Ute bands. See Clifford George W. Bowman, 1860), 170; and John C. Duncan, “The Northern Utes of Utah,” in Forrest S. Burche to James W. Nye, August 1, 1864, in Report Cuch, ed., A History of Utah’s American Indians (Salt of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1864 Lake City: Utah State Division of Indian Affairs and (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, Division of History, 2003), 176–78. See John Alton 1865), 144. Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War (Salt Lake City: 12. Lieut. J. W. Gunnison, The Mormons, or, Latter-day University of Utah Press, 1998), xiv, for an additional Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake: A History of listing of tribal lands in nineteenth-century Utah Their Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, and Present Territory. Also see Ned Blackhawk, introduction in Condition, and Prospects, Derived from Personal Obser- Violence Over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early vation, During a Residence Among Them (Philadelphia: American West (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852), 30. Press, 2006). 13. Clifford Duncan, “The Northern Utes of Utah,” in 5. Jacob Forney to Hon. C. E. Mix, “Utah Superinten- A History of Utah’s American Indians, ed. Forrest S. dency,” in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Cuch (Salt Lake City: Utah State Division of Indian Accompanying the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Affairs and Division of History, 2003), 187. Interior, for the Year 1858 (Washington, DC: Wm. A. 14. Gunnison, The Mormons, 147. Harris, 1858), 210. According to the 1861 Indian 15. Gunnison, The Mormons, 146. Affairs Report, the following Ute bands lived in 16. Blackhawk, Violence Over the Land, 244. Utah: “Wiminanches, Asivoriches, Sampuches, 17. Chief Wakara is also known as Walkara. See Dun- Cawaupugos, Tupanagos, Pa-uches and Povantes.” can, Northern Utes, 184. J. F. Collins to Hon. Wm. P. Dole, “Indian Super- 18. Gunnison, The Mormons, 147. intendency,” in Report of the Commissioner of Indian 19. Blackhawk, Violence Over the Land, 254. Affairs, . . . 1861, 21, 125. 20. Wm. P. Dole to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, “Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” November 27, I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 223

1861, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1861, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861, 21. . . . 1861 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Print- 21. Wm. P. Dole to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, “Report of the ing Office, 1861), 19. Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” November 27, 42. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1859, 1861, 20. 367–69. An additional reservation, in Uintah Valley, 22. Wm. P. Dole to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, “Report of the was established by an act of Congress in 1864. See Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” November 27, William P. Dole to O. H. Irish, “Utah Superinten- 1861, 21. dency,” March 28, 1865, in Report of the Commis- 23. Gunnison, The Mormons, 150. sioner of Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 148. 24. Gunnison, The Mormons, 150. 43. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1859, 25. “War between the Cheyennes and Shoshone Indi- 368. ans,” Deseret News, July 10, 1861, 1. 44. Dyman S. Wood to Major H. Martin, “Utah Superin- 26. Blackhawk, Violence Over the Land, 231. tendency,” October 1, 1861, in Report of the Commis- 27. Gunnison, The Mormons, 146. sioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861 (Washington, DC: 28. J. Forney to Hon. A. B. Greenwood, “Utah Super- Government Printing Office, 1861), 137. intendency,” September 29, 1859, in Report of the 45. J. Forney to Hon. A. B. Greenwood, “Utah Super- Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the intendency,” September 29, 1959, in Report of the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior, for the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1859, 369. Year 1859 (Washington, DC: George W. Bowman, 46. F. Dodge to Jacob Forney, “Carson Valley Agency,” 1859), 367. January 4, 1959, in Report of the Commissioner of 29. A. Humphreys to Hon. Charles E. Mix, “Utah Indian Affairs, . . . 1859, 377. Agency,” November 12, 1860, in Report of the Com- 47. A. Humphreys to Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Superinten- missioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the Annual dency,” September 30, 1861, in Report of the Com- Report of the Secretary of the Interior, for the Year 1860 missioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861, 140. (Washington, DC: George W. Bowman, 1860), 170. 48. “From Utah,” The Columbus [Ohio] Gazette, 30. Duncan, Northern Utes, 187. March 15, 1861, 2. The article notes that the letter 31. “Federal Officials,”Deseret News, October 23, 1861, was written January 28, 1861. 5. 49. Philip St. George Cooke (June 13, 1809–March 20, 32. The unique status of Indians was acknowledged 1895), Cullum number 492, graduated from the in the Constitution of the United States. See U.S. United States Military Academy (USMA) with the Const. art. I, § 2 and 8; amend. XIV, § 2 (ratified in Class of 1827—twenty-third of thirty-eight cadets. July 1868) also addresses Indians. Philip St. George Cocke (April 17, 1809–Decem- 33. Duncan, Northern Utes, 188. ber 26, 1861), Cullum number 667, graduated 34. Blackhawk, Violence of the Land, 246. from USMA in 1832—sixth in his class of forty-five 35. Duncan, Northern Utes, 197. cadets. Cocke committed suicide following the Bat- 36. “Appendix—Special Estimate of Funds, Etc.” in tle of First Manassas (Bull Run). See Michael J. Kris- Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, man, ed., Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of . . . 1850, 156. the United States Military Academy (West Point, NY: 37. Jared Farmer, On Zion’s Mount: Mormons, Indians, and Association of USMA Graduates, 1980), 223, 227. the American Landscape (Cambridge, MA: Harvard 50. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, June 2, 1861, 2. University Press, 2008), 76. 51. “News of the Day,” New York Times, June 24, 1861, 38. Duncan, Northern Utes, 189. 4. 39. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1859, 52. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, August 24, 1861, 5. 369. 53. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, July 26, 1861, 3. 40. Luther Mann Jr. to O. H. Irish, “Utah Superinten- 54. Dyman S. Wood to Major H. Martin, “Utah Superin- dency,” September 28, 1865, in Report of the Com- tendency,” October 1, 1861, in Report of the Commis- missioner of Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 159. sioner of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861, 135. 41. Wm. P. Dole to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, “Report of the 55. Frank Fuller, I. F. Kinney, Edward R. Fox, Frederick Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” November 27, Cook, H. S. R. Rowe, E. R. Purple, Joseph Holladay, 224 Kenneth L. Alford

and W. B. Hibbad to Edwin M. Stanton, April 11, 71. “Remarks by President Brigham Young, to the Emi- 1862, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs grants on the Public Square, in Salt Lake City, July 8, for the Year 1862 (Washington, DC: Government 1863,” Deseret News, July 15, 1863, 2. Printing Office, 1863), 212. 72. O. H. Irish to Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Superintendency,” 56. Brigham Young to John M. Bernhisel, April 14, June 29, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian 1862, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Affairs . . . 1865, 150. for the Year 1862 (Washington, DC: Government 73. P. Edw. Connor to Maj. Edward McGarry, Septem- Printing Office, 1862), 213. ber 29, 1862. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation 57. “The Indians in Utah Again Troublesome,” New of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate York Times, July 4, 1862; “Affairs in Utah,” New York Armies, series I, vol. L, part 2 (Washington, DC: Times, July 4, 1862, 3. Government Printing Office, 1880–1900), 144 58. “The Indians on Sublette’s Cut Off,” Deseret News, (hereafter cited as WOTR1). September 17, 1862, 5. 74. WOTR1, 144. 59. “A Needless War in Prospect,” New York Times, 75. WOTR1, 144. May 26, 1862, 4. 76. G. Wright to Col. Francis J. Lippitt, April 7, 1862. 60. James Duane Doty, August 5, 1862, in Report of The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Year 1862, Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 213–14. I, vol. L, part 1 (Washington, DC: Government 61. James Duane Doty to W. P. Dole, “Utah Superinten- Printing Office, 1880–1901), 992 (hereafter cited as dency,” August 13, 1862, in Report of the Commis- WOTR2.) sioner of Indian Affairs for the Year 1862, 211. 77. James Duane Doty to General [G. Wright], August 9, 62. Brigham D. Madsen, The Shoshoni Frontier and the 1863. WOTR1, 583. Bear River Massacre (Salt Lake City: University of 78. John Alton Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War (Salt Utah Press, 1985), 17. Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1998), 7, 12. 63. Ben Halladay to M. P. Blair, August 26, 1862, in 79. Madsen, Shoshoni Frontier, 176. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the 80. Report of Brig. Gen. P. Edward Connor, April 9, Year 1862, 215. 1863. WOTR2, 198. 64. Charles E. Mix, “To the Public,” September 19, 81. Report of Brig. Gen. P. Edward Connor, April 9, 1862, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1863. WOTR2, 199. for the Year 1862, 215. 82. Brigham Young Collection, June 30, 1863 (Salt Lake 65. Luther Mann Jr. to James D. Doty, September 20, City: LDS Church Archives), in Complete Discourses 1862, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of Brigham Young, 4:2142. for the Year 1862, 215. 83. Madsen, Shoshoni Frontier, 155. 66. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, September 7, 84. See, for example, Madsen, Shoshoni Frontier, 24. 1862, 3. 85. “Another Expedition after Indians,” Deseret News, 67. Brigham Young Office Journals, April 23, 1862, in December 10, 1862, 4. Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of 86. Duncan, Northern Utes, 33. Brigham Young, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: The Smith- 87. “More Indian Murders,” Deseret News, January 14, Pettit Foundation, 2009), 2004. 1863, 8. A December 1862 newspaper article 68. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses (Lon- reported that one of the Indians “who was thus shot don: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86), was a Bannack, and is represented to be a truthful, 10:104–11. faithful boy, who has rendered good service on 69. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 10:104–11. more than one occasion in intercourse between the 70. Brigham Young Collection, June 30, 1863 (Salt Lake white, and the Bannacks and other Indian tribes.” City: LDS Church Archives) in The Complete Dis- See “An Outrageous Occurrence,” Deseret News, courses of Brigham Young, vol. 4, ed. Richard S. Van ­December 31, 1862, 4. Wagoner (Salt Lake City: The Smith-Pettit Founda- 88. “Expedition for the Arrest of Indian Chiefs,” Deseret tion, 2009), 2142. News, January 28, 1863, 4. 89. Duncan, Northern Utes, 34. I ndian Relations in Utah during the Civil War 225

90. Report of Col. P. Edward Connor, February 20, 109. O. H. Irish to Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Superintendency,” 1863. WOTR2, 184–87. June 29, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian 91. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah (Salt Lake Affairs . . . 1865, 150. City: Bookcraft, 1964), 631–32. 110. O. H. Irish to Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Superintendency,” 92. Report of Col. P. Edward Connor, WOTR1, 187. June 29, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian 93. “The Fight with the Indians,” Deseret News, Febru- Affairs . . . 1865, 150. ary 4, 1863, 5. 111. Duncan, Northern Utes, 190. 94. Bancroft, History of Utah, 632. 112. “From Utah,” New York Times, June 30, 1865, 2. 95. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, August 2, 1863, 2. 113. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, January 27, 1862, 6. 96. “From Utah,” New York Times, February 22, 1863, 8. 114. Antonga “like hundreds of his people, evidently was 97. “Expedition After Indians,” Deseret News, April 15, baptized into the Mormon church.” Peterson, Utah’s 1853, 8. “Indian War in Idaho,” Deseret News, Black Hawk War, 1, 10. May 13, 1853, 4. “Another Fight with Indians,” 115. Carlton Culmsee, Utah’s Black Hawk War (Logan, Deseret News, May 13, 1863, 4. “Indian Depreda- UT: Utah State University Press, 1973), 12–13, 27. tions in the Northern Counties,” Deseret News, The nine Utah counties involved were Summit, May 20, 1863, 3. Wasatch, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Beaver, Iron, Kane 98. Amos Reed, “Governor’s Message,” December 14, and Washington. Using Utah’s current county map, 1863, in Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Ter- the total would be ten counties—as Garfield County ritory of Utah. Thirteenth Annual Session, for the Years was then part of Kane County. Culmsee notes (page 1863–64 (Salt Lake City: Elias Smith, 1861), 18. 13): “At times Sevier and Piute Counties and the 99. O. H. Irish to D. N. Cooley, “Utah Superintendency,” Long Valley Northern portion of Kane [County] September 9, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner of were completely abandoned. Major or extensive Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 143–48. See also Madsen, portions of the other six counties were abandoned.” Shoshoni Frontier, 212. 116. Wm. P. Dole to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, “Report of the 100. “Governor’s Annual Message,” Union Vedette, Decem- Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” November 27, ber 18, 1863, 1; Duncan, Northern Utes, 190. 1861, in Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 101. William P. Dole to O. H. Irish, “Utah Superinten- . . . 1861, 20. Duncan, Northern Utes, 195. dency,” March 28, 1865, in Report of the Commis- 117. The website “The Ute Indian Tribe,” http://www​ sioner of Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 148. .utetribe.com/ states: “The Uintah and Ouray 102. Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War, 29. reservation is located in Northeastern Utah (Fort 103. “Affairs in Utah,” New York Times, February 28, Duchesne) approximately 150 miles east of Salt 1864, 2. Lake City on U.S. Highway 40. The reservation is 104. P. Edw. Connor to Lieut. Col. R. C. Drum, July 1, located within a three-county area known as the 1864. WOTR1, 887. “Uintah Basin.” It is the second largest Indian Res- 105. P. E. Connor to Col. R. C. Drum, February 10, 1865. ervation in the United States that covers over 4.5 WOTR1, 1131. million acres. The Utes have a tribal membership 106. “From Utah,” New York Times, June 30, 1865, 2. [in 2011] of 3,157 and over half of its membership 107. O. H. Irish to D. N. Cooley, “Utah Superintendency,” lives on the Reservation. They operate their own September 9, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner for tribal government and oversee approximately 1.3 Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 147; emphasis in original. million acres of trust land.” 108. Wm. P. Dole to O. H. Irish, “Utah Superintendency,” 118. Benjamin Davies to Wm. P. Dole, “Utah Superinten- March 28, 1865, in Report of the Commissioner of dency,” June 30, 1861, in Report of the Commissioner Indian Affairs . . . 1865, 148. of Indian Affairs, . . . 1861, 133.