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Battle at Fort Utah

Provo River Massacre
Artist's depiction of Fort Utah in 1849
LocationProvo River, Rock Canyon, and Utah Lake near Provo, Utah[1]
Coordinates40°15′18″N 111°39′58″W / 40.255°N 111.666°W / 40.255; -111.666
DateFebruary 8–17, 1850
TargetTimpanogos people
Attack type
Punitive Expedition
WeaponsGuns, cannon
Deaths40–100 men and 1–2 woman; 1 militiaman killed[2][3]: 76 
PerpetratorsOrders of Brigham Young to the Mormon militia
MotiveRetaliation for cattle theft

The Provo River Massacre[4] (also known as the Battle at Fort Utah,[5][6] or Fort Utah Massacre[11]) was a violent attack and massacre in 1850 in which 90 Mormon militiamen surrounded an encampment of Timpanogos families on the Provo River,[12]: 114  and laid siege for two days. They eventually shot between 40 and 100 Native American men and one woman with guns and a cannon during the siege, as well as during the pursuit and capture of the two groups that fled during the last night.[14] One militiaman died and eighteen were wounded from return fire during the siege.[2]

Of the Timpanogos people who fled in the night, one group escaped southward, and the other ran east to Rock Canyon.[1]: 38  Both groups were captured, however, and the men were executed. Over 40 Timpanogos children, women, and a few men were taken as prisoners to nearby Fort Utah. They were later taken northward to the Salt Lake Valley and sold as slaves to church members there.[15]: 276  The bodies of up to 50 Timpanogos men were beheaded by some of the settlers and their heads put on display at the fort as a warning to the mostly women and children prisoners inside.[17]

Before the massacre the Timpanogos people initially tolerated the new presence of the settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who had only recently begun moving south into Utah Valley in the past year from the main settlement in the Salt Lake Valley. The two groups enjoyed some moments of mutual friendship.

Tensions rose, however, when, according to LDS settler accounts, in January 1850 a Timpanogos man (called Old Bishop) stole an item of clothing from an LDS person, and three LDS men retaliated by murdering him.[2][18]: 136  A group of Timpanogos people responded to the murder by stealing around 50 cattle. Settlers in Fort Utah petitioned leaders in Salt Lake City to go to war with the group. Isaac Higbee, Parley P. Pratt and Willard Richards convinced Brigham Young to exterminate any Timpanogos hostile to the Mormon settlement.[21] Young sent the Nauvoo Legion down with Captain George D. Grant and later sent General Daniel H. Wells to lead the army. After the Timpanogos defended themselves from within their village and an abandoned cabin, they fled their camp. The Mormons pursued the Timpanogos people from Chief Old Elk's tribe and killed any other Timpanogos people they found in the valley.

  1. ^ a b c Conetah, Fred A. (1982). A History of the Northern Ute People. Uintah-Ouray Ute Tribe and University of Utah Press.
  2. ^ a b c d Bernhard, Joshua (May 9, 2017). "The Provo River Battle". Brigham Young University Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. Intermountain Histories.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Farmer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Memorial walk held to remember Provo River Massacre". Salt Lake City: KTVX. American Broadcasting Company. February 18, 2024.
  5. ^ Hafen, LeRoy Reuben; Woodbury Hafen, Ann (1993). Old Spanish Trail: Santa Fe to Los Angeles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780803272613 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Prasad, Sumith (January 9, 2025). "American Primeval: Are Jacob and Abish Pratt Based on Real Mormons?". The Cinemaholic. Charlotte, North Carolina: Gomsy Media.
  7. ^ Hittman, Michael (2013). Great Basin Indians: An Encyclopedic History. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press. p. 53. ISBN 9780874179101 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Grainger, Laura (July 24, 2023). "The Belfast man who went on to become first sheriff of Utah's Salt Lake County". Irish Daily Star. Dublin, Ireland.
  9. ^ Hale, Nathan (2023). "Blood in the Snow: The Mormon-Timpanogos Conflict at Battle Creek". Thetean. 52 (1). Brigham Young University: 112, 117.
  10. ^ Magosaki, Rei (March 1, 2024). "'Beyond Railroads and Internment'? Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Literature and the Foundations of Asian American Literary Studies". American Literature. 96 (1). Duke University Press: 100. doi:10.1215/00029831-11092084. ISSN 0002-9831.
  11. ^ [7][8][9][10]
  12. ^ a b c Colton, Ray C. (1946). A Historical Study of the Exploration of Utah Valley and the Story of Fort Utah (Master of History thesis). Brigham Young University.
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Carter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ [12]: 131–132 [2][13]: 208 [3]: 76 
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference uncovered_story was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference goldrush was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ [13]: 223 [16]: 106 [12]: 132 
  18. ^ Bagley, Will (October 17, 2019). The Whites Want Every Thing: Indian-Mormon Relations, 1847–1877. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806165813.
  19. ^ "Historian's Office general Church minutes, 1839-1877; 1846-1850; 1850 January-March; Salt Lake City, 1850 January 3, 1850 February 10". Church History Library. Retrieved May 17, 2022 – via LDS Church.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference mailed_fist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ [19][3]: 394 [20]: 224 [1]: 38 
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