| Provo River Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Provo River, Rock Canyon, and Utah Lake near Provo, Utah[1] |
| Coordinates | 40°15′18″N 111°39′58″W / 40.255°N 111.666°W |
| Date | February 8–17, 1850 |
| Target | Timpanogos people |
Attack type | Mass murder |
| Weapons | Guns, cannon |
| Deaths | 40–100 men and 1–2 woman; 1 militiaman killed |
| Perpetrators | Orders of Brigham Young to the Mormon militia |
| Motive | Retaliation for cattle theft |
The Battle at Fort Utah (also known as the Provo River Massacre,[2] or Fort Utah Massacre[3]) was a violent attack in 1850 in which 90 Mormon militiamen surrounded an encampment of Timpanogos families on the Provo River one winter morning,[4]: 114 and laid siege for two days, eventually shooting between 40 and 100 Native American men and one woman with guns and a cannon during the attack as well as during the pursuit and capture of the two groups that fled the last night.[4]: 131–132 [5][6]: 208 One militiaman died from return fire during the siege. Of the Timpanogos people who fled in the night, one group escaped southward, and the other ran east to Rock Canyon.[1] 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.[7]: 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.[6]: 223 [8]: 106 [4]: 132
Previous to 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. However, after a Timpanogos man (called Old Bishop) stole an item of clothing from an LDS settler, three LDS men retaliated by murdering him.[5]
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. 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.
- ^ a b Conetah, Fred A. (1982). A History of the Northern Ute People. Uintah-Ouray Ute Tribe. p. 38. Retrieved May 7, 2023 – via University of Utah.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|agency=ignored (help) - ^ 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.
- ^ Hittman, Michael (2013). Great Basin Indians: An Encyclopedic History. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press. p. 53. ISBN 9780874179101 – via Google Books.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Bernhard, Joshua (May 9, 2017). "The Provo River Battle". Brigham Young University Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. Intermountain Histories.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
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