Chief Black Hawk

WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY     (Washington County, Utah)


BLACK HAWK INDIAN WAR

Utah's Black Hawk War is the name of the estimated 150 battles, skirmishes, raids, and killings between Mormon settlers in southern Utah and members of the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo tribes. The Indians were led by a local Ute chief, Antonga Black Hawk. The conflict resulted in the abandonment of some settlements and postponed Mormon expansion in the region. The years 1865 to 1867 were by far the most intense of the conflict. Latter-day Saints considered themselves in a state of open warfare. They built scores of forts and deserted dozens of settlements while hundreds of Mormon militiamen chased their adversaries through the wilderness with little success. Requests for a federal troops went unheeded for eight years. Unable to distinguish "guilty" from "friendly" tribesmen, frustrated Mormons at times indiscriminately killed Indians, including women and children.

This war is not related to the Black Hawk War of 1832-1833 when the Sac (aka Sauk) and Fox Indians in Iowa returned to their ancestral lands in northern Illinois and entered into a brief conflict with the white settlers and militia there.


HISTORY

TBD


REFERENCES

Wikipedia article on the Black Hawk war
History To Go article on the Black Hawk war
Utah Blackhawk War Service Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
Book Review: Utah's Black Hawk War
Book: Utah's Black Hawk War
Documentary: Utah's Blackhawk War: Cultures in Conflict
Proposed Documentary: The Black Hawk War: Utah's Forgotten Tragedy
Black Hawk