Battle at Fort Utah: Difference between revisions

The '''Battle at Fort Utah''' (also known as the '''Provo River Massacre''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42MLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100|page=100|via=[[Google Books]]|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|title=Old Spanish Trail: Santa Fe to Los Angeles|year=1993|last1=Hafen|first1=LeRoy Reuben|last2=Woodbury Hafen|first2=Ann|isbn=9780803272613 |url-access=limited}}</ref> or '''Fort Utah Massacre'''<ref name=Basin>{{cite book|isbn=9780874179101|title=Great Basin Indians: An Encyclopedic History|last=Hittman|first=Michael|publisher=[[University of Nevada Press]]|location=Reno, Nevada|year=2013|page=53|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Great_Basin_Indians/nmyVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|via=[[Google Books]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>) was a violent attack and [[massacre]] in 1850 in which 90 [[Mormon]] militiamen surrounded an encampment of [[Timpanogos]] families on the [[Provo River]] one winter morning,<ref name=BYU>{{cite thesis |institution=[[Brigham Young University]]| year=1946 |last =Colton|first =Ray C.| degree=Master of History|title=A Historical Study of the Exploration of Utah Valley and the Story of Fort Utah|url= https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5611&context=etd }}</ref>{{rp|114}} and laid siege for two days, eventually shooting between 40 and 100 [[Native Americans in the United States|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.<ref name=BYU/>{{rp|131–132}}<ref name=Bernhard>{{cite web|publisher=[[Brigham Young University]] Charles Redd Center for Western Studies|title=The Provo River Battle| last= Bernhard |first=Joshua |date=9 May 2017|url= https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/44 |agency=Intermountain Histories}}</ref><ref name="Carter"/>{{rp|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 (Provo, Utah)|Rock Canyon]].<ref name=History>{{Cite book |last=Conetah |first=Fred A. |url=https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=349507 |title=A History of the Northern Ute People |date=1982 |publisher=Uintah-Ouray Ute Tribe |page=38 |access-date=2023-05-07 |agency=[[University of Michigan]]|via=[[University of Utah]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name=uncovered_story/>{{rp|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.<ref name="Carter"/>{{rp|223}}<ref name=goldrush/>{{rp|106}}<ref name=BYU/>{{rp|132}}