Antonga Black Hawk
Encyclopedia
Antonga, or Black Hawk (b. c. 1830- d. 26 September 1870), was a nineteenth-century war chief of the Ute Tribe
in what is the present-day state of Utah
. He led the Utes against Mormon
settlers and gained alliances with Paiute
and Navajo
bands in the territory against them during what became known as the Black Hawk War in Utah
(1865–1872). Although Black Hawk made peace in 1867, other bands continued raiding until the US intervened with about 200 troops in 1872. Black Hawk died of tuberculosis in 1870, before the war's end.
had lived for thousands of years. Historic tribes included the Ute, Paiute and Navajo. In 1865 Black Hawk and the Ute started raiding the livestock and goods of the steadily encroaching settlers. The white population had dramatically increased to about 50,000 at a time when the Ute population is estimated to have been 15,000 to 20,000. Epidemics of measles
and smallpox
had caused many deaths among the Ute, as they had no immunity
to the new diseases; the rate of tuberculosis
(TB) was high because of the weakened condition of the people. Mormon farming of domesticated crops and animals had altered the environment, driving off the game
which was the Utes' main source of food. By 1865 hundreds of Ute were starving. .
When Chief Wah-Kara died unexpectedly in 1855, Chief Jake Arropeen (also known as Yene-wood) became chief by succession. In 1865 the Mormons and Utes were negotiating to reach some sort of agreement at Manti; discussions ended when Arropeen was pulled from his horse by the settler John Lowry, who was believed to be drunk at the time. Dishonored before his people, Chief Arropeen considered the incident a grave insult in a 30-year history of encroachment and depredations against the Ute people. Retaliating for the insult, that day Black Hawk raided some settlers for cattle and soon his forces killed five men. He was then about 35 years old. This marked the start of what the Mormons later named "The Black Hawk War".
The Black Hawk War in Utah
began in 1865 and ended in 1872. It was a three-part war, involving 16 tribes of the Utes, and allied bands of Paiute
and Navajo
, who declared war against the Mormon
settlers. For years the US government ignored requests for aid from the Mormons, as many Federal leaders wanted to displace the LDS Church from its dominance of settlers in Utah. Mormon settlers fought to maintain control of what they called "Zion", long the traditional territory of the Ute people.
As war chief, Noonch Black Hawk made alliances with the Paiute
and Navajo
, who had also been pushed off their lands. The Mormons formed militia
units and quickly built forts. The Mormon militias had a hard time catching the Ute raiding warriors, but they sometimes attacked women and children in villages, where they also destroyed Ute stores and goods. . The Utes drove off thousands of head of livestock by their raids, and killed nearly 70 Mormon settlers in the next two years. In 1867 Black Hawk signed a treaty with the Mormons. Other warriors continued raiding until the US government sent in 200 Army troops in 1872 to quell the unrest. .
The 21st-century Utah historian
John Alton Peterson describes Black Hawk as having
Ute history notes that Black Hawk made peace with the "pale-faces" in 1867. He visited every white village from Cedar City
to Payson
to plead with the settlers to try to make peace. Without his leadership, the conflict was reduced, but raids continued until US forces intervened in 1872. Black Hawk died in 1870, before the end of the war, of tuberculosis.
The Black Hawk War was not a single incident, but a series of raids and small-scale conflicts. More than 150 engagements took place over a seven-year period throughout Utah territory and the conflict spilled over into Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. Although migration had slowed during the war years, soon tens of thousands of Mormon pioneers entered the area again, at the rate of 3,000 a month.. By contrast, in 1909 an official government census showed that the Ute population had declined to just 2,400..
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...
in what is the present-day state of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. He led the Utes against Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
settlers and gained alliances with Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
and Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
bands in the territory against them during what became known as the Black Hawk War in Utah
Black Hawk War (Utah)
The Black Hawk War, or Black Hawk's War, from 1865 to 1872, is the name of the estimated 150 military engagement between Mormon settlers in the Four Corners region and members of the Ute, Paiute, Apache and Navajo tribes, led by a local Ute chief, Antonga Black Hawk...
(1865–1872). Although Black Hawk made peace in 1867, other bands continued raiding until the US intervened with about 200 troops in 1872. Black Hawk died of tuberculosis in 1870, before the war's end.
History
In 1847 the first Mormon pioneers arrived in the territory, where indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
had lived for thousands of years. Historic tribes included the Ute, Paiute and Navajo. In 1865 Black Hawk and the Ute started raiding the livestock and goods of the steadily encroaching settlers. The white population had dramatically increased to about 50,000 at a time when the Ute population is estimated to have been 15,000 to 20,000. Epidemics of measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
and smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
had caused many deaths among the Ute, as they had no immunity
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
to the new diseases; the rate of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
(TB) was high because of the weakened condition of the people. Mormon farming of domesticated crops and animals had altered the environment, driving off the game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
which was the Utes' main source of food. By 1865 hundreds of Ute were starving. .
When Chief Wah-Kara died unexpectedly in 1855, Chief Jake Arropeen (also known as Yene-wood) became chief by succession. In 1865 the Mormons and Utes were negotiating to reach some sort of agreement at Manti; discussions ended when Arropeen was pulled from his horse by the settler John Lowry, who was believed to be drunk at the time. Dishonored before his people, Chief Arropeen considered the incident a grave insult in a 30-year history of encroachment and depredations against the Ute people. Retaliating for the insult, that day Black Hawk raided some settlers for cattle and soon his forces killed five men. He was then about 35 years old. This marked the start of what the Mormons later named "The Black Hawk War".
The Black Hawk War in Utah
Black Hawk War (Utah)
The Black Hawk War, or Black Hawk's War, from 1865 to 1872, is the name of the estimated 150 military engagement between Mormon settlers in the Four Corners region and members of the Ute, Paiute, Apache and Navajo tribes, led by a local Ute chief, Antonga Black Hawk...
began in 1865 and ended in 1872. It was a three-part war, involving 16 tribes of the Utes, and allied bands of Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
and Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
, who declared war against the Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
settlers. For years the US government ignored requests for aid from the Mormons, as many Federal leaders wanted to displace the LDS Church from its dominance of settlers in Utah. Mormon settlers fought to maintain control of what they called "Zion", long the traditional territory of the Ute people.
As war chief, Noonch Black Hawk made alliances with the Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
and Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
, who had also been pushed off their lands. The Mormons formed militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
units and quickly built forts. The Mormon militias had a hard time catching the Ute raiding warriors, but they sometimes attacked women and children in villages, where they also destroyed Ute stores and goods. . The Utes drove off thousands of head of livestock by their raids, and killed nearly 70 Mormon settlers in the next two years. In 1867 Black Hawk signed a treaty with the Mormons. Other warriors continued raiding until the US government sent in 200 Army troops in 1872 to quell the unrest. .
The 21st-century Utah historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
John Alton Peterson describes Black Hawk as having
"remarkable vision and capacity. Given the circumstances under which he operated, he put together an imposing war machine and masterminded a sophisticated strategy that suggest he had a keen grasp of the economic, political, and geographic contexts in which he operated. Comparable to CochiseCochiseCochise was a chief of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him.-Biography:...
, Sitting BullSitting BullSitting Bull Sitting Bull Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography), also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies...
and GeronimoGeronimoGeronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...
, Black Hawk fostered an extraordinary pan-regional movement that enabled him to operate in an enormous section of country and establish a three-face war. Black Hawk worked to establish a barrier to white expansion and actually succeeded in collapsing the line of Mormon settlement, causing scores of villages in over a half dozen counties to be abandoned. For almost a decade the tide of white expansion in Utah came to a dead stop and in most of the territory actually receded. Like other defenders of Indian rights, though, Black Hawk found he could not hold his position, and his efforts eventually crumbled."
Ute history notes that Black Hawk made peace with the "pale-faces" in 1867. He visited every white village from Cedar City
Cedar City, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...
to Payson
Payson, Utah
Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,716 at the 2000 census. The current mayor is Rick Moore, who in the 2009 election was the first write-in candidate ever to defeat an incumbent mayor in...
to plead with the settlers to try to make peace. Without his leadership, the conflict was reduced, but raids continued until US forces intervened in 1872. Black Hawk died in 1870, before the end of the war, of tuberculosis.
The Black Hawk War was not a single incident, but a series of raids and small-scale conflicts. More than 150 engagements took place over a seven-year period throughout Utah territory and the conflict spilled over into Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. Although migration had slowed during the war years, soon tens of thousands of Mormon pioneers entered the area again, at the rate of 3,000 a month.. By contrast, in 1909 an official government census showed that the Ute population had declined to just 2,400..
Further reading
- Carlton Fordis Culmsee, Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants, Utah State University Press, 1973
- Peter Gottfredson, History of Indian Depredations in Utah, Salt Lake City: Skelton Publishers, 1919, online at Open Library
External links
- John A. Peterson, "Black Hawk War", Utah History Encyclopedia, Utah state Official Website
- Virginia K. Nielson (Non-professional), "Black Hawk and His War", Saga of the Sanpitch, Vol. 12 (Winning Entries for the 1980 Sanpete Historical Writing Contest), Manti Region, Utah: Gunnison Valley News, 1980, online at University of Utah Library