History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

LOSSES AND TREATIES. 633
spread was the alarm that many of the southern settlements
were for the time abandoned, 79 the loss to the
community exceeding $1,100,000. S0 Of this sum no
portion was voted by congress, the memorials of the
Utah legislature asking for reimbursements being
ignored, although the militia had served for more
than two years without pay, and the governor had
declared that their claims were just and their services
necessary. S1
Codman's Hound Trip, 219-20, 243-5. The leading incidents are briefly as
follow: On the 9th of April, 1865, Blackhawk and his band visited Manti,
where they boasted of having stolen some cattle at a neighboring settlement,
and wanted to hold a 'big talk.' On the next day some of the Manti citizens,
who rode forth to ascertain the truth of the matter, were fired upon and one
of them killed, the Indians retiring up Salt Creek Canon in Sevier co., where
they killed two herdsmen. A party sent in pursuit a few days later was overpowered
with the loss of two men. On May 29th the savages massacred a
family of six persons at Thistle Valley in Sanpete co., slaying two others
about the same time. Iu July three settlers were murdered, and several
wounded. Many cattle had now been driven off, and the people of Sanpete,
Sevier, Millard, Piute, Beaver, Iron, Washington, and Kane counties kept
guard over their stock with armed and mounted men. Between Jan. and the
beginning of April 1866 several raids were made in Kane co., five settlers being
killed, and a man named Peter Shirts with his family sustaining a siege
for several weeks until relieved by militia. Between April 22d and the end of
June six persons were killed and others wounded in Sanpete and Piute counties,
two of them while attempting to recover cattle driven off from the Spanish
Fork reservation. Early in 1867 James J. Peterson with his wife and
daughter were killed near Glenwood, Sevier co., and their bodies mutilated.
The vigilance of the militia kept the Indians in check for the remainder of
this year, and only three other settlers were killed, the soldiery also losing
three of their number. F. H. Head, sup. of Indian affairs, in hid. Aff. Rept,
1866, p. 124, states that the number of marauders was not more than 50 or 60.
79 Sevier and Piute counties were entirely abandoned, together with the
settlements of Berrysville, Winsor, upper and lower Kanab, Shunesburg,
Springdale, Northup, and many ranches in Kane co., and Pangwitch and Fort
Sanford in Iron co. Smith's Rise, Progress, and Travels, 30. Six flourishing
settlements in Piute co., four on the borders of Sanpete, and fifteen in Iron,
Kane, and Washington counties, were entirely abandoned. Joint memorial of
legislature, in Lairs of Utah, 1878, p. 167.
80 For newspaper reports of Indian depredations, difficulties, expeditions,
and battles between 1863 and 1867, see, among others, The Deseret Neivs, Jan.
21, 28, Feb. 11, March 18, Apr. 8, 15, 22, May 13, 20, July 1, 1863, June 7,
1865, May 10, 1866, June 5, 12, 1867; Union Vedette, July 8, 13, 31, Aug. 4,
17, Nov. 5, 9, 1865; S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 26, Apr. 14, 15, May 4, June 9, July
10, 1863, Aug. 8, 1864, Apr. 20, 1S66; S. F. Alta, Feb. 17, 19, May 8, June
11, 12, July 6, 7, 1863, Aug. 12, Sept. 3, 1S64, July 8, 1865, May 1, 16, 22,
June 10, 14, 15, July 31, Aug. 8, 1867; S. F. Call, Jan. 5, March 22, June 8,
14, 21, Aug. 10, 11, Oct. 29, 1S65, May 14, June 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, July 24, Aug.
1, 3, 8, 9, 1867; Sac. Union, Jan. 31, Feb. 12, 13, 17, Apr. 14, 28, May 16, 30,
June 13, 1863, Apr. 20, July 30, Aug. 20, 31, 1864, Feb. 7, June 9, Aug. 4,
26, 31, 1865, Aug. 5, 1867; Gold Hill News, March 17, July 8, 1865; Carson
Appeal, June 10, Aug. 2, 1865; Boise Statesman, June 8, Dec. 12, 1865, Nov.
2, 1867; WatsonviUe Pajaro Times, May 16, 1863.
81 See the certificate of Gov. Charles Durkee, appended in 1869 to the joint