Federal Effects and Familiar Land Issues
It is important to note that Brigham Young was no longer Governor of the Utah Territory during the Black Hawk War. He had left office at the end of the Utah War in 1858, and never was officially appointed to the position again. Throughout the Black Hawk War, Brigham Young had no official title relating to the territory. His authority came as Prophet and President of the Mormon church and whatever authority others conceded to him.
J. Duane Doty, the governor of Utah territory from 1863-1865, complained of the difficulties governing the area writing, “There are three powers governing this [territory], the Mormon Church; the Military; and the Civil. It is difficult to prevent collisions, but they are to be avoided, if possible.” The military, led by Col. Patrick Connor, and the Mormons had an especially negative relationship. Connor believed Utah territory to still be a theocracy, as it was before Brigham Young was removed from the office of Governor.
1
The uneasy relationship between Mormons and the Federal Government also had clear negative effects for Native Americans living in the territory. Congress reduced the amount of money spent on Utah’s Indian Office, by 92 percent with around $60,000 a year becoming about $5,000. It was speculated that the funding was reduced because federal officials believed Mormons were using Native Americans to attack settlers passing through the territory. Additionally, Brigham Young’s policy of feeding, rather than fighting, Native Americans was increasingly drawing ire from Mormons and did not give enough food to tribes to make up for the lack of funding and supplies from the Federal government.
2
Young frequently informed other LDS leaders that “the federal installation at Camp Douglas near the heart of Salt Lake City was ‘the best place [the troops] can be in for doing the least injury.’... Young ‘should be the first’ and ‘only one’ informed of such ‘critical subjects’ lest Indian depredations become ‘the excuse or pretext for more powerful enemies to occupy the country.’” Young and the Mormons had lived through one attempted federal occupation of the territory and were not keen to go through another one.
3
5
Young initially reassured Ute leaders that Mormons and the tribes would become allies, as “Our Father the Great Spirit has plenty of land for you and for the Mormons.” Only a year later, however, George A. Smith (an Apostle in the LDS church and representative of the legislature of Utah Territory) petitioned Congress and President Fillmore to extinguish Indian title to the territory and “provide measures for the removal of Indians from Utah.”
4
6
7
The federal government had been reluctant to get rid of Native American land titles in the territory, as they feared Mormons would then take possession of that land. Almost 20 years of white settlement in the region occurred before land titles were extinguished and Native Americans were removed to reservations. Mormons were aware of the unusual timeframe of their situation and complained to Congress declaring, “This Territory presents the only instance of the organization of a Territorial Government by Congress [where land was] thrown open to settlement, without measures being first adopted to extinguish the Indian title” but were told that since the territory had belonged to Mexico first, and Mexico had never relinquished the Native American title, neither would the United States.
8
9
Around the time of the Black Hawk War, the Uintah Reservation was built for Utes. The creation of this reservation was announced along with the news that the Indian title to land would be rescinded and Natives would be removed from Mormon land. This caused great “anxiety” among different bands and their neighbors. At the conference between the Indian Affairs officers and Ute leaders in 1865, the Ute leaders felt like they had no choice but to agree to the reservation. In 1866 the Utes mostly withdrew from the Utah and Juab valleys, coming back for only occasional visits because the Uintah Reservation had been established. Black Hawk was one of the few that disagreed and he violently showed his disagreement.
Figure 1
1. J. Duane Doty to Isaac Newton, 20 December 1864, SDTP.
2. Amos Reed, Clerk Utah Superintendency, to William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 20 December 1862, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Archives, M234, 900.
3. Miscellaneous Minutes, 30 October 1862, Brigham Young Collection, Church Historical Department; and George A. Smith to Orson Hyde, 5 November 1865, Historian’s Office Letter Book, Church Historical Department, 2:51011. As qtd in Peterson, 40.
4. "A meeting in Walkers tent in Utah Valley, between B. Young, H. C. Kimball, and the brethren, with Walker, [et al.,]" 22 May 1850, Brigham Young Collection, Church History Department, r92, b58, f14.
5. George A. Smith and James Lewis to Hon. Milard Filmore [sic], President of the United States, undated, received by the Indian Office 20 August 1851, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Archives, M234, 897.
6. Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War, 29
7. George A. Smith and James Lewis to Hon. Milard Filmore [sic],President of the United States, undated, but received at the Indian Office 20 August 1851, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Archives, M234, 897; and "Petition of Gov. and Judges &c of Utah Territory in relation to the Indians" to Hon. A. B. Greenwood, 1 November 1860, Brigham Young Collection, Church History Department.
8. RSI, 1865:31720.
9. William C. McClellan to William B. Pace, 13 April 1866, TMR, #833
​
Figure 1. Image from https://www.utetribe.com/departments/public-relations/24-uintah-and-ouray-reservation.html