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Indian Depredations in Utah

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Recent artical appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune on 12/15/02 written by Historian and Author Will Bagley, Bagley wrote the following, "Thanks to organizations such as the Sons And Daughters Of The Utah Pioneers, we have thousands of diaries and autobiographies in which the people who lived Utah's history tell us what they saw and felt. Few of these histories are as valuable as a Danish immigrants account of Utah's Indian wars. Peter Gottfredson spent 37 years compiling a unique history of some of the darkest episodes in our past, Indian Depredations In Utah.

With little education, he diligently recorded the memories of his comrades in the Utah Indian War Veterans to tell a story that would otherwise be forgotten. Depredations discribes Utah's longest and most brutal Indian conflict, The Black Hawk War that raged from 1865 to 1872. The struggle began on the day Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox when the Ute leaders tried to settle a dispute that began when Antonga, or Black Hawk, killed one of John Lowry's cows. The peace conferance turned violent when a druken Lowery jerked Jake Arapeen from his horse and the Utes resolved to avenge the insult.

During the next year Antonga captured more than 2,000 head of "Mormon beef" and killed some 25 settlers. In retalliation, the terrified whites killed about 40 of his warriors and an unknown number of women and children.

The war degenerated into an orgy of vengence, but fundamentally it was about survival-and who would control the land. As Gottfredson observed, the Utes resented the whites "encroaching upon their rights by crowding them off their lands and hunting grounds."

The war created a vortex of fear and hatred that led to a greater violence and brutality on both sides........"

Brigham Young preached it was "cheaper to feed them than to fight them," but he spent millions in church funds waging a virtually secret war that only ended when U.S. troops intervened in 1872.

Peter Gottfredson witnessed "the last killing of a white man by Indians during the Black Hawk uprising. "Thinking they were attacking a member of the hated Snow family, Utes shot Daniel Miller, breaking his back. Dragging him from his wagon, the attackers "laid his face on a bed of cactus." A pasing friend heard his moans, and Gottfredson helped carry a litter to take the dying man home.

Miller never made it. He told his rescuers he would like to see his newborn twins before he died, and the men "asked him if he wanted us to take vengence upon the Indians."

Daniel Miller said, "No, they don't know any better," and "in a short time the poor fellow expired."

this was a awsome book...one of the best indian history books i have read...there is no editing on what really happened and it will cause some waves with some people....prob like the mountain meadow massicure that happened in utah...real life stuff that maybe some people dont want out to the public.....but its real!!!!!....the book should be read by everyone studying history....im glad they released this hidden treasure

Peter Gottfredson's Indian Depredations in Utah is a classic firsthand account of the Black Hawk War in Utah. By the time the war with the Indians had started in 1865, Black Hawk and Tabiona had became friends of Peter's as he was invited to their camps on numerous occasions. Peter found himself between two cultures as he was keenly aware of, and sometimes witness to, the injustices that surrounded him and the people he loved. His unique perspective underscores his motivation to write this history book. He reveals in great detail the struggle for survival, the failed attempts to reconcile differences in an agreeable way, and the brutal acts of violent behavior between the whites and the Indian. Peter methodically selected and compiled firsthand accounts that he felt best represented the moral ambiguities, stratagem, and hypocritical respect toward the Native Ute people. It is truly amazing that this event in American history has been ignored. Over 150 battles between the Mormons and Ute Indian took place in a 7 year period, thousands lost their lives yet very few people are aware of this human tragedy. I highly recomend this account to anyone.