| Nephi Massacre[1] | |
|---|---|
| Part of Wakara's War | |
| Location | Nephi, Utah |
| Coordinates | 39°42′31″N 111°50′10″W / 39.7085°N 111.8361°W |
| Date | 2 Oct 1853 |
| Target | Group of Goshute Western Shoshone people[2][3] |
Attack type | Mass execution |
| Weapons | Guns, blunt weapons |
| Deaths | 7 males, ages 10–35[3][2] |
| Perpetrators | Members of the LDS Church |
| Motive | Paranoia towards Native American people during Wakara's War |
The Nephi Massacre was an 1853 incident when a group Mormons killed eight Goshute Native Americans in Nephi, Utah in retaliation for the deaths of four Mormons in the Fountain Green massacre. The Goshutes had no involvement in the Fountain Green incident, which was perpetrated by members of the Ute nation.
The Goshutes were seeking a peace agreement with Mormon settlers at Salt Creek Fort in present-day Nephi, Utah. They were invited inside the fort, then murdered and buried in a mass grave.[4][5]: 145 [6] One woman and two children accompanying the Goshutes were taken prisoner.[7]
The Nephi Massacre took place in the context of Wakara's War, a series of skirmishes between Native Americans and Mormons in the Utah region.
Eyewitness accounts[edit]
Adelia Almira Wilcox, whose husband had been killed by Native Americans two weeks before, wrote in her memoir that those killed in the Nephi massacre were, "shot down without even considering whether they were the guilty ones or not .... They were shot down like so many dogs, picked up with pitchforks [put] on a sleigh and hauled away."[8]
According to another local woman:
This barbarous circumstance [of the Fountain Green massacre] actuated our brethren, counseled by ... President Call of Filmore [sic], to do quite as barbarous an act the following morning, being the Sabbath. Nine Indians coming into our Camp looking for protection and bread with us, because we promised it to them and without knowing [whether] they did the first evil act in that affair or any other, were shot down without one minute's notice. I felt satisfied in my own mind that if Mr. Heywood had been here they would not have been dealt with so unhumanly [sic]. It cast considerable gloom over my mind.[9]: 270–271
— Martha Spence Heywood, Journal
Background[edit]
During the summer of 1853 violence erupted between Native Americans in what is now Utah Valley in Mormonism's largest denomination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The series of tit-for-tat killings were initiated over land and resource disputes. These conflicts were dubbed Wakara's War (also called Walker's War).[3]
Mass grave discovery[edit]
In 2006 the remains of the slain Utes were discovered in an area of Nephi called Old Hallow during a construction excavation.[10][7]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Stettler, Jeremiah (September 15, 2006). "Skeletons found in Nephi may reveal details of 1853 massacre". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
[The archaeologist] has found nothing to change the history of the Nephi massacre. Rather, he has evidence to suggest that seven men, ages 16 to 25, were killed that day and thrown in a mass grave.
- ^ a b "Nephi Indian grave yields details of 1853 killings". Deseret News. LDS Church. Associated Press. June 8, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ a b c Rood, Ronald (2012). "Massacre in Nephi: Archaeology of a Mass Grave". The Beehive Archive. Salt Lake City: Utah Humanities. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ Rood, Ronald J. (2017). "The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from Nephi, Utah and One Event of the Walker War, Utah Territory. Excavations at 42JB1470, Nephi, Utah". In Kiarszys, Grzegorz; Zalewska, Anna Izabella (eds.). Materiality of Troubled Pasts: Archaeologies of Conflicts and Wars. Szczecin, Poland: University of Szczecin. ISBN 978-83-943365-3-0 – via ResearchGate.
- ^ Wimmer, Ryan (December 13, 2010). The Walker War Reconsidered (Master of History thesis). Brigham Young University.
- ^ Carter, D. Robert (February 18, 2006). "Frontier violence traumatized both colonists and Indians". Daily Herald. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
- ^ a b Trauntvein, Myrna (August 9, 2006). "Skeletal remains found at construction site in Nephi". Nephi Times-News. Nephi, Utah. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ^ Christy, Howard A. (January 1, 1979). "The Walker War: Defense and Conciliation as Strategy". Utah Historical Quarterly. 47 (4): 395–420. doi:10.2307/45060728. ISSN 0042-143X. JSTOR 45060728. S2CID 254442937.
- ^ Bagley, Will (October 17, 2019). The Whites Want Every Thing: Indian-Mormon Relations, 1847–1877. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806165813.
- ^ Trauntvein, Myrna (June 27, 2007). "Native American remains reveal evidence of being executed". Nephi Times-News. Nephi, Utah. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
Native American people and the Latter Day Saint movement | |
|---|---|
| Overview articles | |
| Conflicts | |
| Massacred by Mormons | |
| Massacre of Mormons | |
| People | |
