Ute Indians
Chief Arrapeen, Warrior Saint
- David Mackey
- Jun 26, 2014
The life of Arapeen is one filled with contradictions, accommodation and genuine change. Overshadowed in the annals of history by his brother, Wakara, Arapeen remains a largely forgotten 19th century personality who once roamed across the vast stretches of the Great Basin and beyond. Still, the Ute chief in his day became one of the greatest high-ranking Native American friends Utah’s early white settlers gained.
In fact, Arapeen was unique in that he demonstrated a remarkable ability to navigate comfortably between his own people and culture and the customs and beliefs of the white Mormon world that engulfed his lands.
So much so, that Arapeen was revered in either camp, whether it was among his beloved tribesmen or with his adopted co-religionists, a people who fully accepted him as a fellow Saint.
The first few years proved to be a period where Arapeen’s relations with the white world ranged dramatically. During the summer of 1850, he made public his desire to live a Christian life when he submitted himself to baptism by Mormon elders at Manti.
By contrast, he became a major force to protect Indian interests during the Walker War that erupted only a few years later. Arapeen was incensed over Governor Young’s and the Territorial legislature’s decision stop the Indian slave trade.
He went on the warpath and manifested tremendous bravery as a leader of Ute warriors. At the same time, Arapeen did not hesitate to show the white world that he was capable of cruelty and thirsted for blood. He made this apparent by his treatment of women and children captured for the slave trade out of Santa Fe, and in his gunning down settlers whose path crossed his.
Once peace was made between Ute leaders and the Mormons in 1853, Arapeen appears to have experienced something of a deep religious conversion to the faith of these peculiar white people. Evidence that this transformation in his spiritual life occurred before Walkara’s death in 1855.
For example, Arapeen and his wife were among the company of Mormon faithful Brigham Young requested travel with him to the new settlement at Fort Limhi on the Salmon River during early June of 1857.
In fact, the religious leader asked that Arapeen dress as his fellow church members and not as a Ute chieftain as the party would be passing through the tribal lands of other Indian nations including the Nez Perce.
Then during the Mormon Reformation, Arapeen was among those who voluntarily consecrated their property to the LDS Church as an act of faith. In Arapeen’s case, that was all of the land comprising historic Sanpete, horses, some steers, guns, a total value recorded in the amount of $155,765.
And Arapeen was a favored speaker at church meetings as he visited the various settlements. Sometimes he would emphasize important points and increase the attention of his listeners by striking the pulpit with his tomahawk. Arapeen was supportive of efforts to establish “Indian Farms” and took a particular interest in the one developed in the valley that still bears his name at present-day Mayfield. While the Ute leader relinquished much of his claim to land that was turned over for farming, his favorite hunting grounds whites recognized his continued connection to those and other places considered sacred by Arapeen.
When word reached the Sanpete Valley of the coming of Johnston’s Army local white leaders decided to scout the surrounding mountains for safe havens in the event the settlers would need to abandon their homes.
A group of about a dozen individuals went to see Arapeen to request his permission to explore Twelve Mile canyon on top near Musina and over the top northward to Manti Canyon. While Arapeen may have verbally sympathized with the Mormons during the US military’s incursion, the Ute Chief, like most native leaders, maintained a degree of indifference and neutrality.
In Arapeen’s case, that lasted until his beloved son, Pinteet was shot from his horse by U.S. soldiers at the Spanish Fork Indian farm on Oct. 2, 1858. Arapeen went on the warpath for a time against the U.S. Army stationed in Utah, burning buildings, killing livestock and threatening soldiers.
Eventually a peace of sorts was made with heartbroken chief and in time acknowledged at Camp Floyd that his little band of warriors could not prevail against the soldiers with their impressive numbers and weapons.
On Dec. 4, 1860, George Peacock recorded the following in his journal: Arapeen died today at Fish Lake 60 miles south of Manti. His death is greatly Lamented by the Utahs and by the whites San Pitch succeeds him as a Chieftain.”
Perhaps if Arapeen had lived another decade or two, it’s possible the excessive bloodshed and conflict resulting from the Black Hawk War could have been averted through some peaceful accommodations negotiated with his aid.
History of Indian Chief Arapeen, Utah
Chief Jake Arapeen (AKA Chief Yene-wood) was a Ute Indian chief. He was the son of Arapeen Sr..
1855 – Arapeen becomes the successor to his brother Wakara (AKA Chief Walkara, Walker) who had been poisoned. Earlier, on 13 March 1850 the two had been baptized into the LDS Faith by Isaac Morley.
23 December 1855 – Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah, chief Arapeen deeded the land of his fathers to Brigham Young in hopes of permanent peace.
8 April 1865 – in Manti, Sanpete County, Utah, chief Jake Arapeen and drunk rancher, interpreter John Lowry contended with each other. Lowry grabs Arapeen by his hair and pulls him from his horse. The latter vowed revenge. Although there had been many previous skirmishes and aggressions, the Lowry/Arapeen conflict resulted in the official beginning of the Black Hawk War between the settlers and the natives.
G. William Wiersdorf
See: The Saint & The Savage, Kerry Ross Boren; The Walker War, Thomas G. Alexander; Black Hawk War, Utah’s Forgotten Tragedy; Wikipedia, Events leading up to the War.
http://www.onlineutah.com/arapeen_chief_history.shtml
Question: Did Brigham Young give the Indian chief Arapeen spoils from the Mountain Meadows Massacre?
Brigham Young had asked all Indian chieftains to help themselves to the U.S. army’s cattle, not the spoils from the massacre
Noted one reviewer:
Bagley argues that after Chief Arapeen told him about the massacre, Young advised Arapeen to help himself to the booty (p. 170). Bagley, however, changes the actual sequence of events to make things appear as they are not. The Huntington diary shows that Young first asked Arapeen—just as Brigham Young had asked all other Indian chieftains—to help himself to the [U.S.] army’s cattle. Then Arapeen tells him about “a” massacre. Nobody thereafter suggested to Arapeen that he help himself to the Fancher train booty. Brigham Young would never have done this because Arapeen’s tribe was too far north in Utah. Bagley’s explanation is akin to asking the mayor of Ogden to help himself to the coffers of Cedar City.” [1]
Notes
Robert D. Crockett, “A Trial Lawyer Reviews Will Bagley’s Blood of the Prophets,” FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 199–254. off-site Headings and minor punctuation changes for clarity may have been added; footnotes have been omitted. Readers are advised to consult the original review.
Utah’s Timpanogos Chief Antonga Black Hawk
Born c. 1830; died September 26, 1870
Part 1 of 4
This is the story of Timpanogos leader Antoñgua Black Hawk. The Timpanogos or Timpangotzis, are the original inhabitants of Utah Territory who were first discovered by Spanish explorers Juan Revera in 1765, and later on by Dominguez and Escalante in 1776. They describe having come in contact with “the bearded ones” Eutahs, who spoke the language of the Snake-Shoshone and called themselves “Timpanogostzis,” who lived by a lake the Timpanogostzis named Timpanogos. Dominguez and Escalante called the area El Valle de Nuestra Señora de la Merced de los Timpanogos (translation: The valley of our lady of mercy of the Timpanogos), a description fitting for the serene beauty of a lush green valley surrounded by majestic mountains, dominated by a twelve-thousand foot mountain in particular, named Mount Timpanogos dominating the landscape that Dominguez and Escalante called La Sierra Blanca de los Timpanois ( translation: The white mountain of the Timpanogos). The lake is known today as Utah Lake. Then, Utah and the Great Salt lakes were connected by a river. The Lagunas, fish eaters, Yutah, Eutah, and the bearded ones; the Timpangotzis they are called by all these names.
“Turunianchi the Great” was the leader of the Timpanogostzis, and Cuitzapuninchi, Panchucunquibiran, and Picuchi were his brothers. Turunianchi had a son named Moonch. Moonch was the father of Chiefs Sanpitch, Yah-Keera (Walkara), Arapeen (father of Jake Arapeen), Tabby, Ammon, Sowiette, and Grospeen were known as the “Royal Bloodline.” Six of the seven brothers were the uncles of Antonga (Black Hawk) who was the son of Sanpitch.
Dominguez and Escalante describe the Timpanogos as a loving, kind and hospitable people.
Today the Timpanogos Nation consists of about 1000 descendents of the ‘Royal Bloodline’ living on the Uintah Valley Reservation in Utah.
Black Hawk Memorial Spring Lake
Mary Meyer Chief Executive of the Timpanogos Nation
Descendent of Timpanogos Chief Arapeen Black Hawk’s Uncle
1849 – 1873
My great-grandfather Peter Gottfredson, an emigrant from Denmark arrived in Utah territory in 1857, when Wakara was alive, and lived among the Timpanogos during the Black Hawk War. Peter clearly points out in his book Indian Depredations in Utah that the Snake Shoshoni Timpanogos Tribe ruled the entire territory of Utah. Peter wrote: “It was with reluctance that the Timpanogos Indians who met the Higbee colony in March, 1848, permitted the first white settlement on Provo River…”
Following the invasion of the Conquistadors who robbed them of their gold and enslaved a good number of them, then came the fur trappers. During the years of the 1700’s to the early 1800’s trappers would all but empty the rivers and streams of Oregon, Idaho and Utah of the beaver population. Literally millions of pounds of pelts would be shipped to Europe making fur merchants wealthy beyond belief. During this time and subsequent years to follow the British, French and Americans would divvy up Indian land, waging war against each other when necessary to gain control.
Through it all the Snake-Shoshoni Timpanogos would emerge victorious having survived wave after wave of Euro-invasions. When the Mormons arrived in 1847 and settled in the arid Salt Lake valley the valley had long become the crossroads of the west as trappers, explorers and the like passed through on their way to Oregon, and California. An old medicine man Wuna Mucca had prophesied the coming of the missionaries decades before their arrival. And come they did, “to worship God almighty, to save the heathens from hell, and get rich.” This European mindset would eventually destroy the Timpanogos Nation resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.
Changing the conditions in which the Indian people thrive was a key element in taking over Indian lands. It meant logging, constructing forts and towns, diverting streams, introducing thousands of domesticated cattle, plowing and fencing vital grass lands and planting domesticated crops, massive slaughter of buffalo herds, which devastated the Timpanogos’ precious resources. These settlers were less dependant upon natural sources for their food because of farming techniques, while the Indian people were forced to travel greater distances, requiring greater effort, to find food, leaving the Timpanogos with no choice other than to prey upon the settlers’ cattle, or die of starvation. Another example recorded is in just one day alone, 6790 fish were taken from the Provo River with gill nets and sent to Salt Lake as tithing, ignoring the present and future needs of the Indigenous people.
Besides superior weaponry, the settlers had another weapon—disease. Measles, Smallpox, Tuberculosis, Cholera, and Scarlet Fever spread epidemically from the settlers among the Indians and, at times. intentionally. There were times disease-contaminated blankets and food were given to the Indians. Quoting from the book Violence Over the Land by Ned Blackhawk, “Colorado Governor David Meriwether, in 1854, had engaged the help of the Mouche band of Colorado Utes to participate in a manhunt for a suspected murder. Being paid each with a gray cloth coat… decorated handsomely with red and yellow braid. These Ute leaders returned home fashionably attired in tailored officer’s clothing.” The book goes on to say, “They had also contracted smallpox, and many came to the conclusion that the Superintendent was the cause of the disease being among them…everyone that received a coat died.”
“We forget that our ancestors, both Indian and non-Indian, lived close together—that our children grew up with each other. And that’s what makes this story so difficult to talk about and remember. But if we are going to understand who we are, then we have to understand and remember the Black Hawk War.” -Historian Will Bagley
Meanwhile, on July 24, 1847, Brigham Young along with a party of 143 Mormons emerged from the mouth of Cottonwood canyon on a hill overlooking Salt Lake valley of the Wasatch Front, thus concluding a thousand mile journey taking 111 days by horseback and covered wagons. Brigham seeing the valley said, “Its enough, this is the right place, drive on.” The Mormons made their camp in the heart of the Snake-Shoshoni Timpanogos Nation. The Timpanogos Indians would soon confront Brigham Young and his followers for trespassing on their ancestral land.
The Timpanogos leadership of seven brothers namely Sanpitch, Wakara, Arapeen, Tabby, Ammon, Sowiette, Grospeen and eventually Antonga Black Hawk who was the son of Sanpitch. These seven legendary leaders were referred to as “the privileged blood.” They ruled every clan and village along the Wasatch. Their population was at least 70,000 and more. They were the ruling Tribe that occupied the entire territory comprised of some 250,000 square miles.
Let’s also consider that when Mormon settlers arrived in 1847, a year later the Hidalgo Treaty of 1848 was signed wherein the United States agreed to recognize Indian land holdings, and to allow Indian people to continue their customs and languages.” Settlers ignored the treaty with impunity. Utah territory bordered the northern section of Mexico. And it should be noted, the Hidalgo Treaty has never been abrogated or diminished and remains intact.
When Chief Wakara confronted Brigham Young shortly after they entered the valley, he made it clear they were not welcome to settle on their land. Brigham assured Wakara that they were only passing through on their way to California. That they had made a long journey, lost many of their people along the way and were short on supplies. That they needed to spend the winter there and would move on in the spring. Wakara understood, and generously helped the Mormons survive through the winter. When spring came, the Mormons began to clear-cut the timber and build houses.
And there after more Mormons began to arrive in large numbers at the rate of some 3000 a month. Mormons begin seizing Timpanogos land, water holes, and timber.
In the winter of 1849, trouble began when a company of 35 Mormon militia, under the leadership of Colonel John Scott, left Salt Lake City in pursuit of a so called “renegade band of Indians” who were falsely accused of taking horses belonging to Mormon leader Brigham Young. So it followed that war with the Mormons began in earnest on February 28, 1849 with the first of six massacres at Battle Creek in the foothills above Pleasant Grove, Utah.
In the crisp morning air, on that cold February morning, shots echoed off the canyon walls. There lingered a thick gray cloud of gun smoke; the frozen snow was now crimson red with fresh innocent Native blood. This day would mark the beginning of a 21 year battle with Mormons, the US Government, and the Timpanogos Indian Nation. According to reliable accounts, Brigham gave the order for Colonel Scott “to take such measures as would put a final end to their depredations in future.” But, before morning they received orders from Salt Lake City stating that “the horses were not stolen…” Three times the company had received word the Indian’s had not stolen Brigham Young’s horses, they had only been moved to a different location to pasture.” Still, not one of the thirty-five men turned back.
Scott, under orders from Brigham Young, he and his men met up with a Shoshoni Indian they referred to as Little Chief on the Provo River. Little Chief regretfully led Scott to an encampment of Timpanogos Indians who allegedly had been doing some stealing. Moreover, it seems unlikely Little Chief would have betrayed his people in this way, more likely threatened, he gave in. The trail took the company of soldiers to the mouth of a canyon above Pleasant Grove. Scott and his men split into four groups and surrounded the camp, and opened fire on the unsuspecting people sleeping there in their teepees. It is said that the “battle” continued for a couple hours, highly unlikely since most took shelter and then were trapped in a nearby ravine, standing in freezing water, and they had only one gun, while the surrounding army pelted their victims with rocks. As they immerged from cover unarmed, troops shot them repeatedly. A Timpanogos man named Kone, unarmed, was shot in the back as he came out of his teepee.
A brave girl about the age of 16 emerged from cover and pleaded with Colonel Scott not to harm her brother. Scott ordered her to bring her brother to him. Terrified of Scott she brought from the thicket her younger brother who bravely stood face to face with Scott and said, “Go away, what are you here for? Go away… you kill my father, my brother… for what? Go away, let us alone.”
“Joshua Terry, a pioneer of 1847, and a mountain man who married into an Indian tribe, once told the writer (Howard R. Driggs) that this Indian boy became the warring leader Black Hawk. When peace came, after the Black Hawk War of the later eighteen sixties, this Chief, Terry declared, told him that he was this same boy taken after the fight on Battle Creek. He could never understand why the white men had shot down his people. It put bitterness in his heart; and though he lived for some time with the white people, his mind was ever set on avenging the wrong. That is why he later made war against them.” (Story of Old Battle Creek and Pleasant Grove, Utah, Howard R. Driggs, 1948) Click link for pages 3-4