Battle Creek massacre


The first battle between Mormon settlers in Utah and the Timpanogos Indians who lived there occurred at Battle Creek, Utah. The sleeping Indians were outnumbered and outgunned, and had no defense against the Deseret Militia that crept in and surrounded their camp before dawn on March 5, 1849. Mormon settlement of Utah Valley came upon the heels of the attack at Battle Creek.

Events leading up to the confrontation at Battle Creek

At Battle Creek, now called Pleasant Grove, Utah, not long before the first Mormon settlers arrived in Utah Valley, a group of Timpanogos Indians were attacked in a predawn maneuver by Mormon Militiamen. The Company of LDS men were called from Salt Lake City on March 1, 1849, to "go to the Utah Valley against some Indians who had been stealing a lot of horses from Brigham's herd." They were under orders "to take such measures as would put a final end to their depredations in future." They camped in the snow the first night, near Little Cottonwood Canyon, where a rider brought "word that the horses were not stolen." Before morning they received orders from Salt Lake City "stating that as the horses were not stolen... we need not spend any more time in search of them but to proceed with the Indians for killing cattle as had been directed, so that the nature of our expedition was not in the least changed."
In the morning the men continued southward to Willow Creek, and unanimously agreed to kill a beef from a cattle herd they came upon. The company enjoyed a hearty breakfast, then continued on to the Jordan River where they again camped. That day they had "learned that the stolen horses had returned to Brigham's Herd by one of his boys who came to inform us of the same." Three times the company had now received word that the Indians had not stolen Brigham Young's horses, but they were directed to continue the mission to deal with the stolen/killed cattle issue.
On the third day the Company crossed into the valley of the Utah Indians and was "divided into two Companies... the better to divide and scour the country as we did not know where the Indians were located." They searched unsuccessfully all day and finally camped near Utah Lake on the American Creek. "We were now all very tired and cold. No sign could yet be found of the Indians."
On Sunday March 4, 1849,
Two young Indian braves came to the Mormon camp and were employed as guides to take the Company to those they sought. On this clear, brightly moonlit night, the Mormons followed the Provo River to the foot of the mountains then proceeded northward along the high mountain bench. They deposited their horses in a cedar grove on the mountainside and while most of the company waited near there, a reconnaissance party continued northward on foot until they spotted Indian campfires:

Confrontation and Utes shot at Battle Creek

According to Hosea Stout:
Before gunfire began, there was a verbal exchange with the Indians telling the Mormons to go away and the Mormons telling the Indians to surrender.
One of the young women who was spared pleaded with Dimick B. Huntington to save her brother who was still in the fray. Dimick consented and she brought her young teenage brother out of the willows. The boy was initially defiant, but Huntington threatened that if the boy didn't surrender their one gun, he would kill him. The boy retrieved the gun from his kinsmen and surrendered it. Shortly thereafter, the three remaining Ute men fled.
After an overnight journey, the Company arrived back in Salt Lake City on Tuesday March 6, 1849, at "about 2 o'clock p.m. and were all discharged by the Colonel after he had given an account of our expedition to a large company who had gathered together when we came in. Amen." Four days later:
The settlement near the site of the March 1849 attack was for years called Battle Creek, until some time later when the Mormons living there agreed to change the name to Pleasant Grove.

Aftermath

Casualties

Most accounts say four Indian men were killed, but Oliver B. Huntington stated there were more:
"The Mormons drove the red-skins out from the banks of the Timpanogos on to Utah lake, which was then frozen, and there killed about thirty and took over twice that number prisoners." Excerpt taken from the book "THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS:A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE MORMONS" by T. B. H. STENHOUSE.

Bereft Indian women and children

Huntington said:

Captured Indian Boy possibly Blackhawk

After the events at Battle Creek, Little Chief warned the settlers that the boy would later kill a white man for revenge.

Nearby leaders distrust the settlers

Old Elk and Stick-in-the-Head, leaders of local Timpanogos tribes, watched the settlers "relentlessly shoot down" the Utes. This contributed to their later mistrust of the settlers during the events preceding the Battle at Fort Utah.

Mormon Militiamen who participated in the attack

A partial list provided by Hosea Stout, Oliver B. Huntington, John Brown and others includes:
  1. Colonel John Scott, Commander
  2. Alexander Williams, Aide
  3. Sorenus Taylor
  4. Frank Woodard
  5. George Boyd
  6. Hosea Stout
  7. David Fulmer
  8. John Brown
  9. Oliver B. Huntington
  10. William G. Pettey
  11. John S. Fullmer
  12. John Lowry
  13. Dock Stoddard
  14. Judson Stoddard
  15. Shell Stoddard
  16. Irwin Stoddard
  17. Dimick B. Huntington, Interpreter
  18. Barney Ward, Interpreter

    Events that led to the Battle Creek attack

On June 28, 1847, before even the first Mormon pioneers arrived in present Utah, Brigham Young met with Jim Bridger and discussed the desirability of Utah Valley. William Clayton recorded this conversation in his journal:
During the westward journey:
Months later:
In 1847 and 1848, nearby vicinities had been explored and favorable eye-witness accounts of Utah Valley were given to Church Authorities in Salt Lake City. Then on January 6, 1849, Brigham Young sent a party of ten men to "go to Utah Valley to learn of its capabilities for a stock range, and when the cattle go, forty or fifty men go with them." The party recommended waiting for winter conditions to subside. Then on the last day of February 1849, the Mormon Militia was called to leave their homes in Salt Lake City and go southward on a mission which culminated at Battle Creek, Utah, and which some might consider to have been essentially a preemptive strike against the Timpanogots Indians who resided in Utah Valley.