| Show RRRRRBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSR The Indians resented being displaced by the change The Indian agents and some Indians complained that the settlers took over the Indians hunting grounds and that their cattle ate the Indians grass seed bread Also the settlers drove away the wild game which left the Indians with only three choices beg steal or fight Thus stealing and other expressions of anger led to bloody reprisals on the part of the Mormons For this reason Black Hawk who was raised with the whites consented to lead about 300 of his warriors into battle for control of the Sanpete and Utah valleys The Mormons werevery close social and economic unit based on the principle that all men were equal and all must share alike This policy if followed completely eliminated the Indians Had the proposal been made by squaws the chances of success would have been materially enhanced It seemed that the Mormons were convinced of the inferiority of the Indian race and therefore didnaccept the Indians as their equals thus there was little real companionship on either side Prior to 1852 no visible Indian program was put into effect other than benevolence They seemed to think of Indians as not being civilized and this wasvital factor about behavior of the settlers tovard the Indians From the time of the arrival of JohnstonAmy in Utah in 1858 to about 1861 there was comparative peace between the two groups Then trouble began to brew The Indian agent didnsee eye to eye with Brigham Young At this time President Lincoln cancelled all Indian rights and also their land rights in favor of moving the Sanpitch Indians to the Uintah reservation Brigham Young also wanted the Indians moved away from the settlements The Indian agent and the Church general authorities had wanted this done since 1852 but Brigham Young had held out the hope of coexistence This was the chief cause of the Black Hawk War Al land divisions were Church controlled until 1869 when the Land Office was established in Utah When Black Hawk became Chief of the Sanpitch Indians and saw the growth of the settlements established in 1859 he hadchange of heart He knew at that time that coexistence between the Indians and the white settlers was doomed to failure Then came the Black Hawk war which began with an altercation between the Indians and John Lowry in Manti although the settlers were consclous that the Indians had been preparing overlong time for war try for peace came on June 1865 at an Indian reservation at Spanish Fork but nothing came of it The war raged on with many Ki1lings on both sides untiltreaty of peace was finally signed between the two rivals ties ceased at Strawberry on August 19 1868 when hostili ke Sl e |
