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Show Intertribal Relations 61 The horse became a source of power; the more horses a man had, the more influence he had. Stealing horses from other tribes was not disgraceful but honorable and daring. In turn, other tribes stole Ute horses. The Ute attitude toward warfare was similar to their attitude toward horse stealing; they would rather make hit-and-run raids for horses, food, and other loot than fight full scale battles. But when they were obliged to fight in their own defense, they were a formidable enemy. Colonel R. I. Dodge called them '/Jhe Switzers of America" because, like the Swiss, they fought mainly in defense and were unbeatable in their own land. Colonel Dodge continued: Though the whole force of the mountain bands [the Utes] numbers but little over 400 men, all the powerful plains tribes, though holding them in contempt on the plains, have an absolute terror of them in the mountains. As white settlers progressed westward across the plains fighting and forcing the Plains tribes to move, the Utes soon acquired a liking for the "palefaces." They could see that these whites had as much trouble as they did with the Plains Indians, and that not only were these people fighting, but they were actually getting rid of these enemies. For this reason, they willingly joined and helped the white forces. It was also nice to be on good terms with the "palefaces" who gave them many gifts of food, clothes, and weapons. Usually by offering gifts the whites could establish confidence among the Utes. While the Utes were still fighting their neighboring enemies, they paid little attention to the settlers who began to move into their mountains, even up to the Pike's Peak gold rush. The Utes fought this last large battle against the combined forces of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux in 1859, although other small battles occurred after this date. As of this time the Utes were described as: . . . the proud, good-humored people who lived deep in the Rocky Mountains. They came to Denver to watch in amusement the frantic scrambling of the white man, to trade a little at the stores and taste lightly of the strange and intriguing new civilization, and to gather in the presents that were often there for them from Washington. The Utes had become a friendly people who had no interest in the white man except his gifts, so they lived apart from him in the Ute country, in their Shining Mountains. |
