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Wakara's War
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Wakara's War
Wakara's War, also known as Walker's War was a dispute between the Ute people and the Mormon settlers in Utah Valley and surrounding areas. This war is characterized as a string of disputes and skirmishes over property and the land from July 1853 to May 1854. This war was influenced by factors such as religious differences, the slave trade, and the division of the Salt Lake Valley.
Wakara was a leader of the Ute Native Americans in Utah. He was also known as Wakarum, Walkara, Walkar, Wacker, Wacherr, Watcher, and his white name Walker. Wakara means "yellow" or "brass" in the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is thought that Wakara went by that name because of his preference for yellow buckskin. The physical characteristics of the land largely separated Wakara's band from other Ute and Shoshone Indians in that area. They subsisted mainly on a hunter-gatherer diet, roaming the land to find the sustenance and supplies that they needed to survive. This was greatly aided by the influence of horses in the Ute culture, especially with Wakara as chief. He was known as the "Napoleon of the Desert", a nickname given for his cunning and strategy in horse raids. Wakara's band had a very profitable slave trade with the Spaniards, in which they traded captives from other tribes for European goods.
Wakara was the chief of the Paiute Indians at the time that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), commonly referred to as the Mormon pioneers, began to arrive in Utah and settle the land around 1847. The pioneers were fleeing from religious persecution in Illinois and Missouri and believed that religious freedom would be found outside the United States in lands at the time claimed by Mexico. The Mormons were led west from Illinois by their religious leader, Brigham Young, who was revered among them as a prophet. The Mormon settlers did not account for the indigenous tribes of the Goshute, Ute, and Shoshone whose territory they were wanting to settle outside the Salt Lake Valley, which led to protracted, and at times violent, conflicts. The Salt Lake Valley was claimed by none of the four surrounding tribes, making it an ideal settling place for the early members of the LDS Church.
In the years following the arrival of the Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley, tensions began to build between the settlers and the Paiutes. The Mormons, led by Brigham Young, believed that the indigenous peoples they encountered were descendants of an ancient splinter group of Hebrews called the Lamanites, who were a prominent group of people in a book of scripture called the Book of Mormon, that they believed was translated by the religion's founder, Joseph Smith. Informed by the church's doctrine at the time, the Mormon settlers believed that the indigenous inhabitants needed to be converted to Mormonism in order to receive spiritual salvation; Chief Wakara himself had been converted.
Wakara and his band had a profitable slave trade with Mexican traders before the arrival of the Mormons. They traded captives, mostly women and children from the weaker nomadic Paiute and Goshute tribes, with the Mexicans for goods. In order to increase economic wealth, Chief Wakara pressured the Mormon settlers to engage in his prospering slave trade, threatening to kill the slaves unless the settlers bought them.
Although initially opposed to the idea, Brigham Young advised the Mormons to purchase the slaves and raise them as their own children. Young viewed this as a way to purchase the slaves' freedom, believing it to be the moral duty of the settlers to raise the children as Mormons. The relationships between the settlers and the purchased slaves ranged from familial relations to treating the slaves as house servants.
There were many small disputes regarding the distribution of the land in the Salt Lake Valley. The Paiute Indians frequently went on raids, stealing horses from other tribes and settlers and growing their herds. Chief Wakara led some of the most profitable raids in that region, notably increasing the head count in his band's herd.
When the Mormon settlers came, there was an assumption that things would continue to go on as they had been and that there would be a sharing of the land. What the Paiute Indians did not understand was that the settlers were there to stay, and that the pioneers would claim ownership over the lands that they settled. Frequent Indian raids on the settlers' cattle and horses led to conflicts between Wakara's band and Brigham Young with the rest of the Mormon settlers.
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Wakara's War
Wakara's War, also known as Walker's War was a dispute between the Ute people and the Mormon settlers in Utah Valley and surrounding areas. This war is characterized as a string of disputes and skirmishes over property and the land from July 1853 to May 1854. This war was influenced by factors such as religious differences, the slave trade, and the division of the Salt Lake Valley.
Wakara was a leader of the Ute Native Americans in Utah. He was also known as Wakarum, Walkara, Walkar, Wacker, Wacherr, Watcher, and his white name Walker. Wakara means "yellow" or "brass" in the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is thought that Wakara went by that name because of his preference for yellow buckskin. The physical characteristics of the land largely separated Wakara's band from other Ute and Shoshone Indians in that area. They subsisted mainly on a hunter-gatherer diet, roaming the land to find the sustenance and supplies that they needed to survive. This was greatly aided by the influence of horses in the Ute culture, especially with Wakara as chief. He was known as the "Napoleon of the Desert", a nickname given for his cunning and strategy in horse raids. Wakara's band had a very profitable slave trade with the Spaniards, in which they traded captives from other tribes for European goods.
Wakara was the chief of the Paiute Indians at the time that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), commonly referred to as the Mormon pioneers, began to arrive in Utah and settle the land around 1847. The pioneers were fleeing from religious persecution in Illinois and Missouri and believed that religious freedom would be found outside the United States in lands at the time claimed by Mexico. The Mormons were led west from Illinois by their religious leader, Brigham Young, who was revered among them as a prophet. The Mormon settlers did not account for the indigenous tribes of the Goshute, Ute, and Shoshone whose territory they were wanting to settle outside the Salt Lake Valley, which led to protracted, and at times violent, conflicts. The Salt Lake Valley was claimed by none of the four surrounding tribes, making it an ideal settling place for the early members of the LDS Church.
In the years following the arrival of the Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley, tensions began to build between the settlers and the Paiutes. The Mormons, led by Brigham Young, believed that the indigenous peoples they encountered were descendants of an ancient splinter group of Hebrews called the Lamanites, who were a prominent group of people in a book of scripture called the Book of Mormon, that they believed was translated by the religion's founder, Joseph Smith. Informed by the church's doctrine at the time, the Mormon settlers believed that the indigenous inhabitants needed to be converted to Mormonism in order to receive spiritual salvation; Chief Wakara himself had been converted.
Wakara and his band had a profitable slave trade with Mexican traders before the arrival of the Mormons. They traded captives, mostly women and children from the weaker nomadic Paiute and Goshute tribes, with the Mexicans for goods. In order to increase economic wealth, Chief Wakara pressured the Mormon settlers to engage in his prospering slave trade, threatening to kill the slaves unless the settlers bought them.
Although initially opposed to the idea, Brigham Young advised the Mormons to purchase the slaves and raise them as their own children. Young viewed this as a way to purchase the slaves' freedom, believing it to be the moral duty of the settlers to raise the children as Mormons. The relationships between the settlers and the purchased slaves ranged from familial relations to treating the slaves as house servants.
There were many small disputes regarding the distribution of the land in the Salt Lake Valley. The Paiute Indians frequently went on raids, stealing horses from other tribes and settlers and growing their herds. Chief Wakara led some of the most profitable raids in that region, notably increasing the head count in his band's herd.
When the Mormon settlers came, there was an assumption that things would continue to go on as they had been and that there would be a sharing of the land. What the Paiute Indians did not understand was that the settlers were there to stay, and that the pioneers would claim ownership over the lands that they settled. Frequent Indian raids on the settlers' cattle and horses led to conflicts between Wakara's band and Brigham Young with the rest of the Mormon settlers.