Copied from Beneath Ben Lomond’s Peak: A History of Weber County, 1824-1900, pg 281-283

WEBER COUNTY INDIANS DURING THE WALKER WAR

Since Weber County had always been one of the principal camping grounds of the red men, it was but natural that during the Walker War bands of Indians were frequently in that region. In August 1854, Governor Young came to Ogden. Taking with him as interpreter James S. Brown, he visited Chief Catalos’ camp of Shoshones, four miles north of the city. Presents were distributed, after which the pioneer leader told the Indians that “it would be good for them to settle down like the white man, and learn of him to cultivate the land as he did, so that when the game was all gone they could live and have something to eat and to feed their families on. The Indians said this was ‘heap good talk,’ and their hearts felt good.”

Brigham Young established a definite policy among the pioneers of Utah of teaching the Indians to work and of showing them the value of earning their own goods. The natives were to be taught Christianity, and that an important part of Christian living was to be thrifty and self-supporting. The Indians, Brigham said, were not to be parasites and beggars. But after Governor Young returned to Salt Lake City, the Indians refused to be instructed by the white people.

In fact, only two or three months passed before there were indications of pending trouble with the Indians camped near Ogden. In order to prevent what might have resulted in a massacre of the settlers, “on November 20 William Hickman, L.R. Ryan, and Dimick Huntington came up from Salt Lake City with an order to Major Moore and the citizens of Weber County to disarm Chief Little Soldier and his band of Indians, and distribute them among the families in Weber County where the people were best able to feed and clothe them for the winter, and set them to work; for they had become very troublesome to the citizens of the country, by killing cattle, burning fences, and intimidating isolated families.”

Major Moore, James S. Brown, and other citizens visited the Indian camp at West Weber ten days later. After much persuasion, the natives returned with them to Ogden. But they definitely refused to give up their arms. Finally, as the situation became rather tense, the whites decided to permit the natives to keep their weapons for the time being and let them cross the Ogden River and encamp among the willows near Mound Fort. The next day when the whites visited the camp, they found the red men very hostile when the proposal was made that they be distributed among the whites for the winter. A squad of armed white men persuaded them, however. Sullenly and reluctantly the Indians marched back to Ogden. They were stopped at a point near the old tithing office while almost every white man who owned a gun was brought to that point to mingle among the natives. The procedure agreed upon was for the Major to give the command for the aborigines to turn over their weapons. If any of the warriors refused to surrender his arms then the white man nearest by was to disarm him by force. Major Moore gave the command and Brown repeated it in the Indian dialect. Brown reports what occurred as follows:

“At the word, each man was to take hold of an Indian’s gun, and I was to tell the aborigines to surrender; but there was not a white man who obeyed the order, for what reason I do not know. I went through the crowd of Indians and took every weapon with my own hands.”

Almost immediately an Indian boy leaped upon a horse and galloped northward at top speed toward an Indian camp at Bingham’s Fort. Major Moore gave the order for Brown to follow him quickly, which he did. Just as the Indian boy entered the west gate of the fort, Brown entered the east gate.

“To arms!” the white man cried. “To arms! Turn out every man, and help disarm the Indians!”

The white men responded immediately. Brown arrived at the west gate just in time to seize the gun of a powerful Ute who was attempting to escape. All of the weapons were taken from the red men and conveyed to Ogden under guard. Then Brown tried to explain the whole situation to the natives. He felt that they were very stubborn and sullen.

“Here are my wife, my children, my horses, and everything I have,” one said. “Take it all and keep it, only give me back my gun and let me go free.”

Another remarked: “Without our guns we cannot hunt or defend our families. We are only squaws now…We are not anybody now.”

The final result was that the Indians accompanied the whites to their homes and pitched their tents in the back yards. In expressing the feelings of the whites, James S. Brown wrote:

“To us it did seem hard to have them feel so bad, but they had no means of support for the winter, and citizens could not afford to have their stock killed and their fences burned, and it was the better policy to feed the Indians and have them under control. They could husk corn, chop wood, help do the chores, and be more comfortable than if left to roam; but for all that, they were deprived of that liberty to which they and their fathers before them had been accustomed; therefore, they felt it most keenly…

“In the evening of December 3d the Indians had a letter from Governor Young… Then for the first time they seemed reconciled to their situation. Their chief was filled with the spirit of approval of the course that had been taken with them, and he preached it long and strong. After that, the Indians and the citizens got along very well together.”