Haven Scott

hscott@thespectrum.com

It was a solemn scene in Circleville on Friday as members of the Paiute Tribe of Utah, Koosharem Band of Paiutes, and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met to remember a part of the past they did not anyone to forget.

As if knowing the somber ceremony about to take place, the wind howled, but the sun was as bright as ever. Then it was time to dedicate a memorial to 30 men, women and children from the Paiute tribe who were slaughtered by Mormon settlers 150 years ago.

Circleville Mayor Michael Haaland stumbled on some words he would later regret.

“And I would like to thank Brett Christensen, who headed up the Circleville part of the massacre committee,” he said. “I didn’t mean that — who headed up the monument part of the Circleville committee.”

The Native Americans in the crowd had already burst into laughter, perhaps knowing there was no harm intended.

Jedediah Rogers, from the Utah Division of State History, recalled the terrible fate of at least 30 Koosharem Band of Paiute men, women and children who were slaughtered by church members after being forced to give up their arms and were tied and bound.

There was conflict in the area during the Black Hawk War with the Ute tribe and early Mormon settlers, Rogers said.

“Those newly arrived in the Circle Valley found themselves at the heart of this conflict,” he said. “In 1865 some Utes raided the town of Circleville, which was ill prepared to defend itself, and killed four citizens including two 13 year-old boys.”

Rumors circulating about an alliance between the Utes and Paiutes were rampant at the time but have since been discredited, Rogers said.

“This alliance seems unlikely,” he said. “The Ute had long abducted Paiute women and children as part of their slave trade.”

In 1866, the Parowan militia rounded up all Indians in the vicinity, Rogers said, and brought them to Fort Sanford, which stood between Panguitch and Circleville at the time.

“A day or two prior to the massacre, an express was sent to Circleville from Fort Sanford stating that two formerly friendly Paiutes in the area had shot and wounded a member of the Utah militia,” he said. “What the dispatch did not report is that one of the Paiutes had been injured and the other was killed by the soldiers' long range rifle.”

In a response it was decided that residents of Panguitch and Circleville round up and disarm those Paiutes who were camped near their settlements.

“When the Paiutes were told to surrender their weapons and expressed reluctance, the settlers forcefully disarmed them,” Rogers said. “The men were bound under guard, and the women and children were likely held in a cellar.”

LDS Apostle Erastus Snow sent word from northern Utah that the Paiutes should be treated with care unless hostile, but the dispatch arrived too late.

From this point on the details become murky, with one side claiming the Paiute men had found a way to break their binds and were killed trying to escape.

The other side said at least 30 men, women and children were clubbed, beaten and had their throats cut by those who let their fear get the best of them, Rogers said.

“The date was in 1866. It could have been April 22, 23 or 24,” he said. “But contested terrain of history goes well beyond what happened and why it happened, to how it is remembered. This is a painful memory for the residents of Circleville — certainly it is a painful memory in the hearts of the Paiute tribal members. To have us gather here this morning signifies that we will not forget what happened here.”

LDS Church historian Richard Turley recalled researching the Mountain Meadows Massacre years ago when members of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah approached him about the Circleville Massacre.

“I knew the Circleville Massacre was a historical atrocity that needed addressing,” he said. “I resolved at that point to do something about it and the possibility of erecting a monument.”

Turley recalled statements recorded by his own relatives that were used in the book “How Desolate our Home Bereft of Thee” by Sue Jensen Weeks.

Turley said he was aware of the massacre but not that his relatives had been at the scene until reading the book.

“I came to a passage in which my ancestors' son, who was a small child in Circleville when the massacre took place, gave a detailed account with the following paragraph,” he said.

“The final act in the drama occurred about a week later,” Turley read from the book. “About 30 supposedly friendly Indians were bound and imprisoned in the block house with an armed guard of three men on duty, one of whom was my father.”

Turley then described the alleged escape attempt, but as his relative recalled it.

“Their feet were still bound,” he read from the book. “They were knocked unconscious by the clubbing of guns by the guards. Then they were executed and their bodies buried in the middle of the cellar at the entrance to the fort.”

Paiute tribe member Arthur Richards spoke of many years of silence about the massacre.

“It is good to speak of it now,” he said. “We must remember there are a lot of good white people, and there is nothing left to do but feel sorry for them and hope that they feel sorry for us.”

Another tribal member, Dorena Martineau, spoke of the ailing Paiute tribe that has less than 1,000 members today between the five tribes in Utah.

“We lost our culture that day,” she said. “And everyday we lose more as elders pass away and take their language with them. This is a very touchy and unpleasant story, but now it is out in the open and that is a good thing. I want to thank everyone involved.”

Josh Loftin, with the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, said the subject had been a touchy matter with locals who weren’t sure if they wanted the story told from only the Native American perspective.

“It is amazing how many people have never heard of the massacre. Here in Circleville everyone knows about it, but even last week I was in nearby Richfield and nobody there had heard of it,” he said. “There were some locals who were reluctant as to how the story was told, but the LDS Church has done an amazing job of not only bringing the story to the public, but of helping with this memorial as well.”

There were two youth survivors who escaped to tell the tale, Weeks said, who said she decided to write her book after relatives in Circleville were implicated in the massacre.

“While researching documents that were handed down in my family, I found out the survivors were sold for two bushels of wheat to a man in Spring City who married my great-aunt,” she said. “So I came from the story from both sides and decided to research more and write the book.”

Circleville now has another tribute next to the war memorials honoring local veterans who died in every war the United States has been involved in dating back to the Black Hawk War.

“There are many atrocities that have happened to Indians all over this land, not just us. Let us move on,” Richards said. “But we should never forget.”

Follow Haven Scott, @HavenWScott. Call him at 435-865-4522.

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