The Tintic War
and the deaths of
George and Washington Carson

by Lynn R. Carson

© June 9, 1979
Lynn R. Carson
1480 Edison Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
George Carson and Ann Hough Family Organization

 

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Preface

This booklet about the deaths of George and Washington Carson is the fourth in a series designed to commemorate the lives of George and Ann Carson and their children. The present work however is unusual in that practically nothing is known about George and Washington, two of their younger sons. They were both young men when they died, and their children never knew them. Neither of them left an account of their lives, and none of their brothers or sisters left any reminiscences of them, or even of their own lives.

This booklet assumes the rather peculiar distinction then of ostensibly being about George and Washington, but they assume rather minor roles in the events as they will be told. More information will be given about several other men not related to the family who left written accounts of the events of that February in 1856 when George and Washington were killed.

Whenever possible, the actual words of their accounts have been used in the text, the only changes made being those of spelling, person, and tense. References to the original sources are given at the end of the booklet.

Unfortunately, not being family members, those who did write included very little about George and Washington and we are left with very little information about the men themselves, some of it unflattering.

History is capricious, and what we least expect to be preserved about us is often the very thing that is saved. If we want future generations to know us as we see ourselves, we had best make the effort to write an account of our own lives.

My special thanks to Jay Nielson for the map, Shirley Hogansen for her research, and Kathryn Haman for seeing the booklet through publication. Thanks also to those non-family members whose ancestors recorded the events of the massacre and for their permission to use these accounts in the booklet.

It was my father who showed me, as a child, the graves in Fairfield and told me the story of the deaths of George and Washington; without him my interest would never have grown into the writing of this booklet. It was he who, while serving as president of the family association, replaced the deteriorating stones with more permanent granite markers.

Lynn R. Carson

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To Raymond C. Carson

... and here in these sweet peaceful vales
the shafts of death are hurled,
and many faithful Saints are called
unto a better world.

William Clayton

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Introduction

For over a hundred years there were two grave stones in the small cemetery west of Fairfield (Utah County) Utah which to anyone who saw them, were a source of reverent awe and vicarious adventure. Carved of light colored sandstone, they were about three feet high and three inches thick, with rounded tops - the writing much worn. At the top of one was a representation of two hands clasped together in eternal friendship. They once stood upright, but had long been broken and lay in several pieces on the ground.

These stones marked two graves just within the fence surrounding the Carson family plot in the cemetery. To the side of one of these graves, but outside of the fence, was a third grave. This one was unmarked for many years, noticeable only because of the depression in the ground caused by the collapse of a wooden casket buried in the dirt beneath.

In recent years the old broken stones were removed and replaced with more durable granite markers. The new stones faithfully recorded the information found on the other memorials:

George Carson Washington Carson

Oct. 2, 1827 Apr. 18, 1830

Feb. 22, 1856 Feb. 22, 1856

In addition, a third stone was provided for Henry Moran who was buried in the previously unmarked grave outside the family plot. Curiously, all three stones record the same date of death, February 22, 1856, and each stone is marked with the ominous inscription:

KILLED BY INDIANS

It is this inscription - killed by Indians - that has set the stones apart and lent them their special place in the cemetery. Without the inscription, the graves would not engender in the viewer that awe we have come to imagine of the brave frontiersman protecting his pioneer family from the "noble savage", or the sense of adventure we seem to miss in our own lives.

Without the inscriptions and their fascination, neither family members nor the casual visitors to the cemetery would hardly pause to read these names and dates, which are no more remarkable than those recorded on the other markers in the graveyard. Yet some of these less interesting markers are all that remain of men and women who perhaps had much more interesting and important lives.

To have been killed by Indians has given the two brothers, George and Washington, sons of George Carson and his wife Ann Hough, an honored place in family history. Perhaps this compensates in part for their lack of posterity, as each had only one child, Washington's being born several months after his death. Both children were daughters and no direct descendants bear their surname.

When one sees the markers, certain questions invariably come to mind: How did the two brothers come to be killed by Indians on the same day? What were the events of that day and what led up to them? And who were the Indians that killed them, and why?

The story of the deaths has become a family tradition, and like all stories handed from generation to generation, has grown and been elaborated upon over the years. As it is generally told now it resembles more legend than fact.

Elvin Carson, a grandson of John Carson, George and Washington's older brother, tells the traditional family story in this way:

Before the white men moved into the valley to make their homes, this locality was the home of the Tintic Tribe of Indians, and was ruled over by White Elk as their Chief. This tribe of Indians was very ferocious and hated the whites. But they were indeed a picturesque group of people. White Elk was a brave Indian with flashing black eyes, two long braids of black hair which hung down in front of his shoulders, a sharp tomahawk slung at his belt, and always had a little Indian boy along to carry his quiver full of arrows.

One day White Elk walked boldly into town and handed the person in charge of the community a bunch of arrows with a dead rattlesnake attached. This was the Indians' way of declaring war. That night the people saw dozens of gleaming fires south of town.

White Elk was ready to strike and his braves were ready for the kill. A posse of men rode out, bent on arresting the few Indians causing the trouble. The Indians were sullen and wouldn't talk. An old squaw stood nearby and fearing the life of her guilty son, lifted her spear and threw it at George Carson who was astride a horse nearby. He saw her and just in time raised his leg to ward it off, but her aim was true, and the spear struck him and lodged in his leg. Suddenly shots rang out and George Carson fell from his horse, mortally wounded.

The Indians at once headed pell-mell for the dense cave banks near Utah Lake. There they met and killed Washington Carson and Henry Moran who were caring for some cattle near the lake. The same day George died (the 22nd of February 1856) making three deaths by the Indians that day.

At this point White Elk make the mistake of his life. He and his band started across the frozen lake. When about a third of the way across the ice began to break. There was no turning back, for the posse had reached the lake shore. Even White Elk could not escape. They saw him go down waving his tomahawk in defiance as he headed for the Happy Hunting Grounds.

Thus ended the Tintic War so far as Fairfield was concerned. It was true other members of the tribe struck in other places, but to Fairfield goes the honor of bringing the wild old chief to an end and making the valley safe for future generations. Of course people were happy to be free from Indian worries, but there was a deep sadness over the little community, for nearly one hundred men had been killed."

This is essentially what most family members have known of the story. Unfortunately no family member who was present that day in Cedar Valley and Utah Valley has left a written account. Even the Deseret News only records that: "some Indians killed two herdsmen on the west side of Utah Lake on the 21st, or early on the 22nd..." and then a few days later adds a few details.

Several members of the posse, however, who were there have left accounts of the uprising as part of their own journals and life histories. These have been gathered together in this booklet to provide as complete a story as possible.

In many ways the reality was far different from the family story, but just as interesting. Some of the eye-witness accounts were written much later and contain their own inconsistencies. In a few cases what has been recorded is not flattering to the family.

The remainder of the booklet attempts to bring these eye-witness accounts together and tell the "true story" of the deaths of George and Washington Carson during the Tintic War and the events of the following summer.

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The Winter of 1855 and 1856

The winter of 1855 and 1856 was particularly bitter in Utah, and the problems of the cold were compounded by the disastrous harvest of 1855 which had been ravaged by the crickets. Great Salt Lake City and several settlements to the north and south along the Wasatch Front were well established. Settlers had begun branching out into the unsettled regions farther to the north and south and to the east and west of the Wasatch Mountains.

Much of this movement occurred immediately after the harvest of 1855, so that the settlers could take advantage of the fall months to move their belongings and build shelters sufficient to get them through the winter. The winter months were then used to build and prepare for as early a spring planting as possible.

In 1855 the Pioneers moved into Cedar Valley.

The valley lies immediately to the west of Utah Valley, and is separated from Utah Lake by a range of low mountains. The valley is higher than its neighbor to the east, and considerably drier. Two major springs whose water originated in the mountains to the west of Cedar Valley provided the only source of flowing water for the area. This was in sharp contrast to Utah Valley with its rivers flowing out of the eastern canyons.

Farther to the west of Cedar Valley lies Rush Valley which had even less water.

Two settlements were make by the Pioneers in Cedar Valley. The first was at Cedar Fort which was established on the creek that flowed out from the northern spring, and a few miles to the south was Fairfield, which was built just to the east of the creek flowing from the second spring. This creek was not only an important source of water, but was also the boundary between the two Pioneer settlements and the Indians who camped on the southern side. In later years the creek would serve as the boundary between Fairfield and Camp Floyd.

Control of the limited water supply in the valley was important to the settlers as they planned how the water would be used as they planted their crops. Control of the water was equally important to the Indians.

In 1855 Garland Hunt an Indian agent, wrote to Brigham Young, who was ex officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs:

"To those acquainted with the topography and resources of this country, it is easy to show, that as the white man takes possession of the few oases that here and there dot the dreary desert; the deer, the antelope, and even the varmints flee his presence and leave the poor Indian to take up his abode in the snowy canyons of the mountains, where it is impossible for him to exist long in his present state of nakedness, or he is driven by the white man upon the desert plains where there is neither game nor water... the Indian is forced to quit his favorite hunting ground, or to gain a meager subsistence either by begging or stealing."

Brigham Young was well aware of the problems of establishing a people, with completely different ideas of property and ownership, among the Indians who were used to a nomadic existence. He hoped that the Indians would see the benefits of the white man's way and gradually turn toward agriculture and husbandry as a new way of life, thereby lifting from them the Lamanite curse as described in the Book of Mormon.

In order to do this Governor Young had established several "farms" where friendly Indians could learn to plant and harvest their own crops. One of these was at Spanish Fort under Peteetneet, a friendly Ute.

Others of the Utes were not as friendly or willing to learn, preferring to keep their traditional ways. A group of these Indians were camped south of Fairfield during the winter of 1855-1856.

Fairfield at this time consisted of a rock fort, or the beginnings of one. A fort was a necessary part of the settlement plans. In 1853 Brigham Young had said:

I have a word to say to the sisters who have lately come into our city. Do not allow your fathers, your husbands, and your brothers, to go to any place to settle, unless it is walled in or in some other way made perfectly capable of defending you and themselves from the attack of Indians, or those who would seek to destroy you, and your property. If they want to drag you off to some place where you will be exposed to the ravages of Indians, tell them you are going to stay where you are, and then ask them what they are going to do about it. It is not my general practice to counsel the sisters to disobey their husbands, but my counsel is OBEY YOUR HUSBANDS: and I am sanguine and most emphatic on that subject. But I never counselled a woman to follow her husband to the devil. If a man is determined to expose the lives of his friends, let that man go to the devil and to destruction alone."

The fort at Fairfield was built of rock and was four rods square. This is the equivalent of 66 feet per side. The entrance was on the south side, near the east corner. William H. Carson, Jr., said that "most of the houses in the Fort were log houses. There was just one or two adobe houses. All the roofs on the houses were slanted to the top of the fort. They were made this way so in case of trouble with the Indians the people could get out and walk along the roofs of the houses and see what was going on that way."

The Carson family were the principal inhabitants of Fairfield, or South Fort, as it was often called.

Five Carson brothers were living in Fairfield at the time: William, John, David, his twin brother George, and Washington. Another brother, Jonathan, had died in Nauvoo.

William, the oldest of the boys, had his wife Ursula and six children with him. Five of the children were from his marriage to Corrilla Egbert, who died in Cottonwood in 1854. John and his wife, Elvira, who was pregnant, had six children with them. David, and his wife, Millie, were there with their two-year-old Mary Jane. George and his wife Elva had a two-year-old daughter Elva; and Washington's wife Emily Ann was pregnant with their first child.

In addition, the five brothers' oldest sister Elizabeth was at the fort with her husband Pattison Delos Griffith and their four children.

Their other sister Mary Ann, or Polly as she was called, lived with her husband Thomas Ewing in Cottonwood where the entire family had settled soon after their arrival in Utah in September 1851.

It is not known if Ann, the brothers' mother, was in Fairfield in 1856 or in Cottonwood with her youngest daughter.

At this time, none of the brothers had taken a plural wife. The doctrine had been known to them since the time they had left Nauvoo and had been publicly preached since 1851.

William's wife Ursula, or "Sula", had expressed negative feelings toward the practice. Of the women in Fairfield, she was the only one experienced with the family complexities that could arise from a second wife, as she was raising the children of her husband's first wife as well as one of there own.

Several others at Fairfield were intimately connected to the Carson family's presence at the settlement. One of these was Mads Christensen, who had arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1854. Needing a job, he waited at the public square for someone who would have use of his labor. He wrote:

"I was picked up by George Carson, who lived eight miles south of Salt Lake City. He was riding a horse and I was placed behind the saddle and this make me so sore that I could hardly walk for days. He was rather rough character, unfeeling and not religiously inclined. He had a young wife and baby. I liked the baby best for it did not mock me nor use me for a scapegoat.

I had the language to learn and scarcely knew the meaning of a dozen English words, but the first lessons were the hardest. By mutual consent I left Carson and went to Springville where my younger brother, William, was living ... thus I spent the first winter. In the spring of 1855 I engaged again to work for George Carson, for which service he agreed to pay me two good steers and one heifer, all one year of age, besides keeping me in food and clothes."

In addition to Mads, it appears that Washington had contracted similarly with a young convert named Henry Moran.

Both George and Washington Carson, with their hired men, worked as herders, or cowboys.

On the eastern side of the small range of mountains that separate Cedar Valley and Utah Valley is a narrow strip of land between the mountain and the lake. It was here that the Carsons had a "ranch" where they herded their cattle and the cattle of others. One account calls the ranch "Lore Tree".

The ranch was little more than a dugout with a dirt floor and a range where the cattle were kept. It was probably about twelve miles south of Pelican Point where Solomon Wixom had a home and some cabins which he rented out to travelers. Twelve miles farther north from Pelican Point was Dry Creek, or Lehi.

Twelve miles south of Carson's Ranch was Goshen Valley where Abraham Hunsaker's family lived, herding cattle for hire much like the Carsons. Across the lake from Carson's Ranch Provo.

At the beginning of February 1856 George sold his interest in the ranch to his brother Washington. George and Mads must have moved back to Fairfield and Washington and Henry Moran took over at Utah Lake. Mad's brother William had also been with Mads and George at Utah Lake, but "had left for Springville to live in his former home with the Richard Bird Family."

Thus Mads and his brother, as Mads records, "were luckily preserved from death."

Evidently Pattison D. Griffith, Elizabeth's husband, was also at the lake planting. This was done by drilling small holes in the ground deep enough that the wheat would survive the cold and germinate as quickly as possible in the sprint. The Deseret News reports, however, that at the end of February the weather had become so cold that "drilling" had ceased nearly everywhere.

As the winter became increasingly colder, and rations dearer, the settlers of Fairfield shared less and less with the Indians as they begged. Their Chief was Tintic, who with his brother Battest, headed the group of about thirty braves, their wives and children. Tintic had refused to follow Brigham Young's plan and as Garland Hund had predicted, had resorted to begging and stealing cattle.

Peteetneet, who had chosen to follow the plan, "was grieved at the hostilities of Tintic and his band, and remarked that Tintic had ears that were no good and of no use to him, he had council given him, but he would not hear it, and [Peteetneet] wanted Peanitch, the Indian Guide, and three others, when they would find Tintic to cut off his ears as they were no good."

The rustling and hostilities were mainly aimed at the two settlements in Cedar Valley - Cedar Fort and Fairfield. At times, though, Tintic and his band would move into Utah Valley through one of the passes at the south and of the valley and raid the cattle which were being herded along the shores of Utah Lake.

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The First Posse

In February 1856 Judge Drummond, a federally appointed judge in Utah, issued writs of arrest for Tintic and several other Indians who were thought to be responsible for the thefts of livestock during the preceding months. The judge was little liked by the Mormons, and he took no pains to hide his disdain for the Pioneers. Brigham Young and he were on especially unfriendly terms: Drummond felt that Young was cruel toward non-Mormons passing through the state, particularly if they were from Missouri; and President Young felt that Drummond was unnecessarily harsh when sentencing Mormons convicted of crimes, and often exercised his right as governor and pardoned them, much to Drummond's anger.

Armed with the writs for the arrest of the Indians, U.S. Deputy Marshal Thomas S. Johnson enlisted a posse of about ten men from Provo to arrest the accused Indians. The posse consisted chiefly of men from the local militia who were under the command of their elected leader, Colonel Peter Conover. Nephi Packer, Sheriff Wall, and John Clark were also members of the posse. Both Conover and Packer in describing the writs which Drummond issued state that they were for both murder and stealing.

The posse left Provo for Cedar Valley on the morning of Thursday, February 21, 1856.

When they reached American Fork they met George A. Smith, a member of the Mormon First Presidency. President Smith records that he met the posse led by Johnson and that they had writs for the arrest of Tintic, Squash, Cottonlegs, and several other Indians who were accused of transgressing the laws of the United States.

Deputy Marshal Johnson asked President Smith for his advice in the matter and how the confrontation with the Indians should best be handled. Drummond represented the law, but Smith represented a higher law to the members of the posse who were Mormons.

Johnson, knowing Judge Drummond's hatred for the Mormons and also President Young's conciliatory policy toward the Indians, was probably in doubt as to what motives Drummond could have in issuing writs that would almost certainly result in bloodshed if the posse attempted to enforce them.

President Smith advised Johnson "not to break peace with the Indians, nor kick up a war without the council of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs." At this time, Brigham Young was the ex officio superintendent.

The posse left President Smith and traveled on to Lehi, where they arrived about sunset. Taking President Smith's advice, they decided to send Colonel Conover on to Salt Lake to seek Brigham Young's counsel.

Colonel Conover, whose official title was Brigadier General, says that "I jumped [on] my horse and went to see the Governor to know what to do. I got there [Salt Lake City] at 1 o'clock at night. President Young made me lay down and take a nap."

When they spoke with each other that Friday morning, Brigham Young's advice was essentially what George A. Smith had told Marshal Johnson. Governor Young might have felt it right just because it was directly opposite of what Judge Drummond had ordered. Conover records these instructions:

"Governor Young's orders [to me] were not to fight. If they could not take him [Tintic] peaceably to let him go. [He] told me to go out and get a posse of men and go and get the cattle Tintic's band had stolen if possible."

While Brigham Young and Colonel Conover were meeting in Salt Lake City, the posse, under the direction of Deputy marshal Johnson, left Lehi for Cedar Valley. They probably arrived at Cedar Fort an hour or two before noon.

Johnson recruited several men from Cedar Fort and then sent a detachment of men under Sheriff Wall to Fairfield a few miles to the south, to protect the little settlement there.

The armed posse could not have entered the valley without the Indians knowing what was going on. Tintic probably began immediate preparations to handle the situation. He knew how reluctant the posse would be to engage in an armed encounter, and probably thought his best strategy would be to feign innocence and treat the matter lightly. If necessary he would fight and ordered his braves to make a show of preparation for battle that would be obviously visible from the fort, which was only half a mile or so to the north.

Deputy Marshal Johnson was in the dilemma of having to serve the writs and at the same time avoid "kicking up a war" as George A. Smith had put it. Johnson had of course not yet heard from Conovor who was just now returning from Salt Lake with Governor Young's orders.

Finally, Johnson asked John Clark, who was the Indian interpreter and several others if they would ride out to the Indian encampment and persuade Tintic to come to the fort to talk. He obviously felt it would be safer and less threatening if the posse stayed at the fort, rather than leading a group of armed men into the camp. He couldn't fine anyone who was willing to accompany Clark out to the encampment.

John Clark was an incredible man. He was 23 years old, unmarried, and "considerable of an athlete", as Bishop Packer described him. He had learned to speak Ute several years before in the Moab area as a missionary sent to teach the Indians to farm. The mission was a failure, but Clark learned the Ute Indian culture and their language very well. He was not afraid to go out to meet Tintic, but Marshal Johnson couldn't find anyone else willing to go with him.

While the posse was arguing among themselves about who should accompany Clark to the encampment, Tintic's brother, Battest, rode into the fort alone.

Tintic was probably unwilling to let the white men make the first move, and decided it would be a better show of his innocence if his own brother rode into the fort to find out what was going on.

Marshal Johnson asked Battest through the interpreter to have his brother come to the fort. Battest refused. After some discussion, Clark agreed to accompany Battest alone back to Tintic's tent.

He rode out of the fort sitting behind Battest on the Indian's horse.

Battest had probably refused to allow Clark to ride his own horse to the camp. Before leaving, Clark loaded two "shooters", tucked them into his belt and hid them under his overcoat.

The other members of the posse watched them as they left the fort, probably with a great deal of fear for Clark's safety, if not a little awe at his bravery - or his foolishness. As Clark and Battest saw it, though, the Indian had ridden alone into the fort, so why should the white interpreter be afraid to ride alone into the Indian camp?

Clark and Battest arrived at the encampment at about noon. Clark got off the horse and according to this own account:

"[I] walked into Tintic's tent and sat down by an Indian at the door. In a minute another Indian came in and sat by the Indian on my left. Tintic was this Indian. He told the Indian in front of him to hand him his [Tintic's] gun, which he did.

He took it and looking it over and moving it around he cocked it and dropped it down on me, careless like.

I was eyeing him and as it dropped I grabbed it and said, 'Hold on, that might go off.' Tintic laughed and said it wasn't loaded.

The Indians kept filing in one at a time and sitting down around the tent with their bows and arrows, until the tent was full, leaving their spears sitting up against the front of the tent as they came in. The tent was make of buckskin [and] I could hear the spears click as they put them down and they fell against the tent.

Tintic talked to the Indians in a low grunt, thinking I could not catch what he said, [but] I was in too tight a place not to observe all that was passing around me.

Probably as another test of Clark's courage Tintic said to the other Indians, "Wait until he starts home, then we will kill him."

Tintic said it in a low voice, but obviously intended Clark to hear it. It was difficult now to imagine what motive Tintic could have had in actually planning to kill Clark, knowing that the posse would attack the camp at the slightest sign of trouble. Clark records that "I could see I would have to wait until dark to have a chance for escape." Clark did not seem to want to test Tintic's real intentions, and Bishop Packer, who new Clark well, said that "Clark was fast on foot, being considerable of an athlete, he intended on leaving to dodge round as he ran. Thus, if they fired at him they would not be likely to hit him."

As the cold afternoon wore on, the posse members and those living at the fort stood on the walls or at the gate and watched for Clark to emerge from the tent.

In the tent, Clark talked to Tintic, "telling him that Brigham Young wanted him to come to the fort and talk with Johnson. He [Tintic] only said that he would not go. He was so sullen he wouldn't talk much. I had to keep talking as I dared not make a move to go."

While Clark was in the tent, waiting for dark and a better chance for escape, the posse at the fort became increasingly worried about his safety. Bishop Packer reports seeing the Indians "stripped and painted in their war-paints, and prepared to fight."

Fearing for Clark's safety, Johnson and George Parish made the decision to take the posse into the camp, rescue Clark, and arrest Tintic if possible. Men were recruited from the forts and a posse of about thirty men, which was about equal to the number of braves in the camp, prepared to ride to the encampment.

George Carson was among those at the fort who decided to accompany the posse.

Although we know very little about George Carson personally, it is not hard to imagine some of the motives that led him to join the posse. For over a hundred years his family had lived on the frontiers of the country. His grandfather William Carson had lived in Pennsylvania during several Indian uprisings. George's parents had moved to Ohio in the middle 1820's and soon after his birth had moved with the Mormons to Jackson County, Missouri, which was on the very borders of Indian country. Driven from their homes and lands by the Missouri mobs, who often disguised themselves as Indians, they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Once more the family lost their land to the anti-Mormon mobs and moved to Garden Grove, Iowa. They worked and saved money over the next few years and then moved to Utah in 1851. Throughout his life George had learned how precarious possession of property can be, and probably felt compelled to take a stand in defense of his new home in Cedar Valley.

In addition, during the previous months, he had lived closer to Tintic and his band than the posse members from Provo and had perhaps been subject to losses of livestock from the Indians, for which he wanted justice done.

There also exists the possibility that he simply conscripted on the spot by Deputy Marshal Johnson, who had the power to enlist any men he needed.

The posse was quickly formed and rode to the encampment as the sun was beginning to set.

Clark, who was still inside the tent trying to reason with Tintic, suddenly heard one of the squaws outside the tent holler that the Mormons were coming. He recalls that "some of the Indians stood slowly to their feet. A few of them walked leisurely outside. When the boys rode up, Thomas Johnson called out, 'are you all right John?'"

Clark answered, "'Yes, now that you boys have come.' Johnson and Parish [then] came into the tent. Johnson grabbed Tintic by the hair, [and] drawing his six shooter saying, 'You are my prisoner.' Tintic grabbed [the shooter] by the muzzle, it went off shooting him through the hand."

The posse and Indians on the outside of the tent, not being able to tell who had shot whom inside the tent, became frightened, and the posse opened fire.

Joseph S. McFate records "the fight took place just at dusk; I stood on the fort wall at Fairfield, a distance of about half a mile from their guns and heard the reports."

Tintic pulled loose from Johnson's grip and ran out the back of the tent.

Bishop Packer says, "Tintic's brother, Battest, aimed his rifle at George Parish and fired, but the gun barrel being knocked aside, the bullet missed its mark. One of Parish's friends then drew his revolver and shot Battest through the head, killing him instantly."

The rest of the Indians inside the tent then jumped for the door, knocking Clark flat on his face. He wrote:

As I attempted to rise all the rest [of the Indians] either jumped over me or sprang of my back as they went out. The boys on the outside shooting at them as they went out. I was unable to rise until all were out of the tent, as they knocked me down every time I tried, they were gone so fast. It was the only thing that saved my life

Outside the tent, the posse killed two braves and one squaw.

During the fighting, which could not have lasted more than a minute or so since most of the posse members had only one shot in the "shooters," a squaw grabbed a spear from those that had been set up outside the tent, and tried to kill George Carson. He saw her and tried to move, but the spear struck him in the leg.

By now the posse had expended its ammunition and began to head back to the fort. George Carson was picked up and laid over his horse, and Woods Wilson led George and his horse back to the fort. It was slow going and soon the posse had left them far behind.

The posse assumed that John Clark had been killed in the tent, and left without attempting to get him.

The Indians with their families ran and hid in the cedars to the south of their encampment.

When Clark came to, he was alone in the tent. He picked up two guns and some bows and arrows and then he "looked for a horse. Seeing Tintic's and his brother's tied near the tent, I untied them as fast as I could, jumped on one, leading the other and just started away as the Indians were coming back. Seeing me, they began running and shooting, being careful [though] not to hit their horses. I lay over the side [of the horse] and rode for my life."

Clark soon overtook Woods Wilson who was leading the wounded George Carson on his horse. Clark gave Wilson one of his loaded pistols and raced on to the fort.

George's older sister Elizabeth often told her grandchildren how she "with her small family watched the battle from the fort and saw her brother's white horse come up the trail with his lifeless [appearing] body thrown over the saddle."

It was dark now. The posse and settlers retired to the safety of the fort and set guards in the event the Indians should attack.

Mads Christensen, George's hired hand, wrote that he "and some others stood guard that night at the little fort, listening and watching closely, expecting a possible attack by revengeful Indians. We could hear moaning and mournings by refugees who, during the night, were moving their camp and effects west into Rush Valley for safety, having some wounded ones with them and having left one Indian and a squaw on the battleground."

From the moment George was brought into the fort, it was obvious that he would not make it through the night. Most likely he bled to death.

He died about one o'clock in the morning, Saturday, February 23 1856.

George appears to have been the only member of the posse to have been wounded, and was certainly the only casualty. The family must have felt a certain irony that George, who was not actually a member of the militia, was the only one to die.

Perhaps the squaw who threw the spear recognized George as one of the settlers from the fort and chose him specifically as the target of her anger.

The ironies of fate however were soon to be confounded, for during the night some of the Indians, instead of moving into Rush Valley, traveled east into Utah Valley, near to where Washington Carson and Henry Morgan were herding, and where Elizabeth's husband, Pattison, was farming.

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The Lehi Militia

On the same Friday morning that the posse was preparing to leave Lehi for their encounter with Tintic, and while Colonel Conover was in Salt Lake discussing the problem with Brigham Young, Abraham Hunsaker left his home at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley, heading south through the Jordan Narrows toward Utah Valley and his herd at Goshen.

Hunsaker was one of the early Pioneers of Utah. In 1856 he and his first wife Eliza were living in Sandy, near the Jordan River. His second wife Harriet and her three children lived at the south end of Utah Lake where the family herded cattle and sheep for hire. He knew that the Indians as the Deseret News later wrote, "for some time past ... [had] been disposed to be mischievous, stealing cattle and horses when opportunity offered, threatening to kill cattle when they pleased, and resisting a legal examination into their conduct." Becoming worried about the safety of his family, he determined to bring them back into the Salt Lake Valley.

His diary records the only descriptions of the events surrounding the death of Washington Carson that has been discovered, and describes the events of that Friday and Saturday in detail.

He began Friday morning by uniting in prayer with his family, and then started toward his herd at the south end of Utah Lake. His second wife, Harriett, and her children were there, taking care of his cattle and sheep.

The day began bitter cold, with snow on the ground. He traveled by carriage and took his son Abraham with him.

During the morning the ground warmed enough to become muddy, and by sundown they had pushed their fatigued horses only as far as the ranch where Washington Carson and Henry Moran had their herd.

Hunsaker and his son spent the night with Washington and Henry. In his diary, however, he records that he spent the night with George Carson. The two brothers evidently looked enough alike that he could not tell them apart. It had only been a few weeks since Washington had bought his brother's interest in the ranch and had moved into the dugout.

The diary records that Hunsaker "talked with George Carson and Henry Moran and they [said] they had no fear of the Indians at present, although Brother Carson told me that the Indians were getting mad, and that they were getting very hungry for a fight, and that they intended to fight when the warm weather came."

Unfortunately we can only speculate as to why the Indians were "getting mad" and over what they intended to fight. That they were hungry, though, is not a matter of speculation.

Hunsaker and his son spent the night on Carson's dirt floor, sleeping on a quilt, and covered by another. They did not rest much that night as it was very cold.

It was during this conversation between Hunsaker and Washington that George Carson lay in the fort at Fairfield dying.

While Hunsaker and his son slept, the Indians in Cedar Valley, using the dark as cover, returned to their camp, recovered the bodies of their dead, and made an obvious show of moving into Rush Valley.

Tintic had been placed in a precarious position. While he might not have been guilty of murder before the posse arrived, it must have been obvious to him that at least one white man had been killed. He knew that if he did not move his camp the posse would be upon him in the morning, probably with reinforcements. He could not attack the forts, and he probably had little more than a few days' supply of food on hand for his band. If he moved the band west into Utah Valley where there were several large and unprotected herds, he would draw too much attention to himself.

It appears that he made the decision to pretend to move his entire band into Rush Valley and hide them there as well as he could in the natural rock formations. In order to insure his own safety, and provide food for the band through the entire winter in which they would have to hide, he sent a group of braves, perhaps including himself, into Utah Valley. There they would drive as many cattle as possible south into the mountains which now bear Tintic's name. At this time the area was virtually unexplored by the settlers. Later the bands would rendezvous in the mountains.

A bold plan, and one which succeeded very well.

When morning came, George Carson was dead, the squaws and children had noisily moved into Rush Valley, and a small band of braves had crossed into Utah Valley near to where Washington had his herd. No one at the fort makes mention of seeing any Indians move east into Utah Valley.

Abraham Hunsaker awoke his son at sunrise and left Washington and Henry's dugout before breakfast, hoping to get to their herd which was twelve miles to the south, in time to have breakfast with his wife Harriet and family.

Soon after Abraham left, several braves attacked and killed Washington and Henry. They ransacked the dugout and began driving the stock toward the south.

Hunsaker arrived at his herd at ten o'clock, just as his horses gave out from the hard work of traveling through the snow and mud. His son Lewis was pulling harnesses off the horses when they saw two Indians riding toward them furiously. He knew immediately that all was not right.

An Indian named Moto, with whom Hunsaker had been friendly, was also with the herd. He had been sick with measles, but when he heard the Indians shouting as they rode up he jumped out of bed and ran out to them, "and they hollered very furiously as though they were very mad. Moto ran back to his tent, gathered his duds, and left with the Indians." In the meantime, Hunsaker gathered the children together and ran into the house, leaving one boy to watch the Indians.

The Indians went off some 200 yards and stopped and talked together for about twenty minutes and then headed west. Hunsaker told his family he knew the Indians would kill them if they got the chance, and that the family should move north as quickly as possible.

There was only one fresh mare at the house, and fearing what would happen if the horses gave out before they got to Carson's, Hunsaker told his son Lewis to go and get a mare he had seen about two miles north of the house. Lewis jumped on the fresh mare and galloped toward the one his father had seen. Hunsaker then asked two of the younger boys, Allen and Lemuel, to gather up the sheep as he would try to take them with him.

The Indians saw the two young boys headed after the sheep and started to ride toward them, but then seeing Lewis headed north alone after the mare, they turned and rode after him. They might have thought Lewis was headed for Provo or Lehi to raise a posse.

While Lewis was gone, the younger boys brought in the sheep and some cattle. Abraham hitched the cattle to a wagon and the tired horse to the carriage. He loaded his family and started north "to flee from the Indians." As they moved north they continued to gather whatever stock they could find.

When they came to the spot where Abraham had seen the mare, he could not find his son Lewis but could see where Lewis's horse, or some other animal, had been on the "jump."

Fearing for the rest of his family's safety, he traveled on as fast as he could, hoping that he would overtake Lewis. When they were about half a mile from Carson's, he sent Allen on ahead to warn Washington and get an "express" to Provo for help. The lake was frozen and he thought Washington could cross over easily on horseback. As they neared Carson's, Allen returned and said he had found the dugout plundered, and that no one was there.

Hunsaker drove close to the dugout, went in and found the house had been robbed of all the clothing and bed clothes; and all the guns were gone.

It was now dark, so he told his family to leave the sheep and cattle, and that they would travel on to the Wixoms at Pelican Point as quickly as possible. He found a fresh yoke of cattle, hitched them on and traveled along the lake, keeping as far from the cedars as possible, fearing that the Indians might be hiding, waiting for a chance to ambush them.

In reality, however, the Indians were probably all to the south, rounding up whatever sheep and cattle they could find. Having rid the western side of the lake of all the white men, they were free to carry out Tintic's plan.

Hunsaker drove the lead team with his gun on his shoulder, and Allen drove the other team with an ax ready to chop down if any Indian should make attack on them. His younger boys and wife Harriett rode in the wagons. Lemuel, who was an adopted son, made up the rear guard "as he was an Indian and could see better than any of us."

They had not traveled more than three hundred yards north of the dugout when Abraham saw a man lying on his back, dead. Fearing that it was his son Lewis, he stopped down and looked closely into his face.

It was Washington Carson.

He told his family that it was Carson, and being afraid that taking the body with them might frighten the family too much, he left it there, thinking he could raise a company of men from Lehi and return the next day.

They traveled on as fast as they could and arrived at the Wixom place at about one o'clock in the morning of Sunday, February 24, 1856. Solomon Wixom and his family knew nothing about the Indian uprising.

Wixom and his family raised sheep at the point. They had previously lived in Cottonwood, having been there since 1851, and probably knew the Carsons very well.

In the morning Abraham Hunsaker left his family at the point with the Wixoms and started toward Lehi with David Sanders to get help. Part way there they met a company of about ten men from Willow Creek in Salt Lake County under Colonel Brown, who was coming to get their cattle at Carson's. After hearing Hunsaker's story, the men realized they would need reinforcements and so an express was sent back to David Evans, the bishop in Lehi. It was a Sunday and the express probably interrupted a church service to tell the congregation of the Indian uprising. This would have been the first they would have know about it, and the fact that men had actually been killed on the west side of Utah Lake.

Bishop Evans raised a company of 25 men and placed them under the direction of William Sidney Smith Willis. Willis was a veteran of the Mormon Battalion, and Colonel of the Lehi Militia.

Willis left Lehi in the afternoon, crossed the frozen lake, and arrived at Wixoms at sundown. Over the next few days the Wixom place would become the headquarters of the attempt to subdue the Indians and recover the cattle. The militia rested until midnight, then traveled on to Carson's. They arrived just before sunrise on Monday, February 25.

Hunsaker records in his diary that "we came to Carson's, some twelve miles [from Wixom's] and we searched for the dead body which was near there. We found Henry Moran, lying flat on his belly with his arms stretched out, dead, being shot with two bullets through his body. His dog was lying between his legs. We also came to where I had seen Carson in the night. He was lying on his breast. He was shot in the body also."

Washington Carson and Henry Moran had probably been surprised by the Indians after they had left their dugout the previous Saturday morning. If they had been in their dugout when the Indians attacked, they probably could have defended themselves.

The Indians attacked them in the cedars to the north of the dugout, shooting them without warning. Washington probably did not die instantly, but tried to stop the bleeding in his chest with his cap. After they were dead, the Indians mutilated their bodies, perhaps by scalping them.

After locating the bodies, Hunsaker, Willis, and about twenty men set out to find Hunsaker's boy, Lewis, and round up the herds. They traveled south along the lake and found nothing. That night Hunsaker records that he slept in his "shack" in Goshen Valley.

James Lamb and John Glynes of the Lehi Militia were sent to notify the inhabitants at Fairfield of the deaths.

On Tuesday, February 26, Willis and his men gathered up the cattle while Hunsaker searched for his son. He realized now that Lewis was very probably dead, his only hope being that Moto, the Indian with whom he had been friendly, had talked the other Indians into keeping Lewis as a prisoner, or hostage.

Willis and his men rounded up about 115 head. Knowing there were still more on the range, Willis and Hunsaker went out again, and in two hours rounded up another 140, making a total of about 250 head at the camp in Goshen Valley.

It was evening now, and the men made camp close to a large grove of cedars near Kimball Creek. Hunsaker returned just as the men finished killing a steer, which they planned to roast for their evening meal.

The men were exhausted, cold, and very hungry. Joseph Cousins, a member of the Lehi Militia, jestingly remarked that "if the Indians kill me, I wish to die with a full stomach."

After they had eaten, Hunsaker went out again with his boy Allen in search of Lewis's body. The men in camp built up a roaring fire as protection against the cold, and Cousins and Sylvanus Collet went into the cedar grove to gather more firewood.

"They were busily engaged when Collett, glancing up, saw an Indian peering out from behind a tree not far away. Shouting to his companion, 'Run, there is an Indian' he hastily fled to camp. Not so with Cousins. He seemed rooted to the spot, unable to help himself."

"The savages made quick work of him, mercilessly shooting him down and scalping him."

The Indians then began an attack of the camp. The men crouched behind wagons and whatever else they could for protection and returned the fire as best they could.

During the confusion the Indians drove off almost all the cattle that had been gathered and seventeen of the horses.

Hunsaker didn't know anything about the battle but he saw the herd being drive off. As he and his son returned toward camp they found a dead man. Hunsaker said, "Here lies Lewis now." Allen looked at him and said it was not Lewis. Hunsaker went closer to him and saw that he had whiskers on. He took hold of this arm and found that it was limber and that the blood was not yet frozen. They immediately realized the Indians must be very close to them. They crouched down and ran stooped over toward the camp. He records:

"We ran stooped over till we came [within] 100 yards of the camp. We stopped and heard nothing but we [could] see the carriage and some four of the horses but could not see or hear the boys. I feared the Indians had killed them all off and drove the cattle and horses off for we had just seen two large droves going."

They crept within forty yards of the camp, until they heard the men talking quietly. Thinking it was safe they started walking toward the camp. The men saw them coming and took aim at them, thinking they were Indians. When they were within twenty yards of the camp, Willis hollered to them and told them to run.

When they got to camp, they were told that the militia had thought they were Indians and had taken aim at them. Willis said that he had thought they were Indians "and that he had taken aim at me [Hunsaker] and couldn't pull off the trigger, and also two other boys said they were pulling triggers and aiming at me when Willis hailed."

Hunsaker reported seeing Cousins dead in the cedars, and was told that another had been killed at the camp, and one wounded. Willis ordered the men to retreat to Wixom's as quickly as possible. They put the wounded man, George Winn, in a carriage, and then walked across the frozen lake toward Pelican Point. They arrived at Wixom's at two o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, February 27. The wounded man died soon after that.

Alonzo Rhodes continued on across the ice from Pelican Point to Lehi to raise a relief company.

Since the outbreak of the "war" the previous Friday, six men had been killed by the Indians and one, Lewis Hunsaker, was still missing. Tintic, the Indian chief, had been wounded in the hand, his brother Battest was dead, and the least three other Indians killed.

More than 250 head of cattle had been taken by the Indians and driven south and west of Goshen Valley into the Tintic Mountains.

Hunsaker never found Lewis's body, or determined his fate.

On March 3 he gathered his family together and told them, "I have felt to mourn for my son more grief than in all my life before, and it is all that I can do to refrain and govern myself not knowing where my son is and whether he is dead or alive, but I will here state that ... he was sometimes disobedient and would have his own course, but I will further state that he was a through-going boy and when he undertook anything he would accomplish it at all hazards. He was not profane ... I also stated that it made no matter when we died, only so that we had accomplished our work and prepared ourselves for entering into a celestial kingdom."

Hunsaker's words and grief reflect the feelings that were felt by George and Washington's families in Fairfield.

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The Second Posse

After hearing Colonel Conover's report and hearing of the deaths of the herdsmen at Utah Lake, Governor Young issued a proclamation in the Deseret News:

"I therefore deem it a duty which I owe to our common preservation, to take such measures as will be best calculated to prevent the shedding of blood ... I call upon the military forces of the Territory to hold themselves in readiness to march to any point, as they shall be directed ... to suppress ... the Indian hostilities at present so unfortunately existing ...

"To those persons residing in isolated locations and small settlements, as also to those who are herding stock upon the ranges, I say, place yourselves in a position of defense, either by removing to a safe place, or in strengthening up your defenses and increasing you numbers ...

"It is particularly enjoined upon all the citizens to conciliate the Indians in their respective settlements, and keep them friendly disposed, and induce them, if possible, not to join the war parties now in the field."

By the time this proclamation had been issued and distributed, the Tintic War or uprising was essentially over. Tintic and his bands had reunited in the Tintic Mountains with whatever cattle had survived the cold and exhaustion of the trip, and he was prepared to spend the winter in hiding.

On March 1, Colonel Conover had gathered between one and two hundred men at the north end of the West Mountains near Lehi. The force had been given the instructions of Governor Young "not to fight [Tintic]; if they could not take him peaceably to let him go... and get the cattle Tintic's band had stolen if possible."

John Banks, a member of this posse, has left a good description of the posse's activities over the next few days. He records:

"This was a very exciting time. We camped the first night on the north end of the so-called West Mountains where we experienced an extremely cold night, without any bedding except our saddle blankets, and were not allowed to have any fire after sundown.

"When day dawned we learned that several of our men had frozen feet, and consequently had to return home... Early in the morning we saddled our horses, and the order, 'mount, forward, march' was given.

They had not gone far before they struck the trail of an Indian, which track they followed on the ice across Utah Lake until they came to Carson's Ranch. North of the dugout they found where Washington Carson's and Henry Moran's bodies had been found. Banks says that "the blood was lickered [frozen] in the sand, the sight of which caused quite a sensation."

The posse killed and roasted an ox which they found on the range and spent the night at the ranch.

In the morning they posse found the trail which the Indians had taken in to the mountains. They reached a valley which they named Tintic Valley and then followed the trail in a south westerly direction.

Conover records that they "went over the Tintic Mountain; it took us all day to go over the mountain. We found a good many cattle dead on the trail. When one [of the cattle] would mire down in the snow, they [the Indians] would kill it. My horse slipped off the trail in one place and down horse and rider went but I stuck to him and he brought me out all right."

On the third day, the posse saw the campfire smoke of the Indians, but the location was bad and they feared that they were marching into a trap.

During the night the Indians scattered in every direction, making it impossible for the posse to follow them in the unexplored territory. The posse gathered what cattle they could find and camped on the Sevier River. The next day they drove what cattle they had found into the little settlement of Nephi where they "rejoiced on being well treated, and having plenty of good food to eat, having had nothing to eat for seven days previous except fresh beef, without salt."

The next morning they left Nephi and drove the recovered cattle north into Utah Valley where they notified Hunsaker and the Carson family to come and take the stock which belonged to them.

The posse had met no resistance from the Indians who were safely hidden in the mountains, undoubtedly with sufficient meat to keep them through the winter.

One Indian, however, who had been named in the original writs issued by Judge Drummond had been arrested, although it is not known how, or by whom.

The Deseret News reported on March 5 that:

"the noted Washear, or Squash... while momentarily from under the eye of his keepers so effectively cut his throat with a case [table] knife furnished him to eat with, [that] he soon died. He had been frequently heard to say that he would not go to Great Salt Lake City to be hung up like a dog, alluding to the fate of the two [Indians] who were hung during the administration of the Hon. Leonidas Shaver, late U.S. Associate Justice.

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Spring and Summer of 1856

When James Lamb and John Glynes of the Lehi Militia reached Fairfield with the news that Washington and Henry had been killed, the already bereaved family was thrown into a state of shock. Elizabeth, George and Washington's oldest sister, would immediately have asked about her husband Pattison, who had been with Washington at the dugout. James Lamb could only have told her that the posse had not found his body. She could only assume that her husband was dead.

Mads Christiansen said, "there was great sorrow and mourning in the little fort when the corpses of the murdered men were brought in from the ranch by Utah Lake." Nephi Packer was there and records that "their bodies had been mutilated and when they were thawed out with warm water for the purpose of dressing them, it created a stench which together with the sight of their mutilated bodies" made everyone sick.

After the funeral, several problems faced the family. First, how to liquidate the business at Utah Lake. The cattle which Washington had been herding for hire needed to be retrieved and returned to the owners, most of whom were friends from Little Cottonwood where the family had previously lived. Second was the problem presented by the loss of three grown men needed during the coming planting and harvesting.

The last problem was more long-lasting: What should be done with the three widows and their children? This was partially solved when Pattison Griffith miraculously appeared at the fort alive. He had been with Washington and Henry at the dugout, but when the ground had become too frozen to continue planting he had taken what little seed he had left to a mill to be ground into flour. He was thus spared and knew nothing of the massacre until he returned to the fort.

Finding husbands for the widowed wives of the two brothers would remain a problem for awhile.

The first problem, that of finding and returning the stock from the ranch to its owners, was solved by the large posse under Colonel Conover. The posse recovered much of the stock, although many cattle had died from exhaustion and were found frozen. Abraham Hunsaker records, somewhat acrimoniously, that Colonel Conover "charged me one-third of the stock for getting those cattle and horses the Indians had stolen. I paid up for them and took them home and delivered them to the owners to come and settle with me and take them away." The posse probably also charged the Carsons one-third of their stock for rounding up their herd.

One-third was undoubtedly more than enough cattle to have kept all of Tintic's band alive and well fed for the entire winter if the settlers had originally been willing to feed the Indians. It is understandable though why they would have been reluctant to share.

The disastrous harvest of the previous year would have left barely enough food to keep the settlers through the winter, and they would have been particularly anxious to get their cattle through the winter to build the herds for future years. It would not have been a time when most people would be willing to share.

To compound the problem for the Indians, the settlers had built their fort at the very spot where the Indians were used to hunting their winter game, thus depriving them of a major source of winter food.

As the winter turned to spring, the settlers at the fort began preparations for the spring planting. What little wheat that had been "drilled" would be barely enough to keep them alive for a few weeks.

That spring, Washington's widow gave birth to their first child, Julia Ann.

Mads Christensen describes in detail the events of the following months:

"I continued to work there until my time expired on the first of May 1856. It was a very hard time to be turned out of employment, as a famine for breadstuffs caused by grasshoppers was in evidence. The previous season they had practically destroyed the crops in Utah, and the territory was then isolated from the rest of the world by 1,000 miles.

"I was paid off with two one-year-old steers. I did not get the expected heifer as agreed upon. I was discharged in the midst of a famine but a good Samaritan, Patterson Griffith, asked where I was going to find employment until I had served out my time; he said he could find work for me if I could take such fare as his own family had to live on, which would be pretty short rations until harvest time, when half a crop was expected. He would let me board with him for my work and pay me eight dollars a month. I accepted his offer and was making a Spanish wall fence around a field which was hard labor on small rations, but I endured all right. He was to me as kind as a father.

"I had no sooner started to work for him than he discovered that my head was lousy. The Carson widow had for a long time hidden the fine tooth comb, and my only help to keep the lice reduced was to take a piece of soap at night and steal away down to the creek and wash my head with soap and thus work out some of the surplus stock. Seeing the predicament, he spoke to me about it and proposed to cut my hair. After a few hair cuttings and combings I was delivered from this evil."

Mads was particularly unlucky in the employers he picked as he seemed to have trouble with all their wives. He worked later in a saddler's shop in Provo and had to do some chores for the man's wife. In describing her he says, "Cross? Yes, she was the crossest woman I ever had met."

"About the last of May the bread was all gone in the family and none could be bought or borrowed. Mr. Griffith had about a dozen sheep so he sold one for six dollars and with this money started out on horseback, taking a grain sack with him.

"He went to Lehi, which is 15 miles away, then to Salt Lake Valley calling at the mills as he went along. He went on to Ogden without finding any flour or bread for sale, at any price. He returned home without anything.

"The next day he started out again, going to Lehi, American Fork, Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork and then to Payson; afterwards to Santaquin where he obtained 50 pounds of ground, unbolted wheat for six dollars, and with this supply he came home.

"We lived on greasewood sprouts, pigweeds and a few green vegetables, some milk curdled with rennet and a very small ration of meat. When this small supply of breadstuff was exhausted, there were yet six weeks before the earliest wheat could b e gathered from a two-acre plot with voluntary bunches of wheat, very far apart. [This was probably some of the wheat that Pattison had planted by drilling.]

"This we were permitted to help gather in and we all turned out one day and drove five miles to gather it. Forming a row at one end we pulled it up root and all, bunch by bunch. The following day the oxen were put upon it on a smooth place on the ground and it was trampled out by four head of oxen. Then the chaff was fanned away, and the wheat sacked and sent to the mill 30 miles distant to be ground.

"When a sack of the flour and one of bran were brought into the house, there was a time of rejoicing hard to describe. The good housewife was touched to tears over what we had passed through, while the chatter of the children was about the bread which was in prospect. Soon we got it in the form of warm biscuit and bread, which never tasted better. Later a moderate harvest was gathered in Utah and the famine was a thing of the past."

Once the harvest was in, the family could take up the question of how best to care for the widows of George and Washington. The brothers were well aware of the injunction in Deuteronomy 25 that:

"If brethren dwell together and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the first born which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel."

Mormon doctrine teaches that to be without posterity in the worlds to come is one of the greatest of tragedies. The practice of polygamy easily allowed the surviving brothers to take the two widows as their wives for time only, as opposed to all eternity, and raise up families for their dead brothers. The only difficulty was which of the three brothers would marry the two widows?

William, the oldest, was married to Ursula who had expressed strong feelings against the practice of polygamy. John's wife Elvira was equally strong-minded although she later became converted to the doctrine. And David, Washington's twin brother, was just starting his family and was as yet not as financially secure as his two older brothers.

At some time the brothers made the decision. How it was reached is a secret that seems not to have been passed down in the family. William would marry Emily (Washington's widow) and David would marry Elva (George's widow). Elva was the sister of David's first wife Amelia.

Williams's wife was angry at the decision and threatened that the day Emily walked in the front door she would walk out the back. After the marriage Ursula announced that she actually would leave. There was "some little trouble with who was to take the children," according to William Harrison Carson, "but Sula finally took them with her." After the massacre she had had two additional children, Oscar and Isabella. She took Stephen, her oldest, and the two younger ones, remarried and moved to California where she spent the rest of her life.

William was left with five children from his first marriage and he and Emily had an additional thirteen children. The first child was a boy whom they named Washington; he died at age 22.

David and Amelia, his first wife, had seven children. David and Elva had one child whom they named George after her first husband. George died young.

There years following the massacre were not easy, particularly the years that Johnston's Army was camped at Fairfield. It is coincidental that Judge Drummond, who had issued the original writ for the arrest of Tintic which resulted in the massacres, was also instrumental in sending the army to Utah.

Drummond resigned his judgeship in Utah and became one of the leading agitators in the East that led the President of the United State to send the army to Utah to put down the Mormon rebellion. His lies, particularly about plural marriage, were widely published and believed. Interestingly, Drummond's wife published an article denouncing her husband for infidelity. Her article stated that the women he lived with in Utah had not been herself, but a woman of ill repute, pretending to be his wife.

Tintic did not die sinking into the water of Utah Lake, nor did he die of the gunshot wound he received in the battle south of Fairfield, even though the Deseret News on March 5 reported that he had.

Tintic lived several more years, and died in 1859 camped in the Tintic Mountains at what would eventually become some of the richest silver mines in the country.

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Bibliography

Carson, Elvin. History of Fairfield, Utah. Unpublished manuscript in the possession of the author. This is the source of the traditional family version of the story.

Christensen, Mads. Reminiscences. Typescript in possession of the author. Also published in Kate B. Carter, compiler, Our Pioneer Heritage.

Clark, John. Memoirs of John Clark. Unpublished manuscript provided to the author by John Clark's granddaughter Arvilla Clark.

Conover, Peter Wilson. Reminiscences, 1880. Typescript of unpublished manuscript. Copies also housed in LDS Historical Department and Genealogical Department.

Deseret News, February 27, 1856, and March 5, 1856.

Gardner, Hamilton. History of Lehi. Salt Lake City, 1913. Source of the account of the Lehi Militia.

George Carson and Ann Hough Family Orginization. The family of George Carson and his wife Ann Hough. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1978.

Gottfredson, Peter, ed. History of Indian Depredations in Utah. Salt Lake City, 1919. Source of the Nephi Packer and John Banks accounts.

Griffith, Albertie. History of Elizabeth Carson Griffiths. Unpublished manuscript in possession of the author. Source of the information on Elizabeth and her husband Pattison D. Griffith.

Hunsaker Family Organization. History of Abraham Hunsaker and His Family. Salt Lake City, 1957. Quotes used by permission.

Journal of Discourses, Volume 1, Page 76. Source of the Brigham Young quote on building forts.

McFate, Joseph S. Letter to Andrew Jensen, January 10, 1922. Copy in Journal History of the Church, February 23, 1856.

Smith, George A. Journal History of the Church, Frbruary 21, 1856.

Steele, Raymond Duane. Goshen Valley History, 1960.

Utah Historical Records Survey, Division of Professional and Service Projects. Works Projects Administration. Inventory of the County Archives of Utah. No. 25 Utah County (Provo). Ogden, Utah, 1940. Source of the Garland Hunt quote.

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