US ResearchConflictsIndian Wars and Frontier ConflictsBlack Hawk War – Circleville Massacre
Indian Wars and Frontier Conflicts

Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre

1866
Utah
Era
Indian Wars and Frontier Conflicts
Year
1866
Location
Utah
Status
Verified engagement
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Paiute Captives
VS
Victor
Mormon Settlers
Outcome
Mormon settlers killed captive Paiute men, women, and children
The Battle

History & Significance

The Battle Creek massacre was a lynching of a Timpanogos group on March 5, 1849, by a group of 35 Mormon settlers at Battle Creek Canyon near modern Pleasant Grove, Utah. It was the first violent engagement between the settlers who had begun coming to the area two years before, and was in response to reported cattle theft by the group. The attacked group was outnumbered, outgunned, and had little defense against the militia that crept in and surrounded their camp before dawn.

Historical context

The Indian Wars encompass more than three centuries of armed conflict between the United States government, American settlers, and Indigenous nations — from the Powhatan Wars of the 1620s through the final Plains campaigns of the late 19th century. The eastern conflicts — King Philip's War (1675–1676), the Tuscarora War (1711–1715), and the Creek and Seminole Wars — largely ended organized Indigenous resistance east of the Mississippi by the 1840s. On the Great Plains, the Sioux Wars (1854–1890), Red River War (1874–1875), and Nez Perce War (1877) followed the displacement wrought by the transcontinental railroad and the near-extinction of the American bison — an estimated 30 to 60 million animals reduced to fewer than 1,000 by 1890. The Ghost Dance religious movement and the massacre at Wounded Knee (December 29, 1890), in which US cavalry killed approximately 250 Lakota men, women, and children, marked the effective end of armed resistance. The Dawes Act (1887) allotted reservation land to individual families, opening millions of acres to white settlement and reducing Indigenous landholdings by about two-thirds over the following decades.

Casualties & Losses

26 Paiute killed

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre take place?
Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre took place in 1866.
Where was Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre fought?
Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre was fought in Utah, United States.
What was the outcome of Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre?
Mormon settlers killed captive Paiute men, women, and children
What was the significance of Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre?
The Battle Creek massacre was a lynching of a Timpanogos group on March 5, 1849, by a group of 35 Mormon settlers at Battle Creek Canyon near modern Pleasant Grove, Utah. It was the first violent engagement between the settlers who had begun coming to the area two years before, and was in response t
Protected heritage nearby

Historic Sites near Black Hawk War – Circleville Massacre

Piute County Courthouse
Industrial · 5.3 mi
More from this era

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Battle of Fort Utah (Provo)
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Gunnison Massacre (October 26, 1853)
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Battle of Manti (Walker War)
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Battle at American Fork Canyon
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Battle at Nephi (Walker War)
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Walker War — Utah (1853)
1853
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Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 11, 1857)
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Shoshone Raids on Overland Trail UT
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All battles in Utah
Source

Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Wikipedia source.

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