Local News
A Look at Key Military Battles That Happened in Utah
Utah is a state noted today for its extraordinary natural beauty, a vibrant economy with a high standard of living, and a governmental and social milieu deeply influenced by the LDS Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS is still sometimes referred to as the Mormon faith.
However, Utah is also known as a former Wild West territory that didn’t achieve statehood until 1896, and as a location where wars and other bitter conflicts sometimes shattered the peace of the populace and the breathtaking landscape.
Let’s respect the military by looking at the most significant military battles fought in the Beehive State:
The Utah War 1857-1858
It was in May of 1857 that a shooting war broke out between members of the Mormon Church and the U.S. Government. Officially known as the Utah War, this conflict is also sometimes called Buchanan’s Blunder and the Mormon Rebellion.
The conflict revolved around the actions of Mormon settlers who believed their church and faith were anointed as the primary governing body of this territory, for which official U.S. statehood was still decades away.
The war is called “Buchanan’s Blunder” after then-President James Buchanan, who was deeply criticized for sending in troops to settle religious and social conflicts between the people living in this vast area.
Before the war reached a settlement, about 150 people were killed. However, this was not a result of armed fighting between U.S. troops and the Mormon people. That number came about because of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. This involved Mormon militia groups attacking and killing 120 innocent settlers who were merely passing through Utah territory on their way to California.
In short, the Utah War ended with a negotiated agreement between the U.S. Government and leaders of the Mormon community.
Black Hawk War 1865-1872
Every American state today has some history of wars fought against Native American tribes, and Utah is no exception. Beginning around 1865, tensions between several indigenous groups, including the Utes, Paiutes, Navajo, and Apache tribes and white settlers boiled over into shooting wars.
The root causes of the Black Hawk Wars are complex. It can be stated, however, that it was conflicts over who legitimately owned the land in this vast southwestern U.S. region that were the primary drivers of armed conflict.
The wars consisted of more than 100 separate attacks, skirmishes, incidents of murder, raids, and massacres. While calculating the number of casualties on both sides is difficult, the war between white settlers and the Utah-area Native Americans gradually subsided in 1872. The result was Mormons and other white settler groups establishing hegemony over most of the land in what is today the state of Utah.
Ongoing Skirmishes and Hostilities
Violent conflicts between settlers and Native Americans erupted occasionally in the years following 1872. Most of these were isolated incidents that resulted in few or sometimes no deaths. By the time Utah was granted statehood in 1896, wars in Utah were a part of history.
It’s important to note that bitter disagreements remain to this day over the causes or “who was most at fault” for the wars that were fought in this region during the centuries-long process of white Europeans displacing the native peoples who dwelled in this land for thousands of years.
