Battle Creek, Utah: recollection

by Dimick Baker Huntington

Indian Expedition Utah Valley Feb. & March 1849: On the 28th of February 1849, about forty horsemen, under Captain John Scott, started south, in pursuit of some Indians who had been stealing and killing cattle and running off horses from Willow Creek and other places. The company proceeded to Utah Valley, found Little Chief and his band of Timpany Utes on the Provo, and camped near them. Little Chief told where the thieving Indians were encamped, and agreed for his son to go and guide the company to the place. Accordingly, in the middle of the night the guide told the company to start, and they returned halfway across the Provo Bench. Here they left their horses and bedding, and proceeded on foot toward the creek north and the base of the mountains. Ascending the rising ground, they discovered the first of the Indians, who were encamped on the creek, which runs in a deep ravine in the midst of willow and dense brushwood. A party were then sent back for the horses and baggage, and after they came up again the whole were divided into four smaller bodies, and surrounded the Indian camp, who, when they awoke, found themselves hemmed in. So they immediately packed up their property, and ineffectively tried every way to escape. They then commenced to fight by shooting arrows and firing guns. This small predatory band of Indians consisted of two lodges under Cone and Blue-Shirt, and numbered 17 in all, including four men. The squaws and children were got out and fed and warmed. After a desultory fight of three or four hours, the four men, who took every advantage of the brush for cover, were killed. None of the brethren were injured. During the fight, Stick-in-the-head and his band of Timpany Utes came up, ready for a fight, and took a position on an elevation, whence they vainly called to the besieged and urged them to come that way. The squaws and children of the slain followed the brethren to the city, and, after being fed, went to the Snake Indians, to which tribe the squaws professed to belong. ~ , January 1, 1862 Dimick Baker Huntington