Keywords

mormon studies, american indians, latter-day saints, Brigham Young

Abstract

Historians of the American West have observed that compared with most other mid-19th century American overlanders, whether Oregon-bound farmers or California Agronauts, the Mormons enjoyed a relatively more amicable, more peaceful relationship with the American Indian. Furthermore several contend with cause that Brigham Young was the principal architect of peace with the Ute, Shoshoni, Navaho, Hopi, and other tribes in the deserts and valleys of "Deseret," the Mormon Zion in the Great Basin Kingdom. Leonard Arrington, Davis Bitton, James Allen, and other modern writers have argued that Young pursued a conciliatory (if not self protective and condescending) policy toward the mountain tribes of Utah Territory; that he opposed the customary frontier theory that 'the only good Indian was a dead one'; and that he abhorred the resulting practice of indiscriminately killing native people.

Original Publication Citation

Richard Edmond Bennett, “Cousin Laman in the Wilderness: The Beginnings of Brigham Young’sIndian Policy,” Nebraska History 67 (1986): 69-82