Keywords

Ute Indians, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Ephraim, Utah, Black Hawk, William D. Kuhre, Mormon, Mormon Church

Abstract

William D. Kuhre was orphaned at a young age and grew up having few recollections of his parents. William's parents had joined the Mormon Church and moved to the small town of Ephraim, Utah in 1862. War broke out with the Ute Indians in 1865, after several years of increasingly hostile interactions. While the town of Ephraim was protected by a large stone wall, families had to leave the protection to collect firewood and harvest crops. One unfortunate day, while William’s parents were gathering potatoes outside the city wall, a band of Black Hawk’s men arrived and killed them, leaving the young William a ward of the county. Fifty years later, William traveled to Ephraim to learn more about what happened that fatal day.

Original Publication Citation

Winkler, A. (June 1982). Orphaned by Black Hawk's Warriors. True West, 48 - 52.