The Posey War was a small, brief conflict with American Indians in Utah. Though it was a minor conflict, it involved a mass
exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
of
Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
and
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...
native Americans from their land around
Bluff
Bluff or The Bluff may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town
* The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich
* The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality
* Bluff River (New So ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
to the deserts of
Navajo Mountain
, photo = NavajoMtn (cropped).jpg
, photo_caption = Navajo Mountain and Lake Powell, looking southeast from the Kaiparowits Plateau
, elevation_ft = 10348
, elevation_ref =
, prominence_ft = 4226
, prominence_ref =
, listing =
, locati ...
. The natives were led by a
chief
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
named Posey, who took his people into the mountains to try to escape his pursuers. Unlike previous conflicts,
posses played a major role while the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
played a minor one. The war ended after a skirmish at
Comb Ridge
Comb Ridge ( nv, ) is a linear north to south-trending monocline nearly 80 miles long in Southeastern Utah and Northeastern Arizona. Its northern end merges with the Abajo Mountains some eleven miles west of Blanding. It extends essentially du ...
. Posey was badly wounded and his band was taken to a
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
in
Blanding. When Posey's death was confirmed by the authorities, the prisoners were released and given land allotments to farm and raise livestock.
[Young, pg. 63-64] According to the ''Utah Encyclopedia'', "for the Indians it was not a war and never was intended to be such ... a few shots fired as a delaying action, and a very rapid surrender do not justify elevating an exodus to a war."
Background
The Posey War was the last in a long series of conflicts between the United States and the Ute and Paiute tribes. For years prior to 1923, the Avikan Ute people were fighting to maintain their ancestral land in present day
San Juan County. Though most of the conflict took place at the negotiating table, there were occasional outbreaks of hostilities, such as the
Bluff War
The Bluff War, also known as Posey War of 1915, or the Polk and Posse War, was one of the last armed conflicts between the United States and Ute and Paiute Native Americans (Indians) in Utah. In March 1914, several Utes accused Tse-ne-gat (a ...
in 1915 and the
Bluff Skirmish of 1921. By 1923, Chief Posey and members of his band were already well known for their activities in the earlier conflicts. Between 1881 and 1921, Posey's band fought in several engagements against either the local
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
settlers or other native American tribes. Posey was half Paiute and half
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
himself though he married into the
Ute Mountain tribe; his band included about 100 people, both Ute and Paiute men, women and children. They lived around the outskirts of Bluff, along Allen Canyon, where they could find for the settlers in town. According to one Ute, Posey's band refused to live on the reservation because they felt the natives there were unfriendly.
[http://www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/sjsample/POSEY/WEBDOC9.HTM#Sanup's Boy]
The Posey War began in February 1923 because of a relatively minor affair in which two young Ute males robbed a
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
at Cahone Mesa, assaulted the owner, slaughtered a calf, and burned a bridge. The boys were members of Posey's band; the first was the youngest son of a man named Joe Bishop and the second the son of Sanup. The two Utes later surrendered to the local
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
, William Oliver, in Blanding, but while they were in custody they contracted
food poisoning
Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food,
as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease) ...
and were allowed to go home, with the agreement that they would return for trial. Meanwhile, the robbery and assault at Perkins ranch was used as a reason to begin rounding up all of the natives living around Bluff. While some were captured and put in a
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
compound in Blanding, the majority abandoned their lands and headed for the wilderness. When the trial began on March 20, the boys arrived back in town. Bishop's son was using a stick as a cane, apparently still feeling ill. Chief Posey and a few of his men attended the trial to try to help the boys and ensure that nothing would jeopardize the fight for their land in San Juan County.
War
Blanding Incident
The first part of the trial concluded without incident but when the court adjourned at noon, Sheriff Oliver took the two boys to lunch. Sheriff George A. Hurst, who was present at the court proceedings, wrote the following:
After that Chief Posey fled with his people, closely pursued by a posse in a
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
. Posey opened fire at that point with his
.30-06 rifle, disabling the vehicle and temporarily ending the chase. Now that Posey was a wanted man, he went north with his band from their homes in Allen Canyon to the desert around Navajo Mountain. There followed a series of
yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
reports accusing the chief and his band of being either directly or indirectly involved in a number of various crimes, including
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
.
Battle of Comb Ridge
On March 22, the ''Times-Independent'' ran an article titled: "Piute Band Declares War on Whites in Blanding" . The article also said that
county commissioner
A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...
s had requested permission from Utah
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Charles Mabey
Charles Rendell Mabey (October 4, 1877 – April 26, 1959) was an American politician who served as the fifth Governor of Utah from 1921 to 1925. He is the last Utah governor to serve one term. He was a member of the Republican Party.
Life and ...
to allow the use of a military
scout plane
A scout plane is type of surveillance aircraft, usually of single-engined, two or three seats, shipborne type, and used for the purpose of discovering an enemy position and directing artillery. Therefore, a scout plane is essentially a small nava ...
to bomb and strafe the natives. This was not approved. A
$100 reward was placed on Posey's head by the state, dead or alive. C. F. Sloane of the ''Salt Lake Tribune'' was in Blanding at the time and wrote hideously inaccurate reports of the situation. Sloane wrote that Blanding was surrounded for "thirty-six hours of terrorism", with Utes in
war paint riding through the streets. He also claimed that Posey was forming a "mobile squadron" to rob the San Juan State Bank and that there were "sixty men skilled in the art of mountain warfare awaiting the call to service". On one occasion, a citizen of Blanding asked a newsman why he was not writing the truth; the newsman responded, "We're not ready to go home yet, and if we don't keep something going, we'll be getting a telegram to come home." Rumors began to circulate that another Indian war was about to begin so the Mormon settlers in Blanding and Bluff reacted quickly and mobilized a larger, mounted, posse to find Posey and his followers. They also tried to suppress any outside interference which had caused problems during the earlier conflicts. The posse trailed the chief's band and quickly caught up with them the next day, twenty miles from Blanding, inside a rugged area of desert strewn with canyons. The natives fought an unsuccessful
rear guard
A rearguard is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as communication lines, behind an army. Even more ...
action, from the top of Comb Ridge, to allow the women and children time to escape. All eventually surrendered though, over the course of the next few days. Posey escaped, but he was wounded by a bullet in one of his hips by a settler named Bill Young while trying to evade capture. Again the newspapers created their own versions of the story, one said that Posey was killed in a
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
that washed him down a canyon, another said that he died of natural causes, being that he was in his sixties. Many Utes believed poisoned Mormon flour was the culprit but it is generally accepted that Posey died from
blood poisoning
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
caused by the gunshot wound. During the fighting, which lasted until March 23, Posey allegedly shot and killed the son of Joe Bishop when the two began to argue on top of the ridge. Posey was said to have been angry that Bishop's son and the other boy had caused so much trouble. Other accounts say the Bishop boy was killed by the posse.
Aftermath
Seventy-nine of the Ute and Paiute prisoners were taken to Blanding and put in the compound. They were released a few days later when Posey's body was discovered in
Comb Wash
Comb Wash is a long narrow valley in south central San Juan County, Utah, United States. It runs from Elk Ridge in the north approximately to the south, where it merges with the San Juan River at an elevation of about . The eastern edge of the ...
.
Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Jesse Ray Ward
Jesse Ray "J. Ray" Ward (September 4, 1885 – April 15, 1928) was a United States Marshal in the closing years of the Old West period. He was appointed a U.S. Marshal by President Harding and was involved in the Posey War of 1923.
Early life
...
was taken to the location of Posey's remains by a party of Utes. There, he officially identified the body and certified the chief's death. Marshal Ward had Posey's body buried in an unmarked grave, with the idea of preventing the patrolling posses from disturbing it. The plan fell through, and the chief's body was exhumed at least twice by those who wanted their picture taken with the corpse.
The last of the Ute Wars was over, and after Posey's band was released from Blanding, they returned to the Allen Canyon area, having received 160 acre land allotments. Chief Polk's band, which participated in the 1915 Bluff War, also received 160 acre allotments around Montezuma Canyon. The natives agreed to abandon their nomadic ways, take up farming, and allow their children to be enrolled in
Indian schools. Adjusting to the new way of life was slow for Posey's band, and throughout the 1920s they continued to live in either tents or traditional
hogan
A hogan ( or ; from Navajo ' ) is the primary, traditional dwelling of the Navajo people. Other traditional structures include the summer shelter, the underground home, and the sweat house. A hogan can be round, cone-shaped, multi-sided, or sq ...
s, a type of earthen hut, while other Utes were living in houses. In 1930, the superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Agency said that the natives of Allen Canyon were "at least 40 years behind the
Southern Utes [in their progress toward civilization". Chief Posey and the son of Joe Bishop were the sole fatalities during the conflict. There were no casualties on the Americans' side, though the natives killed one of the posse's horses and narrowly missed several men.
See also
*Paiute War
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posey War
Wars fought in Utah
1923 in the United States
Wars between the United States and Native Americans
Ute people
Paiute people
Conflicts in 1923
1923 in Utah
Mormonism and Native Americans
March 1923 events