The Ute War

"Dawson and Skiff, two well known Colorado journalist, have under preparation...a history of the late Ute war...the most salient features of this most exciting episode in the history of our state." -Larimer County Independent, Nov. 20, 1879

"A history of the Ute war including...the massacre at the agency, privations and hardships of captive women...can hardly fail to be interesting." -Lawrence Daily Journal, Nov. 14, 1879

"Gives a history of the White river massacre and the privations and hardships of the captive white women." The Idaho Statesman, May 16, 1920

"The work is of thrilling interest." -Junction City Weekly Union, Dec. 6, 1879

How did a dispute between Indian agent Meeker and Utes who preferred to hunt instead doing gardening work finally erupt into the White River massacre and the captivity of Josephine Meeker and her mother? How did these women survive a horrifying and lengthy captivity?

In 1879, two well-known Colorado newspapermen, Thomas Fulton Dawson (1853-1923) and Frederick James Volney Skiff (1851-1921) would publish a history of the White River war based on first-hand accounts, under the title "The Ute War: a History of the White River Massacre and the Privations and Hardships of the Captive White Women Among the Hostiles on Grand River."

In introducing their work, the authors write:

"The one aim of the book is to furnish...an account of the recent uprising of the Utes... from the time of Johnson's attack upon Agent Meeker, including the Thornburgh fight at Milk River, the agency massacre, the captivity of the women, and other incidents of interest. The authors feel competent to assume this task. They have, as editors of the Tribune, written a complete history of the affair from day to day, and need simply to put in book form what they have heretofore published."

Meeker Massacre and the White River War, Ute War, or the Ute Campaign, were conflicts that began when the Utes attacked an Indian agency on September 29, 1879, killing the Indian agent Nathan Meeker and his 10 male employees for his misdeeds, and then took women and children as hostages. US Army forces were called in from Fort Steele in Wyoming. Following the killing of Meeker and others, there was a Ute attack at Milk Creek on U.S. troops led by Major Thomas T. Thornburgh, which killed the major and 13 troops within minutes. Relief troops were called in, which resulted in a further conflict of the Utes trying to regain their lands.

The conflict resulted in the forced removal of the White River Utes and the Uncompahgre Utes from Colorado, and the reduction in the Southern Utes' land holdings within Colorado. The war signalled the final defeat of the Utes and opened millions of new acreage to white settlement.

About the authors:

Thomas Fulton Dawson: was born June 23, 1853 and died June 25, 1923. He started in 1874 his first job as a newspaper reporter for the Louisville Ledger. In 1876 he came out west to Denver to work for the Denver Tribune and while there in 1879 published his first book, "The Ute War, " jointly authored with Fred Skiff.

Frederick James Volney Skiff: was born November 5, 1851, and died February 24, 1921. He got his start in the newspaper business as an apprentice with the Lawrence Daily Journal. He later moved to Colorado and worked for the Denver Tribune. While there he co-authored with Dawson his first book "The Ute War." He later became the first director of the Field Museum in Chicago, a position which he held for twenty-five where he was largely credited for success of the museum, overseeing a variety of exhibitions, from the agricultural to anthropological.

Dettagli