INDIANS in Early Utah. In October 1862 General Patrick Edward CONNOR
arrived in Salt Lake City at the head of 750 volunteer soldiers from
California and Nevada. He established a camp east of Salt Lake City which would become Fort Douglas. In his position as military leader, CONNOR's main assignment was to suppress
Indian attacks against the overland telegraph and mail. A skirmish between the
army and Indians occurred shortly after the troops' arrival when three Indians
were killed and one wounded on 24 November 1862. The most significant clash, however, took place on
29 January 1863, in what has become known as the Battle of Bear River or the
Massacre at Bear River. CONNOR's force of 300 troops attacked a Shoshoni
encampment and killed more than 250 men, women, and children.
They also burned the village and thus broke the strength of the Indians in the
area. See: E.B. Long, The Saints and The Union: Utah Territory during the Civil
War (1981), Richard Neitzel Holzapfel.
