{"id":856,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:32:19","latitude":39.7085000000000007958078640513122081756591796875,"longitude":-111.8361000000000018417267710901796817779541015625,"title":"The Nephi Massacre during Wakara’s War<br />","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/fafd241883d271d8b9793e3097ca8da1.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":13,"creator":["Chelsea Woodruff, Brigham Young University"],"description":"In 2006, an archaeological discovery in Nephi, Utah, shed light on a tragic event that occurred in 1853 during the Walker War, also known as the Wakara War. The excavation revealed a mass grave containing the remains of seven Goshutes, including a young boy. The bodies were found piled on top of each other. Forensic analysis discovered gunshot wounds, shattered bones, and evidence of blunt force trauma.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe Wakara War between settlers and Utes was infuriated by the encroachment of additional LDS settlements in Utah and Sanpete counties in Utah Territory. The incident in Nephi occurred on October 2, 1853, when a group of Utes or Goshutes came to the fort. The account reported in the Deseret News portrayed the Natives as aggressors in a tussle they initiated with the militia. Recent research, including the discovery of journals of witnesses Adelia Wilcox and Martha Spence Heywood, however, contradict this narrative.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe forensic evidence from the mass grave suggests that the Native men, ranging in ages from 16 to 25, were not killed in a skirmish but were executed. Gunshot wounds in the back of the head and traumatic injuries indicate a cold-blooded killing, challenging the original historical account. The discovery of the mass grave by construction workers laying a foundation for a home in 2006 provided an opportunity to combine scientific discovery, archaeology and forensic analysis, and historical records to correct and update the historical narrative and include the perspectives of those killed. The story of the Nephi mass grave is a significant reminder of the complexities surrounding historical narratives and how archaeological revelations can amend those stories.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"During Wakara’s War in 1853-54 a group of Utes killed four Mormons at Fountain Green.  The next day, Mormons killed eight Utes or Goshutes seeking peace with LDS settlers in Nephi, Utah. The discovery of their remains in Nephi’s Old Hallow in 2006 highlighted the brutality of Wakara’s War, a series of conflicts during 1853 between settlers and Indigenous residents in central Utah Territory.","website":"","related_resources":["Almira, Adelia. <em>Memoirs of Adelia Almira Wilcox; One of the Plural Wives of Heber C. Kimball</em>, 1956. Christy, Howard A. “The Walker War: Defense and Conciliation as Strategy.” Utah Historical Quarterly 47, no. 4 (October 1, 1979): 395–420. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.2307/45060728\">https://doi.org/10.2307/45060728</a>.","Deseret News. “Nephi Indian Grave Yields Details of 1853 Killings,” June 8, 2007. <a href=\"https://www.deseret.com/2007/6/8/20023478/nephi-indian-grave-yields-details-of-1853-killings.\">https://www.deseret.com/2007/6/8/20023478/nephi-indian-grave-yields-details-of-1853-killings.</a>","Martha Spence Heywood. <em>Journal of Martha Spence Heywood</em>, Recorded during the Years 1850-1856, 1850.","Rood, Ronald. “Massacre in Nephi: Archaeology of a Mass Grave · Utah Stories from the Beehive Archive.” Utahhumanities.org, November 30, 2012. <a href=\"https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/247\">https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/247</a>.","<span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Rood, Ronald J. “The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from Nephi, Utah and One Event of the Walker War, Utah Territory. Excavations at 42JB1470, Nephi, Utah.” Edited by Anna Zalervska, John M. Scott, and Grzegorz Kiarszys. </span><i><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Materiality of Troubled Pasts Archaeologies of Conflicts and Wars</span></i><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">, no. 978-83-943365-3-0 (November 2017): 137–61. <a>file:///C:/Users/unive/Downloads/Materiality_of_Troubled_Pasts_Archaeolog.pdf</a>.<br /></span>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/fafd241883d271d8b9793e3097ca8da1.jpg":{"id":3768,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Nephi, Utah","description":"Courtesy of Chelsea Woodruff","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/fafd241883d271d8b9793e3097ca8da1.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/a27e4c26e9f2dc58982b03a5f9e369df.jpg":{"id":3769,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Excavation","description":"Courtesy of Chelsea Woodruff","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/a27e4c26e9f2dc58982b03a5f9e369df.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/a0bdcabed2afa2213363e8f5570c6825.jpg":{"id":3770,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Mass Grave illustration","description":"Rood, Ronald J. “The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from Nephi, Utah and One Event of the Walker War, Utah Territory. Excavations at 42JB1470, Nephi, Utah.” Edited by Anna Zalervska, John M. Scott, and Grzegorz Kiarszys. Materiality of Troubled Pasts Archaeologies of Conflicts and Wars, no. 978-83-943365-3-0 (November 2017): 137–61. ","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/a0bdcabed2afa2213363e8f5570c6825.jpg"}}}