To The Memory of the Koosharem Band Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah

For 150 years, Utah's deadliest attack on Native people went largely unspoken. In late April 1866, during the Black Hawk War, Circleville's militia lured the local Koosharem Band of Southern Paiute into town with a false promise, disarmed them, and killed as many as thirty men, women, and children — a people the settlers had lately traded with in peace. The dead lie in a mass grave never found. This granite monument, dedicated in 2016 in words written by the Paiute Tribe, exists to 'honor their existence as human beings.' A separate sign nearby carries the settlers' account.

What the plaque says

TO THE MEMORY OF THE KOOSHAREM BAND PAIUTE INDIAN TRIBE OF UTAH MASSACRED BY LOCAL MORMON SETTLERS APRIL 22 – 24, 1866 DURING UTAH'S BLACK HAWK WAR (1865 – 1872) IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE INNOCENT WHO WERE LOST IN THIS PLACE SO LONG AGO. NONE OF US CAN EVER HOPE TO DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS THAT THESE PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE FELT. ALL WE CAN DO IS HONOR THEIR EXISTENCE AS HUMAN BEINGS KOOSHAREM BAND OF PAIUTES DEDICATED APRIL 22, 2016 PAIUTE ORAL TRADITION CIRCLEVILLE MASSACRE THERE USED TO BE A BIG OLD LOG HOUSE IN CIRCLEVILLE, UTAH, BESIDE THE ROAD WHERE IT CURVES NEAR WHERE THE POTATO CELLARS ARE. YEARS AGO THE WHITE MEN AT CIRCLEVILLE LOCKED UP IN THAT HOUSE ALL THE INDIANS WHO WERE LIVING NEARBY AND TOLD THEM THEY WERE GOING TO CUT THEIR THROATS. THEY BEGAN DOING THIS BY TAKING THEM OUTSIDE ONE AT A TIME AND CUTTING THEIR THROATS. THERE WERE TWO YOUNG MEN INSIDE WHO DECIDED THEY WERE GOING TO ESCAPE. ONE SAID TO THE OTHER, "WE WILL HAVE TO DASH THROUGH THEM AND RUN JUST AS THEY OPEN THE DOOR." THEY DID THIS AND RAN THROUGH THE WHITE MEN WHO WERE GATHERED ALL AROUND, SOME ON HORSEBACK. THEY OPENED FIRE ON THESE TWO INDIANS BUT COULDN'T HIT THEM. THEY RAN TOWARD THE CEMETERY ON THE HILL TO THE NORTH. AND AS THEY WERE GOING OVER IT, ONE OF THE PURSUING WHITE MEN ON HORSEBACK SHOT ONE OF THE INDIANS IN HIS SIDE BY HIS RIBS BUT IT WAS ONLY A FLESH WOUND. FROM THERE THEY RAN UP INTO THE MOUNTAINS AND THEN THE WOUNDED INDIAN PUT SOME INDIAN MEDICINE ON HIS WOUND AND WRAPPED IT IN PART OF HIS SHIRT. THE WHITE MEN DIDN'T FOLLOW THEM FAR, SO FROM THERE THEY WENT ON OVER TO PAROWAN OR BEAVER. AS TOLD BY JIMMY TIMMICAN, KOOSHAREM BAND (~1895 – 1972) WHO HEARD THIS STORY FROM WALKER AMMON (~1854 – 1920) SON OF CHIEF WALKER (~1815 – 1855)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Butch Cassidy Boyhood Home — 2.1 mi
  The restored Circleville cabin where the West's most famous outlaw spent his teens
• Beaver — 21 mi
  A charming main street town with surprisingly good food
• Panguitch — 26 mi
  A well-preserved pioneer town and gateway to Bryce Canyon

More markers nearby

• Circleville Veterans Memorial — steps away
• Piute County Courthouse — 5.3 mi
• Pioneers of Antimony — 15 mi
• Marysvale — 19 mi