Antonga Black Hawk
Antonga, or Black Hawk, was a nineteenth-century war chief of the Timpanogos tribe in what is the present-day state of Utah. He led the Timpanogos against Mormon settlers and gained alliances with Paiute and Navajo bands in the territory against them during what became known as the Black Hawk War in Utah (1865–1872). Although Black Hawk made peace in 1867, other bands continued raiding until the US intervened with about 200 troops in 1872. Black Hawk died in 1870 from a gunshot wound he received while trying to rescue a fallen warrior, White Horse, at Gravely Ford Richfield, Utah, June 10, 1866. The wound never healed and complications set in.
In 1847 the first Mormon pioneers arrived in the territory, where indigenous peoples had lived for thousands of years. Historic tribes included the Timpanogos, Paiute and Navajo. In 1865 Black Hawk and the Timpanogos started raiding the livestock and goods of the steadily encroaching settlers. The white population had dramatically increased to about 50,000 at a time when the Timpanogos population is estimated to have been 15,000 to 20,000. Epidemics of measles and smallpox had caused many deaths among the Timpanogos, as they had no immunity to the new diseases; the rate of tuberculosis (TB) was high because of the weakened condition of the people. Mormon farming of domesticated crops and animals had altered the environment, driving off the game which was the Timpanogos' main source of food. By 1865 hundreds of Timpanogos were starving.[citation needed] When Chief Wah-Kara died unexpectedly in 1855, his brother Arapeen succeeded him and, when Chief Arapeen too died in 1860, his son Jake Arropeen (also known as Yene-wood) became chief by succession. In 1865 the Mormons and Utes were negotiating to reach some sort of agreement at Manti; discussions ended when Arropeen was pulled from his horse by the settler John Lowry, who was believed to be drunk at the time. Dishonored before his people, Chief Arropeen considered the incident a grave insult in a 30-year history of encroachment and depredations against the Ute people. Retaliating for the insult, that day Black Hawk raided some settlers for cattle and soon his forces killed five men. He was then about 35 years old. This marked the start of what the Mormons later named "The Black Hawk War".
