When white Europeans first arrived in North America, the continuent’s Indigenous population was incredibly diverse; Native American groups spoke 300 to 500 distinct languages, compared to Europe’s 40 to 70. The area occupied by the current state of Utah alone sustained the Diné (Navajo), Kusiutta (Goshute), Nuutsiu (Ute), Newe (Shoshone), Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) and Numa (Northern Paiute) tribes—each group further divided into autonomous bands, with names reflecting regional and dietary differences.
The Nuutsiu and Diné peoples likely acquired horses in the 1600s, which led to the rise of warrior culture, larger trade networks and conflicts with other tribes over land. In the 1700s, the Spanish exposed these groups to market economics (versus traditional economies of reciprocal exchange) and chattel slavery. Warriors soon began capturing Nuwuvi and Kusiutta children and young women to sell to the Spanish as slaves.
The Nuwuvi and Kusiutta, on the other hand, resisted using horses. To survive in the dry desert, they had become expert in using over 80 different plant foods, including seeds from the grass that horses would have devoured. Both groups practiced a seasonal cycle of nomadic gathering and small-scale farming. And both groups preferred to respond to Nuutsiu and Diné depredations peacefully—by moving or hiding their camps in increasingly remote areas.
When Mormons settled in Nuwuvi lands in 1851, the tribe initially welcomed the newcomers as protection from their aggressive neighbors. However, the Mormons swiftly occupied Nuwuvi water sources and farmland, leaving the people so desperate for food that many sold their children to the church members (perhaps as a way to keep them nearby and fed) and submitted to serving as the settlers’ manual labor force. Eventually, however, they began to fight back. It is in this context that the 1853 murder of Captain John Gunnison and seven members of his survey team was blamed on the Nuwuvi; it was later discovered to be a band of Nuutsiu, avenging a member killed by whites.
—Laura A. Brueckner
Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.