The Brigham Young Center

Presidents Office
Gt Salt Lake City.
May 18th, 1866

To Tabby, Sowiett, Toquer-ona, Jim, Joe and Anthoro,
You should be my Friends:

I have heard that you said that you had thrown me away. What for? I have fed and clothed you and done you good, and, if you will let me, will still be your friend; and I want to see you do well. We have heard that you were mad, and were threatening to come over and fight us. Why do you want to kill any of the whites? We have neither fought nor made war on you, nor on any of the Indians, and you must not make war upon us.

I send over to you by Stephen Moore head of cattle as a present to you and your young men and women and children, and, as soon as the road is open, we will send some flour over to you, if you cannot come over and get it. We want you to have plenty to eat and fill yourselves and get fat, so that if you come over to fight Mormons you will be strong and able to do it. But we wish you to know that if your young men come over to fight and kill our people, we shall defend ourselves, even if we have to kill the Indians. They cannot kill our people and we sit tamely by and not defend ourselves. You know that the Mormons have been your friends and they have fed and clothed you, and have proved their friendship to you by their acts since our Settlement in these valleys. Why do you want to be mad with us? Is it because Sanpitch has been killed? Do you not know that we have had many of our people, men, women and children, killed by the Indians without any cause? They came and killed them, and have driven off hundreds of horses and oxen and cows without our killing a single Indian or harming them in any way.

Do you not know that the cause of the war was Sanpitch's wanting Barney Ward's girls to be his squaws, and Barney Ward was killed. Who killed him? Do you not know that Sanpitch got some men and went and killed Barney Ward that he might get the girls? Had Barney Ward or any of our people spilled the blood of the red men that they had to be killed? You all know there was peace between your people and ours, and we were not expecting difficulty when the stock was driven off and Barney Ward and others were murdered. Did not Sanpitch encourage this war, and has he not furnished powder and lead to help Black Hawk carry on the war? Instead of helping him he ought to have fulfilled the Treaty and brought Black Hawk and his men in, and made peace. And you, yourselves, ought to fulfil the Treaty and get Black Hawk and bring him in. This is your duty. We have not broken the treaty and we do not want to do so. They did not want to kill Sanpitch, and had his ears been open to the talk of General Snow, he might have been alive now, and had his wife and children with him; but his ears were closed, and he could not think good, and he got killed and we could not help it.

Kanosh has ears, and he does not blame us for what we have done. What else could we do?

Tabby, when you were at Spanish Fork to sign the Treaty you know that Sanpitch had no ears. You know he was cross and ugly and would not sign the paper. Then you had ears and would listen to good talk. Has anything stopped your ears that you cannot tell the voice of a friend? Have I not been your friend and the friend of every Indian who would not steal and murder? Have I not always given you good counsel? You all know that I have never had two tongues.

You need not think that we will go out in the mountains to fight you for we will not do it, if you will let us alone. We would like you all to come and visit us, and see if we are your friends. When you come over you will see that we do not want to hurt you and that all we want is for you to live at peace. But if you come over, you must keep your young men from doing wrong.

Brigham Young