Jacob Hamblin
Encyclopedia
Jacob Vernon Hamblin was a Western
pioneer
, Mormon
missionary, and diplomat
to various Native American Tribes
of the Southwest
and Great Basin
. During his life, he helped settle large areas of southern Utah
and northern Arizona
where he was seen as an honest broker between Mormon settlers and the Natives. He is sometimes referred to as the "Buckskin Apostle," or the "Apostle to the Lamanite
s."
to a family of farmers. Jacob, not being a religious man, after being wounded, riddled with infection, & assuming he was on his death bed, prayed to 'a God' that if he survived he would serve Him the rest of his life. Soon after, there was a knock on the door from a woman who claimed to not know why she was knocking, but felt the strong need to go to that particular house. She was a nurse, and having the medicines & poultices needed, helped heal & save Hamblin's life. From then on Hamblin turned unto God & soon he and his children converted to Mormonism
in 1842 in Wisconsin
, and then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois
where the Latter-day Saints were then gathered. His first wife, Lucinda, left him & their children whom she referred to as the "damned Mormon brats!" After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith
, Hamblin was a witness to the "Succession crisis" and a supporter of Brigham Young
for the leadership of the LDS Church. He recalls:
"On the 8th of August, 1844, I attended a general meeting of the Saints. Elder Rigdon was there, urging his claims to the presidency of the Church. His voice did not sound like the voice of the true shepherd. When he was about to call a vote of the congregation to sustain him as President of the Church, Elders Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball stepped into the stand. Brigham Young remarked to the congregation: "I will manage this voting for Elder Rigdon. He does not preside here. This child" (meaning himself) "will manage this flock for a season." The voice and gestures of the man were those of the Prophet Joseph. The people, with few exceptions, visibly saw that the mantle of the Prophet Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. To some it seemed as though Joseph again stood before them. I arose to my feet and said to a man sitting by me, "That is the voice of the true shepherd—the chief of the Apostles.'"
Hamblin followed the Saints on their migration to Utah
, where he settled in Tooele
near Great Salt Lake City in 1850. There he became well known for creating good relations between the white settlers and Indians. After an altercation resulting in his gun not firing against an indian, Jacob claimed that it was revealed to him by God that he was to be a "messenger of peace" to the Indians, and that if he did not thirst for their blood, he should never fall by their hands. In 1854, Hamblin was called by Brigham Young
to serve a mission to the southern Paiute
s and settled at Santa Clara
in the vicinity of the modern city of St. George, Utah
. Jacob's first home there was destroyed when a flash flood came through. Rachael, his second wife, initially saved one of their young children from drowning, but the child soon after died from exposure. Rachael also never fully recovered from the exposure she got from the flood. Hamblin swore that a home of his would never be flooded again, & with that promise he built a new home on a hill in Santa Clara. That home is now owned by 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints', giving daily tours by Mormon Missionaries.
In August 1857, Young called Hamblin to be the president of the Santa Clara Indian Mission. President Young's letter to Hamblin stated that he should, "continue the conciliatory policy towards the Indians which I have ever commended, and seek by works of righteousness to obtain their love and confidence. Omit promises where you are not sure you can fill them; and seek to unite the hearts of the brethren on that mission, and let all under your direction be united together in holy bonds of love and unity." However, Young had become aware in July of an approaching United States army which intended to invade Utah Territory
to put down a supposed "rebellion" among the Mormons. Anticipating what would become known as the Utah War
, he urged Hamblin to "not permit the brethren to part with their guns and ammunition, but save them against the hour of need." He further instructed Hamblin that the Indians "must learn to help us or the United States will kill us both."
In late August, Hamblin was traveling north to Salt Lake City in company with LDS Apostle George A. Smith
. Smith had been dispatched to the southern Mormon colonies to warn of the approaching United States army and recommend that the colonists not trade with any non-Mormons then traveling through their territory. He also counseled that they prepare to flee to the mountains if required. At Corn Creek near Fillmore, Utah
, Smith, Hamblin, and Thales Haskell encountered the ill-fated Baker-Fancher party, a wagon train of Arkansans en route to California. Upon their questioning about the road ahead and a place to rest their cattle, Hamblin suggested that they stop further south in the grassy Mountain Meadows
, where he maintained a homestead. This was a traditional stopping point on the Old Spanish Trail
leading from New Mexico to California. Hamblin and company then continued on to Salt Lake City where he stayed for roughly a week to "conduct Indian business and take a plural wife
." This "Indian business" included bringing a delegation of Southern Paiutes to meet with LDS church leaders.
In Salt Lake City, Hamblin was also informed that the Fanchers had allegedly "behaved badly" and had "robbed hen-roosts, and been guilty of other irregularities, and had used abusive language to those who had remonstrated with them. It was also reported that they threatened, when the army came into the north end of the Territory, to get a good outfit from the weaker settlements in the south."
On his way home, Hamblin was met by his adopted indian son, Albert, who recounted the horror of the slaughter of the Baker-Fancher Party in the infamous Mountain Meadows massacre
. In fact, on his trail south, he also met John D. Lee
who was on his way to Salt Lake City. In both his autobiography and his testimony at the second trial of Lee for the massacre, Hamblin claimed that to his great distress, Lee admitted to him his role in the killings along with other whites although he placed the blame for the attack on the Paiutes. Many accept Hamblin's account of his meeting with Lee as he was well known for honesty. (Professor A. H. Thompson of the US Geological survey once said, “I would trust my money, my life and my honor in the keeping of Jacob Hamblin, knowing all would be safe”), "However, others believe that Hamblin either did not give a full accounting of events or his testimony amounted to perjury
and was given to implicate Lee while shielding other Mormons. Indeed, in his book Mormonism Unveiled, an embittered John D. Lee refers to Hamblin as "Dirty Fingered Jake," and spins tales of Hamblin's attempts to waylay non-Mormon travelers in Utah, kill them, and take their property. He relates, "Hamblin was in Salt Lake City when the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place, and he pretends to have great sympathy with and sorrow for their fate. I can only judge what he would have done towards the massacre had he been home by what he did to help the next train that passed that way."
As Hamblin continued south towards Santa Clara, he was told that a band of Paiutes was planning to attack a second wagon train, the Duke party. Perhaps believing Lee's account that the Indians were primarily responsible for the Mountain Meadows massacre, he quickly returned south to prevent another slaughter. He recounts that he did not himself overtake that wagon train, but as he had been traveling very quickly without sleep he sent Samuel Knight and Dudley Leavitt
before him. These overtook the train and were able to negotiate with the Paiutes wherein the Indians took the trains' loose cattle (nearly 500 head) and left the train in peace. Knight and Leavitt continued with the company and saw it safely through to California. Hamblin was later able to return that stock to the Duke party after conferring with those Indians involved.
Upon reaching the massacre site, the diary of Sarah Priscilla Leavitt, Hamblin's third wife, recounts the horrors of her lying in the covered wagon as they got to the scene. Although Hamblin warned her to not look out, she peeked for a few seconds, with which she always held regret. Hamblin & a few other local men buried all the bodies. The remaining children that survived (some accounts say 17, some say 20) were mostly cared for by Jacob & Sarah. Some children were recovered by extended family, while others were adopted by Hamblin, or families in the area. Not long after the massacre, Hamblin's young son, Albert, who was the one to first tell Jacob what had happened at Mountain Meadows, was found lying face down dead in a cactus. In Sarah's diary, it is written that both her & Jacob felt his knowledge of what really happened on that fateful September 11th day, is what got him murdered before he could testify at the trial.
Hamblin spent the rest of 1857 and early 1858 shepherding non-Mormons through Utah on the trail to California and Mormons returning to Utah from outlying settlements in order to participate in its defense should the army attack.
After the conclusion of the Utah War
, Hamblin claims to have been willing to testify to his knowledge of the Massacre at the behest of Apostle Smith. However, due to the amnesty proclaimed by the President of the United States to the Mormons, the new governor, Alfred Cumming
, did not wish to discuss the matter. He did, however, testify at John D. Lee's second trial for the massacre in 1876.
In 1858 while in Salt Lake City, Hamblin was made a sub-Indian agent. That same year he was called on a mission to the Moquis (Hopi
s) of Northern Arizona. He traveled southeast through Pipe Springs
, crossed the Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab Plateau
), and forded the Colorado River
at the Crossing of the Fathers which is now under Lake Powell
at Padre Bay
. This was somewhat north of the later crossing at Lee's Ferry
which he discovered. Upon his arrival at the village of Oraibi
, he was told by the Hopis that it was prophesied that he and his companions would come and bring the Hopi knowledge which they formerly had. However, they were also told that the Hopi would not cross over the Colorado River to live with the Mormons until the three prophets which had led them to their mesas returned to give them further instructions. (See Hopi mythology
). The Hopi also questioned why they should cross the Colorado River to meet the Mormons when they would soon have settlements to their south in any case. Interestingly, at the time there were no plans for Mormon settlements to the south of the Hopi, although Hamblin helped found Mormon settlements on the Little Colorado River
years later.
Hamblin went home, but returned on several occasions to keep up good relations with the Hopis and the Navajo
s. In 1862, three Hopi men accompanied him to Salt Lake City to meet Brigham Young
. In 1870 he brought a minor Hopi leader, Toova
, and his wife across the Colorado River to visit the Mormon settlements in southern Utah. Tuba eventually joined the LDS church, and invited the Mormons to settle near his village of Moencopi where they founded Tuba City, named in honor of their Hopi friend.
Hamblin was an invaluable diplomat between the Latter-day Saints and the Native Americans, surviving numerous dangerous encounters between the two. In 1870 he also acted as an adviser to John Wesley Powell
before his second journey through the Grand Canyon
. Hamblin acted as a negotiator to ensure safety for Powell's expedition from local Native tribes. Powell related that Hamblin "speaks [the Indians'] language well and has great influence over the Indians in the region round about. He is a silent, reserved man, and when he speaks it is in a slow, quiet way that inspires great awe." Said a Native Chief to Powell, "We believe in Jacob, and look upon you as a father...We will tell [the other Indians] that [Powell] is Jacob's friend."
Hamblin attributed much of his success with the Indians to his conviction that he "had received from the Lord an assurance that I should never fall by the hands of the Indians, if I did not thirst for their blood." Indeed, on many occasions, Hamblin dealt with hostile Indians with no companion and carrying no weapon to defend himself. During one particularly trying period in 1874, three Navajo Indians were shot by a member of the Butch Cassidy
gang in Central Utah. Hamblin had previously promised the Navajos they could safely trade with the Mormons in that area, and Mormons were falsely blamed for the killing. Hamblin was asked by Church President Brigham Young to talk with the angry Navajos and avert war, but Hamblin's local bishop made two desperate attempts to keep him from walking into a "certain death-trap". Jacob refused to return home, stating that "I have been appointed to a mission by the highest authority of God on Earth (Brigham Young). My life is but of small moment compared with the lives of the Saints (fellow Mormons) and the interests of the Kingdom of God." One eye-witness to the events that followed, reported that "no braver man ever lived." Hamblin offered his rules for dealing with the Indians as follows:
Hamblin adds, “I believe if the rules that I have mentioned were observed there should be little difficulty on our frontier with the Red Man.”
Hamblin treated the Native Americans as intelligent equals. He said, "some people call the Indians superstitious. I admit the fact, but do not think that they are more so than many who call themselves civilized. There are few people who have not received superstitious traditions from their fathers. The more intelligent part of the Indians believe in one Great Father of all; also in evil influences, and in revelation and prophecy; and in many of their religious rites and ideas, I think they are quite as consistent as the Christian sects of the day."
Hamblin kept a home in Kanab, Utah, and started a ranch in the House Rock Valley in the Arizona Strip
at the base of the Vermillion Cliffs. Jacob Lake, Arizona
on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon
is named after him, as is Jacob Hamblin Arch in Coyote Gulch
and Hamblin Wash along the US Highway 89 in Northern Arizona.
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
pioneer
Mormon Pioneer
The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah...
, Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
missionary, and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
to various Native American Tribes
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
and Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
. During his life, he helped settle large areas of southern Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and northern Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
where he was seen as an honest broker between Mormon settlers and the Natives. He is sometimes referred to as the "Buckskin Apostle," or the "Apostle to the Lamanite
Lamanite
According to the Book of Mormon, a Lamanite is a member of a dark-skinned nation of indigenous Americans that battled with the light-skinned Nephite nation...
s."
Early life
Hamblin was born in Salem, Ashtabula County, OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
to a family of farmers. Jacob, not being a religious man, after being wounded, riddled with infection, & assuming he was on his death bed, prayed to 'a God' that if he survived he would serve Him the rest of his life. Soon after, there was a knock on the door from a woman who claimed to not know why she was knocking, but felt the strong need to go to that particular house. She was a nurse, and having the medicines & poultices needed, helped heal & save Hamblin's life. From then on Hamblin turned unto God & soon he and his children converted to Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
in 1842 in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
where the Latter-day Saints were then gathered. His first wife, Lucinda, left him & their children whom she referred to as the "damned Mormon brats!" After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
, Hamblin was a witness to the "Succession crisis" and a supporter of Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
for the leadership of the LDS Church. He recalls:
"On the 8th of August, 1844, I attended a general meeting of the Saints. Elder Rigdon was there, urging his claims to the presidency of the Church. His voice did not sound like the voice of the true shepherd. When he was about to call a vote of the congregation to sustain him as President of the Church, Elders Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball stepped into the stand. Brigham Young remarked to the congregation: "I will manage this voting for Elder Rigdon. He does not preside here. This child" (meaning himself) "will manage this flock for a season." The voice and gestures of the man were those of the Prophet Joseph. The people, with few exceptions, visibly saw that the mantle of the Prophet Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. To some it seemed as though Joseph again stood before them. I arose to my feet and said to a man sitting by me, "That is the voice of the true shepherd—the chief of the Apostles.'"
Hamblin followed the Saints on their migration to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, where he settled in Tooele
Tooele, Utah
Tooele is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,502 at the 2000 census, and 30,708 as of the 2009 estimates. It is the county seat of Tooele County...
near Great Salt Lake City in 1850. There he became well known for creating good relations between the white settlers and Indians. After an altercation resulting in his gun not firing against an indian, Jacob claimed that it was revealed to him by God that he was to be a "messenger of peace" to the Indians, and that if he did not thirst for their blood, he should never fall by their hands. In 1854, Hamblin was called by Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
to serve a mission to the southern Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
s and settled at Santa Clara
Santa Clara, Utah
Santa Clara is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 4,630 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.9 square miles , of which, 4.9 square miles of it is land and 0.04 square miles of it...
in the vicinity of the modern city of St. George, Utah
St. George, Utah
St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles ...
. Jacob's first home there was destroyed when a flash flood came through. Rachael, his second wife, initially saved one of their young children from drowning, but the child soon after died from exposure. Rachael also never fully recovered from the exposure she got from the flood. Hamblin swore that a home of his would never be flooded again, & with that promise he built a new home on a hill in Santa Clara. That home is now owned by 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints', giving daily tours by Mormon Missionaries.
Utah War and the Mountain Meadows massacre
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
to put down a supposed "rebellion" among the Mormons. Anticipating what would become known as the Utah War
Utah War
The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
, he urged Hamblin to "not permit the brethren to part with their guns and ammunition, but save them against the hour of need." He further instructed Hamblin that the Indians "must learn to help us or the United States will kill us both."
In late August, Hamblin was traveling north to Salt Lake City in company with LDS Apostle George A. Smith
George A. Smith
George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the church's First Presidency.-Childhood:Smith was born in Potsdam, St...
. Smith had been dispatched to the southern Mormon colonies to warn of the approaching United States army and recommend that the colonists not trade with any non-Mormons then traveling through their territory. He also counseled that they prepare to flee to the mountains if required. At Corn Creek near Fillmore, Utah
Fillmore, Utah
Fillmore is a city in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,253 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Millard County. It is named for the thirteenth US President Millard Fillmore....
, Smith, Hamblin, and Thales Haskell encountered the ill-fated Baker-Fancher party, a wagon train of Arkansans en route to California. Upon their questioning about the road ahead and a place to rest their cattle, Hamblin suggested that they stop further south in the grassy Mountain Meadows
Mountain Meadows, Utah
Mountain Meadows is an area in present-day Washington County Utah. It was a place of rest and grazing used by migrants on the Old Spanish Trail on their way overland to California.On September 11, 1857, the Mountain Meadows massacre happened here....
, where he maintained a homestead. This was a traditional stopping point on the Old Spanish Trail
Old Spanish Trail (trade route)
The Old Spanish Trail is a historical trade route which connected the northern New Mexico settlements near or in Santa Fe, New Mexico with that of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately long, it ran through areas of high mountains, arid deserts, and deep canyons. It is...
leading from New Mexico to California. Hamblin and company then continued on to Salt Lake City where he stayed for roughly a week to "conduct Indian business and take a plural wife
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
." This "Indian business" included bringing a delegation of Southern Paiutes to meet with LDS church leaders.
In Salt Lake City, Hamblin was also informed that the Fanchers had allegedly "behaved badly" and had "robbed hen-roosts, and been guilty of other irregularities, and had used abusive language to those who had remonstrated with them. It was also reported that they threatened, when the army came into the north end of the Territory, to get a good outfit from the weaker settlements in the south."
On his way home, Hamblin was met by his adopted indian son, Albert, who recounted the horror of the slaughter of the Baker-Fancher Party in the infamous Mountain Meadows massacre
Mountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...
. In fact, on his trail south, he also met John D. Lee
John D. Lee
John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...
who was on his way to Salt Lake City. In both his autobiography and his testimony at the second trial of Lee for the massacre, Hamblin claimed that to his great distress, Lee admitted to him his role in the killings along with other whites although he placed the blame for the attack on the Paiutes. Many accept Hamblin's account of his meeting with Lee as he was well known for honesty. (Professor A. H. Thompson of the US Geological survey once said, “I would trust my money, my life and my honor in the keeping of Jacob Hamblin, knowing all would be safe”), "However, others believe that Hamblin either did not give a full accounting of events or his testimony amounted to perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
and was given to implicate Lee while shielding other Mormons. Indeed, in his book Mormonism Unveiled, an embittered John D. Lee refers to Hamblin as "Dirty Fingered Jake," and spins tales of Hamblin's attempts to waylay non-Mormon travelers in Utah, kill them, and take their property. He relates, "Hamblin was in Salt Lake City when the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place, and he pretends to have great sympathy with and sorrow for their fate. I can only judge what he would have done towards the massacre had he been home by what he did to help the next train that passed that way."
Dudley Leavitt
Dudley Leavitt was an early patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon pioneer and an early settler in southern Utah.-Biography:Leavitt was born in Stanstead, Lower Canada....
before him. These overtook the train and were able to negotiate with the Paiutes wherein the Indians took the trains' loose cattle (nearly 500 head) and left the train in peace. Knight and Leavitt continued with the company and saw it safely through to California. Hamblin was later able to return that stock to the Duke party after conferring with those Indians involved.
Upon reaching the massacre site, the diary of Sarah Priscilla Leavitt, Hamblin's third wife, recounts the horrors of her lying in the covered wagon as they got to the scene. Although Hamblin warned her to not look out, she peeked for a few seconds, with which she always held regret. Hamblin & a few other local men buried all the bodies. The remaining children that survived (some accounts say 17, some say 20) were mostly cared for by Jacob & Sarah. Some children were recovered by extended family, while others were adopted by Hamblin, or families in the area. Not long after the massacre, Hamblin's young son, Albert, who was the one to first tell Jacob what had happened at Mountain Meadows, was found lying face down dead in a cactus. In Sarah's diary, it is written that both her & Jacob felt his knowledge of what really happened on that fateful September 11th day, is what got him murdered before he could testify at the trial.
Hamblin spent the rest of 1857 and early 1858 shepherding non-Mormons through Utah on the trail to California and Mormons returning to Utah from outlying settlements in order to participate in its defense should the army attack.
After the conclusion of the Utah War
Utah War
The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
, Hamblin claims to have been willing to testify to his knowledge of the Massacre at the behest of Apostle Smith. However, due to the amnesty proclaimed by the President of the United States to the Mormons, the new governor, Alfred Cumming
Alfred Cumming (governor)
Alfred Cumming was appointed governor of the Utah territory in 1858 replacing Brigham Young following the Utah War...
, did not wish to discuss the matter. He did, however, testify at John D. Lee's second trial for the massacre in 1876.
Later Missions to the Native Americans
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
s) of Northern Arizona. He traveled southeast through Pipe Springs
Pipe Spring National Monument
Pipe Spring National Monument is located in the U.S. state of Arizona, and is rich with American Indian, early explorer, and Mormon pioneer history...
, crossed the Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab Plateau
Kaibab Plateau
The Kaibab Plateau is located in northern Arizona in the United States. The plateau, part of the larger Colorado Plateau, is bordered on the south by the Grand Canyon and reaches an elevation of 9241 feet above sea level. The plateau is divided between Kaibab National Forest and the "North Rim"...
), and forded the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
at the Crossing of the Fathers which is now under Lake Powell
Lake Powell
Lake Powell is a huge reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona . It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing of water when full...
at Padre Bay
Padre Bay
Padre Bay is part of Lake Powell in southern Utah.Located at mile 19 of Lake Powell, Padre Bay is the largest expanse of open water on the man made lake. Padre Bay is connected to Gunsight Butte and Cookie Jar Butte during high water periods...
. This was somewhat north of the later crossing at Lee's Ferry
Lee's Ferry
Lee's Ferry is a site on the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, about 7.5 miles southwest of the town of Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam, and about 9 mi south of the Utah-Arizona border. It is the former location of a ferry established by John D. Lee, a Mormon...
which he discovered. Upon his arrival at the village of Oraibi
Oraibi
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is located on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Village...
, he was told by the Hopis that it was prophesied that he and his companions would come and bring the Hopi knowledge which they formerly had. However, they were also told that the Hopi would not cross over the Colorado River to live with the Mormons until the three prophets which had led them to their mesas returned to give them further instructions. (See Hopi mythology
Hopi mythology
The Hopi maintain a complex religious and mythological tradition stretching back over centuries. However, it is difficult to definitively state what all Hopis as a group believe. Like the oral traditions of many other societies, Hopi mythology is not always told consistently and each Hopi mesa, or...
). The Hopi also questioned why they should cross the Colorado River to meet the Mormons when they would soon have settlements to their south in any case. Interestingly, at the time there were no plans for Mormon settlements to the south of the Hopi, although Hamblin helped found Mormon settlements on the Little Colorado River
Little Colorado River
The Little Colorado River is a river in the U.S. state of Arizona, providing the principal drainage from the Painted Desert region. Together with its major tributary, the Puerco River, it drains an area of about in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico...
years later.
Hamblin went home, but returned on several occasions to keep up good relations with the Hopis and the Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
s. In 1862, three Hopi men accompanied him to Salt Lake City to meet Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
. In 1870 he brought a minor Hopi leader, Toova
Chief Tuba
Tuba was a Hopi leader in the late 19th century. Tuba was the headman of the small Hopi village of Moencopi, roughly fifty miles west of the main villages on the Hopi mesas. However, he apparently was an important person in the village of Oraibi as well...
, and his wife across the Colorado River to visit the Mormon settlements in southern Utah. Tuba eventually joined the LDS church, and invited the Mormons to settle near his village of Moencopi where they founded Tuba City, named in honor of their Hopi friend.
Hamblin was an invaluable diplomat between the Latter-day Saints and the Native Americans, surviving numerous dangerous encounters between the two. In 1870 he also acted as an adviser to John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell was a U.S. soldier, geologist, explorer of the American West, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions...
before his second journey through the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
. Hamblin acted as a negotiator to ensure safety for Powell's expedition from local Native tribes. Powell related that Hamblin "speaks [the Indians'] language well and has great influence over the Indians in the region round about. He is a silent, reserved man, and when he speaks it is in a slow, quiet way that inspires great awe." Said a Native Chief to Powell, "We believe in Jacob, and look upon you as a father...We will tell [the other Indians] that [Powell] is Jacob's friend."
Hamblin attributed much of his success with the Indians to his conviction that he "had received from the Lord an assurance that I should never fall by the hands of the Indians, if I did not thirst for their blood." Indeed, on many occasions, Hamblin dealt with hostile Indians with no companion and carrying no weapon to defend himself. During one particularly trying period in 1874, three Navajo Indians were shot by a member of the Butch Cassidy
Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker , better known as Butch Cassidy, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West...
gang in Central Utah. Hamblin had previously promised the Navajos they could safely trade with the Mormons in that area, and Mormons were falsely blamed for the killing. Hamblin was asked by Church President Brigham Young to talk with the angry Navajos and avert war, but Hamblin's local bishop made two desperate attempts to keep him from walking into a "certain death-trap". Jacob refused to return home, stating that "I have been appointed to a mission by the highest authority of God on Earth (Brigham Young). My life is but of small moment compared with the lives of the Saints (fellow Mormons) and the interests of the Kingdom of God." One eye-witness to the events that followed, reported that "no braver man ever lived." Hamblin offered his rules for dealing with the Indians as follows:
- I never talk anything but the truth to them.
- I think it useless to speak of things they cannot comprehend
- I strive by all means to never let them see me in a passion.
- Under no circumstances show fear, thereby showing to them that I have a sound heart and a straight tongue.
- Never approach them in an austere manner nor use more words than are necessary to convey my ideas, not in a higher tone of voice than to be distinctly heard
- Always listen to them when they wish to tell of their grievances, and redress their wrongs, however trifling they may be if possible. If I cannot I let them know I have a desire to do so.
- I never allow them to hear me use profane or obscene language or take any unbecoming course with them.
- I never submit to any unjust demands or submit to coercion under any circumstances, thereby showing them that I govern and am governed by the rule of right not by might.
Hamblin adds, “I believe if the rules that I have mentioned were observed there should be little difficulty on our frontier with the Red Man.”
Hamblin treated the Native Americans as intelligent equals. He said, "some people call the Indians superstitious. I admit the fact, but do not think that they are more so than many who call themselves civilized. There are few people who have not received superstitious traditions from their fathers. The more intelligent part of the Indians believe in one Great Father of all; also in evil influences, and in revelation and prophecy; and in many of their religious rites and ideas, I think they are quite as consistent as the Christian sects of the day."
Hamblin kept a home in Kanab, Utah, and started a ranch in the House Rock Valley in the Arizona Strip
Arizona Strip
The Arizona Strip is the part of the U.S. state of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. The difficulty of crossing the Grand Canyon causes this region to have more natural connections with southern Utah and Nevada than with the rest of Arizona....
at the base of the Vermillion Cliffs. Jacob Lake, Arizona
Jacob Lake, Arizona
Jacob Lake is a small unincorporated community on the Kaibab Plateau in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, at the junction of U.S. Route 89A and State Route 67...
on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
is named after him, as is Jacob Hamblin Arch in Coyote Gulch
Coyote Gulch
Coyote Gulch is a tributary of the Escalante River, located in Garfield and Kane Counties in southern Utah, in the western United States. Over 25 miles long, it exhibits many of the geologic features found in the Canyons of the Escalante, including high vertical canyon walls, narrow slot canyons,...
and Hamblin Wash along the US Highway 89 in Northern Arizona.
External links
- The Jacob Hamblin Legacy Organization, Inc., a group of descendants of Jacob Hamblin
- The Jacob Hamblin Memorial Committee, a group of Southern Utah residents raising money to build a memorial to Hamblin in Kanab, Utah
- Jacob Hamblin Trail Map by Wade Wixom, at jacobhamblin.com