The Ute Massacre / Bookcrop (ePub)

"The last celebrated captivity of white women, taken by Utes after an uprising at the White River Acency." -The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West (1981)

"Josephine Meeker and Flora Price were held captive by a group of White River Utes after the Indians killed 10 men at the Indian Agency." -Worth Their Salt: Notable but Often Unnoted Women of Utah (1996)

"Twelve Utes, led by Quinkent, then kidnapped 63-year-old Arvilla and daughter Josephine Meeker and a Mrs. Price, holding them 23 days." -Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest (2004)

In September 1879, a raiding party of angry Utes attacked the White River Indian Agency in Colorado Territory agency and killed Indian Agent Nathan Meeker and 10 of his employees. They took as captives and hostages Josephine and her mother, along with Mrs. Price and two of her children. The Utes would hold the captives at a remote hidden mountain camp.

Twenty-year-old Josephine Meeker (1857 -1882) would tell of her harrowing 23-day ordeal in her 1879 book "The Ute Massacre: Brave Miss Meeker's Captivity, Her Own Account of It."

In describing her attempt to escape the rampaging Ute raiding party, Josephine writes:

"From the house we all ran to the milk shed and barricaded the door as well as we could. This place had only one window of small dimensions. For several hours we were concealed there, and during all that time we could hear the firing of the guns and we could imagine the horrible scenes that were being enacted, and also that the blood-thirsty Utes would soon be after plunder in the milk house in which we had taken refuge...."

In describing how one brave Ute woman saved the lives of the captives, Josephine writes:

"A council called as to what should be done with us prisoners. At that council our enemies were getting the best of it, and were clamoring to have us all burned at the stake, when this brave squaw did what has never been done yet by an Indian woman. She strode into the council and insisted on speaking, would be heard, and refused to be quiet. She then delivered an eloquent and convincing speech..."

The Ute warrior Persune had taken Josephine as his captive and had to fight with Douglas, another warrior who wanted her. Persune refused to give up Meeker, keeping her with him throughout her captivity. His other wives helped her begin to adapt. Persune and the Utes regarded Josephine as his wife, according to their conventions of captives.

Describing one tense encounter, Josephine writes that "a young buck came up with a gun and threatened to shoot us. We told him to shoot away, and Mrs. Price requested him to shoot her in the forehead. He said we were no good squaws because we would not scare..."

After having survived her 23-day ordeal, Meeker left Colorado shortly after her rescue and went to work in Washington, DC. There she worked for a time as a copyist for the Office of Indian Affairs. Returning to Colorado, she became a secretary for US Senator Henry Moore Teller. She often gave lectures about the Utes and her experiences in various eastern cities.