Utah’s Bloodiest Secret: Mormonism and the Black Hawk War [Mormonism Live 230]

This episode of Mormonism Live, we dive into a forgotten battlefield of Utah history — the Black Hawk War — a brutal and devastating conflict between Mormon settlers and Native American tribes that has been largely buried under pioneer myths and whitewashed storytelling. Far from a few isolated raids, the Black Hawk War (1865–1872) was Utah’s deadliest and most destructive conflict, costing hundreds of lives, displacing entire tribes, and forcing Mormon settlements to be abandoned across southern Utah. We’ll explore how this violent chapter unfolded, why the LDS Church worked so hard to minimize it, and the staggering story of Antonga Black Hawk — the baptized Ute leader who fought for his people’s survival and whose remains were later put on public display like a trophy. In this episode, we ask the uncomfortable questions: How did religious manifest destiny fuel the bloodshed? Why was this “war” covered up for so long? And what does reckoning with this history reveal about Mormonism’s legacy of colonization? Get ready — this is the real Mormon history they never taught you in Sunday School.