Nephi massacre
| Nephi Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of Wakara's War | |
Cabin near the site of the Salt Creek Fort, where the massacre took place. | |
| Location | Nephi, Utah |
| Coordinates | 39°42′31″N 111°50′10″W / 39.7085°N 111.8361°W |
| Date | 2 Oct 1853 |
| Target | Group of Goshute Western Shoshone people |
Attack type | Mass execution |
| Weapons | Guns, blunt weapons |
| Deaths | 7 males, ages 10–35 |
| Perpetrators | Members of the LDS Church |
| Motive | Paranoia towards Native American people during Wakara's War |
The Nephi massacre was an 1853 incident when a group of Mormons invited a group of peace-seeking Goshute Native American men, woman (singular), and children into their fort in Nephi, Utah and executed the seven men and took the remaining three as prisoners.: 138—139 The settlers were acting in retaliation for the recent deaths of four Mormons in the Fountain Green massacre done by a different nation of Native American called Ute. The settlers were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) commonly called Mormons.: 138—139
The murder of the Goshute men occurred in the midst of a series of skirmishes dubbed Wakara's War between Native Americans and Mormons in the present-day Utah region. LDS settlers at Salt Creek Fort in present-day Nephi, Utah invited the group of people inside the fort, took them prisoner, shot them in the back of the head,: 158 and buried them in a mass grave. One woman and two children from the group were taken prisoner.