Fountain Green massacre
The Fountain Green massacre was an incident in 1853 near Fountain Green, Utah when a group of Utes killed four Mormons. The next day, Mormons in nearby Nephi, Utah killed eight Goshutes who had no connection to the earlier killings.
The event is often classified as part of Wakara's War, a series of battles and skirmishes in the region from 1853 to 1854.
A Daughters of the Utah Pioneers monument, located in City Park in Fountain Green, Utah, memorializes the event.
Event
In the early morning hours of October 1, 1853, Utes of Sanpitch attacked and killed four men—William Reed, James Nelson, William Luke, and Thomas Clark—who were encamped at Uinta Springs, near the head of Salt Creek Canyon. The men were driving two ox-drawn wagons filled with wheat to Salt Lake City, as the advance party of a larger group headed by a local leader Isaac Morley.William Luke, an immigrant from Manchester, England, was anxious to go see his three sons, who had recently arrived from England, and may have encouraged the group to hasten its journey. The four men camped at Uinta Springs against Morley's instructions to make camp on the San Pitch River and await the arrival of the main group.
When Morley's group arrived at the camp, they found William Reed stripped, scalped, and disemboweled a short distance from the wagons. Luke and Nelson's throats were cut; they were also disemboweled. The Morley party emptied the wagons of their grain and then loaded three of the bodies for transport to Nephi, Utah and as the party readied to move on, numerous Utes appeared on the hillside.
Oral tradition holds that Morley, angry over disobedience to his orders, denied the dead men burial in the town cemetery. Their gravesites are unknown, despite efforts to locate the remains of the four men.