Sanpitch (killed April 18, 1866) was a leader of the Sanpits tribe of Native Americans who lived in what is now the Sanpete Valley, before and during settlement by

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

immigrants. The Sanpits are generally considered to be part of the Timpanogos or Utah Indians He was the brother of famed Chief Walkara and the father of Black Hawk, for whom the Black Hawk War in Utah (1865–72) is named. In 1850, after

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

from newly arrived Mormon settlers decimated their tribes,

Walkara Chief Walkara (c. 1808 – 1855; also known as Wakara, Wahkara, Chief Walker or Colorow) was a Northern Ute leader of the Utah Indians known as the Timpanogos, Timpanogo and Sanpete Band. He had a reputation as a diplomat, horseman and warrior, a ...

and Chief Sanpitch asked the Mormons to come to the Sanpete Valley to teach the band to farm, though this was met with little enthusiasm. In March 1866, as a ploy suggested by Brigham Young to bring Black Hawk to the bargaining table, the elderly Chief Sanpitch was taken into custody and incarcerated in the jail in Manti. A month later, while he and other jailed Indians were escaping, Sanpitch was shot and wounded. On April 18, 1866, he was found and killed in Birch Creek Canyon (in the San Pitch Mountains, between Fountain Green and Moroni). The two Mormon men responsible for the chief's death buried his body under a rock slide by shooting at the canyon wall overhead. Sanpitch's interactions with early Mormon settlers are chronicled in Gottfredson's ''History of Indian depredations in Utah''. Sanpitch is almost certainly not the same person as the Shoshone chief of the same name who was alive in 1870. Some sources indicate that he, or his grandfather of the same name, is the

namesake A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may ...

Sanpete County Sanpete County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 28,437. Its county seat is Manti, and its largest city is Ephraim. The county was created in 1850. History The Sanpete Valley m ...

, the Sanpete Valley, the

San Pitch Mountains The San Pitch Mountains are a longUtah, DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 34-35. mountain range located in Juab and Sanpete counties in central Utah, United States.} __TOC__ Description The range's southwest lies adjacent a north-flowing stretc ...

, and the Sanpitch River. However, all of them share the origin of their names: the Sanpits people. According to

William Bright William Oliver Bright (August 13, 1928 – October 15, 2006) was an American linguist and toponymist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics. Biography Bright earned a bachelor's degree in lin ...

, their name comes from the

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin * Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah * Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah * Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern ...

word ''saimpitsi'', meaning "people of the tules".

References

1866 deaths 19th-century Native American people Mormonism and Native Americans Native American people from Utah Native American leaders Native American people of the Indian Wars People from Utah Territory Timpanogo people Ute people Year of birth unknown {{Utah-bio-stub