Side-Light on the Gunnison Massacre

SIDE-LIGHT ON THE GUNNISON MASSACRE By Frank Beckwith The Spaniards Borrow the Indians' Slate How long ago no one knows, but the ancient Indians of New Mexico used as a slate, to do their writing upon, the base of the great cliff of the "El Morro" rock, which lies southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This giant rock rises abruptly several hundred feet out of the plain; at its base is a cool, satisfying spring. By the location of the rock itself, which lies a day's journey from a camping place either Way on the old trail leading past it, the traveler is invited to make camp there. Photographs of the rock show that along its base are many ancient Indian hieroglyphics, carved upon it when the aborigine camped there. It was his slate, on which he scrawled, using a fragment of flint for a pencil. At the time, when Spain was the foremost nation in the world and mistress of the seas, when her Armada was invincible, her soldier- commanders carried the banner of the Castiles and the Cross of Christ into all far lands at the tip of a sword. Having conquered Mexico and Peru, they extended their operations northward. From Mexico bands of soldiery, under intrepid leaders, accompanied by priests and chroniclers, worked northward on many expeditions of conquest. The pathway of several of these expeditions was past "El Morro" Rock, where in the cool shade of the great cliff, or lying at full length under the few trees the tiny spring supported, the tired and travel- worn soldiers and leaders took rest, just -as did the ancient Indian aborigine before them. In the leisure of the day, during the brief period of rest which this spot afforded, the heavy helmet, the stiff cuirass, the unwieldy blunderbuss and its tripod, were laid aside; thus doffing all the harness, the warrior walked over to the big cliff, and, so to speak, "borrowed the Indian's slate to write on." He took his dagger out of his belt, and standing there (now nearly three hundred years ago) cut, carved, and scratched his message in Spanish, with the tip of that deadly dagger. If an Indian hiero- glyph were already on the rock, he wrote over it; for what did the burly warrior of Spain care for so little a thing as a rude "devil marking?"- — the more he erased of them the better! One inscription was the famous "Lujan Inscription," thus made in the year 1636. Charles F. Lummis, in "Mesa, Canon and Pueblo," gives as his translation of this famous message: "They (the expedition) passed on the 23rd of March, 1632 years, to the avenging of the death of Father Letrado."

SIDE-LIGHT ON THE GUNNISON MASSACRE 607 And then the intrepid old warrior, more tightly clutching the dagger in hand, coat of mail removed for free elbow room, labori- ously cut his own signature below his message, briefly, boldly, tersely, as a warrior should, — "Lujan." He could have cut his way through a body of the foe to a greater liking, and with less difficulty, than he guided that steel to the un- familiar task of writing, — the making of his dagger a pencil to write on the Indian's slate! Others Have the Scribbler's Itch Lieutenant J. H. Simpson (who afterwards rose to the position of General in the United States Army) was leading an expedition in that same territory, over two hundred years later, and, like his prede- cessors, camped at the base of the great cliff. As is usual with most expeditions, Simpson had with him an artist, or topographer, to sketch the features of the various regions visited, and to make report to his Government of their itinerary. That artist's name was R. H. Kern. Like Lujan, this citizen of the United States took his knife (bowie or pocket knife in lieu of dagger) and similarly carved his message on the same rock, for we find he left a message saying: "Lt. J. H. Simpson, U. S. A., and R. H. Kern, Artist, visited and copied these inscriptions September 17-18, 1849." Then two years later, Topographer Kern, again visited the same spot, and wrote: "R. H. Kern Aug. 29 1851." Lieutenant Simpson made a report to his department at Wash- ington, mentioning this interesting rock, and gave a facsimile of the famous "Lujan inscription." His attempt to decipher it was not cor- rect, as he (or Simpson) knew no Spanish. But the earliest marks of a citizen of the United States inscribed on that rock is that carved by Kern, in 1849, and again, his second visit, in 1851. The Scene Shifts Now the intensely interesting part to Utahns is that the scene leaves New Mexico, and takes an abrupt flight to the Sevier Desert. When topographer R. H. Kern finished his work with the expedition led by Lieut. Simpson, he must evidently have applied to Captain John W. Gunnison, of the United States Topographical Engineers, for a similar position, for we find him as the artist-photographer with the "Central Pacific Railroad Surveying Expedition," which was commanded by Captain John W. Gunnison. After putting his name on "El Morro" rock as the first citizen of the United States to visit and record his visitation to that famous

608 IMPROVEMENT ERA spot, poor Kern walked directly to his death, six miles west of Deseret, on the Sevier Desert, in Millard county, Utah, — to a death unhonored, unwept, and unsung, as the tiny little pile of rocks heaped over his death-spot testify! For Artist R. H. Kern was killed in the "Gunnison Massacre," i^'«>Y ; «L 'i GUNNISON MASSACRE SITE NEAR DESERET This rude pile of stones marks the site of the massacre of R. H\ Kern, artist., in the employ of Captain John W. Gunnison of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, six miles west of Deseret, Utah. on the morning of October 26, 1853, when eight of twelve of Gun- nison's party were ambushed by Indians. Honor to the Worthy Dead Captain John W. Gunnison wrote a small volume, entitled The Mormons, in which he recorded, in a manner highly compli- mentary, the result of his observations during the four years he was among them. Orson F. Whitney speaks of this in his volumes, Hvstory of Utah, in these words: "The fate of Captain Gunnison, who, like Captain Stansbury, was greatly esteemed by the 'Mormon' people, was a shock to the whole com- munity. He had endeared himself to the Saints, not only by his urbane and gentlemanly deportment, but by the fair and impartial manner in which he had written up, in his valuable little book entitled, The Mormons, their history and religion. * * - A lock of Gunnison's hair was sent, as a memento, to Governor Young, who forwarded it to the Captain's widow."

SIDE LIGHTS ON THE GUNNISON MASSACRE 609 Under the rude little pile of debris — volcanic stones gathered up as rubbish fallen from old, abandoned granaries, and chunks of cement dislodged by the tool of time from older walls — lie all that is left of the mortal remains of Artist-Topographer R. H. Kern. His was the brush and the pencil to wield, not the steel with which warrior Lujan had cut his message and name two centuries before on the rock on which both stood and carved, — the one trained to draw and record form; the other, inured to thrust, parry, and hack. To think that Artist Kern should walk in the next two years, from that famous "Autograph Album of the Ages," to his tragic fate in Millard county! 'Tis the wont of Fate to take our life strings and weave our colors into her pattern, when the design needs our pigment. Kern and Gunnison were then needed in the figure, and each walked directly to his fate, the weaving delayed not a whit! * # * The several local chapters of the Daughters of the Pioneers, as one of their projects, will see that a suitable stone shaft, enclosed in an iron fence, shall mark the historic spot on a bleak and barren desert where Captain John W. Gunnison met his death, and where lie the last mortal remains of Artist-Topographer R. H. Kern. For the spot has thus a double value: — the friend of Utah and the "Mor- mons" there met his death; and the artist, whose name appears carved on the great Southwest' s most historic rock, there in company with a glorious crew of early warriors, found his last resting place. There is considerable confusion and great uncertainty as to whether the remains of Captain John W. Gunnison lie buried there, or in Fillmore. This does not concern the daughters of the Pioneers, whose object is to erect a suitable memorial over the spot where the little band met its death, without reference to where the bones of any of that group may have been deposited.* Later, J. H. Simpson rose to be Captain, and still later, to be a General. When a Captain he took an expedition from Camp Floyd, Utah, to Genoa, in Carson Valley, Nevada, to establish a wagon road between the two places. That route traversed the western portion of Juab county, just north of Delta, and the next mountains north of the Dugway Mountains were named the Simpson Mountains in his honor. Thus doubly do we find in Utah a connection of the men who carved their names on "the stone autographic album of the great Southwest," along with Spanish warriors; and earlier even than this, are the rude designs drawn by the aborigine, no one knows how long ago. *See facing p. 469 Mesa, Canon and Pueblo for photograph of the name of R. H. jKern, [artist, on the rock in company with doughty old Lujan. Consult Whitney's History of Utah for a recital of the Gunnison Massacre, (vol. I, page 521, etc.) and you will find that Artist R. H. Kern died, with the little band which was massacred, only six miles west of Deseret. See also Young's The Founding of Utah, page 267, for mention of Captain J. H. Simpson. .