Kahpeputz (Bannock) Kanosh (abt. 1840 - 1878)

Died 9 Dec 1878 at about age 38 in Kanosh, Millard, Utah, United States

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Biography

Sally (Bannock) Kanosh is Notable.

Sally was Bannock.

According to Bancroft's History of Utah ^[1]:

During the winter of 1847-8, some Indian children were brought to the fort to be sold. At first two were offered, but the settlers peremptorily refused to buy them. The Indian in charge said that the children were captured in war, and would be killed at sunset if the white men did not buy them. Thereupon they purchased one of them, and the one not sold was shot. Later, several Indians came in with two more children, using the same threat; they were bought and brought up at the expense of the settlers.

Charles Decker bought one of the prisoners, a girl, who was afterward brought up in President Young's family. She married an Indian chief named Kanosh.

From Memoirs of John R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847", ^[2]:

Soon after we moved on to our city lot, fall of 1847, a band of Indians camped near us. Early one morning we were excited at hearing their shrill, blood-curdling war shoop, mingled with occasional sharp cries of pain. Father sent me to the Fort for help. Charley Decker and Barney Ward, the interpreter, and others hurried to the camp.

It was Wanship's band. Some of his braves had just returned from the war-path. In a fight with "Little Wolf's" band, they lost two men, but had succeeded in taking two girls prisoners. One of these they had killed, and were torturing the other. To save her life Charley Decker bought her, and took her to our house to be washed and clothed.

She was the saddest-looking piece of humanity I have ever seen. They had shingled her head with butcher knives and fire brands. All the fleshy parts of her body, legs, and arms had been hacked with knives, then fire brands had been stuck into the wounds. She was gaunt with hunger, and smeared from head to foot with blood and ashes.

After being washed and clothed, she was given to President Young and became as one of his family. They named her Sally, and her memory has been perpetuated by the "Courtship of Kanosh, a Pioneer Indian Love Story," written by my gifted cousin, Susa Y. Gates.

She appeared in the 1860 US Census in the household of Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah Territory. ^[3] She was listed as Sally, aged 32, female, Indian. ^[3]

She appeared in the 1870 US Census in the household of Brigham Young in Salt Lake City. ^[4] She was listed as Sally, aged 40, female, Indian. ^[4] She was working as a domestic servant. ^[4]

Marriage to Kanosh

Her marriage to Kanosh was mentioned in the 12 June 1877 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune ^[5]:

KANOSH.

One of the Heroes of Mountain Meadows,

And His Marriage to One of Brigham's Daughters.

We noticed a day or two ago, the arrival among us of Kanosh, the Mormon Indian chief who took a prominent part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but what brought him here was not then known, save on general principles, that the object was not a good one. It has just now come to light that it was a matrimonial affair which induced him hither.

But first let it be known that Kanosh is a "big Injun" in the Mormon Church, having established his claim for due consideration at the hands of the priesthood, by the efficient services he rendered the Mormons in cutting throats at the massacre. Like John D. Lee, he was not only cajoled, but rewarded. Brigham put breeches upon the chief, presented him with a plug hat, named the town of Kanosh in honor of the red-handed savage, administered the holy rites of the Endwoments to him, and gave him a concubine, marrying her to him according to the heathen ceremony of the Mormon Church. This redskin has been supported by the Church for many years, and came to the center stake of Zion on this occasion for the purpose of taking to his wigwam another concubine, the happy polygamous bride being

BRIGHAM'S DAUGHTER SALLY.

Now, this fair maiden "turned the corner" perhaps ten years ago, but she has always had a lively interest in Kanosh, and on Friday or Saturday was sealed to him for time and eternity. It is said that a fine feast was spread, and that the inmates of the Prophet's harem made merry. Sally Kanosh does not want to go with her [?] lord to his wigwam, and will therefore remain in her pa's little family.

Sally is only an adopted daughter of Brigham and is of Lamanitiah parentage, but she has a true sense of her duty in accepting the services of the bow and arrow boy to help her into the kingdom of heaven.

According to the article, she was married on either "Friday or Saturday", which would be the 8th or 9th of June, 1877.

In 1906 (29 years after Sally's marriage), Susa Young Gates, daughter of Brigham Young, wrote The Courtship of Kanosh: A Pioneer Indian Love Story which was published in the Improvement Era magazine. ^[6] While Susa stated "All that happened many years ago, but I knew Sally quite well, and who does not remember Kanosh?" ^[7], it is possible that Susa's story is entirely fiction.

Gates might be the source of the story about Kanosh offering ponies for her ^[8]:

[...] that chilly afternoon in September, 1848 [...]

To his surprise and disgust, he was informed that Sally was not for sale. She formed one of the white chief's family, and as such she should follow the custom of the white maidens and choose her own husband, when and how she would.

Ten ponies, a whole band of them, with a cherished Spanish saddle thrown in, failed to move the white Father.

Also the story about Kanosh burning himself with an iron ^[9]:

"My love is hot within me," cried he. And Sally moved by a rude instinct of mischief, ran to him, and, laying her flat iron lightly on the tips of the fingers which held his blanket, answered jeeringly, "It burns--it burns, like that!"

With a proud gesture, he seized her hand, with the flat iron in its clasp, and, turning its surface to his bare breast, he held it there with stoic calmness while it seared the flesh. Then, flinging her hand away, he strode out into the twilight with stern anger.

As well as the story about Kanosh rescuing her after she was kidnapped by Wakara. ^[10]

Death

Her obituary in the 18 December 1878 edition of the Deseret News ^[11] reads:

Funeral of a Lamanite

KANOSH, Millard County, Dec. 10th, 1878.

Sally Kanosh died at 10 o'clock a.m., yesterday, December 9th, at the house recently put up at the Indian Farm, and was buried today in the temple clothes presented to her by the late President Brigham Young. The body was taken charge of by the ever-ready, in works of charity, Adelia Kimball, and her efficient helps of the Relief Society. Quite a number of brethren turned out with teams to conduct the funeral and convey the Indian to our burying ground, where she was interred. Addresses were delivered by Brothers Christensen, Abraham, and Reay. A solemn and peaceful influence prevailed. The faithful old chief, Kanosh, was deeply moved at the respect shown to his dead wife, and expressed his confidence in the good effect it would produce upon his people, as contrasting a kind and Christian burial with the rude manner of disposing of the Indian dead. Sally, for several days, was aware of the near approach of death, and instructed Kanosh as to the disposal of her clothes, etc.

Beneath that tawney skin was a faith, intelligence and virtue that would do honor to millions with a paler face.

GEORGE CRANE.

Her death was also mentioned in Memoirs of John R. Young" ^[2]:

[...] while the ending of Sally's life, as told to me by a man from Kanosh, was as tragic as her childhood days had been thrilling.

After she married Kanosh, several years of her life passed pleasantly, in the white man's house which he built for her. Then her Indian husband took to himself another wife, who became jealous of Sally, and perhaps hated her also for her white man's ways.

One day when they were in a secluded place digging segoes, the new wife murdered Sally and buried the body in a gully.

When Kanosh missed her, he took her track and followed it as faithfully as a blood hound could have done, and was not long in finding the grave. In his grief he seized the murderess, and would have burned her at the stake, but white men interfered.

In due time the Indian woman confessed her guilt, and in harmony with Indian justice, offered to expiate her crime by starving herself to death.

The offer was accepted, and on a lone hill in sight of the village, a "wick-i-up" was constructed of dry timber. Taking a jug of water, the woman walked silently toward her living grave. Like the rejected swan, alone, unloved, in low tones she sang her own sad requiem, until her voice was hushed in death. One night when the evening beacon fire was not seen by the villagers, a runner was dispatched to fire the wick-i-up, and retribution was complete.

Sally's funeral had taken place only a day or two previous. Over a hundred vehicles followed the remains to their last resting place, and beautifully floral wreaths covered the casket; for Sally had been widely loved among the white settlers for her gentle ways.

Research Notes

Marriage to Brigham Young

There is a theory that Sally was married to Brigham Young.

An image exists titled "Brigham Young and Unknown Wife" that shows Brigham Young sitting next to a woman whose face has been scratched out. ^[12]

The news article "Brigham Young’s secret wife?" ^[13] published 21 September 2012 says a photographer was hired to appraise the photograph and that "he looked at the wedding rings and the tortured hands, which matched a later portrait of Sally Young. He said it also matches with other records he has uncovered about Brigham Young's relationship with the Native American woman."

The news article "Did Brigham Young have a secret wife? Cemetery search could provide answers" ^[14], published 24 May 2023 says:

Herridge points to the hands of the woman in the photograph with the LDS leader and compares it to a photograph in Utah State Historical Archives of Sally Kanosh.

"Her right hand was shingled, and then little finger was so damaged that was cut off," he said, adding there are similarities with bracelets and a chain around the woman's neck.

Some believe that Talula Young Wood is actually the daughter of Brigham Young and Sally, instead of Talula's documented mother Clara Decker Young. ^[14] A search for Sally's grave is ongoing so DNA testing can be done. ^[14]

Regarding the bracelets worn by the mysterious wife, Holzapfel & Schwartz, in their paper A Mysterious Image: Brigham Young with an Unknown Wife, claim that Brigham's wives Lucy Ann Decker Young, Mary Ann Angell Young, and Augusta Adams Cobb all had considerable contact with Native Americans, so the woman in the photograph could be one of them. ^[12]

Sources to Find

• "Well's Narr., MS., 48." Mentioned as a source in Bancroft's History of Utah.

Sources

1. ↑ Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, 1540-1886 (1889), p. 278.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} John R. Young, Memoirs of John R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847 (1920), p. 62-63.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH24-S8G : 18 February 2021), Sally Quinn in entry for Brigham Young, 1860.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCY-8L7 : 24 May 2021), Sally Hanson in entry for Clara Sniveley, 1870.
5. ↑ The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah), 12 June 1877, p. 4, KANOSH.
6. ↑ Susa Young Gates, Improvement Era, Vol. IX, No. 1, The Courtship of Kanosh: A Pioneer Indian Love Story, p. 21-38.
7. ↑ Gates, The Courtship of Kanosh, p. 37.
8. ↑ Gates, The Courtship of Kanosh, p. 22.
9. ↑ Gates, The Courtship of Kanosh, p. 23.
10. ↑ Gates, The Courtship of Kanosh, p. 31-35.
11. ↑ Deseret News, 18 Dec 1878, p. 16, Correspondance.
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Richard Neitzel Holzapfel & Robert F. Schwartz, A Mysterious Image: Brigham Young with an Unknown Wife, link.
13. ↑ Ben Winslow, Brigham Young's secret wife?, 21 September 2012, archived link.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Ben Winslow, "Did Brigham Young have a secret wife? Cemetery search could provide answers", 24 May 2023, archived link.

See also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Young_Kanosh