Bishop Joseph Stacy Murdock Surrounded by Hundreds of Timpanogos Warriors — A Patriarchal Blessing Fulfilled Through Peacemaking

In 1867, tensions between Mormon settlers and the Timpanogos band of Utes in Utah's Heber Valley had reached a dangerous point, part of the wider Utah Black Hawk War. Bishop Joseph Stacy Murdock and two other men entered a Native camp hoping to prevent bloodshed, but soon found themselves surrounded by hundreds of angry warriors.

Years earlier — more than twenty years before, while Hyrum Smith yet lived — Joseph had received a patriarchal blessing from Hyrum Smith promising that he would help bring peace between his people and the Native inhabitants of the land. Now, surrounded and unsure whether he would leave the camp alive, that promise was put to the test.

Bishop Murdock stood his ground as a peacemaker, and what followed became a remarkable story of courage and reconciliation: on August 20, 1867, he negotiated a peace agreement with Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah ending hostilities between the Utes and the settlers of the valley — one of the turning points that led to the end of the Black Hawk War in Utah. The ancient promise given in Nauvoo had been fulfilled decades later, word for word, on a field in Heber Valley.

Murdock had been set apart by Brigham Young in 1860 to preside over the Saints in Heber City and vicinity, where he was widely known as a trusted friend to the region's Native people.