A Pension Insult in the Valley
Richland’s last Indian War veteran rails against a proposed amendment he says smears the service of U.S. soldiers.
W. S. Davidson, Richland’s only surviving veteran of the Indian Wars, is very much incensed over the proposed Smoot amendment to the pension bill. In an interview with Mr. Davidson he stated that he considered it a disgrace to class the soldiers who fought to protect the women and children from the ruthless Indians in the same category as the members of the Utah militia, who used their best efforts, assisted by the hostile natives, to defile that which the soldiers of the U.S. were trying to defend. Mr. Davidson was a member of the Kansas Volunteer Calvary, Company A, and saw considerable active service in 1867, and he feels that the veterans of these Indian wars are entitled to a pension from the government. He states that he would feel positively that it was an insult to be rated with the members of the Utah militia as he knows that they took an active part in many of the worst atrocities perpetrated during the entire campaign.
“he would feel positively that it was an insult to be rated with the members of the Utah militia”
This story highlights the complex and often brutal history of federal military policy and Indian removal in the American West. It serves as a reminder of the settler-colonial perspective that dominated local discourse at the time, framing 'protection' in ways that modern historiography continues to challenge.
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