Pahvant

Pahvants lived west of the Wasatch Range in the Pavant Range towards the Nevada border along the Sevier River in the desert around Sevier Lake and Fish Lake, therefore they called themselves Pahvant, meaning "living near the water",[1] or "water people".

[5] About 1850, Mormons began to move into San Pete and Millard counties, taking the "most valuable lands" of the Pahvant and other tribes and plowing native plants, which resulted in periods of starvation and survival strategies that included begging for food and taking crops and livestock.

[6] The Indians have been driven from their lands and their hunting grounds destroyed without compensation wherefore they are in many instances reduced to a state of suffering, bordering on starvation.

In this situation some of the most daring and desperate approach the settlements and demand compensation for their lands, where upon the slightest pretexts, they are shot down or driven to the mountains.

"Brigham Young's response to Holeman's charge was to deny it and advise Mormons that it was "cheaper to feed Indians than fight them."

About October 1853, some pioneers had passed through Pahvant land and were having peaceful communication until they tried to take bows and arrows away from the Utes.

[7] Captain John Williams Gunnison had come to the area to survey the land for a transcontinental railroad.

He heard of the conflict, but believed the issues had been resolved and set up camp on Sevier Lake to explore and survey the area.