Nicaagat

Nicaagat (leaves becoming green, c. 1840–1882), also known as Chief, Captain and Ute Jack he led a Ute war party against the United States Army when it crossed Milk Creek onto the Ute reservation, which triggered the Battle of Milk Creek.

As a boy, Nicaagat was orphaned and then sold to a Mormon family. He was educated at a school with white children and attended church with the family. He lived with the family a number of years and ran away after being threatened to be whipped. He traveled to Colorado and joined with the White River Utes when he married a young woman from the tribe. He became a leader to the younger men and was a scout for General George Crook during the Sioux Wars of 1876 and 1877.

Background

Nicaagat was a Ute chief of Colorado. The Utes were nomadic people who ranged across their extensive hunting grounds for large and small game in family groups. Bands of family groups met with other Utes during the year for religious and traditional ceremonies, like the Bear Dance. Nicaagat was of Ute and Apache heritage He was orphaned as a young child in Utah.

Nicaagat went with Ouray and other chiefs to Washington, D.C. in January 1868. The purpose of the visit was to sign a treaty that would define the territorial borders of the Ute people.

Having learned to speak English fluently, he served as a scout for General George Crook in 1876 and 1877. Crook fought the Sioux, Major Thomas Tipton Thornburgh of Fort Steele was sent to Colorado to address the situation.

General Hatch held a commission to study the Meeker Massacre and Battle of Milk Creek. He determined that no Utes would be tried for the battle against the United States military, but those involved in the killing or kidnapping of people from the Indian Agency would need to be brought in. Colorow and Nicaagat were selected to bring Quinkent and others in for a trial outside of Colorado. Nicaagat would never forgiven by the Utes, so he with his wife and children left the reservation.

Later years, death, and legacy Nicaagat went to live on a Shoshone reservation in Wyoming. Seven men from the cavalry came to find him, saying that he was off the reservation. He was shot in the arm. The tipi that he ran into was fired upon by soldiers with a howitzer and he was killed.