William Slade
William Slade, his personal and family background and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
William Slade
1834-1902
Biographical Sketch
William Slade was a native of Louisiana who later moved to the Republic of Texas before moving to western Illinois and then frontier Utah. Like about two-thirds of the militiamen involved in the massacre he was an American frontiersman and pioneer of southern Utah.
Early Life in the South
Slade was born in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, the son of William Rufus and Julia Higganbotham Slade. Soon his family moved to the Republic of Texas. They joined the Mormons in the 1840s.
Immigration to Utah
Sometime in the late 1840s or early 1850s, they immigrated to Utah.
To Washington County and the Cotton Mission
By 1857, Slade and his father’s family had moved to Washington, Washington County, in southern Utah. Washington was largely populated by Southerners who had been assigned to the newly formed "Cotton Mission." A "William Slade" is listed as a county commissioner in Washington County from 1857 to 1859. This could have been young Slade, but more likely was his father, William Rufus Slade.
In the Iron Military District: Sergeant William Slade, Company I, John D. Lee's 4th Battalion
By September 1857, 23-year-old William Slade was a sergeant in the third Washington platoon, in Harrison Pearce’s Company I in John D. Lee’s 4th Battalion. Slade was among the Washington party who were probably recruited on Sunday the 6th and traveled toward Mountain Meadows on Monday the 7th and encamped there on Tuesday the 8th. His exact role in the massacre on Friday the 11th is unknown.
"William Slade" was listed in the 1859 arrest warrant. This could refer either to the father, William Rufus Slade, or the son, William Slade.
Service in the Black Hawk War in the 1860s
In 1866, William Slade is listed as a private in the 2nd platoon of the Volunteer Cavalry Company, 1st Brigade, in the Iron Military District, who did military reconnaissance during Utah's Black Hawk War. He was one of sixty cavalrymen in a company under the command of Captain James Andrus that made an expedition from St. George through Pipe Springs and Escalante to the Green River in eastern Utah. On their return, they traveled through Circleville, the Sevier River valley, Bear Valley, Parowan and back to St. George. Also in the company was William S. Riggs. They were the first to explore the Escalante Valley. A few short years later, settlers such as Carl Shirts from Panguitch would push east into the Escalante Valley and pioneer a new settlement there.
Later Life
Slade may have had an earlier marriage but in 1869 he married Nancy Catherine Overton Holt (1850-1931) who was born in Iowa but whose early American forebears were from North Carolina and Virginia. By 1872, they had settled in Hamblin and Pine Valley in northern Washington County.
In the late 1870s, the Slades settled in Panguitch, Garfield County. His last child was born in Panguitch in 1887, indicating that Slade probably remained there. In later years he moved to Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico where he died and was buried.
Around 1910, Slade's widow filed for Indian Wars veterans benefits for his service in 1866 during Utah's Black Hawk War.
References
Alder and Brooks, A History of Washington County, App. A, 383; Chidester, Golden Nuggets of Pioneer Days: A History of Garfield County, 120; Newell and Talbot, A History of Garfield County, 87; Crampton, "Military Reconnaissance in Southern Utah, 1866, Utah Historical Quarterly, 32/2 (Spring 1964), 160; Gottfredson, Indian Depredations in Utah, 225; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 228, 380; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Utah State Archive and Records and Service, Commissioner of Indian War Records, Indian War Service Affidavits, affidavit of William Slade, accessed at http://archives.utah.gov/research/inventories/2217.html; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
External Links
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