Patrick Edward Connor Patrick Edward Connor ( March 17 , 1820 – December 17 , 1891 ) was a Union General during the American Civil War . He was most famous for his campaigns against Native Americans ( Indians ) in the American Old West . Early life and career . Patrick Edward O ' Connor was born in rural County Kerry , Ireland on St . Patrick ' s Day , 1820 . He came to the United States and enlisted , as Patrick Edward O ' Connor , in the United States Army on November 28 , 1839 . In addition to service in the Seminole Wars . , he saw service as a dragoon at Fort Leavenworth , Fort Atkinson , Fort Sandford , and at the second Fort Des Moines . He was honorably discharged , as a private , on November 28 , 1844 and after two years in New York went to Texas . On April 5 , 1845 , he became a naturalized citizen . Mexican War . In Texas he joined the Texas Volunteers in May 1846 using the name " P . Edward Connor " , serving as a first lieutenant in the Texas Foot Riflemen . On July 7 , 1846 , at Galveston , Texas , he was mustered into the United States Army as a first lieutenant , enlisting for 12 months . His independent company of Texas Volunteers under the command of Captain Charles A . Seefield was ordered to Port Lavaca on Matagorda Bay as a part of General John E . Wool ' s Army of the Center which was slated to invade Mexico . Marching through Monclova , Parras , and Saltillo the company , now under his command as Captain Connor , and attached to the 2nd Illinois Volunteers under the command of Colonel William H . Bissel , fought in the Battle of Buena Vista . The company saw heavy action , Connor being wounded in the hand ; two of his lieutenants and 13 men were killed . He was honorably discharged on May 24 , 1847 near Monterey , Mexico , resigning due to rheumatism . When the California Gold Rush developed he crossed Mexico from Texas and arrived in California on January 22 , 1850 . California . Shortly after his arrival in California he was involved in a boating accident in the surf while attempting to reach the mouth of the Trinity River and found a settlement . Connor and his men were unaware that the Trinity River empties into the Klamath River instead of the Pacific . Of the 10 people in the whale boat attempting to navigate heavy surf , 5 were drowned . On May 28 , 1853 , he was called by Harry S . Love to be his lieutenant in the company of California State Rangers with 20 other experienced Mexican War veterans . They hunted down and killed the Mexican outlaw Joaquin Murrieta and three others of his gang , captured two others , breaking up the Five Joaquins . He and the rest of the Rangers were well rewarded by the state before being disbanded . Civil War . When the Civil War broke out , Connor was in command of the " Stockton Blues , " a unit in the California Militia . He brought the strength of the unit up to regimental size and it became the 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry . His regiment was ordered to the Utah Territory to protect the overland routes from Indians and quell a possible Mormon uprising . While in Utah , Connor as senior officer became commander of the District of Utah , Department of the Pacific , on August 6 , 1862 , establishing Camp Douglas at Salt Lake City in October , but became discontented with his assignment . He and his men wished to head to Virginia where the real fighting and glory was occurring . When major general Henry W . Halleck ( a personal friend of Connor ' s ) became the general - in - chief of the Union armies , Connor pleaded that his men had enlisted to fight traitors . He offered to withhold $ 30 , 000 from the regiment ' s pay to ship the troops to the eastern battlefields . Halleck suggested that Connor reconnoiter the Salt Lake City area . Connor did so and established Fort Douglas in a commanding position over the city , despite the wishes of the Mormons . Brigham Young tried through his personal representative Kinney to Congress to displace Federal troops . However , through the efforts of Governor Doty and Colonel Connor , Federal troops were sequestered at Fort Douglas by Washington and the Pacific Theatre commanding general . In October 1863 , Connor along with Governor Doty signed peace treaties with the remaining hostile Indian tribes thereby bringing to a close all Indian hostilities within the Utah Terrority . Shortly after the signing of the treaties , officers and enlisted men of the California Volunteers stationed at Fort Douglas established the first daily Utah newspaper called " The Union Vedette " . This newspaper offered a balance of news unavailable through the LDS Church owned " Deseret News " . Connor provided protection for non - Mormons and those wishing to leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints during his three years of service in Utah . He also discovered valuable mineral wealth in Utah that was reported to his superiors . This led to the gradual immigration of non - Mormons into Utah that led to weakening of the power of the LDS Church on every - day affairs in the territory . Connor engaged in extensive military correspondence which was published in 1897 under " The War of the Rebellion : A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies " . Connor remained in command of the District of Utah until it was merged in March 1865 into the District of the Plains , established at his suggestion that a " Department of the Plains " be created which he would command . The new district , in the Department of the Missouri , combined the former districts of Utah ( re - designated West Sub District ) , Nebraska ( East Sub - District ) , Colorado ( South Sub - District ) , and Territory of Idaho ( North Sub - District ) . Connor was named commander of the new District . Bear River Massacre . In the early 1860s , population pressures in the Washington Territory ( present day Idaho - Utah border ) led to conflicts between immigrant settlers and native Americans . After an attack on miners with depositions given in Salt Lake City by the survivors , Connor marched his regiment 140 miles over the frozen winter landscape to ' deal ' with the Indians . On January 29 , 1863 , Connor ' s troops encountered the Shoshoni encampment along the Bear River . Connor and his militia crossed the river and attacked the camp , they feigned a retreat only to encircle the camp and renew their attack . Connor sent additional troops to block the Indian escape route through a ravine ; and sent the rest of the soldiers on a flanking maneuver to a ridge , from where they fired down into the Indians . The soldiers also fired on Indians as they attempted to escape by swimming across the bitterly cold river . The troops killed nearly all the Indians , including women and children , with fatalities estimated at 200 - 400 . The Indians had been supplied by the Mormons and large quantities of wheat and articles of war were captured by Connor ' s command after the battle at Bear River . An Indian survivor later said that the large band of Indians were planning on destroying the town of Franklin in modern day Idaho . Connor ' s dispatches are detailed in " The War of the Rebellion - A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies of the Pacific Theater " . Powder River Expedition . After the Bear River Battle ( or massacre ) , Connor was appointed brigadier general in the Volunteer Army . From July to September 1865 , he led the punitive Powder River Expedition against the Sioux , Cheyenne , and Arapaho Indians , who were attacking travelers along the Bozeman Trail and overland mail routes . Connor ' s 2 , 600 men were organized into three widely separated units which traversed hundreds of miles of what would become Montana and Wyoming . The soldiers were harassed by Indians who avoided pitched battles . Connor established Fort Connor , later Fort Reno , and destroyed an Arapaho village at the Battle of the Tongue River . His Pawnee scouts also ambushed and killed a band of 24 Cheyenne warriors . Most of the time , however , Connor ' s three units were on the defensive , fending off Indian raids on their horses and supply wagons which left many soldiers on foot , in rags , and reduced to eating raw horse meat . On the whole , the expedition was " a dismal failure " carried out with " large , ungainly columns filled with troops anxious to get home now that the Civil War was over . " As the expedition began , Conner ' s orders to his officers were , " You will not receive overtures of peace or submission from Indians , but will attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age . " Connor ' s superiors countermanded this order . Postwar activities . When the Civil War ended , Connor was appointed a brevet major general in the Volunteer Army and mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866 . Never having been in combat against the Confederacy in the East , he continued to command troops on the frontier . He recruited Confederate veterans for service against the Indians . Making his permanent residence in Salt Lake City , Connor established one the city ' s first newspapers . He also got involved in mining again . He founded a city in Utah and named it Stockton in honor of his California militia unit . Connor died in Salt Lake City , Utah and was buried there .