In This Issue

A recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune relating to the process of education offered the thesis that an educated person must have knowledge beyond a catalog of facts, since "facts change so fast." With only slight reservation, the historian would nod in agreement. Actually, in our profession, and perhaps in the others as well, facts once established do not change. Rather, it is the discovery of new facts, or new ways of looking at old ones, that leads to a refinement of knowledge. Let us delight in the realization that history is constantly being rewritten.

Our first article is an excellent example of that process. Although historians have "known" for some time that the Battle of Bear River was really a massacre, not until now, with the discovery of a long-secluded document, can that point of view be fully accepted as fact. As Sgt. Beach's narrative succinctly states, the soldiers heard the cry for quarters, "but their was no quarters that day." His casualty figures, as a soldier who walked the battlefield that cold January afternoon, also pins down the number of Shoshoni dead better than any other source known heretofore. This long-awaited contribution to our knowledge of Utah history is a fitting capstone to the illustrious career of the late Harold Schindler No one valued the bare-boned facts of history more than he.

The second article, also relating to Utah's native people in the midnineteenth century, is another case study in historical method Here we see a scholar address a topic in which the facts are elusive but where he nevertheless succeeds in reinterpreting the historical record to create a revised work The reader will understand Waccara's success as a Ute leader just a little better now.

Dealing with twentieth-century topics, the final two selections proceed from a more traditional and resource-rich research base. Yet, the challenge to the historian is no less keen. This same care in organization, analysis, and interpretation of facts must still be applied.

All four articles illustrate the commitment this journal has made to scholarship since its inception in 1928. As its editorial staff prepares to turn the calendar from one century to another, it pledges to continue that tradition long into the indefinite future. And that's a fact.

The sword of Col. Patrick E. Connor; USHS collections.