Phillip B Gottfredson, author My Journey To Understand Black Hawk's Mission of Peace, and historian of the Utah Black Hawk War, is a grassroots advocate for Native American sovereignty, treaties, and aboriginal rights. Holding the government, organizations, and institutions accountable for withholding true Native American history from the public, which caused irreversible damage to the Timpanogos Nation, who are Indigenous to Utah, by sugarcoating settler colonialism, taking their land and resources, hunting rights, fishing rights, and religious freedom without a treaty or compensation. Phillip B Gottfredson is an advocate for truth in education and the removal of historical markers that falsely accuse the Timpanogos of being "savages, infidels, and heathens."
The Black Hawk War Project began in 1990 when Phillip Gottfredson and his brother David started researching the Utah Black Hawk War as a hobby. "Reading Mormon accounts, there were so many unanswered questions," wrote Phillip.
"What began as a mere 
curiosity, in 1989 I began to read all the books I could find on the Black Hawk War in Utah. It became clear to me that all accounts were about the Mormon's one-sided perspective. I found that scholars and authors who wrote about the Black Hawk War never asked or cared what the Native Americans they studied had to say about their work. Consequently, virtually every account about Utah's indigenous peoples is biased and based on assumptions, replete with half-truths, ambiguities, platitudes, and omissions. It followed that in 2003 I turned to all First Nations people of Utah to get their side of the story."
Phillip continues, "In 2003, I took a trip to Washington, DC, with a Native American friend who invited me to attend the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Tens of thousands of Indigenous people from all around the world came together to celebrate this event. This trip to DC would become the first of many journeys that would take me across North and South America and decades of continued research into the sacred lifeways of Indigenous people. David, older and wiser than I, would remind me, "It's not about you, Phil, or me; it's about all of us." Those words became more important to me as time went on. When David passed over in 2015. He made me promise that I would continue our work."
A Family Legacy
The Gottfredson family has a deep personal connection to the Black Hawk War, a conflict of immense social and historical significance in Utah. Peter Gottfredson, who passed away in 1934, left a legacy that Phillip and David, his great-grandsons, were determined to honor. Peter was a friend of Black Hawk; they were about the same age, and he spent much of his time living among the Timpanogos Tribe during the war. In 2003, Phillip authored the website The Black Hawk War: Utah's Forgotten Tragedy to promote Peter Gottfredson's classic firsthand account of the Black Hawk War, Indian Depredations in Utah, a family heirloom published in 1919 and republished by Phillip in 2002.
Operating under the domain name BlackHawkProductions.com, this website has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years, emerging as the leading platform for the Black Hawk War in Utah. In a significant move in 2023, Phillip reimagined and transformed the website into The Utah Black Hawk War; Settler Colonialism (1848-70), significantly enhancing its content and format. These improvements ensure a 
seamless alignment with Phillip's premier book My Journey to Understand Black Hawk's Mission of Peace, published in 2019 by Archway Publishing from Simon and Schuster, a companion book to Indian Depredations in Utah. The website and the books provide a fundamental understanding of the lost history of a forgotten people, Indigenous to Utah, the Timpanogos Nation of the Uintah Valley Reservation, offering an in-depth knowledge that was previously inaccessible.
Phillip's commitment to his research is evident as he spent eight summers living with the Timpanogos Tribe, documenting their recollections of the Black Hawk War. His collaboration with Mary Murdock Meyer and members of the Tibe has been groundbreaking. As the first independent historian granted this honor, Phillip has made many remarkable discoveries. Phillip's findings revealed the deliberate marginalization of the Timpanogos, omitting them from Utah's history. His experiences living with the Timpanogos have given him the courage to attempt a bold and vital revision of Utah's account of the Black Hawk War.
"It was serendipitous that in 2015 I met Chief Executive of the Timpanogos Nation Mary Meyer. I was working at the time on a documentary film for the Utah State Division of Indian Affairs. I will never forget 
her first words, "You got the history right, but you got the wrong Tribe. Have you never heard of the Timpanogos?" It was pivotal because no one, not even the Division of Indian Affairs, whom I worked with for several years on the film project, they didn't tell me the Timpanogos and Ute are different tribes. I don't think anyone knew. Or if they did, they weren't saying anything."
Mary Meyer generously provided definitive proof that the Timpanogos are the living descendants of the 'Royal Bloodline' a family of legendary Chiefs Sanpitch, Wakara, Arapeen, Tabby, Ammon, Sowiette, Grospeen, and Antongua 'Black Hawk' who was the son of Sanpitch. Their lineage is well documented by vital records, birth and death certificates, Indian Agency records, treaties, and the Timpanogos boast of having filed some 13000 pages of historical records with the United States Department of the Interior going back to 1765.
"Mary's help genuinely humbles me, one of the greatest honors in my life to work with Mary Meyer and the Timpanogos Nation. She is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of her Tribe."
"We can learn so very much from the Native Americans if we would only listen. I am genuinely grateful to the Native American people and tribes throughout North and South America who took me in and taught me of their sacred life-ways that forever changed my life in a good way. And to all others, family, historians, donors, and many amazing friends who believed in the Black Hawk War Project and generously gave us their expertise, and support, I am grateful."
Phillip B Gottfredson has been recognized for his outstanding efforts in understanding and valuing Indigenous cultures. As a result, in 2008, the Utah Division of Indian Affairs awarded Phillip the Indigenous Day Award for his exceptional contributions.
Born in Springville City, Utah, in 1945 to parents Merrill Edward, and Melva Martha Henrie Gottfredson, Phillip is the last of four siblings. Though he served a two year 
British mission for the LDS Church 1964-1966. Today, he does not belong to any group or organized religion. He is a self-proclaimed free spirit and believes in the seven sacred teachings of First Nations people, "Honesty, Love, Courage, Truth, Wisdom, Humility, and Respect."
Gottfredson is a retired Conservator of Fine Art and Framemaker. He began his trade in 1973 and retired in 1993. Mr. Gottfredson owned and operated the Southwest Conservation Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he preserved art and historical objects for major museums and private art collectors. Renowned for his handcrafted picture frames, Phillip made custom frames for royalty, celebraties, professional artists, art galleries, and museums across the United States, and Canada. The above photo courtesy of Patti Frampton-Eddington, Artist Arnold Frieberg was commissioned to paint Queen Elisabeth's portrait in 1987, Phillip B Gottfredson was commissioned by Arnold Frieberg to make the frame shown above, and two others for the Royal Family. See American Insititute of Conservation
Documentary Film Project
In 2010 Mr. Gottfredson was commissioned by the Utah State Division of Indian Affairs to make a documentary film of the Black Hawk War. The project was funded by the Utah State Division of Indian Affairs, the George S. Deloris Dori Eccles Foundation, and private donors.
Filmmakers were Black Hawk Productions, LLC, Ron Hill Imagery, and Emy Award winner James Fortier of Turtle Island Productions. Phillip wrote, directed, and produced the film.
"I discontinued production of the film The Black Hawk War; Utah's Forgotten Tragedy. Through my ongoing research of the Black Hawk War, I discovered that there are major contradictions and inaccuracies in Utah's history. For example the Timpanogos and Ute Tribes are two distinctly different Tribes in origin, customs, and bloodlines. This revelation alone completely changed the accuracy of the film. I had invested over three years in the project and never received any compensation. But, had I continued, I would have added to the confusion that 
already exists in Utah's history, something I was not willing to participate in. My supporters and I were victims of Mormon's one-sided and often misleading accounts." Please see The Timpanogos Nation Is Snake-Shoshone for more information.
Phillip spent over 20 years living with Indigenous Tribes throughout North and South America. Phillip describes in his book his many adventures traveling from reservation to reservation and country to country. In 2012, he heard the Maya predicted the world's end, so Phillip traveled to San Pedro, Guatemala. He said, "If the world is coming to an end I want to be at ground zero. When I arrived in San Pedro, Guatamala, the Maya asked what brought me to their homeland. They laughed when I told them what I heard back home saying they never said such a thing. Under the expert guidence of Jörge Stienwender, a keeper of the sacred Myan Calenders, I spent six glorious months celebrating an auspicious time in Mayan history the advent of Job Ajaw, and the start of a period when "harmony, understanding, peace, and wisdom could reign, according to Carlos Barrios, a member of the Mayan Elders Council. And to learn about the Maya's historical connection to North American Tribes such as the Hopi, was priceless." See Phillip B Gottfredson In The Heart of Mayan Country
Peter and Phillip Gottfredson
Phillip's Black Hawk's Mission of Peace is a companion book to his great-grandfather's book Indian Depredations in Utah written by Peter Gottfredson.
Phillip's 
great-grandfather Peter was a young man during the Black Hawk War. Being a friend of the Timpanogos, he was invited into the camp of Chief Black Hawk on numerous occasions during the war. His great-grandfather also took 20 years to write his first book that was published in 1919, the same year Black Hawk's Grave was robbed. A hundred years later, and almost to the date, Phillip published his companion book to Peter's in 2019. "Pure coincidence," said Mr. Gottfredson, "but it does cause one to pause," he added.
See Source Material for the Utah Black Hawk War
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