"I have now gray hairs on my head, and from my boyhood I have been on the frontiers doing all I could to preserve peace between white men and Indians." (Jacob Hamblin, the Peacemaker, by Pearson H. Corbett, p. 301, Salt Lake City, 1952.)

As a missionary and an indian subagent, Jacob Hamblin trusted and was trusted by his Indian Friends.  Even among the warring Navajo, he won respect through his honest dealings.  A very significant accomplishment as a peacemaker was his negotiation of the Treaty of Fort Defiance, New Mexico in November 1870.  he taught and practiced his rule for dealing with the Native Americans.  "I never talk anything but the truth to them.  Always listen to them when they wish to tell their grievances...  I never submit to any unjust demands."

Hamblin's special feelings toward Indians began dramatically.  While leading an expedition against hostile Indians in Tooele Valley, Utah about 1853, Hamblin and his men found that their guns would not fire at the Indians.  Reflecting on this and other events, Jacob wrote:

"The Holy Spirit forcibly impressed me that it was not my calling to shed the blood of the scattered remnant of Israel (the Indians), but to be a messenger of peace to them.  It was also made manifest to me that I would not thirst for their blood, I should never fall by their hands."

(Jacob Hamblin, by James A Little, p. 23, Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1969.)

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