Was Abish Pratt a real person from the Utah War of 1857? Details from American Primeval, explored

Netflix's American Primeval is still ruling the platform's Top 10 charts after weeks of its debut.

Created by The Revenant's screenplay writer, Mark Smith, the show follows a fictionalized tale of the real-life Utah War of 1857. Various groups like the Mormons, the Paiutes, and the US government were after the Western American untamed land. The show follows their violent efforts to seize control over it.

One of the most brutal incidents in the Utah War's history is the Mountain Meadow Massacre, where the Mormon Church attacked a pioneer group who were traveling to the East. They disguised themselves as the Paiutes to pin the blame for the massacre on them.

One of the couples traveling in that pioneer group was Saura Lightfoot-Leon's Abish Pratt and her husband Dane DeHaan's Jacob Pratt., who managed to survive but were separated in the whole series.

While American Primeval features many real-life people like Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham), Brigham Young (Kim Coates), and Wild Bill Hickman (Alex Breaux), who were important figures during the Utah War, Abish Pratt was not a real-life person, and her character is fictional on the show.

More on Abish Pratt in American Primeval in our story.

Abish Pratt from American Primeval was not a real person in history

The Utah War of 1857 is an important part of the American West's history, as shown in Netflix's American Primeval, and a few characters are also modeled after the real-life people from history. While Leon's Abish is an important character throughout the show, she is not modeled after a real person.

In various interviews, director Peter Berg has acknowledged that Abish was not a real woman in the Utah War, but her character was inspired by the various women who were abducted and abused by the Indigenous people.

From various accounts of history, it can be inferred that only a few children were spared during the Mountain Meadow Massacre, which makes it impossible for a grown woman like Abish to have survived that brutality.

While American Primeval makes Abish, her husband Jacob, Sara, and Devin survive the massacre for the story to progress, it is unlikely that anyone survived the incident in real life.

Who is Abish Pratt in American Primeval?

Abish Pratt is shown as being recently married to Jacob Pratt in American Primeval. As revealed by her husband in Episode 1, he was supposed to marry Abish's sister, who tragically died, and instead, Abish was married off to Jacob. Abish and Jacob were Mormon pioneers who were traveling to the East when their tribe was murdered by the Mormon Church, who disguised themselves as Piautes.

While the Mormons brutally kill their husbands, Abish and the rest of the women are abducted by the Indigenous people, who later kill them. But Abish's life is spared by Red Feathers, an indigenous group member, who sees bravery and no fear of death in Abish's eyes. Thinking she is different from the other woman, he saves her and brings her to live with his people.

While a scalped Jacob looks everywhere for his wife, Abish starts to live with Red Feathers' Shoshone tribe. Even when the officials find her, she decides to go back to the Shoshone tribe and leads them into war against the Mormons.

In the American Primeval finale, Jacob tragically kills Abish, mistaking her for a Shoshone woman because of all the war paint smeared on her face. When he realizes that he has accidentally killed his wife, he dies by suicide.