Sanpitch was the father of Black Hawk. He was one of the four chiefs, Chief Sagwitch Timbimboo, Chief Bear Hunter and Chief Lehi, who led the Northwestern Shoshone and Bannock tribes.

Sanpete County is a corrupted or mispronounced form of Sanpitch. There are other areas in the state of Utah which are named after Chief Sanpitch or his father who had the same name, i.e. the Sanpitch River, Sanpitch Valley where most of the county's cities and towns lie, and the Sanpitch Mountains which run along the western border of Sanpete County roughly between Nephi to the north and Sevier Bridge Reservoir (Yuba) to the south.

Sanpitch was killed near Fountain Green, Utah while fighting in the Black Hawk War (1865-1872).

See: History to Go; The Northwestern Shoshone, Black Hawk Productions; Depredations of Ute Peoples, Davis County Travel Convention; Trivia, Archive.org; Sanpete County History