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PUBLIC [
youfCantinlNsPottet
Brigham Ycmhg
And His
Mormon Empire
FRANK J. CANNON
AND
GEORGE L. KNAPP
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
Copyright, 19x3, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave,
Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W,
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh; 100 Princes Street
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION : The Man Who Went from a Puritan Farm
to Found a Mohammedan Empire in the Desert . 9
L Birth and Ancestry of Brigham A Sultan's Small
Beginnings 13
II. Mormonism Finds Its Field in the Spiritual Chaos
of the Mississippi Valley 18
III. Joseph and Brigham Prophet vs. Business Manager 28
IV. Growth of Brigham's Influence Climbing the
Tower of Faith 33
V. The Original Garden of Eden is Found in Missouri
And Abandoned 39
VL Prophecy and Finance Fail to Mix Conflicts with
Gentiles 44
VII, Nauvoo the Beautiful -Brigham's British Mission . 54
VIIL Polygamy Made Known for the Glory of the
Prophets #3
IX, Growth of Church and Clash with Civil Power . . 75
X, Joseph Smith Seeks the Presidency of the United
States, and Finds a Death at the Hands of a Mob 84
XL Brigham Takes Command as the New Priest-King , 96
XII, The Persecuted Saints Start on Their Last Exile . 103
XIII Brigham Issues the One Revelation of His Career 115
XIV. Across the Great American Desert to the Inland
Sea 127
XV. Zon is Founded by Salt Lake Because the Saints
Can Go No Farther ....... *4^
XVI. Signs and Miracles Attend the Colony of the Saints 152
XVII. The Church Political Begins Building Its- Empire . 159
6 CONTENTS
XVIII. The Gentile Rush for Gold Brings Riches to the
Faithful 167
XIX. The Way of a Sultan Brigharnized Industry * 179
XX. Brigham as a Patron of Art 189
XXL The Church Dukes 197
.XXII. The Church Organizes the State of "Descret" . 212
XXIII. Public Proclamation of Polygamy .... 224
XXIV. Analysis of the Plural Wife System ... 237
XXV. Troubles of the SaintsThe King Can Admit
No Wrong 248
XXVI Shedding of Blood as a Means of Salvation . 261
XXVII. Massacre of Emigrants at Mountain Meadows . 273
XXVIII. Clash with Federal Government- The Mormon
War 284
XXIX. Disgraceful Ending of the Mormon War . . 295
XXX. The Church Keeps Its Power A Profit-Seeking
Prophet 309
XXXI. Spoiling the Gentiles Utah During the Civil War 319
XXXII. Building Trusts and Crushing Heresies , . 338
XXXIII. The First Crusade Against the Saints Defeated . 355
XXXIV. Brigham's Closing Years" Lion of the Lord "
to the Last His Death . 374
XXXV. And Afterwards The Polygamous Despotism
Founded by Brigham Young Still Survives , 386
INDEX 393
ILLUSTRATIONS
Brigham Young in 1877 . . . Frontispiece
FACING
PAGE
His Earliest Known Photograph .... 36
Mormon Temples Built by Young . . . 104
The Imperial Offices and Residences in Salt Lake
City 148
Assembly Hall, Tabernacle and Temple . . 180
Interior of Great Tabernacle, Where Brigham
Scolded the Saints 198
Brigham Young About 1865 , . . . 222
A Mormon Family ...... 242
Brigham Young and Some of His Wives . . 272
Brigham Young in 1870 322
Modern Capital of the Empire . . . . 342
Main Street, Salt Lake City .... 344
Ann Eliza, the Nineteenth Wife . . . . 368
His Grave 37$
His Monument ,,.*,., 386
INTRODUCTION
IN the middle decades of the nineteenth century,
there arose in America a man destined to a career
more strange and incredible than most romancers
have dared to imagine for their heroes. That man
was Brigham Young,
Born on a soil saturated with New England Puri-
tanism, he became a follower and then a leader of the
Mohammedanism of the West. Born in a community
which held that Heaven had withdrawn from man,
and which admitted no revelation less than eighteen
centuries old, he was accepted by half a million people
as the mouthpiece and representative of God. Born
of a race in which monogamy has been the accustomed
form of marriage since before the dawn of history,
he is famous to-day as having been husband of a score
of wives, and sire of half a hundred offspring.
Brigham Young was not one of those children of
fortune who move with the current of the age, and
draw greatness from the greatness of their country.
Good fortune did not pass him by altogether, but
neither did she embarrass him with favours. Brigham
never came in contact with the real life of the nation,
save to defy it, and flout it, and do his best to
change it. He set up an Asiatic despotism on Ameri-
can soil He maintained a Mohammedan marriage
system in a Puritanical land. He built a theocracy
in an age which already had witnessed the birth of
Renan and Ingersoll. He took a broken and dispirited
people, led them across a thousand miles of desert, and
9
10 INTRODUCTION
with them founded his kingdom in the fertile valley
by an inland sea.
The man who could achieve these things, even with
some aid from fortune, was a man of no common
calibre. Without a day of military training, he be-
came a very efficient general-in-chief to his people.
Without an hour's reading of law, he made himself
judge and lawgiver and in the main a just one -for
a whole community. Where his own knowledge was
deficient, he had skill to use the ability of others; and
to this day, the finances, the government, the merchan-
dising, the architecture, the social life, and even the
agriculture of the Mormon community bear the stamp
put upon them by Brigham Young.
He matched his wits against the might of the United
States government, and did not come off second-
best. He yielded in outward seeming to federal
power; but in reality he was emperor of his little
realm to the hour of his death, and his subjects never
doubted his supremacy. He drove federal appointees
in disgrace from his kingdom, and took their positions
for himself and his favourites* No matter how over-
whelming the power with which he was dealing,
Brigham Young never was a suppliant. He stormed,
bullied, lied, intrigued, finessed, cajoled; he never
pleaded for mercy nor owned himself in need of
mercy. He met chastisement with fresh provocation*
Knowing polygamy to be the most offensive of his
sins in the eyes of the nation, he lived openly with a
score of wives, sent his most honoured polygamous
apostle to Congress as a territorial delegate, and per-
mitted his subordinate priests to debate with Christian
clergymen on the divinity of plural marriage.
He has become a central figure of weird and dis-
INTRODUCTION 11
tortecl legends. He has been made the target of num-
berless invectives. He has been made the idol of a
worshipping people. But never has he taken his place
in calm, impartial history; never has the story of his
life been told, save by some one more anxious to curse
or to bless than to understand and set forth. In the
hope of performing this belated service, of setting out
in true perspective one of the most romantic and in-
teresting characters of American history, this book
is written.
A SULTAN'S SMALL BEGINNINGS
BRIGHAM YOUNG was bora in Whitingham,
Windham county, Vermont, on the first day of
June, 1 80 1. He was the ninth child in a family
of eleven. His mother's maiden name was Nabbie
Howe. His father was John Young, who had been
a farmer in Massachusetts, and who moved to Ver-
mont a few months before the birth of his ninth child.
Both parents belonged to old New England stock, and
probably were of unmixed English descent.
The Youngs at this time were very poor. Linn
quotes a second-hand tradition which makes a town
patriarch say : " Brigham Young's father came here
the poorest man that had ever been in town; . . .
he never owned a cow, horse or any land, but was a
basket-maker." Passing the probable exaggeration of
such tradition, we may remark that John Young raised
eleven children to be competent, self-supporting mem-
1 bers of society. Children were less expensive in those
' days than now ; but surely even then the father of such
a family did not deserve reproach merely for his pov-
erty.
Though poor, the Youngs had little in common with
the family from which Joseph Smith sprung. John
Young had served in the Revolutionary army under
Washington^ His father, Brigham's grandfather,
was a surgeon in the colonial forces in the French
and Indian war. The surgical knowledge of the
13
14 BRIGHAM YOUNG
eighteenth century did not make a very bulky package,
but at that time it was not easy to get. The elder
Young's occupation at least is proof of more than
ordinary ambition, and probably of a fairly high order
of intelligence and courage.
Such tradition as deals with the family of Brigham's
mother tells little but vague rumors of " good connec-
tions," which may or may not be truth. Altogether,
Brigham seems to have sprung from sound, thrifty
stock, which had been faring rather hardly for at least
one generation. In him the capacities of the breed
rose to their highest level indeed, he well-nigh
monopolized them. This history will furnish abundant
proof that Brigham Young was a man of remarkable
intelligence and character, and several of his descend-
ants have shown unusual abilities. But of his brothers,
sisters, nephews, and nieces, few have risen above
mediocrity.
When Brigham was a child of three years, his par-
ents moved to Chenango county, New York. They
were still poor, though perhaps less destitute than dur-
ing their stay in Vermont, and John Young could give
his numerous offspring little in the way of education*
Brigham started in life for himself at the age of six-
teen, and without doubt he had contributed to the fam-
ily treasury before that time. He was by turns a car-
penter, painter, and glazier a Jack-of-all-tracles, like
any other bright Yankee boy of that unspecialized
period. He learned the glazier's trade thoroughly, and
his knowledge of practical carpentry was useful to him
on more than one important occasion in later life.
There is little authentic information about Brig-
ham's movements for the next few years. He located
in another county; tradition says he spent a season iti
A SULTAN'S SMALL BEGINNINGS 15
wandering, like other restless youngsters before and
since. His parents were Methodists, and at the age
of twenty-one he united with that church. Three
years later, he married a Miss Miriam Works. She
bore him two children, both daughters, followed
him into the Mormon church, and died not long after,
in 1832.
In a sermon in Salt Lake years afterwards, Brig-
ham Young declared that he studied the Book of Mor-
mon two years before accepting it as the word of
God, and ordering his life by its teachings. The
period of two years between his first acquaintance
with the new religion and his acceptance of the same
is undoubted; but the deep study implied must not
be taken too literally. Neither then nor later was
Brigham Young a great student of books, and the
Book of Mormon is no exception. At no time in
his career do we find him basing his conduct
in a crisis on the texts in Joseph Smith's sup-
plementary scripture. When supporting Smith
against the rebels within the fold, when fighting Sid-
ney Rigdon for mastery, and when tinquestioned ruler
of the church and all within its grasp, Young's pro-
nunciamentos are always practical and immediate,
never didactic and argumentative. They deal with
men and things, never with fine-drawn interpretations
and learned expositions of written guides to duty.
In 1829, Brigham moved to Mendon, Monroe
county, New York, where his father and brother
Phineas were living, and there first came into con-
tact with the teachings of Joseph Smith, the founder
of the Mormon faith, Phineas was already a devotee
of the new prophet, and at his house, in 1830,
Brigham made acquaintance with the Book of Mor-
16 BRIGHAM YOUNG
mon. The daring creed attracted him from the be-
ginning, though there is nothing to indicate that the
chief centre of attraction was found in the new sacred
book. Reading, discussing, arguing, and on rare
occasions hearing a Mormon sermon, Brigham grad-
ually dropped his lightly held Methodism, and accepted
the divine mission of Joseph Smith, There is a story
that after making up his mind to join the church, he
went to Canada and brought his brother Joseph into
the fold before offering himself for baptism. The
tale is at least characteristic of the man.
On April 14, 1832, Brigham Young was baptized
into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
by one Eleazur Miller, at Mendon, New York, Miller
evidently thought he had obtained a prize, for he or-
dained his new convert an elder at the water's edge.
The next day, Heber C. Kimball, already Brigham's
devoted friend and adherent, followed his leader into
the water to testify his faith that Joseph Smith was
the prophet of God and his yet more certain faith
that Brigham Young knew what was best for both
of them.
Henceforth, the fate of Brigham is bound up with
the fate of Mormonism. His trials are the trials of
a new religion; his successes the triumphs of the new
theocracy. He spent the summer preaching to his
friends and neighbours around Mendon, and early in
the fall started for Kirtland, Ohio, to meet the new
prophet to whom he had sworn allegiance*
Legend has busied itself for more than seventy
years with that meeting, and the exact date and many
other circumstances of the occasion are buried from
sight. In the presence of the prophet, the gift of
tongues descended upon Brigham, and he spoke in
A SULTAN'S SMALL BEGINNINGS 17
strange sounds. Thereupon, the gift of interpreta-
tion was vouchsafed to Prophet Smith, who declared
that his new disciple was speaking in the "pure
Adamic language " a dialect even more remote from
the ken of scholars than " reformed Egyptian," and
having the further merit of variety.
The Prophet of Mormonism had met its Business
Manager.
II
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS
IN 1830, there was published at Palmyra, New
York, the Book of Mormon, a work which
claims to set forth the dealings- of God with the
peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and which has
given its name to the most unique of modern religions.
The person who offered the Book of Mormon
for publication was a young man named Joseph Smith*
His story of its origin has an interest which few
persons have discovered in the book itself. Accord-
ing to his account, the Book of Mormon was a trans-
lation of an ancient scripture, written in a lost lan-
guage on golden plates. An angel had conic from
heaven to give these plates to Joseph for translation,
and to inform him that he had been chosen by the
Most High to restore true religion to a lost and cor-
rupted world. Joseph had but little knowledge of his
own language, and was totally ignorant of any other;
but the Divine mission was not balked by that slight
obstacle. Buried with the plates were two trans-
parent stones, "Urim and Thummin!" The golden
plates were written in " Reformed Egyptian." By
looking through " Urim and Thummin," Joseph was
enabled to translate this mysterious dialect into -Eng-
lish which any -lover of that tongue will agree is in
need of reform.
The plates were "revealed unto Joseph" in 1823,
given into his hands in 1827, and the translation was
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS 19
ready for the printer in 1829. The Mormon Church
-whose official title is " Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints " was organized April 6, 1830,
at Fayette, New York. During most of this time,
Joseph had been putting forth divers " revelations/'
some of a very practical import, and generally claim-
ing the powers and prerogatives of a prophet. Recog-
nizing or being informed that his tale was a tax
on credulity, Joseph provided himself with " wit-
nesses." The first group, known as the " Three Wit-
nesses/* signed a statement declaring that they had
seen both the golden plates and the angel who brought
them. The second group, known as the " Eight Wit-
nesses," couched their affirmation in a closer approach
to legal language, jstnd bore record " with words of
soberness " that they had seen and " hefted " the won-
derful plates, which " had the appearance of gold/'
In spite of these testimonials, Smith's claims were
not accepted by most of his neighbours, who declared
that he had been a t( money-digger " and " crystal-
gazer n from boyhood, f The prophet was without
honour in his own country, and it may be added
his religion had not found its proper habitat. Not
until Joseph's missionaries pushed their way into the
settlements of the Mississippi valley did the new re-
ligion meet any considerable measure of success.
Then for a time its progress was amazing. At the
prophet's death, in 1844, from 50,000 to 100,000 peo-
ple accepted him as the spokesman and vicegerent of
God, To-day probably not less than a million persons
hold the same faith,
No one can understand the rise of Mormonism
without some knowledge of the time and place in
which it arose. Human movements which achieve
20 BKIGHAM YOUNG
even partial success usually have had help from cir-
cumstances; and never was such help more manifest
than in the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints. Joseph Smith was not the man
to surmount great obstacles and compel great and last-
ing changes by his own unaided force. He lacked
energy, diplomacy, and steadfastness for such a task,
In a less favouring age and society than that of
Arabia in the seventh century, Mohammed might not
have founded a world religion; but he would have
made his mark as a notable schismatic or reformer.
In a less favouring age and society than that which
was ready to his hand, Joseph Smith would have been
lost to sight. He could play his part only on a pre-
pared stage; and such a stage was the Mississippi val-
ley in the early decades of the nineteenth century.
The great valley was then a social, political, and
religious chaos. It was part of the territory of a
civilized nation, it had been settled by civilized men;
but in manners, customs, and institutions, it was very
imperfectly civilized. Subjected to primitive condi-
tions, wrestling with a formidable wilderness, and for
a long time engaged in warfare with a barbaric enemy,
the western settlers brought with them the strength
and tenacity of civilization, and left its refinements
and restraints to follow as they might. Rifles and
axes stocked the first emigrant wagons that crossed
the Alleghanies; plows and spinning-wheels came
next; mahogany and fine linen had to wait for a
quieter day and an easier trail.
It was much the same with those intellectual and
spiritual matters which more nearly concern this his-
tory. In 1830, the Mississippi valley presented the
singular spectacle of a community which had escaped
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS 21
the bonds of religion without outgrowing its doctrines.
Practically all the people came of religious ancestry,
even of devout ancestry. They had a deep reverence for
" things of the Spirit." They were fond of theolog-
ical speculations. They deemed it a matter of vital
import to learn what had become of the Lost Tribes
of Israel; and they went insane formulating data on
the second coming of Christ. As far as any scientific
scepticism was concerned, they were innocent as the
followers of Godfrey de Bouillon. But of definite
religious standards, or organizations and teachers, to
satisfy the prevailing interest in religious matters, they
had almost none,
Dorchester computes that in the year 1830, the
Mississippi valley contained 4,000,000 inhabitants.
He reckons 348,490 of these as communicants of
divers Protestant churches. Perhaps half as many
more may be classed as Catholics. In Kentucky and
to a less extent in other states were little groups of
rational freethinkers, inheritors of Rousseau and Vol-
taire, men who had worked their way to a reasonably
stable frame of mind on religious matters, however
unsatisfactory their conclusions were deemed by the
orthodox. The rest of the population of the valley
five-sixths of the whole were religious without hav-
ing* an organized religion; were hungry for spiritual
guidance without knowing how to get it. Their faith
was in solution, ready to crystallize about any per-
sonality, any organization, any doctrine that could give
point and purpose to their spiritual strivings, and lead
them to the peace of assumed conviction.
The religious instability of the time and region,
and the feeble hold of existing churches on social life
cannot be expressed by figures. They can be illus-
22 BBIGHAM YOUNG
trated only. In many places of considerable popula-
tion, no sermon had been preached by an authorized
clergyman for ten, twelve, or fifteen years. When
a minister appeared in some of the back settlements,
it was not uncommon for him to be asked to perform
the marriage ceremony for couples who had been liv-
ing together for years, and who, perchance, had chil-
dren old enough to be interested in the novel occasion.
The distances covered by some early circuit riders in
their efforts to reach every part of the land are down-
right appalling, when the primitive modes of travel
are considered. The Methodist clergyman stationed
at Detroit, in 1822, had the whole territory of Michi-
gan for his circuit, except one town in the upper
peninsula, and was expected to minister to Maumee,
Ohio, as well. It took four weeks to make his round,
even in good weather. In Danville, Kentucky, in 1818,
there were two churches, Presbyterian and Roman
Catholic. The Catholic membership is unknown, but
it cannot have been large. The Presbyterian church
did not have a single male member,
The churches were weak not only in numbers, but
weak in learning, weak in organization, weak in the
narrowness of their appeal. Most of the, institutions
which now bring the church into close contact with
the workaday life of a community did not then exist
at least, not west of the Alleghanies. There were
no church gymnasiums, social settlements, debating
societies, Young Men's Christian Associations. The
preachers, who with incredible toil and splendid cour-
age made their way to and fro through the half
wilderness, preached virtue as well as doctrine. But
they had no organic plan of helping men to be either
moral or devout; and, with few exceptions, their lack
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS 23
of learning and authority restricted them to a purely
emotional appeal. Under such conditions, religious
exercises came to consist in chief measure of gathering
in crowds to hear about the lost state of one's soul.
The pioneer attended a meeting, and listened to the
Word. His heart was touched, he was convicted of
sin, converted, and sincerely believed that he had en-
tered upon a new life. But there was nothing to keep
him in the new life. When the novelty had worn off
and the emotional crisis had passed, the convert
backslid; to remain in outer darkness till converted
again.
One exception must be made to this rather sweeping
statement of church weakness. The Roman Catholic
church, then as now, had all the varied machinery
which enables a shepherd to watch over his flock..
But the Puritan heritage of most American settlers
in the great valley was so strong that conversion to
Catholicism was practically out of the question. The
prejudice against " Romanizing " was invincible. A
man of Protestant lineage might transgress every dis-
ciplinary rule of his ancestral church, and nearly every
rule of morality. He might never go near a church
nor hear a sermon; or, on the other hand, he might
run after every ragged street preacher who lifted the
banner of a freakish faith. These things reflected in
some measure on his repute as a man of sense and
good conduct, but they did not -cost him that inde-
finable and invaluable thing best expressed by the
word " caste. " But if such a man turned to the oldest
and most opulent of all forms of Christianity, he was
beyond the pale. The church which had crowned
Charlemagne and blessed Columbus and planted the
Cross on the Great River was deemed somehow un-
24 BRIGHAM YOUNG
worthy of the ragged squatters along that river's
banks.
The gulf which divided Roman Catholic and
Protestant churches was the deepest and most nearly
impassable barrier in the religious field, but not the
only one. The age was an age of schism; and almost
every new sect on the continent had a branch in the
Mississippi valley. To give but a few instances, the
Disciples of Christ took their rise in 1810. The Cum-
berland Presbyterians began a separate existence in
the same year. The Reformed Methodists followed in
1814. The Hicksite Quakers broke away from the
main body in 1827. The Methodist Protestant church
was organized in 1830, and the Millerites discovered
the exact date of the end of the world in 1831. Since
the aforesaid ending was to come March 23, 1844, it
will be seen that Miller and his disciples did not allow
themselves very much time to effect the world's con-
version. This point is worth noting when, studying
the claims and expectations of Mormon leaders at
about the same period.
Into this chaos of churched and unchurched, this
welter of formless fears and unformed faiths, came
Mormonism. It was as arrogant as the teachings of
Mohammed; as eclectic as the advertising of a quack
doctor. It appealed, not to argument, but to author-
ity; an angel of God had come down from heaven to
re-establish His lost religion on earth, and make plain
to His chosen prophet the way of salvation for man-
kind. It was ready to meet all doubts and to solve all
problems. It had a prompt, specific answer for every
question. It was willing to explain at length whence
a man came, why he was here, and whither he was
going. The definiteness of its answers appealed with
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS 25
irresistible force to that type of mind which cannot
refrain from questioning and cannot endure suspense.
The magnitude of its claims took the place of evidence.
A man who merely claimed to have found a new and
true meaning in a well-known Bible text might be
asked for his authority. But the man who noncha-
lantly offered the world a whole new scripture, and
proposed to retranslate the old one, who told what the
pre-existing spirits of men were doing before creation
and where Christ spent the three days between cruci-
fixion and resurrection, found his audacity accepted
as proof of divine guidance in inspiration.
The new religion was as catholic as it was audacious.
It left nothing out of its revelations which could at-
tract any one of whom its prophet had ever heard.
To the curious, it proffered an authentic history of
some part of those Lost Tribes, whose fate was so
perplexing to our grandfathers. To the devout, it
supplied a record of the dealings of God with the
peoples of the Western Hemisphere, To the ambitious,
It gave the companionship of a man who had con-
versed with angels, and who bore the seal of the Most
High. To the humble, it offered enlistment in the
literal army of God. It copied the grips and signs
and passwords of secret societies; it mirrored the very
health facts of the hour. " Hot drinks are not good
for the body or for the belly," declared the prophet
on one occasion perhaps when a Thompsonian
" draught " was racking his internal economy ; and
from that day to this, the Mormon who indulges in
tea or coffee is counted a dangerous latitudinarian.
The very mechanism of the new propaganda was
made ready in advance. Revivals had done little to
provide permanent church homes for the devout, but
26 BRIGHAM YOUNG
they had accustomed the people to the phenomena of
conversions in mass, and to trusting that ecstatic im-
pulse known to Quakers as the " inner light/' When,
Joseph Smith conversed with spirits, he did only what
hundreds of others had done; what thousands hoped
some day to do. When he found mysterious books
and magic gems, he had merely succeeded in a search
which engaged the attention of many. When he de-
clared hysterical convulsions were caused by the pres-
ence of devils, the whole community agreed with his
diagnosis; and who should dispute him when he as-
sumed to drive those devils away ? There was nothing
in Smith's most extravagant claims to- offend the aver-
age understanding in the society which heard those
claims; and there was everything to excite curiosity.
Had there been a state church in the western coun-
try, or even a close-knit and well-appointed church
system without state alliance, Mormonism would have
progressed slowly if at all. Had there been a strong
and stable government in the valley, Mormonism
would have dropped some of its most characteristic
features, or been suppressed as treason. Mormon
writers have complained and justly of the barba-
rous mob violence which afflicted their church in
Missouri and Illinois. But if there had been a gov-
ernment capable of suppressing the mob, the new re-
ligion might have prospered less, even if it had suf-
fered less. Assuredly, no government with well-de-
fined traditions of sovereignty would have granted
such a charter as that given to the city of Nauvoo;
and no state of European firmness of fiber would have
looked on complacently at the efforts of Smith and
Young to establish a boundless theocracy.
And here we touch the reason why Mormonism,
A SPIRITUAL CHAOS S7
all its elements of attractiveness, roused furious
and unreasoning opposition wherever it came in con-
tact with non-Mormon communities. It sought to
establish not only a church but a government, and a
government whose character was opposed to every in-
stinct and tradition of American life. The pioneer
of the Mississippi valley saw no reason why Joseph
Smith might not talk with angels; and the idea of a
scripture showing God's workings on the Western
Hemisphere appealed to his continental pride. But
when asked to renounce his liberty of action, and when
told that he must yield implicit obedience to the de-
crees of an irresponsible ruler, the pioneer rebelled;
and he denounced those who did not rebel as traitors
to the principles of American life. The democracy
of the land was rough and chaotic; but it was deep
and vital and it revolted instinctively at the idea of a
theocratic despotism.
The troubles of Mormonism always have sprung
from two sources; its claims to despotic and exclusive
authority in civil affairs, and its teaching and practice
of polygamy. The pioneer communities of 183045
resented most sharply the threat against their liberties.
The nation to-day reprobates most severely the viola-
tion of its accepted social order. To the thoughtful
student of affairs, the two offenses are one.
Ill
PROPHET VS. BUSINESS MANAGER
BRIGHAM YOUNG was thirty-One years old
when he came to Kirtland, Ohio, nearly four
years the senior of his accepted prophet. The
two men now were adherents of the same religion ;
they were alike in being of New England birth and
ancestry; alike in their physical vigour, their love of
the good things of life, their boundless faith in the
future. There the resemblance ended The twelve
years which Brigham and Joseph spent in the common
cause but emphasized the difference in their natures.
Joseph was a prophet of prontmciamentos. Brig-
ham was an apostle of work. Joseph indulged in
revelations on every commonplace topic. Brigham
put forth but one revelation in his life. Joseph was
sometimes impressive, sometimes jocular, but he was
destitute of real seriousness and real humour. Brig-
ham had plenty of both. Joseph was a scatterer.
Brigham was a collector. Joseph turned aside after
everything that crossed his path. Brigham never left
his appointed trail. Joseph dreamed of being ruler
of the United States. Brigham made himself czar
of a desert empire; small, to be sure, but unique
among modern communities and his own.
Both men were necessary to the creed they sup-
ported. Brigham could not have founded a church.
Joseph could not have preserved one. Joseph and his
earlier aids had gathered a thousand planks of
28
PROPHET VS. BUSINESS MANAGER 29
trine. Brigham built these planks into a compact
house of faith which endures to this day.
In 1832, Mormonism consisted of a supplementary
scripture, the Book of Mormon; a quantity of un-
assorted revelations; a number of unconferred
ecclesiastical titles; an inchoate theory of communism;
and the claim of direct communication with the
Most High through the prophet, Joseph Smith. This
last was the basic asset of the new religion; the other
things were but its trappings and suits. Other creeds
derived authority from doubtfully interpreted texts,
concerning which theologues had wrangled for six-
teen centuries. Mormonism claimed a new revelation,
which would make plain whatever the older scriptures
had left uncertain; a continuous revelation, which
would guide the faithful in every trial of their lives.
It was this claim which made Mormonism a unique
creed when Brigham Young came to Kirtland; and
after more than fourscore years it is this 'claim
which interposes the strongest barrier to the political
or religious assimilation of the Mormon community
with the rest of mankind.
There is a basic difference between religions of
argument and religions of revelation. Revelation is
despotic; argument is democratic, Of all world re-
ligions, Mohammedanism rests most completely on
revelation; and by the same token, it has been asso-
ciated in all ages with unblinking despotism. Calvin-
ism is the most argumentative not to say the most
disputatious type of Christianity; and for more
than three centuries Calvinism has been the creed most
intimately connected with struggles for liberty. In
its claim of a new and directly inspired prophet,
Mormonism was closely akin to the religion of Mo-
30 BRIGHAM YOUNG
hammed. It was destined to copy its Oriental proto-
type in political and domestic matters, as well as in
theological ones.
But with the best will in the world to be a pasha
as well as a prophet, Smith in 1832 lacked the ma-
chinery to carry out his own wishes and the logic of
his church. He had been dealing in revelations for
about five years. He had enjoyed the companionship
of several men far abler and immeasurably more
learned than himself. But up to this time, their joint
labours had resulted chiefly in words, words, words.
They had made converts times and conditions were
,such that any one could make converts to anything,
They had at hand a vast body of material from which
a skilful organizer could construct much, But of
themselves, they could build nothing that did not need
to be shored up afresh each clay by a new dispensa-
tion from heaven. The church was so loosely or-
ganized that Smith had to have a special revelation
from the Lord before he could settle the most trifling"
dispute or proceed with the most obvious work. If
cities could be built by revelations alone, Smith would
have peopled the continent. But city-building re-
quires hard work and sound sense; and until Brigham
Young came on the scene, these qualities were con-
spicuously lacking in Mormon leadership.
Mormon writers always assume that the personality
of Joseph Smith and the authenticity of the Book of
Mormon are as important to their religion as the per-
sonality of Christ and the authenticity of the Bible
are to Christianity. Opposing writers tacitly grant
that claim by learned philological and archaeological
dissertations on the fraud of the Book of Mormon,
and verbose affidavits to prove that Smith was not
PROPHET VS. BUSINESS MANAGER 81
the sort of person the Lord would choose for a
prophet The controversy is worse than absurd. The
claim to act as social mentor for the Almighty, and
to pick out the people with whom He may deal is as
presumptuous as the claim to be the bearer of His
message to mankind, and deserves not a whit more
consideration.
As for the Book of Mormon, the case is purely a
question of evidence. Its detractors, never have
proved that the book was revamped from " Manu-
script Found." Its believers never have proved that
the book was written on golden plates and mirac-
ulously translated by the prophet; and this would
seem to be the greater lapse of the two. Without
going so far as to adopt the maxim that miracles
never can be proved, since the credibility of the wit-
nesses must always be less than the improbability
of the event, we may ask at least as much evidence
to establish a new revelation as would be required to
establish title to a contested piece of real estate. Such
evidence never has been offered for the Book of Mor-
mon. The testimony of the so-called " witnesses "
is not convincing better testimonials and more of
them can be had any day to confirm the merits of
any quack medicine on the market. We may add that
the " reformed Egyptian " in which the book was
supposed to be written is a language wholly unknown
to scholars, one of which no trace is preserved on
monuments or papyrus*
The religion Smith founded, as well as his recorded
history, shows him to have been a facile borrower.
His mind was too untrained, his habits of thought
too loose, to permit of plodding devotion to any of
the ideas which in succession possessed him. He ao
32 BRIGHAM YOUNG
quired the patter of a dozen subjects, and solid in-
formation about none. Under the influence of Orson
Hyde, whose scholarship was limitless by comparison
with Smith's ignorance, the prophet affected a devo-
tion to learning, and for a time seemed to study
violently. Sidney Rigdon inspired Smith with dreams
of illimitable wealth and power; but Sidney's mind
was as loose as Smith's. It was Brigham Young who
brought care and method to the grandiose projects of
the church leaders. It was Brigham who knew how
to move by practical ways to a desired result. Smith
had revelations that a temple should be built. Brig-
ham went to work to build one. Smith and others
tried to call wealth into existence by fiat, as in the
" Bank " at Kirtland. Brigham laid plans to accumu-
late wealth by commonplace toil and thrift. What-
ever he may have thought of the prophet at their first
meeting, before his twelve years of probation were
over, Brigham was planted on the bedrock of his
native Yankee common sense, and had returned to
the original New England gospel of work hard work
for everybody.
It is thus that the real history of Mormonism came
to be the biography of Brigham Young, Less bril-
liant, and far less learned than many devotees of the
new faith, he excelled them all in his capacity for
ordered, practical work. The prophet borrowed from
the words and thoughts of others; but more and more
as the years passed, he leaned on the works and deeds
of Brigham. Without Smith and probably without
Sidney Rigdon Mormonism could not have been
founded. But without Brigham Young, the work of
all his predecessors and colleagues would have been
scattered and brought to naught,
IV
CLIMBING THE TOWER OF FAITH
BRIGHAM had shown missionary zeal, even be-
fore visiting the prophet It was not likely
that his ardour would be lessened by personal
acquaintance with the source of divine light and wis-
dom. In December, 1832, shortly after the death of
his first wife, Brigham and his brother started for
Upper Canada on a mission. They went on foot.
Men of that day were better accustomed to hardship
than city dwellers of our own time; but even with
this allowance, questions of the sincerity of Brig-
ham's conversion seem rather idle in the face of such
an expedition. In February, 1833, the brothers re-
turned to Mendon, New York, where they stayed un-
til spring. On the first of April, Brigham .was afoot
for Canada once more. He was not only a per-
suasive missionary but a good colonization agent; in
July of the same year he arrived in Kirtland, bring-
ing with him a number of Canadian families whom
he had converted to the faith.
After establishing his Canadian recruits at Kirt-
land, Brigham went back to Mendon, settled his af-
fairs there, and then with his two little daughters and
his warm friend, Heber Kimball, rejoined the prophet
at the Kirtland "stake of Zion/' Here he settled
down to his trade of glazier, preaching from time to
time as requested; and here on March 31, 1834, he
married his second wife, Mary Ann Angeli A
84 BRIGHAM YOUNG
month later, he joined in another expedition, this
time of a warlike rather than a religious char-
acter.
The Mormon settlements in Missouri had been en-
during trials which will be sketched at greater length
in a subsequent chapter. They had been driven from
Jackson county in November, 1833, under circum-
stances calculated to anger the gentlest people alive.
In the spring of 1834, Joseph Smith organized an
"army" for the purpose of chastising the Jackson
county mob, and restoring the Missouri Saints to
their homesteads. Brigham was asked to go along,
receiving the prophet's promise that not a hair of
his head should be harmed. The assurance was
grateful, though hardly necessary with a man like
Brigham Young, and he was one of the prophet's
party which set out from Kirtland in May.
This performance illustrates in striking fashion the
looseness of social organization and the weakness of
governmental authority in that day and region, Here
were two hundred and five men, more or less equipped
with weapons and fully equipped with military titles,
bound on a martial invasion of a community in a dis-
tant state. Yet the federal governm-ent seetrus to
have taken no notice of the matter, neither did the
state authorities of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, or even
Missouri. With heavenly signs and wonders about
them, and very human squabbles among them, the
army of the Saints crossed three states and penetrated
well into Missouri without molestation. Not far from
Liberty, Clay county, however, Smith received a
friendly warning to come no further. With a
promptitude which goes far to acquit him of the
charge of rashness, be heeded the advice, turned
CLIMBING THE TOWER OP FAITH 35
aside, and after stopping for a revelation on Fishing
river, camped on the bottom lands of Rush creek.
Here on June 22, 1834, the expedition was at-
tacked by cholera. Smith undertook to heal the sick
by prayers and laying on of hands, but he found
as many a similar practitioner has found since that
such remedies work best in the presence of Imaginary
ailments. "I quickly learned by painful experience
that when the great Jehovah decrees destruction upon
any people, and makes known his determination, man
must not attempt to stay His hand," he writes with
engaging frankness. Over sixty members of the ex-
pedition were smitten with the disease, and at least
thirteen died. This much punishment having been in-
flicted for the unspecified sins of the brethren, prayer
became efficacious, and the plague was stayed. The
abortive expedition soon returned to Kirtland.
The trip had not harmed the Jackson county mob,
but it seems to have been of decided help to the ad-
vancement of Brigham Young. Two events with
their respective dates are very enlightening in this
regard. On February 17, 1834, before the expedi-
tion to Missouri, there was organized at Kirtland
the " high council " of the church. It consisted of
twelve members; and both its name and the circum-
stances of its choosing indicate that it was intended
as a sort of church senate, a governing body supreme
tinder the prophet
Brigham was not chosen one of the high council.
He was not deemed important enough for such an
office. One year later, in February, 1835, there was
chosen the Quorum, or Twelve Apostles, which was
raised above the high council, and made second only
to the prophet. Brigham was named one of the
36 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Twelve Apostles; and not only this, but he was made
third in order of seniority. A single year, marked
by genuine hardship and struggle, had brought the
quiet man from comparative obscurity to a place near
the top of the strongest council of the church.
There is ground for suspecting that the Quorum of
Apostles became a substantial part of church govern-
ment at Brigham's suggestion. Other signs that an
organizing mind was at work in the church followed
In the same month of February, the Seventies were
organized. This was a very important step for it pro-
vided the working machinery to manage the church,
and to arouse and direct religious enthusiasm. Prior
to the coming of Brigham Young, whenever Joseph
wanted anything done, he had a revelation. He had
a revelation urging the printer not to press for his
bill when getting out the first edition of the Book
of Mormon, and another revelation fixing the price
at which the work was to be sold. He had a revela-
tion telling a convert to sell a tannery, and turn the
proceeds over to the church. He had a revelation
telling people to lend him money, and other revela-
tions indicating when and where he would pay the
debt. Young's practical mind thought that such mat-
ters could be managed without troubling the Al-
mighty, and he seems to have pressed* this view to
some purpose.
Not for nothing, however, does one bring order
out of chaos. Herbert Spencer's dictum that some
minds hate exact measurements is as true in theology
as in cookery though less frequently pitt to the test,
Sidney Rigdon had been Smith's chief counsellor in
the days before the coming of Brigham; and the bril-
liant but unstable orator could not view with any
BRIGMAM YOUNG'S EARLIEST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH
This portrait is pronounced by \vell-i nforrned members of Brigham Young's
family to be the earliest known <f photograph." No date is assigned to it. It
represents the prophet as wearing a Masonic emblem in his shirt front. There
is a, legend that Brigham was ambitions to be a Mason before he met Joseph
Smith and that he carried a Masonic emblem. This picture may be of that
period but it is probable that it was taken after Brigham became a Mason at
Nauvoo. The Masonic Grand Lodge of Illinois granted a charter ^for a Masonic
lodge at Nrmvoo. Smith immediately inducted all _ his chief men into the order,
making Masons at sight. For violation of Masonic rules, the Grand Lodge re-
scinded the * * ..... i ...... .1
the charter. Joseph^ Smith thereupon denounced Masonry as an errone-
siiicc been kno
CMS tradition, an unholy imitation of the priesthood, and he invented what has
nown as the ** Endowment Rite," which he called the ** true
CLIMBING THE TOWER OF FAITH 87
pleasure the steady advance of his unassuming; bull-
chested, practical-minded competitor. Direct infor-
mation as to the rivalry of this pair for influence
with Smith is wanting; but the indirect evidence is
plentiful and convincing. There is the central fact
that Rigclon lost ground while Young was gaining it,
from the beginning of their acquaintance to their final
struggle for mastery after the death of Joseph. There
is the steady disparagement of Rigdon by Mormon
writers, a fashion set by Young and plainly agreeable
to him. Lastly, and most amusing of all, there is the
peculiar alternation between instances of the Prophet
Smith's increasing trust In Brigham, and the calls
which came for Brigham to go on missions.
Brigham's elevation to the quorum of the Apostles
came on February 14, 1835. In May of the same
year, he was ordered to go on a mission to the " La-
manites/' or Indians. Joseph promised the mission-
ary that his work in this particular field would " open
the doors to all the seed of Joseph." The cryptic
phrase was never tested, for it is not of record that
Brigham ever reached the Indian country. Had he
done so, and there left his scalp in the lodge of some
heathen " Lamanite," it is a reasonable guess that
Sidney Rigdon' s grief would have been purely official.
In September of 1835, Brigham was back in Kirt-
land, working at his trade, working on the temple,
preaching from time to time, pitting his sturdy com-
mon sense against whatever intrigues his rivals may
have devised. This quiet life continued through the
winter. The temple was dedicated March 27, 1836.
Such an occasion in that day could not pass without
miracles. There were visions, and outpourings, and
the gift of tongues; and, perhaps in deference to this
38 BRIGHAM YOUNG
last phenomenon, the occasion was called the Latter-
Day Pentecost. The elders of the church gathered
for anointings; the quorum of the Twelve Apostles
was present; and the prophet himself conferred on
Brigham Young the signal honour of washing his
feet.
It is not likely that Brigham expected this favour
to pass unnoticed; but this time he was not required
to take chances with the Lamanites. He was sent on
a mission to New York and New England; passed
the summer in the East, and returned to Kirtland in
the fall.
V
AN UNTENABLE EDEN
BEFORE going farther with the history of Brig-
ham Young, it is necessary to trace the course
of Mormon settlement in Missouri.
In the fall of 1830, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P.
Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and a man named Peterson
were sent by Smith to preach to the " Lamanites,"
or Indians west of the Missouri river. They went,
afoot and carrying their scanty packs on their shoul-
ders much of the way, and reached Independence,
Missouri, in the spring of 1831. Two of them went
to work as tailors in the settlement. The other two
crossed the river and began to preach to the Indians,
but were turned back by the Indian agent. Balked
of their original purpose, the four pioneers preached
Mormonism to the settlers, and apparently made some
converts. But the preachers became more enamoured
of the new land than their hearers did of the new
doctrine; and after a short time, Pratt was sent back
by the other three to carry an account of this western
paradise to the faithful in Kirtland.
The message found a ready audience. The west-
ward flow of population had been the dominant note
in American life for a generation, and was to remain
such for more than a generation to come. Besides,
the Mormons were already drawing apart as a pecu-
liar people, and beginning to gather in compact com-
munities. Kirtland was their Mecca for the time;
39
40 BRIGHAM YOUNG
but Kirtland was in the midst of a comparatively
well-settled country. Missouri would offer more
freedom if equally suitable otherwise. The prophet
and some thirty of his disciples started on a visit of
inspection to Missouri.
Smith and his followers arrived at Independence
in July, 1831. The prophet approved the site, de-
clared it was the original location of the Garden of
Eden, issued a revelation setting forth the grandeur
of the community which the Saints were to build
there, and staked out a site for a temple. Some of
his followers took up land from the government or
from the state, which had a considerable grant in
Jackson county. Others bought of the original set-
tlers. The prophet returned to Kirtland in time to
meet Brigham Young; and word went abroad that
the city of the Saints was to be built in western
Missouri, on ground hallowed by the footsteps of
Adam and Eve, before their primal innocence was
sullied by worldly wisdom derived from the Tree.
The tide of Mormon emigration which set west-
ward seems to have surprised even the prophet. The
roving tendency which even yet marks the American
was then at its strongest; and the idea of settling
on the site of the Garden of Eden might appeal to
any one. Mormons flocked to Missouri most of
them very poor but a few with possessions enough
to secure a comfortable establishment in the new home,
By July, 1833, there were 1*200 Mormons in Jack-
son County one-third of the total population; and
destruction was at hand* t
Much ingenuity has been wasted explaining, or
rather, assigning blame for the quarrel between Mor-
mons and " Gentiles " in Jackson county. The real
AN UNTENABLE EDEN 41
cause of the difficulty is not far to seek. A rude but
aspiring democracy was brought in contact with a
rude but aggressive theocracy; and the two systems
flew at each other's throats like strange dogs. Had
the civilization of the day and place been less imper-
fect, the conflict might have taken a gentler form,
but it could not have been suppressed. Men who be-
lieve that governments derive their just powers from
the consent of the governed cannot work in harmony
with men who accept the despotic rule of a prophet
appointed by the Most High God. Men accustomed to
divide and cross-divide on public questions as their
whims or principles or interests dictate, do not love
men who take their political opinions ready-made from
a secret conclave of priests. Mormonism and Ameri-
canism have clashed wherever they have met; and
they will continue to clash so long as the church tries to
occupy the field set apart in our land for the state.
Trouble began in Jackson county early in 1832;
and from beginning to end, the " Gentiles " seem to
have been the aggressors. By 1833, matters had
reached an acute stage. A mass-meeting was called
July 20 at the court-house in Independence, and reso-
lutions were passed ordering the Mormons to- leave
the county, pledging the purchase of their property
at a fair price. This manifesto, even now, does not
inspire the reader with much faith in the high honour
of those who framed it; and the Mormon disciples,
given fifteen minutes to consent to exile, very prop-
erly refused compliance. The mob thereupon tarred
and feathered Bishop Partridge and one of his co-
workers, wrecked the office of the church paper,
The Millennial Sta^, and repeated their order for
all Mormons to leave the county on pain of indefinite
42 BRIGHAM YOUNG
but assumedly dire penalties. Three days later, the
Mormons accepted the terms of their enemies, and
moved or signed an agreement for moving-.
It was a treaty extorted from a weaker party by
lawless force; and no great casuistry was used to
argue away its binding force on the Mormons. They
appealed to the governor for aid, and received a per-
fectly correct statement of their legal rights. They
appealed to Joseph Smith, and received a revelation.
Thus encouraged by the law and the prophet, the
Mormons stayed on, and thereby tempted a fate which
was eager for temptation. Troubles recommenced.
Armed bullies raided isolated Mormon communities,
flogged the men, and drove out the women. There
were a few skirmishes, and then the Mormons gave
up, and fled across the Missouri river into Clay
county, early in November. The sudden move was
marked by much hardship and more pecuniary loss,
and was the first of a long series of events which
embittered the leaders of the church against Ameri-
can institutions in general and the state of Missouri
in particular.
The revelation marking Jackson county as the site
chosen by the Lord for His city of Zion has never
been recalled, superseded, nor forgotten. After four
emigrations and fourscore years, yellow parchment
deeds to property in Independence may be found in
Utah homes; and more than one man high in the
councils of the church to-day boasts that neither he
nor his forbears ever relinquished title to their hold-
ings in the City of God in western Missouri.
The people of Clay county received the fugitives
kindly, and condemned as all law-abiding men must
the actions of the Jackson county mob. Joseph
AN UNTENABLE EDEN 4&5
Smith issued several revelations pertaining to the case,
and organized the expedition whose story was told in
the last chapter. Mormons flocked into Clay county,
which at least had the advantage of being near to the
"Garden of Eden"; and with the growth of the
church came trouble. The old, irrepressible conflict
rose to view as the Saints gained niimbers and con-
fidence.
Fortunately, there were men in Clay county of
higher character than those who had dominated the
councils of Jackson; and the Mormon leaders had
learned that fear of the mob is sometimes the begin-
ning of safety. A mass-meeting of Gentiles was held
in June, 1836; and the Mormons were asked to leave
the county, " We do not contend/' says the remark-
able document drawn up on this occasion, " that we
have the least right, under the constitution and laws
of the country, to expel them [the Mormons] by
force." But, pointing out the growth of bitterness,
and the certainty of armed conflict if the Mormons
remained, the resolutions asked them to leave while
their exit coulcl be made in peaceable fashion.
The Mormons consented. A committee of Clay
county Gentiles was appointed to raise money with
which to buy at a fair price the lands and property
of such Mormons as had anything to sell, and to help
the needy in their emigration. The affair was con-
ducted with honour and self-control, and is a credit
to the leaders of both sides. Moving north by east,
the Mormons entered an unsettled region, Caldwell
county was organized for their benefit; the town of
Far West was founded, another stake of Zion was
set; and for the third time, the weary Saints of Mis-
souri pitched their tents in temporary peace.
VI
PROPHECY AND FINANCE
WHILE the prophet's empire was being
builded amid trials in Missouri, his career
in Ohio was drawing to an inglorious close.
There, Smith had tried to establish not only a church
and a political organization, but divers commercial
enterprises, including a "bank." Much information
on many subjects has been vouchsafed to prophets at
one time or another; but financiering is too sordid,
or perhaps too exact, a business to be conducted by
revelation. Smith's " bank " eked out a troubled ex-
istence for less than a year, and finally closed its doors
in November, 1837,
Many better and more wisely managed institutions
than this at Kirtland went to the wall in that dis-
astrous year; but Smith's bank failed under circum-
stances which no glozing can render creditable* He
had been refused a banking charter by the state legis-
lature, and then, to evade the law, reorganized his
financial association as the " Kirtland Society Anti-
banking Company/* The notes with this queer name
on them were printed with " Bank " very large and
the rest of the name very small '* Anti-B ANKing "
by which trick it was hoped to make ordinary peo-
ple think that the institution was a bank and convince
courts that it was not. Worse if possible than this
deceit was the recklessness with which notes were
issued and the affairs of the bank conducted. With
44
PROPHECY AND FINANCE 45
a nominal capital of $4,000,000 and an actual paid-up
cash capital of something under $10,000, Smith's
bank was marked for destruction from its birth.
But the prophet had other troubles than financial
ones that year. It was impossible that a chance gath-
ering of new believers, drawn in chief part from the
most independent and undisciplined population on
earth, should dwell together in perfect harmony, even
under the rule of a prophet. That would have been
a miracle indeed; and such proof of Divine grace
was lacking. Dissensions broke out, which ripened
into quarrels, and in 1837 there was open insurrec-
tion.
Various grievances were put forth by the malcon-
tents at this time. Some objected to Smith's business
enterprises, or rather to his conduct of them. Some
complained of his arbitrary rule. Some accused him
of dissolute habits. Probably most of the accusations
were true, but such complaints are the signs of dis-
affection, not its cause. Smith was undergoing the
experience which sooner or later cornes to almost
every prophet, that of seeing at least part of his fol-
lowers regard him with the disillusioned gaze of ex-
perience instead of the fervid eyes of faith; and he
could not well endure the new method of inspection.
A young girl, who had discovered the art of extract-
ing visions from a black stone, prophesied that Smith
would be deposed for his transgressions, and that
David Whitmer or Martin Harris would succeed him
in the prophetic office. Martin Harris had printed the
Book of Mormon at his own expense, and David
Whitmer had made oath that he saw the golden
plates from which Smith had translated that scrip-
ture; yet there is not a doubt but they were working
46 BRIGHAM YOUNG
for the fulfilment of the young woman's predictions-
Rebellion had come in high places.
Left to his own devices, Smith might have made
terms with the malcontents thereby ruining himself
and forfeiting his prophetic character. Under the
counsels of Sidney Rigdon, the prophet would have
stood firm enough, but helpless except for cursings
and revelations. It was Brigham Young whom Joseph
needed, and Brigham was at hand. He was at least
as despotic in natural temper as his chief, and he had
the wit to see that one who rules by direct authoriza-
tion of God must be all or nothing. No terms were
made with the disaffected. Some escaped immediate
excommunication, on account of the disturbed state
of business affairs in the community. Others who
repented were received back into the fold. But of
concession on the part of the church authorities there
was none then and save in the presence of superior
force, there never has been any since. Of all eccle-
siastical organizations in the Western Hemisphere,
the Mormon church is the most consistently cles*
potic.
Financial troubles thickened fast around the Kirt-
land stake of Zion. The " Anti-banking Company **
was organized in January, 1837; with Joseph as
president and Sidney Rigclon as secretary, In March,
Smith and Rigdon were arrested on the charge of
violating the banking laws of the state. They were
tried and convicted in October, but appealed to a
higher court on the ground that their institution was
not a bank. There was more truth in this plea than
either of them realized; but the court never gave a
ruling upon it.
The " bank n closed its doors in November, 1837.
PROPHECY AND FINANCE 47
This open failure and the overhanging sentence of
the trial, court emboldened Smith's enemies within the
church, and they made a determined effort to depose
him. Brigham left Kirtland in December. Accord-
ing to the Mormon account, he was driven away by
the mob; but in view of the consistent way in which
he had defied and flouted the mob all the year, that
story is unsatisfactory. It is all we have, however.
Smith and Rigdon stayed on, fighting the malcon-
tents with no great success; and in January, 1838,
they, too, fled from Kirtland, and started to the Zion
in Missouri. Young joined the prophet on the way,
and they entered Far West together, March 14, 1838.
The first care of Joseph and Brigham was to purge
the church of those sinners who had dared to raise
their voices against the Lord's chosen prophet.
Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patton, and Brigham
Young were appointed a committee of three to
drive apostasy from the tents of Israel, and tighten
the reins of church government. They performed the
task in a manner which had at least the merit of sim-
plicity; they excommunicated every one of importance
who darecl to protest against the absolute authority
of tjie prophet. Hildebrand was not more reckless
of consequences in asserting the supremacy of the
church than this committee. Two of Joseph's " wit-
nesses to the plates/' four members of the Twelve
Apostles, several men high among the Seventies, and
others of scarcely less importance in the church were
excommunicated and cast into outer darkness. Marsh
himself weakened and apostatized before the work
was through, and was excommunicated as promptly
as if he were but an ordinary backslider. The un-
yielding tenacity and intolerant mastership which
48 BRIGHAM YOUNG
marked Brigham all through his life were never more
apparent than during this purging of the church in
Missouri,
Another piece of work of this summer may fairly
be ascribed to Brigham. This is the tithing law which
for three-quarters of a century has been the source
of the church's financial strength. Smith and Rigdon
had devised a chaotic scheme of " consecration " of
property, which was a sort of religious communism,
neither clearer nor more workable than other schemes
of the same class. But on July 8, 1838, the rule of
contributions was fixed at one-tenth of the property
owned by the convert when he came into the church or
when the law was announced, and thereafter one-tenth
of his increase each year. It was drastic; but Brig-
ham never shrank from drastic measures ; it was prac-
ticable; and his was the practical mind in the councils
of the church. The working out of this plan can
hardly be other than his.
But even as the government and finances of the
church were improved, the storm was brewing which
which should sweep it from the state. Up to the
prophet's coming, the Mormon settlement in Caklwell
county had roused little antagonism. Within that
county, the Saints had nearly everything to them-
selves; and without, they were too few to be esteemed
dangerous. Smith's arrival brought a large increase
of Mormon immigration, much of which was colo-
nized in Carroll and Daviess counties thereby in-
suring the social contact which was bound to insure
hostility. Smith's grandiloquent pretensions did not
calm the rising alarm of the Gentiles as they saw the
increase of the Saints; and the drastic church dis-
cipline enforced by Brigham Young's '* commission
PROPHECY AND FINANCE 49
of faith " could not have helped matters. Sidney
Rigdon was much blamed by some of the Mormons
at a later day for his famous " salt sermon," in which
he vowed that the Mormons would not be driven from
their homes again without bloodshed; but the present
writers are unable to see that this sermon had any-
thing to do with the resulting trouble. Rigdon ex-
pressed a perfectly proper sentiment in a needlessly
provocative way. But a peace so tenuous that it is
shattered by such a trifling indiscretion cannot be pre-
served long in a world where everything must bide
the stress of circumstance or fail altogether.
Trouble began on August 6, at Gallatin. The state
election then took place on that date; and some Mor-
mons, going to Gallatin to vote, were stopped by a
group of Gentiles. There was language and breaking
of heads, but no serious injury was done; and the
Mormons seem to have voted at the end of the fray.
Instead of ignoring the disturbance, as any sensible
man in his position would have done, Smith collected
at Far West a band of one hundred and fifty on horse-
back, and went to the " relief " of the brethren in
Daviess county. The brethren did not need relief;
but Smith came across a justice of the peace who had
been active in opposition to the Mormons, and bullied
him into signing a paper which nothing less than
prophetic wisdom is competent to interpret. As soon
as Smith had returned to Far West, the Daviess
county Gentiles swore out warrants for him and some
of his followers on the ground of entering another
county in armed array and threatening a judicial offi-
cer Adam Black. After some demur, the accused
surrendered and were bound over in bail to a hearing,
September 7,
50 BRIGHAM YOUNG
But the mischief was done. The county divided
into two armed camps. Skirmishes took place with
the usual great cry and little wool of militia opera-
tions, and the newly elected Governor Boggs called
out the state troops. These were placed under Gen-
eral Doniphan, who afterwards won fame in the
Mexican war, and his tact and skill soon brought
about a more quiet feeling in Daviess county.
Then the Gentiles of Carroll county began to arm
and form plans for expelling the Mormons. An at-
tack was made on the Mormon settlement of De~
witt After a comic opera bombardment and a
Venezuela-like exchange of proclamations, the Mor-
mons agreed to evacuate Dewitt on condition of re-
ceiving payment for their improvements, and permis-
sion to return to Far West. This was granted. It
is worth noting that the governor had refused to pro-
tect tjie Mormons of this settlement.
The Mormons now were gathered in two chief
settlements, Far West and another town which stag-
gered under the title of " Adam-ondi-Ahman." The
Gentiles had retired from the open countryside to a
number of towns which were regularly patrolled by
sentries. Society had dissolved in a border war like
that which, perchance, the common ancestors of both
parties once waged across the Tweed; or that which
sons of the Gentiles concerned were destined to wage
a generation later on the Kansas line. Three com-
panies of regulars would have driven both camps into
the Missouri river; but the regulars were not to be
had. Captain David W. Patten at the head of a little
troop of Mormons performed the only noteworthy
exploit of the " war " by routing a much superior
force of Gentiles at Crooked River; but he was killed
" PROPHECY AND FINANCE 51
in the fight, and the resentment roused at the defeat
of state troops by Mormon partisans far outbalanced
the advantages of the victory.
The " battle " of Crooked River was fought Octo-
ber 25, 1838. Two days later, Governor Boggs issued
his famous order to General Clark, commanding a
part of the militia, telling him that the Mormons must
" be exterminated or driven from the state." It was
not necessary to carry out these sanguinary orders.
After some time spent in parley, Far West sur-
rendered to General Lucas before Clark could arrive.
Smith, Rigdon, and several other prominent Mor-
mons were given up as " hostages/' and were thrown
into jail. Forty-six others were arrested a little later
by General Clark, who informed the Mormon colo-
nists that they must leave the state at once, on pain
of " extermination/' That word seems to have been
a favourite among the statesmen and soldiers who
had charge of affairs in Missouri at this time.
Before Far West surrendered, there occurred a
massacre which gave a sinister meaning to the ver-
bose threats of Governor Boggs and his militia officer.
On October 30, a considerable party of Missourians
attacked the Mormon settlement at Hawn's Mill.
The Mormons took refuge in a log blacksmith shop.
The Missourians surrounded the shop, and poured
a fire through the cracks between the logs, until every
one within the enclosure was dead or wounded. Then
they broke in the door, butchered some of the sur-
vivors with any implement handy, and ended by
throwing dead and wounded together into a nearby
well. Some of the wounded were rescued from the
well by friends from Far West, and they ultimately
recovered; but all told, more than twenty Mormons
52 BRIGHAM YOUNG
lost their lives in this affair. The Missourians did
not lose a man.
It was an utterly unjustifiable massacre. The men
who perpetrated it were legitimate progenitors of
those "border ruffians" who established a reign o
terror along the Kansas line twenty years later. The
historical responsibility for this massacre must rest
on Governor Boggs. He was justified in calling out
the militia to restore order; he was justified in taking
any measures necessary to break up the theocracy
which Smith had established in one county of the
state, and was endeavouring to extend to all neigh-
bouring districts. But the governor's inflammatory
language and open partisanship were a direct incite-
ment to such multiple murders as this of Hawn's
Mill, and a direct encouragement to the lawlessness
which remained so long the curse of Missouri, The
Mormons and their un-American theocracy vanished;
but the anarchy excused and, indeed, commended, in
high places, endured for more than a generation.
Brigham Young passed unscathed through all these
stirring scenes. He was a consistent champion of the
prophet, a prominent figure in the church, and neither
then nor later did he shirk his due share of danger.
Yet for the moment Gentile hostility almost neglected
him. He was' not shot, he was not named in any
list of proscribed exiles, he was not even thrown into
jail. Dozens of less important men among the Saints
were awarded this honour, but somehow Young was
passed by. He was present when Joseph Smith and
others were given up as " hostages/' but the eyes of
the Gentile commander were held, and he did not see
that a greater than Joseph remained at large. Small
wonder that a people like the Mormons, who lived in
PROPHECY AND FINANCE 53
the midst of signs and wonders and interpositions of
Providence, came to believe that Brigham Young was
miraculously preserved to be the leader and saviour of
his persecuted people in the yet greater trials which
lay before thin.
VII
NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL
JOSEPH SMITH was not only prophet, seer, and
revelator, but president of the church. Hyrum
Smith and Sidney Rigdon were at this time coun-
sellors to the president, the three forming what Is
known as the First Presidency. With this supreme
governing body In .jail, active control of church affairs
fell to the Twelve Apostles, and at this same time,
Brigham Young succeeded to the headship of that
body. Of his two seniors, Thomas B* Marsh had
apostatized and David Patten had been killed at
Crooked River. Brigham, protected by good fortune
and immune from apostasy, was for the moment the
active head of the church.
To a man who cared for ecclesiastical preferment
and believed in the future of Mormonism, it was a
fine opportunity, Brigham never doubted the per-
manency and glory of the church, and priestly power
had become the breath of his nostrils. But he had
no notion of using his chance to secure rulership of
Zion. From the day when he spoke in tongues at
Kirtland, Brigham had been the firm upholder of
Joseph's power, prerogatives, and prophetic dignity^
and he did not weaken, even under this temptation,
He worked with the Saints in Missouri, doing all he
could to lessen their suffering and organize the
exodus, and spent his spare moments consulting with
Joseph and devising plans for the prophet's release.
54
NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL 55
These plans came to nothing. Sidney Rigdon was
freed on a writ of habeas corpus perhaps because his
captors had learned how unimportant the fiery ex-
horter was and he lost no time in puttting the Miss-
issippi river between himself and " Missouri jus-
tice." Later in the same month, Brigham was obliged
to make a hurried exit, and joined his old rival at
Quincy, Illinois.
An informal meeting of such members of the
Twelve as remained faithful and such other Saints
as were within reach was held at Quincy, March 17,
1839. The condition of the church was desperate.
Its prophet was in prison, its western home was in
the hands of its enemies, apostasy within and assault
without threatened the whole structure of faith. The
people had lost nearly all their property, and were,
making their escape from an inhospitable state under
conditions of suffering seldom equalled in a civilized
land in time of peace. Marching without supplies in
the dead of winter, making tents of their bedcloth-
ing when they had any straggling over the Iowa
line, crossing the Mississippi on the ice the followers
of the prophet* who remained true to his cause seemed
more in condition to plead for charity than to assert
dominion.
But Brigham, who was real chief of the meeting
in spite of the presence of Rigdon, never wavered.
His priestly pride was as fierce and intolerant as if
he had behind him a hierarchy of immemorial an-
tiquity, instead of the disheartened followers of ' a
backwoods crystal-gazer, who had gone into the rev-
elation business a scant dozen years before. Brigham
advised the people to find some spot in Illinois where
they could build their Zion, urged and carried the ex-
56 BRIGHAM YOUNG
communication of some members who had failed in
recent trials, sent aid to the faithful still in Missouri,
and generally took charge of everything. ^The Saints
were well served that in this hour of difficulty the
supreme command was held by the clear-headed, prac-
tical Brigham, rather than by the eruptive Joseph, or
the discouraged Sidney.
On April 6, 1839, the ninth anniversary of the
church, Smith was taken from jail for trial, secured
a change of venue, and shortly after was permitted to
escape. He reached Quincy April 22, and at once
assumed leadership. Plans for a new Zion were
forthcoming without delay. The town of Commerce,
Illinois, was chosen as a site, its name was changed
to Nauvoo after a non-existent Hebrew word sup-
posed to mean " beautiful " large land purchases were
made, and the fourth eternal stake of Zion was set
Smith had the active support of Young in this
project for a new Zion. Bishop Partridge advised
strongly against trying to collect the Saints together
into, one place. Sidney Rigdon seems to have agreed
with Partridge, and certainly advised against the land
purchases actually made. In this emergency, Rigdon
was for once a better counsellor than Brigham. The
reason is not far to seek. Rigdon knew when he was
whipped. Brigham did not
Almost the moment that Smith arrived at Quincy,
Brigham and his companions of the Quorum of
Apostles were off to Missouri on a secret mission.
Smith had given a revelation the year before that on
April 26, 1839, the Twelve Apostles should meet at
Far West, recommence laying the foundations of the
temple, and from that point start across the great
waters to convert the world. Brigham and his fellow
NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL 57
Apostles were determined that this revelation should
be fulfilled. Hiding in a nearby grove till night, the
Apostles then slipped into the deserted town of Far
West and proceeded to the temple block. They " re-
commenced laying the foundations " by rolling a big
stone to one corner of the temple, had prayers, sang
a few hymns, excommunicated a few sinners for
that was an important part of a hierarch's duties in
those trying days and then vanished before the bel-
ligerent Gentiles were awake.
The tale is told by Mormon writers as a striking
fulfilment of prophecy, and a proof of the courage
and loyalty of the Twelve. To us, it seems rather to
illustrate the extent to which sensible men can trick
themselves with words; and the meagre returns that
are accepted, as payment of golden promises, when
those promises are made in the name of supernatural
authority.
After this episode, which was saved from absurdity
only by the deadly seriousness of those concerned in
it, the Twelve returned to Nauvoo. But they did not
proceed at once on their mission across the waters.
The beginnings of a new Zion were not propitious.
The lower part of the town site was swampy, afford-
ing harbour to innumerable mosquitoes, and these of
course, carried malaria. Deaths among the new-
comers were numerous, and there were times in late
summer when half the population were shaking or
burning in the alternations of the disease. Joseph tried
his hand at faith-healing, and Brighatn testified that
he was made whole at the prophet's command. The
value of this testimony may be gauged by the well-
proven fact that a little later he was carried on a
mattress to the house of his friend, Heber Kimball,
58 BRIGHAM YOUNG
and remained there four days in bed, constantly
nursed by his wife.
The plasmodium malaria knows no prophet but
quinine.
If Brigham was wrong in countenancing the build-
ing of Nauvoo', he was right in seeing that to make
a workable Zion the prophet must have less disputa-
tious and refractory converts than those gathered
from the turbulent settlements of the Mississippi
valley. Heber Kimball had achieved remarkable suc-
cess in his British mission of 1837, and he longed to
have Brigham accompany him to that land again.
The time had come to put Heber's judgment to the
test. While still so weak with fever that the first stage
of the journey was made on a mattress, Brigham
started in September, 1839, on his delayed mission,
accompanied by six other members of the Quorum.
They stopped by the way, especially in Kirtland; and
Brigham spent the winter in New York. On April
6; 1840, the great church anniversary once more he
landed in England.
During Kimball' s mission in 1837, it was claimed
that nearly two thousand persons had been converted
to the faith of Joseph Smith. This record was quickly
surpassed by the mission of Brigham and his fellow
Apostles. From whatever cause, there was m Britain
a large element in a state of waiting. If their re-
ligious instability was less than that of people in the
Mississippi valley, their religious eagerness was even
greater, and distance lent enchantment to the view.
They accepted the Mormon message as an answer to
their prayers and hopes. The zeal of the exhorter
met the zeal of the devotee; and instead of waiting to
be argued into acceptance of the new faith, scores and
NATJVOO THE BEAUTIFUL 59
hundreds boasted of their Instant conversions. To
this day, when other reasons fail, the descendants of
these same people fall back on the family claim that
their ancestors had a revelation from God that the
gospel preached by the missionaries of Joseph was
the truth.
A few instances may help to set the picture of that
mission before the reader. John Taylor, an English-
man of good birth and breeding, was reared in the
Anglican church. Wishing a more active organiza-
tion, he joined the Methodists while in his teens, and
became a well-known preacher of that denomination
in Canada. There he heard the Mormon gospel, be-
came converted, and returned to carry the message to
his old friends in England.
Taylor's wife was the daughter of an old Manx
family; and in the Isle of Man, legends and tradi-
tions of the supernatural are a necessary part of the
household furniture. This family had a legend to
fit the case. A sister-in-law of Taylor accepted his
preaching of Mormonism as fulfilment of a tra-
dition of her race that some day a messenger
under the command of God should bring the true
gospel out of the west, and that the same should
raise their house to great power and glory. This
strong-minded lady brought her whole family into the
church, and with her surplus means, she emigrated
a large number of the poorer Saints.
Another anecdote of the early times : John Lamont,
a Scotch miner well versed in the " metapheesics " of
Calvinism, and noted all through the region for his
continuity as well as skill in debate, was present at
a meeting addressed by one of the Mormon mission-
aries. One over-zealous Calvinist was rude in his
60 BRIGHAM YOUNG
opposition to the new gospel. Lamont rebuked him
for violating the rules of discussion, and in turn was
twitted by his fellow miners: "Jock, ye' re in a fair
way o' becoming a Mormon yourseF ! "
"I? Never!" shouted Lamont "I'll deny me
God first I"
A week later, Lamont was baptized in the Mormon
faith, and gave his testimony in the Mormon meet-
ing. Then some of his friends taunted him: "Did
ye no say, Jock, that before ye'd join the Mormons,
ye'd deny your God ? "
" I did," retorted the unabashed controversialist.
" My God was a useless, helpless figment o' man's
mind, without body, parts, or passions. I have de-
nied that devilish error. I now have the one true
God, the Father o' all mankind, a glorious personage
who was once a man like myself!"
That conversion of John Lamont and his quick
reply to his former companions were counted among
the latter-day miracles. In fact, to those early work-
ers in the British field everything was a miracle. If
a man were converted from some other church, God
had miraculously opened his eyes to the truth. If he
had been an infidel and blasphemer of all churches,
that but made more manifest the power and purpose of
the Almighty to make Joseph Smith at once pope and
emperor of the world. Under pressure of this con-
tagious excitement, families and neighbourhoods be-
gan to vie with each other in having miraculous
conversions; and the chief work of some Mormon
missionaries was to baptize and instruct the droves
who came to offer themselves as disciples of the tin-
seen prophet
But Brigham's mission was more than an effort to
NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL 61
secure converts. It was also a most efficient coloniza-
tion agency. Up to the time a man was baptized into
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the
church had worked for him. It was now his turn to
work for the church and so long as Brigham had
anything to do with Mormon affairs, that work was
performed. The proper place to perform this redeem-
ing labour, of course, was in the chosen Zion, which
for the moment was Nauvoo. Brigham began send-
ing his converts to America almost at once. The first
company, forty-one in number, sailed exactly two
months after Brigham landed. Two hundred more
followed in September, one hundred and thirty ac-
companied Brigham on his return, and several com-
panies came during the year 1841. Zion was being
built by the works of the faithful, rather than by the
dreams of the prophet.
The result of Brigham's missionary activity is best
told in his own words:
"We landed ... as strangers in a strange land,
and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have
gained many friends, established churches in almost
every noted city and town of Great Britain, baptized
between 7,000 and 8,000 souls, printed 5,000 Books of
Mormon, 3,000 hymn books, 2,500 volumes of The Mil-
lennial Star and 50,000 tracts, emigrated to Zion 1,000
souls, establishing a permanent shipping agency which
will be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left
sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of
eternal life which shall bring forth fruit to the honour
and glory of God; and yet we have lacked nothing to
eat, drink or wear; in all these things I acknowledge
the hand of God,"
After the fervid tales of miracles and instantaneous
62 BRIGHAM YOUNG
conversions, thife report comes like a refreshing breath
of cold air. In spite of the pious language with
which it is besprinkled, this is not the rhapsody of a
zealot, nor the " testimony " of an enraptured vision-
ary. It is the report of a business agent to the cor-
poration which sent him forth on a difficult task,
which he has performed in superb fashion. *
' Jfrigham with five companions and one hundred and
thirty converts sailed for New. York on April 20,
1841. On July i, they arrived at Nauvoo. Brig-
ham made his report, and had his season of com-
munion with the prophet; Eight days later, Joseph
had the following significant revelation:
" Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young,
verily thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Brig-
ham, it is no more required at your hands to leave
your family as in times past, for your offering is ac-
ceptable to me; I have seen your labours and toil in
journeying for my name.
" I therefore command you to send my word
abroad, and take special care of your family from this
time, henceforth and forever. Amen/*
The most contumacious Gentile will admit that this
is one revelation which Brigham never transgressed.
His family received his very especial care to the last
hour of his life.
What Sidney Rigdon thought of this Divine
authority for Brigham to stay at home is not re-
corded.
VIII
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES
DURING the sojourn at Nauvoo, the best-
known feature of the new religion was made
known- to the church or at least to a few
of its members. This is the doctrine of polygamy.
From the hour that polygamy became a recognized
part of Mormonism, it has almost monopolized Gen-
tile discussion of that creed; and^ to-day, when the
religion of Joseph Smith is mentioned, the responding
thought in the mind of nearly every hearer is plurality
of wives. The present writers consider this tenet
merely one of several which make the Mormon church
a thing apart; but it is an important one, and well
worthy of careful study.
Mormon polygamy cannot be understood, except
in connection with the doctrine of " celestial mar-
riage," of which plurality of wives is a part. Mor-
monism is ancestor worship. In the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, salvation depends not
upon faith, but upon offspring. The following sum-
mary of the doctrine of " celestial marriage " is as
nearly exact as any statement can be made on a sub-
ject with which theologians are yet busy.
, i. Marriage must be contracted for eternity, or
it is not binding in the spirit world.
2. Persons who have not married for eternity on
earth cannot be so married hereafter. Such persons
occupy inferior places as "ministering angels," i.e..
64 BRIGHAM YOUNG
heavenly clerks and waiters, to their more fortunate
fellows who have fulfilled the " new and everlasting
covenant" of celestial marriage.
3. Persons who have married for time and eter-
nity under a sealing by the prophet's authority, retain
their marital relations in the next world. They be-
come, not " as " gods, but actual gods unto the fruit
of their loins.
4. As illustrating the last statement, Brigham
Young said in a sermon that the only god who con-
cerned mankind was Adam, -of whose seed are all
the generations of the earth. Adam was a polygamist.
5. The highest salvation or true godship is re-
served for those who have entered the practice of
polygamy. Since a man becomes a god to his de-
scendants, the more descendants, the higher the god-
ship. Women who have helped him attain this higher
estate shine in the heavens by his reflected glory.
6. Women who have not married and borne chil-
dren occupy an inferior place in the next world, lower
than that assigned to celibate men.
7. Marriage is not only a means of heavenly ad-
vancement, but it is a duty. Space is peopled with
spirits waiting to put on a tabernacle of flesh. This
is necessary to their progress, and they are willing
to enter the gates of birth by the most ignoble route,
rather than not be born at all They even haunt
houses of ill-fame, hoping to receive the endowments
of flesh.
The revelation establishing polygamy is dated at
Nauvoo, July 12, 1843. This, however, is merely the
date on which this peculiar word of the Lord was re-
duced to writing, not the time at which it was first
made known. Joseph F. Smith, present head of the
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES 65
Mormon church, and nephew of the prophet, declares
that the original revelation on polygamy was given
to his inspired uncle about the year 1831. At about
that date, Joseph often remarked that the brethren
would take his life if he dared to tell them the new
truths which God was making plain unto him. This
may mean that he was already incubating the scheme
of polygamy, or it may mean only that Joseph thought
this mysterious phrase would sound well, and help to
keep his followers in awe. His patter was as ready
and clever as that of an experienced conjurer, and
often had about as much connection with the matter
in hand.
There is good ground for believing that the practice
of polygamy began at Kirtland. The charge was
freely circulated against the Saints in that region;
and unlike such a commonplace matter as horse-
stealing it is not the kind of accusation that jealous
neighbours would be likely to invent. In 1835, the
church put forth at Kirtland a formal denial of polyg-
amy; itself rather suspicious" in the light of recent
events. Two years later, April 29, 1837, the presi-
dents of Seventies passed a resolution that they would
not hold fellowship with any elder who was guilty of
polygamy. This would imply that some elders were
admittedly guilty of polygamous practices at this time,
unless we make the rather far-fetched assumption that
the high-sounding term of " polygamy " was applied
to chance cases of sexual irregularity.
The more important parts of the revelation are as
follows :
(Verses quoted as in book)
I, Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant
66 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand,
to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified
my servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; as also Moses,
David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the prin-
ciple and doctrine of their having many wives and
Jfeicubines ;
2. Behold! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will
answer thee as touching this matter:
15. Therefore, if a man marry himself a wife in the
world, and he marry her not by me, nor by my word;
and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world
and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not
of force when they are dead, and when they are out of
the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law
when they are out of the world;
16. Therefore, when they are out of the world, they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are ap-
pointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering
servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far
more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory;
17. For these angels did not abide my law, therefore
they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and
singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to
all eternity, and from henceforth are not Gods, but are
angels of God, for ever and ever.
19. And again, verily I say unto you, if a man jnarry
a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and
everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the
Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto
whom I have appointed this power, and the keys of this
Priesthood ; and it shall be said unto them, ye shall come
forth in the first resurrection ; and if it be after the first
resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit
thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions,
all heights and depths , * .
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES 67
20. Then shall they be Gods, because they have no
end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to ever-
lasting, because they continue; then shall they be above
all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall
they be Gods, because they have all power, and the angels
are subject unto them.
21, Verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law,
ye cannot attain to \this glory;
37. Abraham received concubines, and they bare him
children, and it was accounted unto him for righteous-
ness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in
my law, as Isaac also, and Jacob did none other things
than that which they were commanded ; and because they
did none other things than that which they were com-
manded, they have entered into their exaltation, accord-
ing to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not
angels, but are Gods.
52. And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all
those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and
who are virtuous and pure before rne; and those who
are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be de-
stroyed, saith the Lord God;
53. For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my
voice ; and I give unto my servant Joseph, that he shall
be made ruler over many things, for he hath been faith-
ful over a few things, and from henceforth I will
strengthen him.
54. And I command tnine handmaid, Emma Smith, to
abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none
else. But if she will not abide this commandment, she
shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord
thy God, and will destroy her, if she abide not in my law ;
55. But if she will not abide this commandment, then
shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as
68 BRIGHAM YOUNG
he hath said ; and I will bless him and multiply him and
give unto him an hundred-fold in this world, of fathers
and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands,
wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the
eternal worlds.
56. And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive
my servant Joseph his trespasses ; and then shall she be
forgiven her trespasses, wherein she has trespassed
against me; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her,
and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice.
57. And again, I say, let not my servant Joseph put
his property out of his hands, lest an enemy come and
destroy him, for Satan seeketh to destroy; for I am not
the Lord thy God, and he is my servant; and behold!
and lo, I am with him, as I was with Abraham, thy
father, even unto his exaltation and glory.
61. And again, as pertaining to the law of the Priest-
hood: If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse
another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse
the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no
other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adul-
tery, for they are given unto him,; for he cannot commit
adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one
else.
62. And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this
law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him,
and they are given unto him, therefore is he justified
64. And again, verily, verily I say unto you, if any
man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and
he teaches unto her the law of my Priesthood, as per-
taining to these things, then shall she believe, and ad-*-
minister unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the
Lord, your God, for I will destroy her; for I will mag-
nify my name upon all who receive and abide my law*
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES 69
Taken by itself the revelation seems wordy and in-
volved. By comparison with many other revelations,
it is clear and concise, and bears unconscious witness
that Smith had it in mind long before he reduced it
to paper. The pains taken to bring the prophet's
wife, Emma Hale Smith, into line are noticeable
and amusing.
What prompted Smith to make this strange depart-
ure from the accepted traditions, laws, and ideals of
the country in which he lived, and of all other coun-
tries from which even a shred of his ancestral blood
was derived? The question is inevitable, but an
authoritative answer is wanted unless we are ready
to accept his own explanation of direct revelation
from God. New creeds are habitually fruitful in
sexual vagaries; but these commonly run towards
celibacy, rather than to greater license. The defences
of a custom given by Mormon theologues are excuses
after the fact The plea that polygamy is necessary
to give every woman a chance to fulfil her undoubted
right of wifehood and motherhood might be urged
with some show of reason in England or Massachu-
setts to-day; but it did not apply in the pioneer com-
munities of the Mississippi valley. Probably Smith
never lived in a settlement where there was not a sur-
plus of men, rather than of women.
Did he put forward this revelation merely to con-
done and legalize his own peccadilloes? Mohammed
had a matrimonial sudra after being caught in a com-
promising position. Did Joseph, all unconsciously,
follow this august example? His life needed some
such endorsement; verses 52 and 56 of the document
quoted above give evidence that his practice of polyg-
amy antedated the revelation. A "new and ever-
70 BRIGHAM YOUNG
lasting " marriage covenant which entitled the prophet
to do as he pleased would be quite handy under such
circumstances.
One suppositions explanation may be put forward
for what it is worth. Like all other creeds in modern
times, Mormonism was more successful in appealing
to women than to men. While males outnumber fe-
males in most American communities, the proportions
of the sexes are reversed in practically every church.
A system of church-limited polygamy would utilize
this wealth of potential motherhood, with no danger
of the offspring being led astray by an heretic father.
This consideration undoubtedly appealed to Brigham
Young and to some of his counsellors in Utah; but
there is no reason to assert that it had any weight
with Smith. Most of his recorded approaches were
to women already married.
The first of these was the wife of one of the Twelve
Apostles, a handsome woman whom Smith seems to
have coveted before her marriage. He had enjoined
the Apostle against marrying her, and found that even
a prophet's advice does not count for much in matri-
monial affairs. In 1840 this Apostle was sent on a
mission which kept him away for more than a year,
and during his absence, Joseph took the woman as his
" spiritual wife." This means that she was to be
Joseph's wife in the next world, though the wife of
another man in this.
This was Joseph's first authenticated adventure in
spiritual wifery. Others followed not much later
He informed John Taylor that the Lord had given
Mrs. Taylor to Joseph for his spiritual wife in the
next world. Taylor and his wife united m strenuous
protest, and the prophet laughingly said that he was
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES 71
only testing their faith and love. He gave a similar
explanation of his pursuit of the daughter of
Sidney Rigdon but it is not of record that he made
any such advances in the household of Brigham
Young.
Mormon tradition has it that Joseph was sealed to
twenty-seven wives before his death in Carthage jail.
How many of these sustained marital relations with
him is a question. The marriage ceremony for spirit-
ual weddings differs not at all from that for marriages
to be consummated on earth; and there was nothing
to keep the persons so united from anticipating the
heavenly nuptials. The matter is shrouded with un-
certainty now because it was covered with secrecy
during the prophet's lifetime.
The reasons for this secrecy are not far to seek.
The mere rumour of polygamy had been cited as a
grave offence, which the prophet found it necessary
to repudiate. The formal announcement of such a
doctrine would have precipitated disaster. It is prob->
able that even Smith was equal to that much prevision,
and certainly there were men around him not wholly
lost in prophetic ecstasy. Another and almost as com-
pelling a reason is to be found in Smith's awe of his
legal wife.
Emma Hale Smith was a woman of considerable
intelligence, decided firmness of character, and excel-
lent conversational powers. She had loved Joseph in
his vagabond youth, and she never lost her fondness
for him. She had shared his wanderings and his
hardships, she had acted as his amanuensis, she knew
to the last decimal the sort of clay of which her
prophet was made. This did not keep- her from at-
taching a certain importance to his revelations, but
72 BRIGHAM YOUNG
it did lead her to scrutinize them rather carefully.
When the revelation on plural marriage was at last
written down, some one said it must be shown to
Emma. Joseph, with one of the few gleams of real
humour displayed in his whole lifetime, said:
" Hyrum, you take it to her ! " Hyrum obeyed. The
story is that Emma snatched the manuscript from his
hand, threw it into the fire, and wrathfully declared
it was a revelation from the devil, not from God,
In spite of Emma's opposition, polygamy was prac-
tised; and she must have known it. Very possibly
her knowledge was moral certainty, rather than legal
proof; and she was willing to have it so. There is
little basis for the church claim that Emma formally
gave several women to be " sealed " to her husband
as his plural wives. The truth rather seems to be
that she endured what she could not cure, and pre-
tended not to see things that she could not sanction.
At one time, indeed, Emma made vigorous war on
plural marriages. She forced Joseph publicly to
repudiate the* doctrine, and she procured the publica-
tion of a card signed by several women, alleging that
there was no such thing as polygamy among Latter
Day Saints. At the moment this card was published,
Eliza R. Snow, one of the signers, was the plural wife
of Joseph Smith.
This illustrates the practice which began probably
at Kirtlarid, certainly as early as Nauvoo; the custom
of systematic lying for the glory of God and the
safety of the Saints. From that day to this, Mor-
mons periodically have denied polygamy in the most
solemn language, only to admit it the moment such
admission was deemed safe, or politic, or unavoidable.
In 1850, at Boulogne-sur-mer, John Taylor denounced
THE GLORY OF MANY WIVES 73
as a monstrous lie the tale that the Saints practised
polygamy. John Taylor at that moment was the
husband of four wives, some of whom had already
borne children to him. Admissions of polygamy from
Mormons may be accepted as good evidence, for they
have never been found to admit any cases that were
not true, But denials of polygamy by Mormons
mean only that the church authorities think denial
good policy for the moment
After Joseph's death, Emma declared and later
taught her son that the prophet had not established,
taught, or practised polygamy, that this was the in-
vention of Brigham Young or of John C. Bennett.
In view of the family tradition that the original
revelation was given in 1831, of the stories in circula-
tion at Kirtland, of the positive testimony of many
women that they were married to Joseph Smith as
his plural wives, and of a world of collateral testi-
mony, Emma's denial however natural deserves no
more than this passing notice.
Polygamy made the Mormon church a thing apart
socially, as its despotic prophet set it apart in re-
ligious and political matters. It is perhaps one cause
of the comparative failure of the church as a prose-
lyting agency. It has brought manifold suffering on
the Saints, and it was the direct occasion of the
prophet's death. But it has never been abandoned.
At times it has been repressed; at times it has been
held in abeyance; and even a revelation was pub-
lished recalling God's mistake in giving this covenant
to a sinful world but the covenant goes on. The
present head of the church has at least five known
plural wives and forty-three children twelve of
whom were born to him after he pledged his honour
T4 BRIGHAM YOUNG
to abstain from plural marriage living. As despotic,
as tenacious, and on occasion as secretive as its proto-
type of Arabia, Mormonism remains an unsolved rid-
dle, and maintains an unassimilated polygamous prin-
cipality in the heart of the American republic.
IX
GROWTH OF A SULTANATE
IN tHe fall of 1839, Brigham had left Nauvoo, a
settlement in its raw beginning. In the summer
of 1841, he returned to find it a considerable town,
booming along under the weirdest government which
up to that time ever afflicted an American city.
Smith and Rigdon had secured from the Illinois
legislature a charter which in substance legalized the
theocratic despotism of the prophet's church, and gave
him a military force to execute his decrees. Save for
the power of the legislature to repeal the charter it
had given, Nauvoo was hardly a part of Illinois at all.
The executive powers of the city were vested in a
mayor; the legislative power$ in a council of four
aldermen and nine councillors. The mayor and the
four aldermen were likewise justices of the peace and,
sitting together, they constituted the municipal court.
The council had power to pass any ordinances it
wished which were not contrary to the state or fed-
eral constitutions. This was a practically unlimited
grant of legislative authority within the city limits.
The mayor, as judge, had sole jurisdiction in all cases
arising under these ordinances; but an aggrieved liti-
gant or prisoner might appeal from the mayor to the
municipal court, presided over by the mayor. The
municipal court had powers to grant writs of habeas
corpus in all cases arising under the ordinances ; which
again amounted to a practically unlimited grant of
75
76 BRIGHAM YOUNG
judicial authority within the city limits. Finally,
there was a military organization, the Nauvoo Legion;
a city militia subject to the sole orders of the mayor
of Nauvoo, and not affiliated with the regular state
militia. Within the bounds of a municipality, all
powers possessed by the state of Illinois were handed
over to the city of Nauvoo which meant to Smith
and his associates.
Much ingenuity has been wasted in search of the
" author " of this amazing charter. Its real " author "
stands plain in view the doctrine and experience of
the Mormon church. Adhering to a centralized des-
potism in religious and social affairs, why should the
Mormon-s do other than try to mould their political
organization on the same model ? They had been har-
ried and hounded by the militia of Missouri; what
more natural than that they should demand an or-
ganized militia of their own? Rigdon had enjoyed
and Smith had longed for the benefits of a writ of
habeas corpus; it was inevitable that they should seek
to get this potent instrument into their own hands.
Neither at Nauvoo nor at Springfield were there per-
sons in authority who could foresee that this grant
of vast powers would rouse the jealous hostility of
the state. Short-sighted experience demanded the
charter, and short-sighted expediency granted it-
Mormon votes were needed by the small Democratic
majority then in control of the state; and until re-
ligious and social antagonism swept party distinctions
aside, the prophet could have nearly everything he
wanted.
No place was reserved in the political organization
of Nauvoo for the ablest man among the Saints, now
returned after nearly two years 1 absence and unez-*
GROWTH OF A SULTANATE 77
ampled service to the church. This of itself would
show that Sidney Rigdon made good use of Brigham's
absence; and that Joseph's loyalty to his best and
wisest friend depended in large measure on that
friend's constant presence. Other indications point-
ing the same way are not wanting. Rigdon was again
made one of Joseph's counsellors, William Law being
the other, and the three constituting the first presi-
dency. About this time, too, Sidney Rigdon became
postmaster of Nauvoo, and hung out his sign in that
city as attorney-at-law. The relation between Rigdon
and Smith 'was a puzzling one throughout their asso-
ciation. Smith in a way despised, and perhapfe dis-
trusted, Rigdon; yet in the absence of stronger coun-
sels, Rigdon seldom failed to shape the prophet's
course.
But Brigham Young did not need an office to make
him a power among his people. He had been con-
firmed in his position as president of the Twelve
Apostles; and that was enough. Eight days after his
return, he had re-established his influence far enough
to secure the revelation commanding him to stay at
home and take care of his family. His practical wis-
dom and mechanical knowledge and skill were in de-
mand on the temple which was rising to be a mo-
mentary wonder of the West. Sidney Rigdon might
be professor of church history in the " small uni-
versity/' but Brigham Young was professor of church
policy in those religious conclaves which really gov-
erned the city.
There was plenty of work for a level-headed, prac-
tical man in the throng gathering at Nauvoo. The
site of that latest Zion had no particular advantages.
No one had built a town of any importance there be-
78 BRIGHAM YOUNG
fore; and no one has done it since. But converts
from all points of the compass were flocking to the
standard of the prophet, and human industry can
build a city anywhere. Some of the converts had
money, more had not. But though there were much
hardship and some downright privation in the settle-
ment of Nauvoo, the sojourn there was comparatively
a placid and prosperous time in the stormy career of
the Saints.
The unhealthfulness of the place has been noted.
There was a heavy death-rate among the gathering
converts for a season or two; especially among those
from England whose systems had not acquired partial
immunity to malarial poison. The clearing and drain-
ing, incident to building the city, rid the place of most
of its mosquitoes, and malaria fell away in conse-
quence. Manufactures of divers sorts were estab-
lished with varying success. One of the most pros-
perous of these was a steam sawmill built by William
and Wilson Law, two Canadian converts of much
greater wealth than was usual among the immigrants
to Nauvoo, and apparently of high character. We
shall hear of the Laws later.
Aside from the very practical matter of getting a
living, the chief industry at Nauvoo was temple-
building. The foundations of this structure were laid
April 6, 1841; and the mere statement of its dimen-
sions shows that Smith planned in this case to "as-
tonish the natives " as he never had done before. The
ground plan measured eighty-three by one hundred
and twenty-eight feet; the body of the structure con-
tained two stories and a basement, and was about
sixty feet high. The steeple never finished to sur-
mount this edifice was planned to be one hundred
GROWTH OF A SULTANATE 79
and twenty feet in height. Architecturally, the work
was a hodge-podge, neither better nor worse than
most of the half-baked, half-borrowed structures with
which our land is dotted; but at least it expressed
devotion, rather than mere dollars. It was built by
contributions from the people in the form of tithes,
by donations of labour, materials, and money in ex-
cess of tithing, by sacrifices which only a profoundly
earnest people would make. In spite of the contrast
in artistic and structural merit, the temple at Nauvoo
was as truly a work of faith as the cathedral at Char-
tres; and the words Lowell spoke of one may apply
to the other:
" By suffrage universal was it built, . . .
Each vote a block of stone securely laid
Obedient to the builders* deep mused plan."
In a work like this Brigham Young was indispen-
sable. He was the only man high in the councils of
the church who had any mechanical training or apti-
tude; and he was easily foremost in his ability to
handle men and plan large labours. In more subtle
ways, his influence was soon quite as pervasive. Be-
fore Brigham came to Kirtland, Smith had a revela-
tion with every change of the wind, and sometimes
when the wind held constant. After Brigham re-
turned to Nauvoo from England, Smith gave up " re-
vealing" almost altogether. The plan was evolved
that when the prophet had one of these spiritual visi-
tations, he should first present it to the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles. If the Quorum thought well of
the matter, it would be presented to the church. This
remarkable scheme for saving the Lord and his
prophet from the evil of hasty speaking is ascribed by
80 BRIGHAM YOUNG
tradition to Brigham Young and, indeed, it could
have come from no other source. The mere fact that
the revelations were to be vised by the Quorum, of
which Brigham was head, would be enough to clinch
the truth of the tradition. We may anticipate enough
to say that in all his rule of the church, Brigham
Young gave but one revelation, though the brethren
were clamorous for him to take up that prophetic
habit.
The first election under the new charter was held
in February, 1841. A new convert to the church,
Dr. John C. Bennett, was chosen mayor in com-
pliance with some of the political bargains made in
granting the charter. Rigdon and Smith (t accepted "
places in the municipal council, and Smith was made
commander of the Nauvoo Legion. Napoleon con-
quered Italy as colonel of artillery; but Joseph Smith
could not endure to command the Legion with any
less title than that of "Lieutenant-General." A lit-
tle over a year later May 17, 1842, Bennett left
the Saints after a quarrel with Smith, and made a
campaign against the church with all the ardour of
an apostate; but it does not appear that his philippics
had much to do with the final outcome. He annoyed
the faithful, angered the prophet, and drew from
both an amazing flow of that kind of speech known
among Gentiles as billingsgate; but so far as can be
told, he accomplished little more.
Other annoyances were more potent. A few days
before Bennett shook the dust of Nauvoo from his
feet, Governor Boggs of Missouri was shot, and it
was thought mortally wounded. The Mormons hated
Boggs with perfect justice and the instant thought
iti the mind of every Missourian was that the shot
GROWTH OF A SULTANATE 81
was fired by some one among the Saints. Smith him-
self could prove an alibi; so the natural inference of
his enemies was that he had sent one of his subordi-
nates to perform the deed. On this charge of being
an accessory before the fact, the state of Missouri
issued a requisition on the governor of Illinois for
Joseph Smith, and the prophet was arrested at Nau-
voo, August 8, 1842, on the governor's warrant. He
immediately demanded to be taken before his own
municipal court; and was released forthwith on a
writ of habeas corpus issued by that body.
No one can blame Smith for not wanting to go
back to Missouri. His experiences there warranted
the suspicion that if he entered that state again, he
would never leave it alive. But Smith assuredly did
not have Socrates' reverence for " The Laws " when
he perpetrated this grotesque travesty upon them.
The clamour resulting was so great that after some
weeks of hiding Smith submitted to arrest. This time
his defence was made in accordance with law, and
the United States district court at Springfield, Illinois,
freed him on a writ of habeas corpus. His Missouri
enemies had failed once before to get him across the
river; they made still another attempt; and failing
in that left him alone.
The actual shooting in the Boggs case was charged
against " Port " Rockwell, a picturesque character of
the church, long famous in a later period throughout
Utah for his unshorn hair, his unrivalled skill In
breeding and training horses, and the hair-raising,
soul-satisfying thoroughness of his drunken sprees.
He was arrested at St. Louis and tried for the crime
in 1843, and was acquitted. In spite of the jury's
verdict which seemed to show that Smith need not
82 BRIGHAM YOUNG
have feared a Missouri trial there is a well-defined
tradition in the church that " Port " Rockwell fired
the shot at the enemy of the Saints, and never ceased
to mourn that the bullet did not do its desired work.
If the Missouri enemies of Zion were discouraged,
the Saints were having their usual success in raising
a crop of enemies nearer home. Before they had been
long at Nauvoo, charges began to circulate that they
were systematically robbing their Gentile neighbours.
Accusations of theft are made in all border feuds, and
need not be taken seriously in the absence of cor-
roborating evidence. Such evidence, for the most
part, is absent in this case of the Mormons. There
were some thieves among them, and some zealots not
normally thievish had been soured by sufferings until
they were ready to spoil the Egyptians at the first
good chance. But generally speaking, the Mormons
were as honest in financial matters as their neighbours;
though, as Huckleberry Finn might say, "that ain't
no flattery, neither."
In one way, however, the Saints had themselves to
thank for their unsavoury reputation. In their eager-
ness for converts, they would baptize any one into
the church; and if the newcomer remained obedient
to the prophet and faithful to his religious duties,
they would stand by him through thick and thin. The
Mississippi bottoms in those days were haunted by
regular gangs of thieves; and some of those operating
near Nauvoo soon saw the advantage of a fellowship
which gave them standing and helped to protect them
from the outside world. Many of these joined the
Mormons for strictly utilitarian purposes. They were
Saints by day and horse-thieves by night; but unless
their rascality became too notorious, their new asso-
GROWTH OF A SULTANATE 83
dates would protect them. The Gentile who came to
Nauvoo on a mission that might trouble the brethren
"whittled out" Groups of men and boys with
sticks and long knives would surround the undesirable
intruder, and whittle, whittle occasionally letting the
knife slip towards him in a harmless but unpleasant
sweep. Wherever he went, the whittlers would fol-
low; and at the end of an hour or two of this enter-
tainment, almost any one was anxious to emigrate
from the city of the whittling Saints.
X
MURDER OF THE PROPHET
IT now becomes necessary to devote a chapter to
the fortunes of Joseph Smith, rather than to
those of Brigham Young. Brigham was going
quietly about his business, doing whatever work came
to hand, " taking care of his family " which by this
time had been increased by four plural wives and
supplying counsel and advice to his erratic chief.
Smith, drunk with the adulation of his little world,
was dreaming of limitless political power while yet
scarcely through dodging Missouri sheriffs. But
Smith, with all his vagaries, was head of the church;
and his movements determined those of his far more
able disciple, even as the whims of the stupid Philip
Second overrode the " cribbed and cabined" genius
of Parma.
Under pressure of public opinion, Smith had sub-
mitted to arrest in the charge connected with the at-
tempted murder of Governor Boggs, and had been
freed by the federal court. But he did not for a mo-
ment renounce his claim of independent, judicial
sovereignty for his handy little municipal court of
Nauvoo. It was this municipal court which foiled
the last attempt of the Missourians to drag the prophet
back for trial; and belief in the right of this court to
issue writs of habeas corpus became the shibboleth by
which Smith tested the friendship of those non-Mor-
mons who sought his political influence. Walker, the
84
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 85
Whig candidate for congress in that district in 1843,
had vehemently upheld the right of the municipal
court to issue such writs, and expected to receive in
return the Mormon vote and a consequent election to
congress. But Governor Ford of Illinois was a Demo-
crat who, by virtue of his office, could call out the
militia, arrest Smith, and deliver him up to the Mis-
souri authorities. A Democratic politician came to
Nauvoo, and speaking in Ford's name, though not
with his authorization, informed Smith that he was
safe so long as his followers voted the Democratic
ticket.
The result of this message was as fine a demonstra-
tion of ecclesiastical subtlety as anything that can be
shown in the annals of Italy or Scotland. Joseph
had bound himself to vote for Walker. But Hyrum,
the prophet's brother, now announced that he had a
revelation directing the Saints to* vote for Hoge,
Walker's Democratic opponent. William Law chal-
lenged Hyrum's claim to a revelation, and Joseph was
called in to settle the dispute. " I am going to vote
for Walker," said Joseph solemnly. " But Brother
Hyrum is a man of truth; I have never known him to
tell a lie. If he says he has a revelation from the
Lord telling the Saints to vote the Democratic ticket,
no doubt it is a fact; and I would advise you that in
this matter, Hyrum is a safer guide than I am. When
the Lord speaks, let all the earth keep silence before
him!"
The congregation took the hint, and Hoge was
elected by a majority of four hundred and fifty-five
votes.
The trick arrayed the whole Whig party of Illinois
against the Mormons and inspired the Democrats with
86 BRIGHAM YOUNG
apprehension of the time when a similar cross-circuit
revelation would be turned against themselves. Also,
it inspired Smith with an added sense of power, and
set him to asking what that power might get for him.
His answer to this self-questioning is rather startling.
He decided to become President of the United
States.
At this distance of time, Smith's ambition seems a
wild and uncanny dream. To him and to his follow-
ers, it was the most serious of realities. Smith had
demanded from Clay and Calhoun, the two chief
candidates for Presidential nominations, what would
be their course toward the Latter Day Saints if nomi-
nated and elected to this high office. Both men an-
swered with very proper refusals to take cognizance
of any church as such. Clay declined to make any
pledges save those implied by his life and record.
Calhoun pointed out that the federal authority could
give no help to the Mormons in securing" redress from
Missouri for wrongs suffered while they were resi-
dents of that state.
These rebuffs roused Joseph to something as near
righteous wrath as his inconsequential good-nature
permitted him to feel. He answered with open letters
whose windy nonsense has been equalled but rarely
even in the political history of our own good and elo-
quent land. " Crape the heavens with weeds of woe/' he
exclaims in the epistle to Henry Clay; " gird the earth
with sackcloth, and let hell mutter one melody in com-
memoration of fallen splendour! For the glory of
America has departed, and God will set a flaming
sword to guard the tree of liberty, while such mint-
tithing Herods as Van Buren, Boggs, Benton, Cal-
houn, and Clay are thrust out of the realms of virtue
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 87
as fit subjects for the kingdom of fallen greatness
vox reprobi, vox Dlaboli! 3
" He opens his mouth, shines his eyes, and leaves
the result to God/' said Abraham Lincoln of a ranting
orator some years later. The description might be
dated back to apply to Joseph Smith.
Smith had not waited on the hatching of this bird
of eloquence before proceeding with his quest of the
White House. On January 29, 1844, he was nomi-
nated at Nauvoo for President of the United States.
The exact composition of this nominating body is un-
certain. May 17 of the same year just a few days
after publishing the letters to Clay and Calhoun this
nomination was confirmed by something which passed
for a state convention, also assembled at Nauvoo. In
between these two events, Smith had published his
" views JJ on national politics. He declared for the
abolition of slavery by empowering the general gov-
ernment to purchase and liberate the slaves; for the
annexation, not merely of Texas but of Canada and
Mexico when they should ask for that blessing; and
for a scheme of national banking that only another
Urim and Thummim can make understandable. He
wanted the pay of congressmen, cut to $2.00 per day
and board; but he suggested no reduction in the pay
accorded to the President. On the contrary, the
Presidential powers were to be exalted, not by chang-
ing the Constitution so much as by merely " taking "
such powers as an inspired prophet in the White
House might think worth having. " Congress, with
the President as executor, is as almighty in its sphere
as Jehovah is in his," .he had stated in his letter to
Calhoun; a statement which, coupled with his other
outpourings, goes far to substantiate the claim that
88 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Joseph Smith was the forerunner of Populism, and
the great original New Nationalist.
There was no notion on Smith's part of trusting
his campaign to letters and proclamations alone. He
immediately organized or some one organized for
him a campaign designed to reach every part of the
United States. All the most able and aggressive offi-
cers of the church were sent out to drum up votes
for the prophet, as formerly they had been sent to find
recruits for Zion. Brigham Young, the sane coun-
sellor; Orson Pratt, the ready orator; John D. Lee,
unthinking fighter all these and scores of others were
sent through the nation to organize support for the
prophet's ambitions at the very hour when they were
most needed to temper his course and protect his life
at home.
William and Wilson Law, already mentioned in
this history, were two of the wealthiest and most
powerful members of the Mormon church. They had
establish a saw-mill and flour-mill at Nauvoo, con-
tributed to the building of the city and temple, and
loaned the prophet a large sum of money. They were
high in his favour for some years. William Law was
made counsellor to Joseph and a member of the First
Presidency, besides being registrar of the Nauvoo
University. Wilson Law was regent of the university
and major-general in the Nauvoo Legion. It was this
pair, of all men in Nauvoo, whom Joseph had to quar-
rel with at this critical moment
The revelation establishing 'poly gamy was written
down, as we have seen, July 12, 1843. The practice
of polygamy antedated the revelation by at least two
years. Brigham Young was married to one of his
plural wives in June, 1842, and tradition agrees that
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 89
the spouse then taken was the second to be received
into this " new and everlasting covenant/' The Laws
were among the select number to whom the new doc-
trine was imparted; and they seem to have rejected
it with indignation from the first They pointed out
that polygamy is directly reprobated in the Book of
Mormon, and combated what they claimed was vicious
heresy. How long their opposition would have been
confined to expostulation within the church cannot be
known, for Joseph seems to< have made the capital
error of trying to secure Mrs. William Law as one
of his spiritual wives.
By this time there must have been quite a collection
of husbands at Nauvoo whose wives Joseph had
sought to secure as stars in his spiritual crown. Such
advances are deemed cause for personal vengeance in
five American communities out of seven, even to this
day. Had William Law taken a shotgun and scat-
tered the prophet's brains on the pavement of the
temple, he would have done only what dozens of men
similarly offended have done before and since, with
no worse penalty than that of being obliged to hear
their own virtues set forth to a sympathetic jury.
But the Laws were Canadians, trained in that strict
discipline and stern obedience to law which are the
glory of the British Empire; and they took what they
deemed a milder course though it proved quite as
effective a one.
Joining with Sylvester Emmons, one of the few
non-Mormons in Nauvoo, and Dr. R. D. Foster, who
had a similar score to settle with the prophet, the Law
brothers determined to start a newspaper to expose
the misdeeds of Smith, and secure a reform of the
church. They protested themselves firm believers in
90 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the Book o Mormon and the Divine mission of the
prophet at the beginning of his work, but they held
that he had given himself over to the devil, and was
now working iniquity. They chose the name Ex-
positor for their paper, and its first and only issue
justified the title. It told the story of the revelation
establishing polygamy, and the prophet's method of
teaching this doctrine to women converts. It con-
demned Smith's political aspirations. It charged him
with financial crookedness. It demanded the imme-
diate and unconditional repeal of the Nattvoo charter;
and it pleaded with Mormons in general to abandon
the false teachings of a plurality of gods and wives,
and return to the primitive purity of the^ faith.
Mormon historians speak of the Expositor's charges
as "filthy lies." The phrase is not a happy one.
Aside from the fact that the Expositor merely charged
Smith with practising doctrines set forth in a revela-
iton still contained in the church's official book of
faith, we may point out that lies alone never stirred
tip such a storm as was raised by the tales in the
Expositor.
The first and likewise the last number of this paper
was issued June '7, 1844. The next day, Smith called
the city council together, and proceeded to put the
'Expositor 1 , and its editors on trial before that body.
Zealous souls who condemn that separation of ex-
ecutive, judicial, and legislative functions which is the
keynote of our government may read with profit the
results of having those powers joined in the same per-
son. Smith was mayor and president of the court;
the council, aldermen, and councillors alike, were his
disciples, and wholly obedient to his wish. Dr. Foster,
Mr. Emmons, and the Law brothers were not present
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 91
at this " trial " affecting their property and perhaps
their safety. Evidence, argument, and hearsay were
jumbled together. The session of this beautiful legis-
lative-executive- judicial body lasted all day Saturday,
June 8, and was continued to the following Monday.
Finally, a resolution was passed declaring the Ex-
positor a public nuisance, and " directing " Mayor
Smith to abate that nuisance in any manner he might
choose !
The beggars were on horseback, and they rode as
beggars have been wont to do since before the proverb
was coined. The destruction of which they had justly
complained when it overtook their own Millennial Star
in Missouri was to be visited on a printing-office which
happened to offend them instead of the Gentiles.
Smith issued an order to the city marshal, command-
ing him to destroy the press, " pi " the type, and burn
all copies of the Expositor. The marshal took an
escort from the Nauvoo Legion, broke into the Ex-
positor building, and carried out his orders with joy-
ous thoroughness. " The within-named press and
type is destroyed and ' pied * according to order on this
loth day of June, 1844, at about 8 o'clock P.M./' he
wrote on his return of the order.
In only one particular was the prophet's action
better than that of the mob which had driven the Mor-
mons from Independence, Missouri. That gathering
had tarred and feathered a Mormon elder. Foster
and the Laws were not hurt in any way, but they did
not " wait to see whether this immunity would last.
That same night, June 10, they fled to Carthage, the
county seat of Hancock county, where they swore out
a complaint charging Smith and others with riot.
Smith was arrested on this charge June 12, and im-
92 BRIGHAM YOUNG
mediately released on a writ of habeas corpus issued
by his own municipal court.
Had Smith surrendered himself and been tried in
the ordinary way, the result might have been dam-
aging to his political aspirations, but in all probability
his life would have been safe. His efforts to escape
the courts led, as might have been expected, to an
appeal to the mob. Mass-meetings were held in vari-
ous parts of Hancock county, and at one of these,
resolutions were passed calling for a war of extermi-
nation if the prophet were not surrendered. Mun-
chausen-like stories of Mormon outrages ran from
mouth to ear through all the surrounding country,
armed men gathered at various places, cannon were
ordered from larger towns, and an appeal was made to
Governor Ford to call out the militia.
Governor Ford was a man of considerable intelli-
gence and fair intentions, but wholly unfitted for deal-
ing with a crisis like that which now confronted him.
He arrived at Carthage June 21, heard the tales of
the more rabid Gentiles, and sent to Nauvoo for the
Mormons to send some one to make him acquainted
with their side of the case. Both accounts agreed in
the essential facts of the destruction of the Expositor
and the release of Smith in defiance of the state courts.
The governor put proper officials in command of the
assembled militia, harangued the men, and received
from them pledges that they would obey his com-
mands and aid him in upholding the law. Upon this
he sent word to Nauvoo that the prophet and those
of his followers accused of riot would be ; protected
if they surrendered, and be pursued by the whole
force of the state if they did not. Smith preferred
flight; but was persuaded by his followers to trust
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 93
to the governor's promises. About midnight of June
24,. Joseph, Hyrum, and the other Mormons named
in the complaint reached Carthage, and surrendered
themselves to the law. All were admitted to bail the
next noon, but the prophet and brother were imme-
diately re-arrested on the charge of treason, and
lodged in the county jail
By this time the anti-Mormon sentiment of Han-
cock county had become so bitter that no legal prosecu-
tions and penalties could satisfy it. A considerable
number of Gentiles openly demanded the death of the
prophet, and that his followers should be driven from
the state by military force. The governor resisted
this outrageous demand, but he took no< effective
measures to secure the safety of his prisoners, claim-
ing afterwards that they were not in his custody, but
in that of the sheriff. He disbanded all the militia
except a company known as the " Carthage Grays "
who, being residents of Hancock county and involved
in the quarrel, were among the prophet's bitterest
enemies. Setting this company to " guard " the jail
in which the Smiths were confined, the governor, on
June 27, set out to> visit Nauvoo, and talk the Mor-
mons into a right appreciation of the beauties of peace
and submission to the law.
The same morning, several hundred militia from
Warsaw, known as rabid, Mormon haters, started to
march to Carthage ; from which point they expected to
accompany other state troops in the occupation and,
perhaps, the sack of Nauvoo. On the way, they were
met by a message from the governor ordering them
to return to their homes, as the Nauvoo expedition
had been given up. The more moderate men of the
militia obeyed the order; the more violent continued
94* BRIGHAM YOUNG
their march toward Carthage. A few miles from
town they received a note sent by the Carthage Grays,
telling them that now was the time to kill the Smiths,
and that the way for that killing would be made easy.
Joseph, Hyrum, and two visiting brethren (Willarcl
Richards and John Taylor) were sitting in a large
room on the second floor of the jail when the armed
mob approached. Only eight men and a sergeant had
been left at the jail, and these made no resistance.
Climbing the stairs and firing through the door of
the room, the mob killed Hyrum Smith. Joseph had
a six-shooter pistol which he emptied at the assailants,
wounding three of them, and, a moment or two later,
he made a rush to the window, and tried to leap out.
His appearance brought a volley from the mob out-
side, and at the same time the attacking party burst
into the room, and fired at the prophet from behind.
H made the Masonic sign of distress, and then
pitched headlong to the ground. Whether he was
dead when he fell, or was killed in the yard by a final
volley is a disputed point.
If Governor Ford meant to have the Mormon
prophet murdered or kidnapped, his movements on
the 26th and 27th of June are intelligible. If he
meant to avert such a crime, his behaviour becomes
a mystery. He disbanded troops on whose loyalty he
could rely, and left the prisoners in charge of the
Carthage Grays, who had already mutinied at the
favours shown the imprisoned prophet. He took no
pains to see that the yet more violent men from War-
saw were turned back to their homes. He did not,
as he might have done, send the prisoners to a distant
county for safe-keeping until the excitement had sub-
sided. He went to Nauvoo the day of the murder,
MURDER OF THE PROPHET 95
stayed long enough to establish an alibi, made a mean-
ingless speech to the assembled Mormons, and hurried
away without doing anything to justify or explain his
trip. Thoygh a pitifully weak man, Ford was by no
means a fool. Either he was smitten with blindness,
or he had been bullied and wheedled into leaving the
coast clear for the mob probably on the pretext that
the Smiths would not be harmed, but seized and sent
over to Missouri.
The death of Smith was designed to destroy the
Mormon church. That crime failed of its purpose,
as mob outrages always fail. It removed an indolent,
dreamy visionary from the head of Mormon affairs,
and put in his place a grimly practical captain, with
despotic temper and a will of flint. There has been
on earth no better measure of the folly of a mob than
the destruction of Joseph Smith to make room for
Brigham Young.
XI
THE NEW PRIEST-KING
THE death of Joseph was an unspeakable shock
to the anxious Mormons at Nauvoo. He was
at once their prince and prophet; bearer of the
Word and the sceptre of the Most High. His speech
had been counsel of disaster, and his rule a, kingdom
of strife. Toil, hardship, exile, battle, murder, and
sudden death had been the lot of his followers, and
this lot had now overtaken their chief. The man who
claimed to be divinely appointed ruler of the earth
had fallen before a mob of lynchers in a back prairie
town. But " faith, fanatic faith " was as tenacious in
Illinois of the nineteenth century as in Persia of the
eleventh; and for the moment, at least, the tragic
death of Joseph does not seem to have cost him a dis-
ciple.
It was plain that the flock needed a new shepherd;
and a shepherd was ready. The foregoing: chapters
of this history have been useless if it is needful at
this time to make any extended presentation of the
claims of Brigham Young. He occupied a strong,
strategic position as president of the Quorum of
Apostles. He occupied a yet stronger position in the
public mind of the church because of his known loy-
alty and tried common sense. Of all prominent Mor-
mons, Brigham had been most steadfast in upholding
the prophet's authority, and most practical in guiding
his people. He had rallied the church when Joseph
THE NEW PRIEST-KING 97
was in prison in Missouri; he was to rally it again
now that Joseph was dead.
Brigham Young was in New Hampshire, elec-
tioneering in Smith's campaign for the Presidency,
when word came of the prophet's death. Shocked but
not dismayed, his practical mind leaped at once to the
question of the continuance of Joseph's work. Strik-
ing his hand on his knee he exclaimed to a fellow-
Apostle sitting by him: "The keys of the Kingdom
are right here with the Church! " The language was
accurate, though needlessly theological. The keys of
the only kingdom with which he was really concerned
were in his own strong right fist, and were to stay
there till he followed Joseph across a greater Divide
than the one over which he led Joseph's people.
The strong men of the church who had been sent
away in furtherance of Smith's political ambition now
turned toward Nauvoo. Brigham and most of the
Twelve arrived on August 6. Sidney Rigdon, Brig-
ham's only rival, was three days before him. Sidney
as the only surviving member of the First Presidency,
claimed rulership of the church in Joseph's place.
Brigham's partisans answered that the First Presi-
dency had ceased to exist at Joseph's death, and that
the next highest body, the Quorum of the Twelve-
Apostles, succeeded to control. A special conference
of the church was called for the 8th of August. Sid-
ney presented his claims in an eloquent plea which
left the people cold. Brigham swept Rigdon and his
pretensions aside in a coarse, contemptuous harangue
which set the congregation wild with enthusiasm. His
rough confidence and overbearing assurance were
proof that these masterless men had found their proper
chief. When he arose to speak, a miracle of second
98 BRIGHAM YOUNG
sight was vouchsafed to hundreds, who saw before
them on the platform, not Brigham, but Joseph;
Joseph as he was before the vile mob had pierced his
body with lead and spilled his sacred blood on the pro-
fane soil of an heretical state. They saw the face
of Joseph, heard the voice of Joseph; and they went
to their graves believing that on this occasion, the dead
prophet was enabled to use the person and voice of the
living, and that in some mysterious manner, Brigham
and Joseph were melted and mingled until " the twain
were as one." By a unanimous vote, the congregation
" sustained " the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with
Brigham at their head as high senate and rulers over
the desolate church.
Before Young had arrived from the East almost
before the body of the martyred chief was cold the
Mormons had voted to abstain from all efforts of
vengeance, and leave their wrongs to be righted by the
law. There was as much fear as forbearance in this
resolution, but it was adhered to even after the first
panic had passed; and Brigham not only sanctioned
it, but did his best to abolish whatever excuse for hos-
tility might have been afforded by the Mormon com-
munity before the catastrophe. The same meeting
which made Brigham and the Twelve rulers of the
church voted to complete the great temple. Mis-
sionaries were sent out as if nothing had happened.
Everything showed that the Mormons meant to stay
at Nauvoo, and wished* to be on as good terms as
possible with their more powerful neighbours.
If at this juncture the people of Illinois had been
wise enough to proffer peace and friendship to the
Mormons, the history of some parts of our country
might have been changed. The prophet was dead;
THE NEW PRIEST-KING 99
and with him died his claim to direct and exclusive
revelation which was an insurmountable barrier to
fellowship with other religious bodies. His successor
at first made no claim to prophetic authority; indeed,
he then expressly disclaimed it. On August 15, Brig-
ham issued his first letter to the church, warning all
good Mormons that the place which Joseph Smith had
occupied could never be filled by another, and that the
Twelve ruled the church by right of their ordination
from Joseph. With peace and friendly social inter-
course, the Mormon theocracy would have dissolved
before it got out of the gristle. It required persecu-
tion, multiplied wrongs, undeserved exile, and, above
all, the isolation which exile brought, to harden the
Mormon people into a veritable kingdom, and set the
church theocracy in a mould which endures to this
day.
Brigham issued his letter to the church, despatched
some missionaries, organized the work on the temple,
and then turned to a task that must have given him
heartfelt satisfaction, the task of settling old scores
with Sidney Rigdon. On September 8, a High Coun-
cil was held to try Rigdon for divers churchly crimes
and misdemeanours. The accused was not present
but the trial went on without him, and ended, of
course, in his excommunication. When this verdict
was carried to the general conference for confirma-
tion, those who dared to vote in Rigdon's favour were
themselves suspended. Brigham " gavelled " through
his will with as high a hand as ever was displayed by
a political chairman in a " close " convention.
This is one of the many incidents which detract
from Brigham's claims to greatness; yet even here,
the man's courage is as sharply outlined as his tyran-
100 BRIGHAM YOUNG
nical temper. Sidney Rigdon had a large part in
forming Mortnonism. He held a host of secrets of
the church, and some of them were dangerous secrets.
He threatened openly to tell all he knew, and bring
down the Gentiles in a destroying mob if he were
driven from the fold. Brighatn picked up the glove
on the instant, dared Rigdon to tell whatever he
pleased, promised that the Saints had a few tales of
their own which Sidney would not care to hear
shouted from the housetops; and in the most insult-
ing language he could command, invited his old foe
to do his worst. It was scarce ten weeks since the
prophet's death, his murderers were still at large, the
countryside was ready to spring to new aggressions at
far slighter provocation than Sidney Rigdon could
furnish. Many of the Apostles were trembling in
their boots but not Brigham.-
It is worthy of note that Rigdon' s threat to turn
state's evidence was never carried into effect.
The same month which witnessed Brigham's final
triumph over his former rival saw him increase his
family by two more plural wives. One of these,
Emily Partridge, was one of the polygamous widows
of Joseph Smith. She was seventh or eighth of Brig-
ham's spiritual and likewise terrestrial partners, and
she bore Brigham seven children. In November of
the same year, Brigham took another wife; and in
February, 1845, he married another of the widows of
Joseph Smith. All told, six of Joseph's widows be-
came wives of Brigham,
It is not recorded, however, that he made any
matrimonial advances to the legal widow of Joseph,
Emma Hale Smith. Her alliance would have been
worth having in an ecclesiastical sense; but Emma
THE NEW PRIEST-KING 101
was bitterly opposed to polygamy, and, altogether, not
the kind of woman Brigham wished to add or could
have won to his expanding household.
The fall and winter of 1844-45 passed with little
excitement and less good-will between Mormons and
Gentiles around Nauvoo. The charter of that city
was repealed in January, 1845. ^ n April, the gov-
ernor wrote to Young urging him to take his people
to California. In the same month, Brigham and
most of the Twelve as a committee addressed a dig-
nified though somewhat magniloquent appeal to
President Polk an appeal which was never answered.
In reality, events were waiting on the trial of the
prophet's murderers. Nine men accused of this
crime were put on trial May 19, 1845. The case
lasted twelve days. There was not a man nor woman
in the county who did not know that these accused
persons had participated in killing the Smiths; but
that knowledge had nothing to 'do with the outcome
of the case. Throughout the trial, armed friends of
the defendants occupied the court-room, browbeat the
judge, influenced the jury, and intimidated the wit-
nesses. The defending lawyers made as brazen a plea
for mob rule as ever was heard in a meeting of Molly
McGttires. The verdict of " Not guilty " was a pre-
destined thing.
That verdict, however, was official notice that it
was safe to bait and kill Mormons in Illinois, pro-
vided one took along enough friends for aids $nd wit-
nesses. Friction between the two parties increased
steadily through the summer, and on September 10
began a series of outrages still known as the "burn-
ings." Armed bands of Gentiles descended on out-
lying Mormon farms, drove the occupants into Nau-
102 BRIGHAM YOUNG
voo with only the scantiest personal property, and
burned their buildings and grain-stacks. Two weeks
of this work sufficed to concentrate the entire Mor-
mon population of Hancock county in Nauvoo; while
the Gentiles, fearing reprisals, remained constantly
under arms. Only one Gentile seems to have suffered;
Lieutenant Worrell of the Carthage Grays was killed
very handily by " Port " Rockwell Finally a com-
mittee of four prominent citizens, one of whom was
Stephen A. Douglas, was sent by the governor to re-
store peace in Hancock county.
The committee found the Mormon leaders weary
of the struggle, and willing to emigrate. Some ar-
rangements, probably tentative in character, had been
made for removal prior to the " burnings." Brigham
Young promised, in behalf of the church, that at least
a thousand families, numbering between five and six
thousand persons, would move the following spring,
without regard to whether their property was sold or
not; and that the entire community would go if sales
could be effected so as to raise the money. The com-
mittee transmitted this pledge to the governor and to
the militant Gentile party of Hancock county; the gov-
ernor stationed a militia force at Nauvoo to guard
the Saints during their preparations for exile, and
preparations for the Great Trek began.
XII
THE LAST EXILE
THE rest of autumn and the early months of
winter were spent in making ready for the
long march. The exact destination of the
Saints was uncertain; but all knew that they were to
journey beyond the Rocky Mountains. Such a trip
required more preparation than had preceded the
hasty jumps from county to county and from state
to state which had constituted the earlier Mormon
migrations. The grim leader now at their head was
determined that this should be the last exile his people
need endure. He meant to go so far that the new
Zion would have time to grow to independent strength
before Gentile hostility could again threaten it.
The great difficulty in preparing for the trek was
poverty. The Mormon community was poor. Most
converts were poor when they joined, and the cease-
less hostility of their neighbours had kept them so.
From Ohio to Missouri, from Jackson county to Clay
county, from Clay county to Caldwell county, from
Missouri to Illinois no people could gather much
gear while driven from pillar to post in this fashion.
The Mormons had to make three guineas do the work
of much more than five. Appeals were sent to the
brethren in England and the eastern states, and quite
a sum was raised in this way. Farms in the country
round Nauvoo, and houses, stores and lots in town,
were thrown on a stagnant market for sale. The
103
104 BRIGHAM YOUNG
proceeds went to buy horses, oxen, wagons, and
supplies.
The varied industry of the time made partial
amends for the lack of ready money. Much that the
Mormons could not buy they could make. Nauvoo
was turned into a vast wagon shop and tent manu-
factory. Such of the brethren as had no skill in these
labours were sent to other towns, to find any work
that offered, and to send their wages to the emigration
fund at Nauvoo.
It is at such times that the primitive theocracy or
the yet more primitive tribal organization shows to
greatest advantage. The Mormon church had lost
many adherents in the recent schisms. But among
those who remained, there was loyalty and singleness
of purpose. They gave unanimous consent to the
westward march, leaving their leaders to fix the date
and destination. They accepted with equal solidarity
the word that those who had wealth must assist those
who had none to reach the new Zion. They did not
bicker, they did not argue, they did not complain.
They worked, obeyed, and were cheerful. The social
and political order in which they were enmeshed is
death to individuality and progress. But as a means
of giving purpose and unity to a motley clan, and of
holding it firm in defiance to a world and an age,
Mormonism never has been surpassed.
In all the activities of Nauvoo, Brigharn Young
bore a part. He was captain, preacher, counsellor,
foreman and, on occasion, skilled labourer. He
worked with his own hands on the boats which were
to take the people across the great river in the spring,
and on the temple, which the Mormons were deter-
mined to finish though they knew it must be left to
THE LAST EXILE 105
their enemies. He sent young men into distant parts
of Iowa, Illinois, and even Missouri to buy cattle and
horses at cheaper prices than the neighbouring towns
were trying to wrest from the needs of Nauvoo, and
studied maps of the western country, which con-
sisted chiefly of the conventional signs for mountains,
with vacant spaces marked " desert " in between.
Heber Kiinball was Brigham's most constant com-
panion in work and study. Brigham wanted support,
not advice; a lieutenant, not a counsellor; and in
Heber Kimball, the Mormon leader had a follower
whose loyalty was akin to worship.
There were other and tenderer duties for the Mor-
mon chief to perform before starting on the westward
trek. Brigham was not yet sufficiently married. He
had begun collecting wives shortly after his return
from England in 1841. He was the humble possessor
of at least five by the end of 1843. He had taken
four wives, among them one of Joseph Smith's
widows, in 1844; and three wives, including another
Widow Smith, in 1845. But there were still at Nau-
yoo comely maids and matrons willing to be stars in
the crown of the prophet's successor; and Brigham
gathered five of these to his capacious bosom in the
single month of January, 1846. One of the five was
another widow of Joseph, of course; it was hardly
possible to collect that many eligibles at Nauvoo with-
out finding at least one desolate widow of the prophet
in the number. Brigham consoled two more of these
sad ones for their loss of the fractional currency of
matrimony before the sum of his weddings was com-
plete.
On February 4, 1846, the Mormons began their
exodus from Illinois. The season was open for the
106 BRIGHAM YOUNG
moment; and the first passengers were carried across
the river on boats which were kept busy day and
night until stopped by the ice. On February 5, camp
was formed on Sugar creek, in the then territory of
Iowa, nine miles west of the point of crossing. By
the middle of the month, a thousand persons had
gathered at this rendezvous with wagons, cattle, and
equipment for the march. The weather had changed,
heavy snows were falling, the mercury dropped to
twenty degrees below zero, and teams were crossing
the Mississippi on ice. Camp life at such a season
would have been a severe trial for seasoned soldiers;
and women and children as well as men were huddled
on Sugar creek. Nine babies were born in tents and
wagons in this camp during this frightful weather.
American pioneers have been of hardy stock from the
first; and never was that hardihood better shown than
in this exodus of the Mormons.
On February 15, Young arrived at Sugar creek,
bringing with him several apostles, and Captain Pitt's
Nauvoo band. The campers were given two days to
sing and dance themselves into forgetfulness of their
troubles, and then Brigham assembled them to receive
information and orders. He sketched in outline part of
the journey which lay ahead; reminded them that only
by discipline and co-operation could they hope to ac-
complish such a trip ; and warned them that he meant
to keep good order on the inarch, and that those who
took part in it would have to " toe the mark/' After
this characteristic homily, Brigham returned to Nau-
voo, and held a parting service in the almost completed
temple, but in a few days he was back at Sugar ^reek,
organizing the campaign. A letter was sent to the
governor of Iowa, telling the persecutions which the
THE LAST EXILE 107
Mormons had endured, and asking for protection dur-
ing the march across the territory. At last, on March
I, while snow still covered the ground and bitter nights
were still the rule, that march was begun.
No people not accustomed to the emergency-filled
existence of pioneers could have made that journey.
There were no roads. Snows and frost gave way to
torrents of spring rain and seas of mud. The emigrants
had scarcely half enough cattle for their wagons.
Sometimes they covered five miles in a day; sometimes
ten, sometimes not even three. At Chariton river, in a
tent pitched on ground covered ankle deep with water,
the wife of one of the elders gave birth to a child,
who carried through life the name of the stream by
which he was born. The emigrants had to ford
or bridge streams, and corduroy their way across
soft bottom-lands. Food was scarce, and only good
discipline and communistic sharing saved the ex-
pedition from disaster in the first stage of its
journey.
At Chariton river, during the halt enforced by
floods, the camp was divided into companies with a
semi-military organization. Fifty or sixty wagons
constituted a company, each with a captain and second
in command, and each provided with a commissary.
This last was an indispensable officer, for the emi-
grants had to buy much of their supplies by the way.
They had little money, and little to spare in the way
of trade; but what they had was thrown into the com-
mon stock, and bartered on the best terms available.
Brigham insisted on absolutely honest dealing. Coun-
terfeit, money was plentiful in those days, and one
Mormon passed some of it to an Iowa farmer. Brig-
ham descended in a hurricane of wrath on the culprit,
108 BRIGHAM YOUNG
and on the 1 bishop who had pleaded for leniency in
the case, and insisted on restitution. His anger was
not more a matter of offended morality than of out-
raged common sense. He knew that if the first com-
pany of Mormons travelling through Iowa passed bad
money, the following companies might count them-
selves lucky if left to starve.
From time to time along the road the Mormons
established " travelling stakes of Zion " where some
of the emigrants stopped and renting or " taking up "
land, planted a crop to be harvested by those who came
later on the trail. Other Mormons scattered among
the pioneer settlements to work on the farms, taking
their pay in flour, grain, and other provisions and sup-
plies which went into the common treasury. Not all
who thus went down among the Philistines returned
safe to Israel; all across Iowa to-day may be found
families whose forbears left Nauvoo with the Mor-
mons, and stopped by the wayside. But a surprising
proportion of these sorely tried men held true to the
project of establishing another Zion beyond the deserts
and mountains, where wicked men no more could
persecute the chosen Saints of God.
It must not be thought from this tale of Mormon
hardships that their march was a creeping procession
of gloom. The emigration had its brighter side; and
the Mormons, with their utter trust in the Lord and
His regents, were of all people best fitted to gather
such brightness as might be had. By the end of April,
the rains had ceased. Thenceforward the journey lay
across a smiling prairie country, with numerous
wooded streams where game was plentiful. By this
time, too, the people, grown accustomed to travelling,
ordered their life by conditions of the camp, rather
THE LAST EXILE 109
than of the home. Many of the better circumstanced
families brought cows which were driven along with
the teams. The cream thus afforded was hung from
axles to be churned by the jolting of the wagons.
Bread would be set and raised on the road, and when
a halt was made for the night a little dugout in the
hillside furnished an oven in which the loaves were
baked. When any considerable stop was made, the
whole male population of the camp engaged in work
for the neighbouring farmers, or planted grain for the
later companies to harvest, or made articles for sale
or for use in the camp. The handicraft thus practised
might not gain apprbval from modern aesthetes, but
it served.
The leading party, with Brigham in direct com-
mand, reached the Missouri river the middle of June,
camped at Council Bluffs, and began building boats for
the crossing. The main body, following slowly,
stopped at the " travelling stake JJ of Mount Pisgah,
one hundred and thirty-eight miles farther east. Here,
on June 26, they were overtaken by Captain Allen,
of the regular army, who offered to enlist five hun-
dred of their young men for service in the Mexican
war which had begun that April. Such Mormons as
volunteered were to serve for twelve months, and
would form part of the expedition against California.
It w r as believed in Washington that the Mormons in-
tended to settle on the Pacific Coast, and Captain
Allen mentioned this in his call for recruits. " Thus
Is offered to the Mormon people now, this year, an
opportunity of sending a portion of their young and
intelligent men to the ultimate destination of their
whole people, and this entirely at the expense of the
United States, and this advance party can thus pave
110 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the way and look out the land for their brethren to
come after them/ 3
Apostle Woodruff, in command at Mount Pisgah,
referred the matter to Brigham Young at Council
Bluffs. Brigham closed with the proposition at once,
and five hundred and forty-nine young Mormons were
enlisted. The fighting was ended in California long
before they arrived, but they did a certain amount of
garrison duty before the expiration of their term. A
few remained in California, a few re-enlisted and were
lost to the church; but practically all who lived to be
mustered out rejoined their brethren.
Mormon writers describe this call for troops as a
tyrannical demand made upon a weakened and dis-
tressed people; and at the same point to the enlistment
of the battalion as proof of the unexampled loyalty
of the Saints. Both tales could not be true, and it
happens there is not a fraction of truth in either.
Captain Allen came, not with a demand for services
but with an offer of help, which was seized with eager-
ness by a people needing nothing so much as steady
employment at cash wages. The government be-
lieved it was conferring a favour on the Mormons
when it made this offer; they believed they were con-
ferring a favor on themselves when they accepted it;
and the historian, looking back on the incident, can
find no reason to reverse these contemporary judg-
ments. The talk about ardent patriotism is a pe-
culiarly irritating bit of ecclesiastical hypocrisy, and
one which could find currency only among a people
singularly untrained in all that patriotism means.
Meanwhile, the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo con-
tinued unchecked. Major Warren, on guard with a
small squad of militia, reported in May that the ferries
THE LAST EXILE 111
were carrying across thirty-five teams and a propor-
tionate number of human beings every twenty-four
hours. As fast as companies could be organized and
assembled on the Iowa side, they took the trail for
the unknown land of refuge in the West. An inde-
pendent witness who rode from Council Bluffs to the
Mississippi in July declared that 12,000 Mormons
were then moving westward across Iowa. Any hon-
ourable antagonism among the Gentiles around Nau-
voo would have been satisfied by this wholesale mi-
gration; but there were malcontents in the neighbour-
hood who had little understanding of honour, and
who did not scruple to rouse mob violence against
the helpless Mormons who remained behind.
Foremost of these counsellors of strife was one T.
C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal. Sharp had
been implicated in the murder of Joseph and Hyrum,
and had not ceased his efforts to stir up further war
against the Mormon community. He brought to the
work an energy and perhaps a fanatical sincerity
worthy of a better cause; and his credulity or imagi-
nation was equal to accepting and circulating any tale
of Mormon villainy. So long as Major Warren re-
mained at Nauvoo, his cool courage and skilful tact
kept the peace. But Warren marched to Mexico that
summer, and there was no one to take his place.
Sharp managed to stir up the Warsaw militia to a
move against Nauvoo early in June; but the heroes
found they had forgotten their powder, and returned
without making an attack. Next month came a more
serious disturbance. A number of Mormons harvest-
ing some distance from Nauvoo became involved in
a quarrel with a neighbouring farmer, who gathered
allies, tied up the Mormons and flogged them. The
112 BRIGHAM YOUNG
row spread like a prairie fire; each side seized prison-
ers to hold as "hostages"; the militia officer whom
Governor Ford sent to protect Nauvoo found himself
opposed by a larger force of militia commanded by
the sheriff of Hancock county, who was bent on driv-
ing the Mormons across the river forthwith. A little
later, the sheriff's posse, now known as " regulators/'
was placed under command of another militia officer,
so that the visible authority of the state was seen on
both sides of the controversy. The Mormons asked
sixty days in which to complete their migration. This
was refused. A Campbellite preacher named Brock-
man, a man whose unsavoury reputation gave promise
of the evil deeds that followed, was placed at the head
of the regulators, and the last " Mormon war " of
Illinois was begun.
Brockman advanced to the attack of Nauvoo, Sep-
tember 12, 1846, with about 700 men. The entire
Mormon population left in the town hardly exceeded
this number; but many so-called " New Citizens/'
Gentiles from the east and south who had moved in
and bought property, took part in the defense. Brock-
man scattered his riflemen in the adjacent cornfields,
and kept up a noisy fire of artillery. The defenders
had no artillery, but they made a substitute by boring
out some steamboat shafts, and fired six-pound shots
frofti these impromptu cannon. The town was wholly
unfortified; a company of regulars would have en-
tered it in fifteen minutes; but after burning powder
for an hour or more, Brockman's forces retired, and
settled down to a siege. The Mormons lost three
men killed and several wounded in the engagement;
the regulators lost ten or a dozen wounded, of whom
one died.
THE LAST EXILE 113
There was no hope of protection from Governor
Ford, nor of justice from regulators commanded by
Brockman and hounded to activity by T. C. Sharp.
But a committee of citizens from Quincy came out
to see if they could prevent further bloodshed. After
some days of negotiation, a treaty was signed, pro-
viding that the Mormons should leave as soon as they
could cross the river, except ten men, who were to
see to the disposal of the unsold property. Brock-
man was to enter the city, but pledged himself not
to molest the citizens or the departing Mormons. He
kept his word just as long as the presence of a crowd
of sight-seers from Quincy put a constraint upon
him. The moment he was left in full control, he or-
dered all " New Citizens " who had sided with the
Mormons to leave at once, and the riffraff under his
command enforced the order with the usual aimless
brutality of a mob.
The wretched remnant of the Mormons fled before
their enemies as in older days the villagers of Italy
might have fled before the Huns. Sick men and
women were carried away on their beds, sick babies
were clutched in their mother's arms as the whole
population struggled for the ferries. No one stopped
to gather his property; few even halted to seize a
day's provisions. They had no tents, no money, and
many of them had no horses or wagons. Still they
fled; for they believed, and with some show of justice,
that any exile, was better than to be held prisoners by
Brockman's mob. By night of September 18, some
seven hundred helpless fugitives were camping on the
malarial flats across the river from Nauvoo.
Of all attacks by Gentiles on the Mormon com-
munity this was the last and the least defensible. It
112 BRIGHAM YOUNG
row spread like a prairie fire; each side seized prison-
ers to hold as " hostages''; the militia officer whom
Governor Ford sent to protect Nauvoo found himself
opposed by a larger force of militia commanded by
the sheriff of Hancock county, who was bent on driv-
ing the Mormons across the river forthwith. A little
later, the sheriff's posse, now known as " regulators,"
was placed under command of another militia officer,
so that the visible authority of the state was seen on
both sides of the controversy. The Mormons asked
sixty days in which to complete their migration. This
was refused. A Campbellite preacher named Brock-
man, a man whose unsavoury reputation gave promise
of the evil deeds that followed, was placed at the head
of the regulators, and the last " Mormon war " of
Illinois was begun.
Brockman advanced to the attack of Nauvoo, Sep-
tember 12, 1846, with about 700 men. The entire
Mormon population left in the town hardly exceeded
this number; but many so-called " New Citizens/ 7
Gentiles from the east and south who had moved in
and bought property, took part in the defense. Brock-
man scattered his riflemen in the adjacent cornfields,
and kept up a noisy fire of artillery. The defenders
had no artillery, but they made a substitute by boring
out some steamboat shafts, and fired six-pound shots
frorti these impromptu cannon. The town was wholly
unfortified; a company of regulars would have en-
tered it in fifteen minutes; but after burning powder
for an hour or more, Brockman's forces retired, and
settled down to a siege. The Mormons lost three
men killed and several wounded in the engagement;
the regulators lost ten or a dozen wounded, of whom
one died.
THE LAST EXILE 113
There was no hope of protection from Governor
Ford, nor of justice from regulators commanded by
Brockman and hounded to activity by T. C. Sharp.
But a committee of citizens from Quincy came out
to see if they could prevent further bloodshed. After
some days of negotiation, a treaty was signed, pro-
viding that the Mormons should leave as soon as they
could cross the river, except ten, men, who were to
see to the disposal of the unsold property. Brock-
man was to enter the city, but pledged himself not
to molest the citizens or the departing Mormons. He
kept his word just as long as the presence of a crowd
of sight-seers from Quincy put a constraint upon
him. The moment he was left in full control, he or-
dered all " New Citizens " who had sided with the
Mormons to leave at once, and the riffraff under his
command enforced the order with the usual aimless
brutality of a mob.
The wretched remnant of the Mormons fled before
their enemies as in older days the villagers of Italy
might have fled before the Huns. Sick men and
women were carried away on their beds, sick babies
were clutched in their mother's arms as the whole
population struggled for the ferries. No one stopped
to gather his property; few even halted to seize a
day's provisions. They had no* tents, no money, and
many of them had no horses or wagons. Still they
fled; for they believed, and with some show of justice,
that any exile, was better than to be held prisoners by
Brockman's mob. By night of September 18, some
seven hundred helpless fugitives were camping on the
malarial flats across the river from Nauvoo.
Of all attacks by Gentiles on the Mormon com-
munity this was the last and the least defensible. It
114* BRIGHAM YOUNG
stands without a shred of palliation or excuse. The
Mormons were leaving Nauvoo; nearly all of them
had already gone. Love of cruelty for its own sake,
or desire to plunder the property which might other-
wise be sold to the " New Citizens," were the sole
rational reasons for violence at this time. Doubtless
both motives were present in the leaders of the mob.
But that men like Sharp and Brockman could rouse
hundreds of citizens to follow them in such a senseless
and conscienceless crusade shows once more how thin
is the mantle of civilization that drapes the naked
savagery of the primeval caves.
American citizens did this thing', and American in-
stitutions permitted it. By so much, therefore, do
our citizenship and our institutions fall short of the
democratic ideal of orderly freedom. The raid on
Nauvoo repeats the lesson that the great and all but
fatal lack in American life is discipline; not the dis-
cipline which kings and priests impose on subjects and
worshippers, but which free and just-minded men
impose on themselves.
Had democracy been less riotous, theocracy had
been less attractive. But democracy can claim at least
the negative merit that it does not train people to
work together for ill. Its worst deeds are mild when
set beside those of any temporal or spiritual despotism
that history knows. The attack on Nauvoo was a
crime which the present writers can neither palliate
nor deny but the attack on Nauvoo fades into insig-
nificance in the shadow of Mountain Meadows.
XIII
A LONESOME REVELATION
THE wretched victims of mob intolerance re-
mained on the malarial flats opposite Nauvoo
from September 18, 1846, to October 9. The
place of their sojourn was well named " Poor Camp."
Many were sick before leaving Nauvoo; and after a
few days in camp there were none who could be ac-
counted well. Without supplies, without tents, with-
out clothing, without cattle, without strong leaders
to arouse and lead them on, they huddled in misery,
and waited to see whether help or destruction would
reach them first. Crazy shelters were rigged to pro-
tect the sickest of their number, and tents made of
bedquilts gave some screening to women in child-
birth for such there were, even in this gathering of
desolation. The elders who remained at Nauvoo to
sell property did all they could; a small subscription
was taken up for the Poor Camp fugitives at Quincy;
but nothing effective was done until messengers who
had been sent West could return with wagons and sup-
plies.
Help arrived from the west October 9; and with it
a miracle. As the Saints were preparing to take up
their westward march with but the scantiest of pro-
visions, the Lord sent great flocks of quail which fell
among the wagons and boats of the refugees, so ex-
hausted that they could be knocked over with sticks
or picked up alive with the hands. " Tell this to the
115
116 BRIGHAM YOUNG
nations of the earth! Tell it to the kings and nobles
and great ones ! " exults Brigham in recounting this
instance of Divine favour. It is worthy of remark
that the leaders of the party would not permit indis-
criminate slaughter of the food supply thus mirac-
ulously placed in their hands; and after enough quails
had been gathered to vary and replenish their scanty
larder, the rest of the birds were allowed to go free.
" If we kill when we cannot eat, we shall want to eat
when we cannot kill," said Brigham on another, but
similar, occasion. It is regrettable that the Indian
philosophy thus expressed did not become current
among other white men than Mormons.
There were now nearly twelve thousand Mormons
scattered across Iowa, or in camp across the Missouri
river in what is now Nebraska. About four thousand
Saints were at this latter place, under the direct com-
mand of Brigham Young. Nearly as many more
were gathered at Mount Pisgah; and the rest of the
total given were distributed at other and smaller
camps, some being as far east as Garden Grove. In
addition to these, some of the eastern brethren had
assembled at New York, to sail for California by sea,
and there join the overland migration; for there was
a general though not authoritative impression that the
Mormons would colonize the Pacific coast. Finally,
there were hundreds of young Mormons who had
gone down among the Gentiles in search of work, and
whose wages, aside from the pittance needed to sup-
port their families, went into the emigration chest.
Finer or more steadfast loyalty to a cause and a chief-
tain never was seen than these exiled, outcast men
gave to Mormonism and Brigham Young.
The chief camp on the Missouri was known as
A LONESOME REVELATION 117
"Winter Quarters/' It was the winter home of a
scant third of the Mormons on the march; but it
housed Brigham Young; and that was enough to make
it seem a dwelling of a host. It occupied the ground
where now stands the town of Florence, Nebraska.
So long as the Saints remained in any region where
unhealthful sites existed, they managed to find one;
and Winter Quarters was no exception. The low-
lying ground along the Missouri was christened
"Misery Bottoms"; and the illness there engendered
was not slow in spreading to the slightly higher ground
where the camp was pitched. Stagnant pools near the
stream were a choice breeding-ground for mosquitoes;
and malaria greeted the travellers almost at once. Be-
sides malaria, there was another disorder, obscure in
nature though resembling scurvy, which the Mormons
called " black canker/' Indeed, there may have been
many different infections in this unlucky camp, for
descriptions of disease written by laymen are no great
help in historical diagnosis.
For three centuries, it is doubtful if any English-
speaking lad has received a proper education in the
doings of his race without wishing he might have been
with Drake, or Hawkins, when they sailed to " barter
bold their English steel for Spanish gold " on the
shores of the Caribbean. Strong-hearted youth can
encounter with a laugh such dangers of those early
adventures as are commonly recounted in history.
The brave but inept Spaniards were victims, rather
than enemies. The real foe of the buccaneers was
disease. It was so with the migrating Mormons. The
Gentiles who bombarded them with cannon and proc-
lamations killed, all told, barely twoscore of their
number; the Indians, whom the Mormons held in no
118 BRIGHAM YOUNG
small awe, did not dangle the scalp of a single Saint
from their belts for years. But at Nauvoo, at Poor
Camp, at Winter Quarters, disease slew them by hun-
dreds.
Colonel Thomas L. Kane says that there were more
than six hundred deaths in Winter Quarters before
the beginning of winter, and that even so late as De-
cember one-tenth of the population of the camp were
on the sick-list. At Papillon camp, on the Little But-
terfly river, the sickness was even worse. Kane him-
self was ill with the fever at this point, and at one time
in August a third of the people in camp were sick.
There were not enough well persons to bury the dead;
and not enough lumber to supply coffins. On the
Missouri river, as in a few cases during the march
across Iowa, the Mormons adopted the Indian plan
of winding their dead in bark stripped from a tree.
Before his illness at Papillon, Colonel Kane had
opened an old Indian burial mound. When he re-
covered, he found that his Mormon host had put the
mound to its ancient uses. The trench he had cut
through was filled with loosely-covered bodies, and the
ground around was furrowed with graves like a
ploughed field.
Colonel Kane was destined to perform the classic
function of a diplomat for his friends, the Saints, on
more than one future occasion. His accounts of Mor-
mon trials and virtues never suffer from lack of either
rhetoric or figures. But we know from other sources
that the loss and suffering were frightful, and that the
sickness had its way unrestrained until cold weather
partially checked its ravages. Faith cure was one of
the stock properties of Morrnonism when it began;
and some leaven of it lingers even to this day. Faith
A LONESOME REVELATION 119
may have moved mountains, and certainly has moved
multitudes; but plague and cholera and yellow fever
and typhoid and malaria seem still to require grosser
material means for their eradication.
In the matter of safeguarding health, Brigham
Young at this time was as ignorant as any of his fol-
lowers. But in every other varied need and duty, he
was a master. " He sleeps with one eye open and
one foot out of bed," declared his admiring follow-
ers; and the description seemed true. His finger was
on every move the Saints made; and nearly always,
it was his finger that pointed the movement. A little
city of seven hundred log and turf huts was thrown
up at Winter Quarters. The impromptu town was
divided into twenty-two wards, each presided over by
a bishop. Schools were established whatever their
attitude towards higher learning, the Mormons have
been as insistent on primary education as the old New
Englanders. Missionaries were sent to England and
a few a very few to promising points in the eastern
states. Machinery for a carding-mill was ordered
from Savannah, and later was carried across the
plains. Materials for a flour-mill were bought at St.
Louis; and when they arrived at Winter Quarters
Brigham, as carpenter, superintended the mill's con-
struction. The forty-horsepower working capacity
which had won him his supremacy never was better
shown than in this death-haunted camp on the banks
of the Missouri.
It is as much a tribute to his watchful foresight and
keen knowledge of human nature, as to the compelling
power of religious zeal, that despair never seems to
have visited a Mormon camp during this heart-search-
ing winter. If there was a desertion at this time of
120 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Saints who had remained faithful hitherto, the fact
has escaped record. Work and prayer, dancing and
schooling, alternated in regular order throughout the
cold season. Every camp had some sort of musical
organization, and the post of musician in a Mormon
community entailed steady work, then as now.
At Mount Pisgah, Lorenzo Snow was in command
most of the winter, and during his term of office he
gave a grand party. Snow rejoiced in the possession
of a log cabin, fifteen feet by thirty, " with a dirt roof,
ground floor, and sod chimney." Here he housed his
family of four wives, three of whom bore him chil-
dren during their stay at this place. For the party,
sheets were hung to cover the walls; clean straw was
strewn on the floor; and turnips, hollowed out to hold
candles, furnished the required candelabra. There
were music, recitations, and at the end a dance.
This tale has been told as evidence of a lack of
delicacy among the Mormon exiles. The implication
may be true, so far as it concerns the giving of a grand
ball in such quarters at such a time a hovel housing
a husband and four wives, of whom three were about
to become mothers or had just emerged from that
travail. But the tale shows as well a determined cour-
age, an habitual cheerfulness, and a serene confidence
in the outcome of their adventure, despite the troubles
that lay so close behind their adventure and towered
visibly ahead. These qualities, on an expedition of
the sort that engaged the Mormons, are worth more
than even a modest reticence and a nice perception of
the proper time to give parties to friends.
Ever since Brigham had taken command of the
church, he had been asked to give revelations, after
the manner, of Joseph. He had resisted this demand
A LONESOME REVELATION
at Nauvoo, he had resisted it during the march across
Iowa. But now, in Winter Quarters, with spring ap-
proaching, in which the next stage of their migration
must be undertaken, Brigham had things to say which
he thought best to cast in the form of a revelation.
It was the only one he gave during his life, and we
present it here entire :
The word and will of the Lord, given through Presi-
dent Brigham Young, at the Winter Quarters of the
Camp of Israel, Omaha Nation, West Bank of Missouri
River, near Council Bluffs, January i4th, 1847.
1. The word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp
of Israel in their journeyings to the West.
2. Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints, and those who journey with them,
be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise
to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord
our God.
3. Let the companies be organized with captains of
hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a
president and his two counsellors at their head, under
the direction of the Twelve Apostles;
4. And this shall be our covenant, that we will walk
in all the ordinances of the Lord.
5. Let each company provide themselves with all the
teams, wagons, provisions, clothing, and other necessaries
for the journey that they can.
6. When the companies are organized, let them go to
with their might, to prepare for those who are to tarry.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
7. Let each company with their captains and presidents
decide how many can go next spring ; then choose out a
sufficient number of able-bodied and expert men, to take
teams, seeds, and farming utensils, to go as pioneers to
prepare for putting in spring crops.
8. Let each company bear an equal proportion, accord-
ing to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor,
the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who
have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and
the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord
against this people.
9. Let each company prepare houses, and fields for
raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this
season, and this is the will of the Lord concerning his
people.
10. Let every man use all his influence and property
to remove this people to the place where the Lord shall
locate a stake of Zion.
11. And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithful-
ness, ye shall be blessed; you shall be blessed in your
flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your
houses, and in your families.
12. Let my servants, Ezra T. Benson and Erastus
Snow, organize a company;
13. And let my servants, Orson Pratt and Wilford
Woodruff, organize a company.
14. Also, let my servants, Amasa Lyman and George
A. Smith, organize a company;
15. And appoint presidents, and captains of hundreds,
and of fifties and of tens,
A LONESOME REVELATION 123
16. And let my servants that have been appointed go
and teach this my will to the Saints, that they may be
ready to go to a land of peace.
17. Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear
not thine enemies ; for they shall not have power to stop
my work.
18. Zion shall be redeemed in mine own due time.
19. And if any man shall seek to build tip himself,
and seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power, and
his folly shall be made manifest.
20. Seek ye and keep all your pledges one with an-
other, and covet not that which is thy brother's,
21. Keep yourselves from evil to take the name of
the Lord in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob.
22. I am he who led the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt, and my arm is stretched out in the last
days to save my people Israel.
23. Cease to contend one with another, cease to speak
evil of one another.
24. Cease drunkenness, and let your words tend to
edifying one another.
25. If thou borrowest of thy neighbor, thou shalt re-
turn that which thou borrowed; and if thou canst not
repay, then go straightway and tell thy neighbor, lest
he condemn thee.
124 BRIGHAM YOUNG
26. If thou shalt find that which thy neighbor has lost,
thou shalt make diligent search till thou shalt deliver it
to him again.
27. Thou shalt be diligent in preserving what thou hast,
that thou mayest be a wise steward ; for it is the free gift
of the Lord thy God, and thou art the steward.
28. If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing,
with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and
thanksgiving.
29. If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God
with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.
30. Fear not thine enemies, for they are in mine hands,
and I will do my pleasure with them.
31. My people must be tried in all things, that they
may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for
them, even the glory of Zion, and he that will not hear
chastisement, is not worthy of my kingdom.
32. Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling
himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes
may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that
he may hear,
33. For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to en-
lighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation
of the ungodly.
34. Thy brethren have rejected you and your testi-
mony, even the nation has driven you out ;
35. And now cometh the day of their calamity, even the
days of sorrow, like a woman that is taken in travail ;
A LONESOME REVELATION 125
and their sorrow shall be great, unless they speedily re-
pent, yea, very speedily;
36. For they killed the prophets, and them that were
sent unto them, and they have shed innocent blood, which
crieth from the ground against them :
37. Therefore marvel not at these things, for ye are
not pure ; ye cannot yet bear my glory ; but ye shall behold
it if ye are faithful in keeping all my words that I have
given you from the days of Adam to Abraham; from
Abraham to Moses ; from Moses to Jesus and his apostles ;
and from Jesus and his apostles to Joseph Smith, whom
I did call upon by mine angels, my ministering servants ;
and by mine own voice out of the heavens to bring forth
my work,
38. Which foundation he did lay, and was faithful and
I took him to myself.
39. Many have marvelled because of his death, but it
was needful that he should seal his testimony with his
blood, that he might be honored, and the wicked might be
condemned.
40. Have I not delivered you from your enemies, only
in that I have left a witness of my name?
41. Now, therefore, hearken, O ye people of my
church; and ye elders, listen together; you have received
my kingdom.
42. Be diligent in keeping all my commandments, lest
judgment come upon you, and your faith fail you, and
your enemies triumph over you. so no more at present.
Amen, and Amen.
126 BRIGHAM YOUNG
It will repay a little study, this revelation. The
first eighteen verses, aside from the necessary pre-
lude, constitute a military order; and a very wise,
keen-eyed, and comprehensive one. The nineteenth
verse contains a thinly veiled warning against any am-
bitious creatures who might seek to infringe Brig-
ham's monopoly of communion with the Lord, and his
yet more cherished monopoly of dictating to the Saints.
The twentieth to thirtieth verses, inclusive, give some
sound social directions, interlarded with a little whole-
some grandiloquence, and closing with a counsel of
good cheer. From the thirty-first verse to the end,
the tone, if not the style, is Joseph's.
The explanation of this reversion to type is not
far to seek. The same scribes who took' down the
multifarious outpourings of Joseph now sat to receive
and write down the sparing sentences of Brigham.
When he had finished the matters about which he
really cared, they added the frills without which the
document would not have looked like a revelation to
them nor, perhaps, to those for whom it was in-
tended.
XIV
ACROSS THE DESERT
JOHN FISKE headed his chapter on early ex-
plorations in America with the truthful and al-
luring title, " Strange Coasts/' But even Fiske
did not recognize how wide was the application of the
enchanting legend. The tale he told of Balboa and
the Cabots and Frobisher and Magellan was true in
some degree even to his own day. For three and a half
centuries, each generation of dwellers on American
soil sent forth a portion of its sons to explore strange
coasts; to seek for " something lost behind the ranges ";
to push back a little farther the edge of the wilderness,
and found new cities or find new graves as fate might
decree. Each year the field of exploration dwindled,
but until a generation ago something of it endured;
and with it endured the spirit of romance and ad-
venture.
The Mormons were now to take their turn at ex-
ploring strange coasts, and adventuring into new lands.
Much information most of it untrue had been
brought back by earlier travellers concerning the west-
er m country. Little of this knowledge was accessible
to the Mormons, and leg dealt with things they needed
to know. Beyond the Missouri lay the short grass
country ,*beyond that the mountains, farther yet were
awesome deserts and still more rugged hills; and after
these the coastlands and the sea. Less than nothing
was known of the agricultural possibilities of the land,
137
128 BRIGHAM YOUNG
even in California; less than nothing of the chances
of finding a place where the Latter Day Saints might
build a new Zion, and dwell in prosperous aloofness
from the world.
The first and last recorded revelation of Brigham
Young quoted in the last chapter was given Jan-
uary 14, 1847. Therein is outlined the general plan
of the expedition; a pioneer company was to go ahead
to spy out the land and plant spring crops, either at
the final destination or at some convenient point by
the way. Other companies were to follow as they
could on the trail blazed by the pioneers. Some were
expected to remain at least another season at Winter
Quarters, and these would be occupied in reaping the
grain left planted for them by the brethren of the
advance. From the time the revelation was given,
more active and detailed preparations for the move
went forward; and by conference time in the spring,
the first company was nearly ready to start.
Brigham was to lead this pioneer company. He had
made every preparation for the trip that could be made
with the limited means at his command, including one
oblation that was all his own. The Greeks offered
sacrifice when setting out on a distant journey. The
mediaeval Catholic offered vows; the Puritan offered
prayers; but Brigham Young offered marriage. He
had added five stars to his celestial crown before start-
ing on the trip from Nauvoo; now, in March, 1847,
he conferred on two more women the fractional joys
of his husbandship. One of these what need to write
it? was another widow of the martyred Joseph. She
was the last of that sorrowing sisterhood to be
comforted on the broad bosom of the prophet's suc-
cessor,
ACROSS THE DESERT 129
On April 6, 1847, the seventeenth anniversary of the
founding of the church, general conference was held at
Winter Quarters. The day before, Heber Kimball
had taken cattle and wagons and established a camp
some miles west on the Elkhorn river, whence the start
was to be made. Immediately after the conference,
chosen pioneers began to gather at the rendezvous;
but Brigham delayed to hear news of the Saints in
Britain. Parley P. Pratt was first of the returning
missionaries to reach the Missouri, bringing word that
some brethren whose peculations had disgraced the
church were excommunicated, and that the affairs of
Zion were once more prosperous in England. A
couple of days later, John Taylor came in, bringing
$2,250 in gold contributed by English members of the
church. It arrived too late to be of use in outfitting
the leading company; but at least it sent them off with
good news ringing in their ears.
April 14, 1847, the pioneer squadron got away.
One hundred and forty-three men three of whom
were negroes were included in this company. They
had seventy-two wagons, ninety-three horses, fifty-two
mules, sixty-six oxen, nineteen cows, seventeen dogs,
an indeterminate number of chickens and a six-
pound cannon. The company had been picked to in-
clude blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights, and sev-
eral of those handy Jacks-of -all-trades whom settled
industrialism professes to despise but on whom a pio-
neer community leans as on a staff. Brigham Young,
as commander of the expedition, rejoiced in the title of
lieutenant-general; and from this elevation the titles
graduated down through captains of hundreds, of
fifties, and of tens to the captain of artillery, who was
also chief blacksmith. Two historians, Willard Rich-
130 BRIGHAM YOUNG
ards and William Clayton, were chosen to preserve
for future generations the story of the Great
Trek.
There were three women and two children in the
party. Brigham, his brother Lorenzo, and his friend
and lieutenant, Heber Kimball, each brought a selected
spouse. Brigham, strange to say, did not choose one
of his most recent acquisitions for a travelling help-
mate. He took Clara Decker Young, who was No. 6
in his collection, a beautiful girl who had married
him at Nauvoo three years before when only sixteen
years old. Her mother, Harriet Young (formerly the
Widow Decker), secured permission to accompany
the leader's brother, Lorenzo; and Heber Kimball
brought along one of his wives, Ellen Sanders Kim-
ball. Not least strange among the experiences of
these good women on the journey was that of being
for a time an only wife. The children were the son
and stepson of Lorenzo Young.
Discipline of the pioneer company was strict and
practical. The bugle blew at five in the morning, when
all were to rise, assemble for prayers, feed the cattle,
and get breakfast. At seven o'clock the second bugle
gave signal for starting. Wherever practical, two
wagons moved abreast; and in case an Indian attack
was threatened, they were to move five or six abreast.
Each man was required to walk beside his wagon,
loaded gun in hand, and never to leave the wagon nor
lay down the gun without permission of his captain.
If his musket had a cap-lock, he was required to re-
move the cap and cover the point with a leather casing
to protect it from dust and the weather; if a flint-
lock, care of equal measure but different nature was
enjoined At half-past eight in the evening, another
ACROSS THE DESERT 181
bugle sent every man to his wagon for prayers, and
at nine o'clock all save the sentries were to be in bed.
There were two watches each night. Early in the
journey, after an exciting day, some of the unpractised
sentinels slept at their posts to have their hats and
guns taken away from them by their more wake-
ful comrades. The ridicule thus pointed helped to
tighten the reins of discipline; it was reinforced
by the voice of the chief, and the offence was not
repeated.
They were enlisted for no light adventure. Other
pioneers had crossed the plains before, bound even on
longer journeys than the Saints were destined to make.
But other pioneers took time for preparation, moved
when they were ready, and unless they thought their
equipment was sufficient, did not move at all. The
Mormons timed their journey by the law of grim
necessity, and their equipment was anything Which
harried exiles could save from the wreck of their
Nauvoo fortunes, or collect from more fortunate
brethren during the sojourn at Winter Quarters.
Other pioneers came as the mere overflow of an ad-
venturous community. The Mormons were preparing
to migrate, not their surplus, but their entire popula-
tion. They had no permanent base of supplies, no
way open for retreat in case of disaster save at the
price of giving up the church organization which they
had come to value more than their lives. They be-
lieved and with some show of reason that every
man's hand was against them. They feared the Mis-
sourians who were trekking toward Oregon on the
south side of the Platte. They feared the Indians
who roamed over rather than occupiea the plains.
Both terrors were in a large measure groundless; but
132 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the Mormons could learn this only by experience ; and
until that experience was gained, the pioneer company
was more heavily freighted with apprehensions than
with provisions.
There was another peculiar feature of the Mormon
migration. They did not know where they were go-
ing. Some had talked of California and some of Ore-
gon, and all had recalled Smith's prophecy that his
people would be driven beyond the Rocky Muntains.
They meant to make that prophecy true; but further
than that, their destination was sealed. Brigham gave
no information; he possessed none. They were going
to build a new Zion in a new land, he said; just where
he did not know; but he would know the right place
when he came to it.
Mormon piety has construed this to mean that Brig-;
ham had seen the destination of his people in a vision,
and that he meant to travel until the place of that
vision was reached. Critical history may hesitate at
this pious interpretation; but it must accord Brigham
a control of his people more wonderful than many
clairvoyant trances. Joseph would have described the
appointed place in a series of revelations; and had
another series to explain the Lord's change of plan if
the first visions became impracticable. Brigham en-
gaged in no claptrap. He simply said : " Follow me,
and I will lead you to a place where you will be
safe " and they followed.
They moved by slow stages at first, until men and
cattle should be hardened to the trail. Camp was
made by the usual plains formula of drawing up the
wagons in a circle or oval, tongues pointing outward,
with a hind wheel of each wagon locked to the fore
wheel of its neighbour to the rear. When camp was
ACROSS THE DESERT 133
made by a stream, the wagons were formed in a semi-
circle, resting on the water. One or two openings
usually were left in the cordon to drive stock in and
out.
April 21, a week after starting, the emigrants had
the pleasure of feeding a visiting troop of Pawnees.
Considering the capacity of the Indian commissary
department and the scantiness of Mormon supplies,
this was quite a task; but the Mormons were glad to
come through it without bloodshed. They expected an
attack that night, but it did not come. As already
intimated, the Indians were a source of awe, rather
than of danger. They had had little experience with
the white man as yet, and did not view him with any
great animosity. They coveted his horses and guns,
and their socialistic ideas of property were liable to
become active at night particularly in the dark of the
moon; but they had no special desire for paleface
scalps. Some years later, when hoodlums en route
for California gold-fields tried to prove the white
man's superior civilization by shooting an inoffensive
squaw, there was serious trouble.
Nine days after the visit of the Pawnees the Mor-
mons had their first interview with buffaloes. A herd
of sixty-five animals was sighted near Grand Island,
and an impromptu hunting party killed eleven with
little difficulty. Instead of selecting the young and
tender beasts, as they learned to do later, these amateur
sportsmen took anything from a sucking calf to a
patriarchal bull whose flesh would test the jaws of a
hyena. Some even tried to kill the old bulls by shoot-
ing them in the forehead. A modern rifle would drive
a steel-jacketed ball through even a buffalo's head, but
the soft lead bullets of that day, fired with a small
134 BRIGHAM YOUNG
charge of black powder, simply recoiled from the
matted hair and iron skulls. Ever suspicions of mar-
vels, the Mormons were inclined to look for some black
magic in this, but when a bull was brought down by
a shot in some more vulnerable portion of his anatomy,
the explanation was clear.
The Mormons were travelling up the left, or north,
bank of the Platte. The Oregon trail lay south of the
river; a well-broken route for those days, on which
good pasture and company for protection from the
Indians were assured. But south of the river, also,
were companies of their old enemies of Missouri, and
Brigham feared it would not be well for the Saints
of the Lord and the sinners of Governor Boggs'to
come together. He decided that the Mormons would
keep north of the Platte, at least until they reached
Fort Laramie. They were a peculiar people, seeking
a place to build a peculiar Zion, and they would go by
their own peculiar trail. Thus it came that Brigham
broke the "Old Mormon Road" now followed mile
after mile by the Union Pacific Railroad.
For many days after their first hunt, the Mormons
moved among the herds of buffalo. Often the stupid,
shaggy brutes were so numerous and close that horse-
men had to be sent in advance to scare them out of
the path of the wagons. The men feasted in such
surroundings, but Brigham forbade needless killing.
Coyotes followed the buffalo herd, waiting for a
chance to hamstring a calf; and on May 4, the Mor-
mons encountered other pensioners of the bison the
Indians. A band of four hundred was reported to be
in the trail ahead, and manifesting warlike intent. The
party advanced with wagons five abreast and every one
on the qui mue till a good camping-place was reached.
ACROSS THE DESERT 135
Double sentries were posted that night. Again their
expectations of attack were disappointed, though had
they been less cautious, the danger might have de-
scended. The Indians contented themselves with set-
ting fire to the prairie grass. Naturally, the Mormons
believed this illumination was intended for their an-
noyance, but it was a well-known habit of both Paw-
nees and Sioux to burn the dry prairie in the spring,
that the fresh grass which followed might attract the
buffalo. A change of wind and a shower checked the
flames and the party advanced next morning as usual.
They met no opposition, but the wily Indians man-
aged to steal some of their horses during the next few
nights.
The party were breaking trail for those left behind
at Winter Quarters, and much ingenuity was expended
in conveying information to the host that should fol-
low. Two of the pioneers had devised a cyclometer,
which measured distances by the revolutions of the
wheels of a wagon; and every ten miles they set up
a guide post. The cyclometer was probably not very
accurate, but its records were checked by solar obser-
vations. Sextants had been brought from England the
winter before for this very purpose, and Orson Pratt
attended to " taking the sun." Later, when the moun-
tains were reached, he made many measurements of
altitude. A large packet of letters was sent back to
Winter Quarters by Charles Beaumont, a French fur-
trader who forded the Platte to visit the Mormon
camp. Buffalo skulls were common along the route,
and messages were marked on these, and left con-
spicuously on the trail. On May 10, the company
went still farther in this line, and established the first
of the "Mormon post-offices 5J ; leaving a letter in a:
136 BRIGHAM YOUNG
box fastened to a stout pole. This " post-office " was
about three hundred miles from Winter Quarters.
They had experienced no serious danger, and the
human members of the party were well fed, though
on more of a meat diet than would be recommended
by starvation specialists to-day. But draught animals
cannot eat game, and during this month of May, it
seemed as if there were little else to eat. The Indians
had continued their prairie-burning tactics. Whether
this was done to call the buffalo or to drive away the
white man, its results were the same. What grass
was left by the flames was eaten by buffaloes. In-
creased rations of grain were given the animals, than
a part of the slender supply of crackers and bread-
stuffs; and still the oxen and horses lost flesh, and
often the night would find them only five or six miles
from their starting place. On June i, when they
lumbered into camp opposite Fort Laramie, it was
clear that they would have to find a better trail, or
their cattle would never carry them to the Rocky
Mountains. Brigham and some elders ferried the
river in a skin boat brought along for such uses, and
were told by the commander of the fort that to travel
farther on the north side of the Platte was well-nigh
impossible. They were ready now to listen to the
word. A ferryboat was procured, and the entire
party crossed to the south side.
Even before crossing, however, they had received
a band of reinforcements. A party of Mormons from
Mississippi had gone west on the Santa Fe trail to
Pueblo, where they passed the winter along with the
invalids who had been left behind from the Mormon
battalion. Seventeen of these Mississippians, most
of them belonging to two families, had come to Fort
ACROSS THE DESERT 137
Laramie, to intercept and join the general westward
emigration of the Saints. They brought word that
members o the battalion expected to be ordered to
California, though their term of enlistment would
expire be fore they could reach the coast. As it hap-
pened, the order was not given. The invalided mem-
bers of the M>rmon battalion were already marching
north to join their brethren.
Fort Laramie was a trading-post maintained by the
American Fur Company; and naturally was com-
manded by a, Frenchman. Fur companies must deal
with natives on friendly terms, and that is an art
the French learned from their coureurs de bois while
our Puritan ancestors were burning Pequods in their
camp in We^w England. Captain Bordeaux compli-
mented the IMormons on the good behaviour of their
party, and gave them information of the difficult route
ahead. A halt was made to mend the wagons; but
while this -was gfoing on, Brigham did a shrewd stroke
of business for the necessitous Saints.
A party of Missourians, among them no less a per-
son than former Governor Boggs, had just passed Fort
Lararnie, on the Oregon trail One hundred and
twenty- four miles west of the fort, the trail crossed
the river once more; and the stream was much too
high to be forded. Since he must needs travel by the
same route as the Gentiles, Brigham determined to
turn the fact to account, and sent on a trusty party
with the skin "boat to the next crossing. Going light,
the boat crew reached the crossing ahead of the Mis-
souri party, and the Gentiles were glad to be ferried
across. They paid for this service in provisions
flour, sugar, and 'bacon and at Missouri prices.
Flour was worth $10 per hundred at Fort Laramie;
138 BRIGHAM YOUNG
but the ferrymen were paid in, flour rated at $2.50
per hundred, with other provisions marked down on a
similar scale.
" These supplies were as timely as they were totally
unexpected," says the church historian, Whitney,
" Their [the Mormons'] provisions were well-nigh
exhausted, and to have their flour and meal bags re-
plenished in this far-off region, and at the hands of
their old enemies, the Missourians, was regarded by
them as little less than a miracle. Apostle Woodruff
compared it to the feeding of Israel with manna in
the wilderness." With the usual partiality of zealots,
the Mormons thanked the Lord for this windfall,
rather than the Missourians.
Amasa Lyman and three companions were sent on
horseback to Pueblo to bring on the main body of the
Mississippi Mormons, while the seventeen at Fort
Laramie went forward with Brigham and his com-
pany. They started again June 4, and went by easy
stages to allow their famished cattle to graze and pick
up a little strength before reaching the mountains.
It was June 19 before they had again crossed the
Platte. The ferry had done such good work that nine
men were left to keep it going until the next company
of Saints came along, when the ferrymen were to
leave their boat in other hands, and continue the
march. It proved a profitable venture.
Now began the final climb up the Continental
Divide to South Pass. The nights grew cool, and the
trail was steep; but the tales which had been told
them of deep snows proved untrue, and for days
after leaving the Platte they had plenty of grass. On
June 26, they crossed South Pass, and seemed sur-
prised to find that instead of a steep, walled cleft,
ACROSS THE DESERT 139
the famous pass was no more than a " quietly undulat-
ing plain, or prairie/' Two days later, they reached
the point where the Oregon and California trails sep-
arated, and taking the left-hand trail, they once more
parted company with the road travelled by the migrat-
ing Missourians. That evening they met Colonel
James Bridger, who maintained a " fort," or trading-
post, of his own on Black's Fork, some hundred miles
or more east of Salt Lake.
Brigham questioned the colonel about the Salt Lake
country with a persistence indicating that he had al-
ready formed some notion of settling there. Bridger
gave emphatic judgment that the region was of no
agricultural use. Farther south, the country was
more promising, he said; and if they would make
slaves of the Indians instead of killing them, they
might rub along somehow; but he would give $1,000
for the first ear of corn they raised in the Salt Lake
valley.
Colonel Bridger was not much happier as a geo-
graphical prophet and agricultural surveyor than
Daniel Webster.
Travelling was hard, and sickness had begun to
show in the company; but few days passed without
some enlivening event. On July i, they met Elder
Samuel Brannan, who in February of the year before
had led a party of two hundred and thirty-eight Mor-
mons to California by sea. Things had not gone al-
together well with these Saints on the Coast, Brannan
reported, but he believed that California was the right
place in which to- build the new Zion, and had come
eastward with a few companions to convert Brigham
to the same opinion. .That he did not succeed is per-
haps due as much to the impossibility of moving the
140 BRIGHAM YOUNG
whole church across the continent to California as to
Brigham's prophetic disinclination to go there.
July 4, the advance guard of thirteen members of
the Mormon battalion from Pueblo came into camp,
reporting that the rest of the party, one hundred and
forty in number, were not far behind. Three days
later, the pioneers reached Fort Bridger. The post,
famous across a continent, consisted of two incom-
parably dirty log-houses on one of the islands of
Black's Fork. The Mormons camped a half mile be-
yond Bridger,. and that night ice formed at their
camp. They must have recalled the colonel's dismal
prophecies as they gazed on this token of midsummer
frosts.
Making slow progress when in motion and stopping
frequently to shoe horses, repair wagons, and rest the
sick, the party struggled forward. Bad as the roads
were, sickness had now become their chief difficulty.
They were in the grip of "mountain fever"; an un-
identified malady whose name has since been applied
to mild cases of typhoid occurring in those high alti-
tudes. July 12, Young, who had been ailing for some
days, was too sick to travel, and an advance guard of
forty-three men and twenty-two wagons was sent
ahead to break trail. Orson Pratt was put in com-
mand of this scouting party if the term scout can
be applied to an explorer who travels with ox-teams.
They were 'now fairly engaged in the country of
deep-cut canons and tumbled mountains. They
crossed one creek thirteen times in going eight miles.
Some days, though travelling light, they rested at
night only four miles from their starting place. Or-
son Pratt and Erasttts Snow climbed several elev^-
tions and explored in vain for a more promising trail.
ACROSS THE DESERT 141
At last, on July 19, Pratt and Snow caught a glimpse
of the valley; and three days later their party was
camped where now stands Salt Lake City. While
still entangled in the mountains, a messenger from
Brigham overtook them, telling them to halt and be-
gin putting in^a crop as soon as they reached the val-
ley. When the sick chief joined them, July 24, quite
a field had been irrigated, ploughed, and planted.
" This is the right place," he said when they halted
on a summit to give him his first glimpse of the valley.
"Drive on I"
XV
FOUNDING OF ZION
cf TT T was no Garden of the Hesperides upon which
I the Pioneers gazed upon that memorable July
"*" morning/' remarks the church historian, Whit-
ney, in a burst of pious rhapsody which Mark Twain
would have hailed with delight. The remark contained
rather more sound than sense, but such meaning as it
does hold is true. Brigham might declare this the
right place to stop for the obvious reason that he
could lead his people no farther; Erastus Snow might
indulge in wild hurrahs as he looked down from the
hills. But the plain fact was that the Salt Lake Val-
ley, viewed with eyes which had been accustomed to
the verdure of Illinois, seemed a gray, desolate waste,
parching under a midsummer sun. At the foothills
was rich grass; on the banks of the few and slender
streams was a promising growth of trees. The sky
above was that deep, glorious, vital, shimmering blue
which only the western mountain-lands can show; a
blue varying from palest turquoise to deepest azure,
and always with a warm, living quality which the
skies of moister lands never possess. The mountains
that rimmed this basin were as splendid then as
now; and then as now the great lake lay like a change-
ful mirror in the sun. But instead of the fertile fields,
prosperous farms, rich orchards, and avenues of trees
that the valley holds to-day, the chief feature was the
sombre sage growing out of an ashen soil.
148
FOUNDING OF ZION
" Weak and weary as I am, I would rather go a
thousand miles farther than remain in such a for-
saken place as this/' declared Harriet Young, wife
of Brigham's brother Lorenzo, and mother of his own
present spouse. She saw the place as it was. Her
brother-in-law-son-in-law relationships are apt to be
a bit complicated in Mormon households saw the
place as he hoped to make it; and he knew, moreover,
that Mormon resources were not equal to moving on
to the next place where settlement was known to be
possible.
Brigham arrived in the valley to find several acres
already planted to crops. The pioneers began plough-
ing on City Creek July 23, the day after their arrival,
but they found the work very different from what
they had known it on the moist prairies of the Missis-
sippi valley. Several ploughs were broken in the
hard, sun-baked soil, and then some genius suggested
flooding it with water from the creek. A rude dam,
such as boys use to make a "swimming-hole/' was
thrown across City creek, and several acres of the
low-lying bottoms were drenched. After that, plough-
ing went better.
Such were the humble beginnings of American
irrigation. So far as known, the Mormons were the
first men of English speech to carry water to the soil.
They did it in a crude awkward way at first, for such
is the manner of early greatness. But they started a
system of agriculture which has grown until, to-day,
fifteen million acres in the United States are under
irrigation. Rivers have been turned from their
courses, streams have been carried across the Con-
tinental Divide, artificial lakes have been created back
of dams so gigantic as to seem rather like works of
144 BRIGHAM YOUNG
nature than upbuildings of man, to bring the life-giving
waters to the thirsty earth. Cities are fed from lands
whose natural rainfall would scarcely raise a fair
crop of sage brush; and thousands of miles of rail-
roads derive their revenue from the products of irri-
gated fields. When the Mormon of to-day boasts that
his ancestors turned a desert into a garden, and pointed
the way in which the aching desolation of the Ameri-
can Sahara might be made to yield sustenance for
man, he is treading on safe ground. The boast is true.
The honour of having turned the first furrow in
the Salt Lake valley is claimed by several. The hon-
our of planting the first potatoes seems to belong to
Wilford Woodruff, already one of the Twelve
Apostles, and destined to become president of the
church. He had some potatoes which he was saving
for seed; and though hungry and thirsty when he
reached the newly ploughed field, vowed that he would
neither eat nor drink until he had started a crop.
Wheat and buckwheat were planted that day, as well
as potatoes.
The first company of pioneer Mormons, as already
stated, reached the valley on Thursday, July 22, 1847.
Brigham did not arrive until Saturday, but Pioneers'
Day in Utah falls on the twenty- fourth of the month,
rather than on the twenty-second. Not the arrival
of the leading company, not even the planting of the
first crop, is so significant in the eyes of the Mormon
people as the arrival of the pioneer prince and priest,
who ruled them with a rod of iron for their good and
his own satisfaction.
At religious services next day, Orson Pratt was
preacher. His text was from Isaiah :
" How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
FOUNDING OF ZION 145
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that pub-
lisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth !
"Thy watchman shall lift up the voice; with the
voice together ^hall they sing; for they shall see eye
to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion."
Difficult as it may be for the reader to-day to grasp
the fact, this learned man and sunburned pioneer held
that the words of his text were a prophecy, applying
directly and exclusively to the company assembled be-
fore him, and their followers who should join in the
building of the new City of God. '
When Pratt had finished expounding his theme,
Brigham addressed a few words to the congregation.
He was too weak to stand, and spoke from his arm-
chair, but his words were those of a master. Wilford
Woodruff reports that speech as follows :
" He told the brethren that they must not work on
Sunday; that they would lose five times as much as
they would gain by doing it None were to hunt or
fish on that day, and there should not any man dwell
among us who would not observe these rules. They
might go and dwell where they pleased, but should
not dwell with us. He also said that no man who
came here should buy any land; that he had none to
sell; but every man should have his land Treasured
out to him for city and farming purposes. He might
till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and
take care of it. J}
The italics are ours, and we think they are de-
served. The confident, complacent despotism of those
italicised words has never been surpassed. Brigham's
assurance is too great to be called impudence, too
BRIGHAM YOUNG
great even to be classified under the irregular but ex-
pressive title of " nerve/' It approaches the sublime.
This sick exile at the head of a band of expatriated
ragamuffins proceeds to lay down a law for them and
for all who should come after them. He does not ask
their advice nor seek their consent. He tells them
what the law is. He serves notice that he is the czar
of the region in which their tents are pitched; and
that any who question his authority or break his rules
must leave. He assumes not merely ruler ship of the
valley but ownership of its soil, declares himself ready
to share that ownership on terms and conditions, but
not for money; and announces that he will distribute
acres as seemeth good in his sight, and that those who
receive land of his favour must till it in such manner
as to win his approval.
If anything is more amazing than the colossal as-
surance of this speech, it is the fact that to all intents
and purposes Brigham made it good.
It is worth while, also, to notice Brigham's insist-
ence on Sabbath observance and the utilitarian reason
he gave for the same that Sunday work could not
prosper. The essential Calvinism of the man's nature
never showed more clearly than here. Brigham
Young was a son of New England, albeit a son whom
New England only mentions in a whisper when call-
ing the roll of her great ones. He built an empire
and sustained a faith on which New England looks
with abhorrence; he extended and perpetuated, though
he did not originate, a marriage system of which New
England deems it almost a sin to speak. But deep
down in his heart, Brigham Young remained a New
England Puritan to the day of his death. His was
the Puritan's domineering temper, the Puritan's self-
FOUNDING OF ZION 147
righteousness, the Puritan's impatience with other peo-
ple's sins; and his, likewise, the Puritan's abiding faith
in the virtue of work, the advantage of thrift, and the
necessity of keeping on the good side of a testy-tem-
pered Providence.
On Monday, July 26, three exploring parties were
organized to spy out the land. Brigham told them to
search diligently, warning them that they would not
find any place so good as the one where the camp
was pitched. He was well enough to accompany one
of these parties, resting in a carriage. His little
prophecy proved correct. On July 28, this party re-
turned, Brigham left his carriage, struck his cane on
the ground, and said : " Here will be the temple of
our God. Here are the forty acres for the temple.
The city can be laid out perfectly square, north and
south, east and west/' This was not a prophecy, it
was an order; and the order was obeyed. The forty
acres originally spoken of for the temple block were
cut down to ten; but the temple stands where Brigham
struck with his cane; and north, south, east, and west,
the regular squares of Salt Lake City offer perhaps
the most perfect example of checkerboard city archi-
tecture in America.
Other parties came in later; but all agreed that the
site selected by Brigham was the proper one for their
city. They would have yielded to his will in any
event; but, as was usually the case, Brigham had made
the right decision. While exploring was going on,
other pioneers were ploughing and planting, and all
in all, eighty-three acres of grain and potatoes were
planted within a few days. The season was too late,
and the cultivators were too unskilled in the new
science of irrigation, to allow any crops to be a sue-
148 BEIGHAM YOUNG
cess; but at least they raised potatoes that made splen-
did seed for the next season.
July 29, Captain James Brown came into- camp,
bringing with him that part of the Mormon battalion
which had been left at Pueblo and the Mississippi
Mormons who had camped there through the previous
winter. Men, women, and children, the newcomers
numbered two hundred and forty persons, and brought
with them sixty wagons, a hundred horses and mules,
and some three hundred head of cattle. The term for
which the battalion had enlisted had now expired, and
after a stay of some days in camp, Captain Brown
went on to California with a small guard, to collect
the pay due his soldiers. The men themselves re-
mained in the valley, or took the backward trail to
join their families on the road or in Winter
Quarters.
Brigham had already decided that a fort was neces-
sary for protection. Indians of the Ute and Shoshone
tribes had come to the Mormon camp. Though they
seemed good-natured enough, they showed the same
thieving propensities as their brethren on the plains,
and Brigham had all a New Englander's distrust of
the red man. The fort, he decided, should be built
in the form of a quadrangle in reality a succession
of log or adobe cabins, joined end to end, and built
around a square. Elder Brannan, who had been for
a season in California, advocated aclobe, or sun-dried
bricks, for construction; but the men from the east
preferred logs. Both materials were used. Several
members of the company reported themselves as brick-
makers; and every full-grown man those clays could
swing an axe and notch a log for building. August
2, Orson Pratt began surveying the " city foursquare/*
'JQ
u
C/3
6
gs
s
!-!
W
JTj
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FOUNDING OF ZION ' 149
while Heber Kimball's team were sent to the canons
to haul down logs for the " fort."
The same day, Ezra T. Benson and " Port " Rock-
well, were sent east on horseback to meet the Saints
who were following on the pioneer trail. They carried
a letter, of which the following is part :
PIONEER CAMP, VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE,
August 2, 1847.
To GEN. CHARLES C. RICH AND THE PRESIDENT AND
OFFICERS OF THE EMIGRATING COMPANY.
Dear Brethren: We have delegated our beloved
brother, Ezra T. Benson, and escort, to communicate to
you by express the cheering intelligence that we have
arrived in the most beautiful valley of the Great Salt
Lake ; that every soul who left Winter Quarters with us
is alive, and almost every one in good health. That por-
tion of the Battalion that was at Pueblo are here with us,
together with the Mississippi company that accompanied
them, and they are generally well. We number about
four hundred souls, and we know of no one but is pleased
with the situation. We have commenced the survey of
a city this morning. . . . Let all the brethren and sis-
ters cheer up their hearts and know assuredly that God
has heard and has answered their prayers and ours, and
led us to a goodly land, and our souls are satisfied there-
with. ... In behalf of the council,
(Signed) BRIGHAM YOUNG, President.
WILLARD RICHARDS, Clerk.
Either Harriet Young and Ellen Kimball had been
converted to a more joyful mood, or their forebodings
were disregarded in this message of cheer.
On August 6, Brigham and all Apostles who were
with him " renewed their covenants by baptism."
Brigham baptised .his brethren, confirming them and
150 BRIGHAM YOUNG
"resealing upon each his apostleship "; and Heber
Kimball, second in authority to Brigham in the Quorum
of the Twelve, performed the same office for his chief.
Their persons, and therefore their deeds, being re-
sanctified in this manner, they spent the next day in
"selecting their inheritances"; or picking out their
blocks- in the newly surveyed " city." Brigham took
two blocks east of the temple, Heber Kimball chose a
block north of one of Brigham's, and the other
Apostles present picked their locations or had such as-
signed to them at the will of their omnipotent chief.
Further inheritances of farming lands were selected
later.
For some days following, there was much earnest
work, but little of a character to be noted by the his-
torian. .The fort was pushed as fast as the means at
the disposal of the pioneers would permit. Men were
sent to the lake to boil salt, and returned with a wagon-
load of the precious stuff which they had shovelled up
as from a sand-beach. Orson Pratt took observations
to determine the altitude, and computed the temple
block to be 4,309 feet above sea-level. August 16,
forty-six members of the battalion and twenty- four
pioneers set out on the return journey to Winter
Quarters, to join their families. They remeasured the
distance with an improved cyclometer, and reckoned
it one thousand and thirty-two miles from Winter
Quarters on the Missouri to the camp in the valley.
The distance by the Union Pacific Railroad from
Omaha to Salt Lake City is one thousand and thirty-
seven miles.
Finally, on August 26, Brigham himself with his
Apostles and a company totalling one hundred and
eight men, started on the return journey. He felt
FOUNDING OF ZION .151
that he was more needed in Winter Quarters than in
the Salt Lake valley. He had seen the city " laid out/'
one hundred and thirty-five ten-acre blocks, with
streets one hundred and thirty-two feet wide between.
He had bestowed on this embryo metropolis the name
of Great Salt Lake City, and only one of these many
syllables has been dropped from the present title. He
left the fort partly done, twenty-nine houses of the
quadrangle being" completed. Lastly he left advice,
and one bit of that advice is worth quoting here:
" Build your houses so that you will have plenty of
fresh air in them, or some of you will get sick after
sleeping in wagons so long/'
Such parts of the homeward journey as deal with
meetings with the emigrating brethren belong to an-
other chapter. Brigham and his followers reached
Winter Quarters October 31. There, five weeks later,
December 5, 1847, the First Presidency of the church,
discontinued since the murder of Joseph, was re-
established. Brigham Young was made president of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and
Heber C Kimball and Willard Richards were " sus-
tained " as his counsellors.
XVI
SIGNS AND MIRACLES
EESS than two hundred persons were left at the
little fort in Salt Lake valley, among them the
three women who had accompanied the pioneers
on their outward march. The little garrison was not
wholly dependent on immigration for reinforcements.
One white child was born in the valley August 9,
daughter of a member of the Mormon battalion and
his devoted wife, who had accompanied him on his
soldiering, wintered with him at Pueblo, made the long
march from that camp to Salt Lake, and arrived in
the valley only a few days before her confinement.
For some unknown reason, this child's parents wished
to honour the Virgin Queen of England as well as the
polygamous emperor of the Mormon church; and the
unlucky infant was christened "Young Elizabeth
Steele." It survived, in spite of such a handicap.
Harriet Young, wife of Brigham's brother Lorenzo,
presented her husband with another heir shortly after
he left the valley on his trip back to Winter Quarters.
Other births were chronicled in the camp that winter.
Immigration, however, was the main source of in-
crease; and a party nearly eight times as numerous as
the little garrison was already nearing the valley from
Winter Quarters. As soon as Brigham and the pio-
neer squadron had left in April, the remaining leaders
began to organize a second and larger troop, which
is known in Mormon records as the " first ernigra-
SIGNS AND MIRACLES 153
tion."' Like the pioneers, the first emigration formed
a gathering camp on the Elkhorn. The leading com-
pany of this new emigration left this rendezvous
June 18, 1847; the rearguard got away July 4. It
was a rather odd coincidence that the death of an
empire and the birth of a republic should be recalled
in the dates of this one expedition, but no one seems
to have noticed it. The rearguard doubtless thought
it was setting out for a land of freedom; but assur-
edly the -vanguard had no expectation of meeting a
Waterloo.
John Young, brother of Brigham, was commander-
in-chief of this expedition. There were five hundred
and sixty-six wagons on the march and one thousand
five hundred and fifty-three men, women, and chil-
dren. They had three thousand one hundred oxen
and other cattle, and a considerable band of horses,
besides sheep, hogs, and chickens. The emigration
was divided into four companies of " hundreds/' each
with a captain at its head. Under each captain of
a hundred were two " captains over fifties, 7 ' and ten
or twelve " captains over tens/' The naming might
be antiquated and biblical; but the organization was
practical to the last degree, and proved its value more
than once.
There were no great obstacles to surmount in this
emigration, though there was a long season of weary
toil and considerable hardship. Their road lay
plainly before them, with a guide-post planted every
ten miles by the brethren who had gone before. The
leading company was commanded by Daniel Spencer,
a man whose fidelity had been tested in many ways
during his membership in the Mormon community.
His company, though more exposed than most of the
154 BRIGHAM YOUNG
others, had little trouble. Jedediah M. Grant, a com-
parative newcomer in the church, was in command
of the third hundred. He had attained this elevation
rather by his fiery zeal for the cause than through
any respect for his judgment; and he showed at once
the peculiar capacity to attract ill fortune that fol-
lowed him through his short life. His child died early
on the journey; his wife died somewhat later, and her
body was carried into the Salt Lake valley for burial;
Indians stole twenty or more of his company's horses,
and a number of their oxen died on the Sweetwater,
either from alkali or through eating the " loco "
weed.
There was another cause of disturbance in camp.
Parley P. Pratt, an Apostle just returned from a suc-
cessful mission in England, was supposed to exercise
a vague overlordship in the emigration. Pratt
promptly got into disputes with the actual command-
ers, his advice was pretty thoroughly ignored, and
matters were proceeding in a sort of armed neutrality
when the advance party met Brigham and the Apostles
on the Big Sandy, September 3. Brigham heard the
story of the march, made up his mind on the matter,
and the next day took Pratt in hand, and reduced him
to proper submission in short order. There is a
strong probability that Brigham's judgment was right
and his reprimand fully deserved. But so absolute
was his authority, so iron was his rule that not even.
Pratt has recorded the other side of the case. In his
autobiography he tells us : "I was severely reproved
and chastened. I no doubt deserved this chastise-
ment; and I humbled myself; acknowledged my
faults and errors and begged for forgiveness. , . .
This school of experience made me more humble and
SIGNS AND MIRACLES 155
careful in the future, and I think it was the means of
making me a wiser and better man ever after."
There can be no doubt as to Pratt's humbleness.
As to his improvement in wisdom and other desirable
qualities, he was murdered some ten years later as a
result of inducing a woman to elope from her hus-
band by whom she had three children and to be-
come Mrs. Pratt No. 9.
The leading company of the first emigration reached
the pioneer fort late in September, 1847. The last
company trailed in early the following month. Octo-
ber 1 6, most of the Mormon battalion which had been
serving in California arrived in camp. Thirty-two
of these, in spite of the late season, continued their
march east to Winter Quarters to join their wives
and children.
Before starting their return trip, Brigham had or-
ganized a " stake of Zion " in the Salt Lake valley, ap-
pointing " Father John Smith/' uncle of the murdered
prophet, as president of the stake. At a conference
held October 3, the newcomers " sustained " this se-
lection of the now absent prince, and chose Charles
C. Rich and John Young as Father John's advisers.
Of civil government, there was as yet no trace; but
the ecclesiastical organization, for which Morinon-
ism is now justly famous, was already well developed
and rigorously applied.
The pioneers had planted eighty-three acres to
divers kinds of fall crops. None of these had matured,
though the potatoes thus raised were invaluable for
seed. The returning battalion members from Cali-
fornia had brought with them considerable quantities
of seed grain, and the first emigration now proceeded
to break ground and put in winter crops. Part of the
156 BRIGHAM YOUNG
time, according to Pratt, they ploughed and seeded
in the snow. This work finished, some of the party
made exploring trips. Captain Brown, coming back
with the government pay for members of his battalion,
bought an old land grant, forty miles north of Salt
Lake City, and started a separate colony of his own.
The entire party, except those who followed Captain
Brown and another founder of outside settlements,
were living in the fort which had been started by the
pioneers. The houses now extended clear around the
ten-acre block, and connecting stockades had been
constructed. A census the next spring showed one
thousand six hundred and seventy-one persons on the
site of the fort, and four hundred and twenty-three
cabins built.
It was a winter of much hardship and more dis-
comfort. The settlers had enough provisions to keep
them through the season and they had little more.
Trade had been opened with Fort Hall; but the Mor-
mons were too poor to be ready purchasers and Fort
Hall prices were all but prohibitive. Sugar and cof-
fee retailed at a dollar per pint; calico ran from fifty
to seventy-five cents per yard. Unable to pay such
prices, the Mormons parched barley to serve as cof-
fee, and made their bread of home-ground, unbolted
flour, containing all the bran of the grain. The
health fads of a luxurious generation were anticipated
by the makeshifts of poverty.
One little incident of the winter does more than
pages of statistics to make the privations of these
pioneers seem real. Grown people might be content
to escape starvation; but even in the pioneer camp of
the Salt Lake valley, children retained their just and
proper appetite for "goodies." A little girl of eight
SIGNS AND MIRACLES 157
years had crossed the plains with her parents as part of
the first emigration ; a little girl who could recall more
prosperous times, and who mourned for the tasty
sweetmeats that were gone. Out of some store which
mothers always retain to the edge of utter starvation,
this child's mother baked her a " sweet cake " the
very name being significant of a cookery in which
cakes were not always sweet. It was set In the win-
dow to cool, and the girl's mouth watered as she
looked at it. But that window opened, not on the
sheltered inner corral, but on the plains outside, and
a thieving Indian annexed the precious " sweet cake."
The little girl of 1848 is well passed her threescore
years and ten; but the loss of that cake remains one
of the tragedies of her lifetime.
By spring, grave and reverend elders were going
barefooted to the fields and digging thistle roots to
eke out the supply of provisions. Men, women, and
children were toiling to get in a crop; and in the
houses, warm weather had brought discomforts from
which the mild winter had been free. Confident in
the dryness of the climate, the settlers had built their
houses with flat roofs, and spring rains and melting
snows came through in torrents. Indeed, some adobe
houses made by these inexperienced workmen dis-
solved in the short season of wet weather; and even
in the best cabins many a woman held a home-made
umbrella over the stove as she cooked, or over the bed
as she put the baby to sleep.
Eight hundred and seventy-five acres of grain had
been planted, partly in the fall, partly in early spring;
and the Saints began to feel that their chief task was
to endure till the reaping, when another trial menaced
them with utter destruction. Crickets appeared in
158 BRIGHAM YOUNG
countless numbers, eating the grain fields bare. They
advanced like a devouring army, crossing ditches
filled with water, stopping for no obstacle that the
pioneers could devise. And then, just when utter
despair filled their hearts, the Lord sent another
miracle to save the afflicted worshippers. Gulls by
thousands came up from the great lake, and fell
upon the devouring crickets. They gorged themselves
with the insects till their stomachs could hold no
more; then vomited the half-digested pests and re-
turned for a fresh meal. To this day, the gull is a
sacred bird in Utah, and the story of the foiling of
the crickets is one of the most precious legends of the
settling of Zion.
Trouble did not cease with the coming of the gulls,
but such difficulties as followed were endurable.
Grasshoppers devoured a portion of the crop, and
Mormon inexperience with irrigation kept them from
reaping as full a harvest from the rest of their ground
as they would have gained a dozen years later. But
on August 10, 1848, the people kept a harvest festival,
and made merry in the knowledge that they Jiad
wrung a year's living from the desert.
XVII
THE CHURCH POLITICAL
BRIGHAM was chosen president of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Decem-
ber 5, 1847. Heber C. Kimball and Willard
Richards were made counsellors to the president, the
three constituting the old First Presidency, which had
been suspended since the murder of Joseph. Brig-
ham's election was made by the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles. It was " sustained " by the con-
gregation December 27. The formal choice merely
ratified a fact which had been clear to every' one for
three years that Brigham Young was brain and
hand, king, pope, business-manager and chief-of-
police to the entire Mormon organization. Why he
should have valued so greatly this recognition of an
established fact is one of the mysteries of human
nature; but he wrote to a friend that the day of his
elevation to the seat of Joseph was the happiest day
of his life.
He had been moving towards this goal for fifteen
years ever since he spoke in tongues before the
prophet at their first meeting, that summer day in
1832. The earlier stages of his advancement were
unconscious and unintentional; he rose because he had
qualities that could not be kept down. Later the
exact moment must have been hidden, even from him-
self he began to covet power; and whatsoever Brig-
ham coveted, that he moved to obtain. His course
159
160 BRIGHAM YOUNG
was straightforward. Sidney Rigdon might scheme
and plot; Joseph might vacillate and change; but
Brigham went on, doing the work that lay nearest to
his hand, and trusting some one, something prophet,
Providence, or lucky star to bring him the reward
of his labours. His friendship for Joseph was loyal
and sincere. His reverence for Joseph strange as
this may seem never failed, and perhaps never seri-
ously diminished. But though he loved and revered
his chosen prophet, and saved him again and again
from enemies without and the worse enemy of folly
within, Brigham never allowed reverence to- become
fulsome adulation. He never forfeited his self-re-
spect, and he compelled the respect of his prophet
chief. There is no record, we may remark again,
that the polygamous fancies of Joseph ever turned
toward the family of Brigham Young.
Brigham had ruled the church more than three
years as chief of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
He had triumphed over Sidney Rigdon, nominally on
the ground that the Twelve were second to the presi-
dent alone, and that the president's counsellors were
mere advisers, whose rank ended with the death of the
chief who appointed them. But Brigham's first act
on being made head of the church was to elevate and
consolidate the First Presidency, and by consequence
to depress the Twelve. He chose for his counsellors
his cousin, Willard Richards, and his adulator, Heber
C. Kimball. Both could be relied on for absolute de-
votion to the interest and even the whims of their
chief. Their appointment to this position was reck-
oned a promotion from the Twelve, and the places
thus left vacant in that body were filled by men whose
influence was comparatively small. It is the old story
THE CHURCH POLITICAL 161
of antagonism between the king and the crown prince.
If Brigham's new title had any effect on his ener-
gies, it was to spur him to greater activity. He had
climbed to the top 'of the church. If he wished to
go higher, he must build his church higher. Two
days before Christmas, 1847, an d five days before the
congregation had formally ratified his new dignity,
Brigham addressed a general epistle to the church.
Like his lone revelation, this epistle bears marks of
having been edited by church scribes after the main
outlines were dictated by Brigham. The grandilo-
quence which was a national vice in that day, and
which Joseph Smith had in ten times triple measure,
appears to some slight extent in the language of this
epistle but not in its ideas, Brigham gives an ac-
count of his trip to the Salt Lake valley, and of the
further emigration which followed on the trail broken
by his pioneers. He describes the valley in terms
which at least do no injustice to its merits. He urges
all Saints to come as soon as possible to the neigh-
bourhood of Winter Quarters, where they may be
outfitted for the journey across the plains to Salt
Lake. He gives a list of things which the Saints
should bring with them stock, trees, vines, grains,
fruits, tools, and weapons. The intention to found
a self-sufficing little empire in the mountains is fairly,
apparent, even in this church letter.
All that winter, Brigham and his aids laboured to
make ready for the grand emigration in the spring.
In May, 1848, camp was formed on the Elkhorn as
in previous movements. The leading company, under
direct command of Brigham, moved west from this
rendezvous June 5; the last of the rearguard started
July 5. All told, there were two thousand four him-
162 BRIGHAM YOUNG
dred and seventeen persons and seven hundred and
ninety-two wagons on the trail Rather more than
half the total one thousand two hundred and twenty-
nine persons and three hundred and ninety-seven
wagons were in the leading division under Brigham;
six hundred and sixty-two persons and two hundred
and twenty-six wagons came in the middle division
under Heber Kimball; and five hundred and twenty-
six persons with one hundred and sixty-nine wagons
formed the rearguard under Willard Richards. The
animal census of the companies under Brigham and
Heber Kimball was taken by some of their clerks,
and reads as follows :
"Oxen, two- thousand and twelve; cows, nine hun-
dred and eighty-three; loose cattle, three hundred and
thirty- four; horses, one hundred and thirty-two;
mules, one hundred and sixteen; sheep, six hundred
and fifty- four; pigs, two hundred and thirty-seven;
chickens, nine hundred and four; dogs, one hundred
and thirty- four; cats, fifty- four; goats, three; geese,
ten; ducks, eleven; hives of bees, five; one crow and
one squirrel."
The cats were not the least important members of
the migration, as the settlers had been troubled with
mice. The number of sheep driven across the plains
shows that Brigham meant to have business for the
carding-machine stowed so carefully in one of his
wagons,
The emigrating Mormons were on the road three
and one-half months,, yet only four of their number
died. This is truly a remarkable record, but their
trip was not so smooth as to be monotonous. Rich-
ards, in particular, fared badly. It was inevitable that
the president of the church and his first counsellor
THE CHURCH POLITICAL 163
should attract around themselves more than a due
proportion of the stronger and more successful men
of the community; and not even military communism
could keep equipment equal where abilities were
diverse:
Richards had to yoke every milch cow and nearly
every yearling heifer to his carts before the end of
the journey. Some of his families, men, women, and
children, walked all the way from the Missouri river
to the Salt Lake valley. On the Sweetwater that
misnamed stream of ill omen for the Mormons &
number of Richards' scanty supply of cattle were
poisoned and messengers had to be sent to bring back
help from the companies ahead. Yet he did not lose
a human being on the trip, and finished with all his
command in good health. It is an eloquent testimony
to the enduring qualities of the human frame when
put to a test.
Brigham reached Salt Lake City with part of his
company on September 20, 1848, the other companies
following in the order and at about the rate of their
departure. There were now nearly five thousand
persons in the valley, and the first thought of their
practical leader was how this considerable colony
would manage to live through the winter. The crop,
though saved from utter destruction by the gulls, was
still a partial failure, and the incoming immigrants
had brought but a fraction of the supplies needed to
sustain them until another harvest. The outlook was
not encouraging; but Brigham faced it cheerfully,
and made careful preparation for the next season.
Grounds in the city were distributed to the new-
comers by lot. A field of eight thousand acres was
fenced, divided into small parcels of five, ten, and
164 BRIGHAM YOUNG
forty-acre tracts, and apportioned in the same man-
ner. Work was begun on roads, and a one per cent
property tax was levied for bridge building. Schools
were opened, and a council house was started. But
the chief care of every one was first to get in a
crop, and next to provide some sort of shelter for the
coming winter.
That winter proved a time of trial worse than any
had anticipated. Expecting a repetition of the mild
season a year before, the newcomers had failed to
provide themselves with fuel from the canons. Many
of them had not built houses, expecting to camp the
winter through in their prairie schooners or covered
wagons. Instead of the gentle weather they expected,
there came a series of storms which piled the canons
full of snow; and then followed a season of bitter cold
that pinched the half-fed settlers like a breath from
Siberia. Stock died by hundreds. Food supplies
threatened to give out. On February 8, 1849', an * n ~
ventory was /taken, which showed that there was in
the valley only three-quarters of a pound of bread-
stuffs per capita per day if the supply were to last
till July 5. It was believed that some persons had
concealed stores; but even so, the condition was little
short of desperate. A hunting party was organized,
but it brought in little game. Several efforts to reach
Fort Bridger were baffled by the snow-filled canons.
Some of the poorer families were stewing hides for
food before the snow melted and all were digging
roots as soon as the spring permitted. The iron rule
of their leader was all that saved the colony from
shipwreck.
In spite of the gnawing pinch of hunger, Brigham's
preparations for empire went steadily forward. A
THE CHURCH POLITICAL 165
printing-press and outfit of type had been carried
across the plains in this latest emigration. In most
American communities, the first use of this resource
of civilization would have been the printing of a
newspaper, or perhaps a prospectus of lands or mines.
But Brigham's practical mind had already set its im-
press on the exiled Saints; and the printing-press in
Utah was baptized in another manner. It was used
for the printing of fifty-cent and dollar bills, to pro-
vide a circulating medium in the almost complete
absence of " United States money/' At the time, this
was a just and proper proceeding, though perhaps a
bit unconventional. But the historian, taking his
place with the exiled Mormons, and looking down the
years to the present, when the head of the church is
likewise president of nearly a dozen commercial cor-
porations, will find something prophetic in this initial
use of a printing-press.
The paper " shin-plasters " issued in this manner
were countersigned by Brigham as president of the
church, and by Heber C. Kimball as " councillor/ 5
A little later, the settlers issued gold coins, made from
the dust brought east from the new California mines
by returning members of the Mormon battalion.
Brigham doubtless usurped authority in this action;
but it was usurpation, not robbery. He had too much
sense to repeat the follies of the " Kirtland Anti-
banking Society/' The paper money was in reality
little more than a sort of negotiable order on the tith-
ing house; and the coins struck were later turned
into the United States mints as bullion. They were
made of pure gold, mostly in $2 and $5 denomina-
tions. There is no record of any loss to any one
166 BRIGHAM YOUNG
by reason of Brigham's unauthorized assumption of
the right to coin money.
The issuance of money, however, was but one step
in Brigham's governmental organization. That or-
ganization at first was of a purely ecclesiastical char-
acter. Salt Lake City was divided into nineteen
wards, with a bishop appointed over each. In reality,
the wards were little municipalities, united by the
supreme authority of the church head. Later in the
spring, the political organization was begun.
XVIII
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS
WHEN Brigham turned the faces of his per-
secuted Saints from Nauvoo towards the
western mountains, he did so in the hope
of getting beyond the reach of Gentile power to a
land where the church-state of Mormonism could
grow and thrive in peace. In the same hope, at the
same time, a band of Mormons from the eastern states
took passage for California by sea. These last arrived
after a weary voyage, to find that the republic they
had fled from had outpaced their laggard colony. The
Mexican war had begun, and so far as California was
concerned, had ended; and Commodore Stockton was
master of the Golden Gate. It is told that one of the
elders of the Mormon colony gave a despairing look
at the Stars and Stripes fluttering from Telegraph
Hill, and exclaimed in heartfelt affliction:
" There's that damned flag again! "
True or not, this tale sets forth the Mormon view-
point better than many a learned thesis. The Saints
had learned by bitter experience that to develop the
theocracy they so greatly prized, they must get be-
yond the reach of their Gentile countrymen. But by
the time this lesson was learned, its application was
impossible. Brigham did not find " that damned
flag" physically present when he entered the Salt
Lake valley, but in essentials it was there. Even
while he was toiling through the mud of Iowa and the
167
168 BRIGHAM YOUNG
sands of the Platte, Taylor and Wool and Scott were
drawing a new boundary line so distant that Mormon
resources were unequal to crossing it. The nation
had grown faster than the church could emigrate.
This fact and its implications must be kept in mind
when measuring the character and achievements of
Brigham Young. Seldom has an ecclesiastical leader
played against more consistent ill fortune than he.
The Fates seemed conspiring to keep the word of
promise to his ear and break it to his hope. A thou-
sand circumstances combined to make easy the gain-
ing of converts to a creed like Mormonism but the
stars in their courses forbade the effort to weld these
converts into an independent theocratic state.
Looking back from this vantage point of time, one
sees that nothing but a succession of miracles could
have realized the dreams of Joseph and Brigham.
Had the church leaders in 1830 been as clear-sighted
as Brigham became fifteen years later; had they pos-
sessed wide knowledge and vast financial means two
things which no founder of a new faith ever did pos-
sess they might have taken the infant church forth-
with to the fertile and practically vacant valleys of
Calif ornia* With an unbroken run of luck for the
next sixteen years, they might have been able to break
away from Mexico without falling into the lap of the
United States. Then, if no one had discovered gold
in the Sacramento valley, If the Civil war had ended
in victory for the Confederacy, if a series of compli-
cations had kept the power and ambition of the United
States on the Pacific coast nicely balanced by that of
England, the successors of Joseph Smith might now
be rulers of an independent nation in California.
Not one of these essentials to the success of a church-
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS 169
empire has been present. Yet, to-day, the successor
of Joseph and of Brigham is in most things an
independent and despotic sovereign, a sovereign whose
power is growing year by year. He levies and col-
lects taxes. He issues and enforces decrees which
have all the effect of laws. He exercises a profound
influence on the government within the limits of
whose authority he resides, and he believes with a
deep and moving faith that his spiritual or physical
descendants are destined to overthrow that govern-
ment and break it in pieces. That so large a measure
jof church monarchy lives and grows in defiance of
historical probability is the work of Brigham Young.
He said on entering the valley: " Now if the Gen-
tiles will let us alone for ten years, I'll ask no odds
of them/' He needed thirty years, rather than ten;
but it soon became clear that he was not to have even
the shorter period of grace. The treaty of Guadeloupe
Hidalgo told him that, little as they liked it, the Mor-
mons henceforth must deal with the United States,
rather than with Mexico. This necessitated a sharp
change of plan. Mexico could be ignored or defied
at this distance from the seat of her power; but the
United States must be " managed." In the spring of
1849, Brigham took the first direct step toward this
management. A convention was called to form a
constitution for a new state, which would ask admis-
sion to the Union.
That Brigham waited so long before making any
move to organize a civil government shows how re-
luctant he was to abandon his hope of independence.
The treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo was signed Febru-
ary 2, 1848. The Salt Lake " convention " met thir-
teen months later, March 4, 1849. Its deliberations
170 BRIGHAM YOUNG
lasted about a week. It drew up a constitution of
the usual stock pattern which Americans carried in
their heads for a hundred years, till the attempt to
engraft a Prussian bureaucracy on our historic gov-
ernment made it necessary to expand the fundamental
law of a state to the dimensions of an eighteenth cen-
tury novel. There was the usual triple division of
governmental powers, the usual double-barrelled legis-
lature, the usual bill of rights; though this last was
rather more emphatic than common in insisting on
religious liberty. Nearly all the Mormons were from
the northern states or from Europe; but they restricted
suffrage and office-holding to " free white male in-
habitants/' ^The name chosen for the new common-
wealth was " Deseret "; a word derived from the Book
of Mormon. The average Gentile, hearing or seeing
this word for the first time, usually supposes that it
bears some reference to " desert " ; but the orthodox
meaning of the term is a honey-bee.
The constitution was presented to the people, and
adopted unanimously. It would have received the
same support had it been written in Chinese; all the
Mormons needed to know was that Brigham Young
favoured the document. Next in order was the elec-
tion of officers. This took place March 12, and six
hundred and seventy-four votes were polled rather
a small number for a community that aspired to call
itself a state. Brigham was the choice for governor,
and rightly; the existence of the colony depended on
him. The organization of the " supreme court " was
less consistent. John Taylor, one of the " associate
justices/' was not yet a citizen of the United States;
and in any community with a sense of humour, the
nomination of Heber C. Kimball for a legal position
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS 171
would have been treated as a joke. Heber was a
capable fellow in many ways; but he knew as much of
law as he did of Sanscrit, and cared rather less than
he knew. His sole qualification an all-sufficient
one, however was his unquestioning, unreckoning,
idolatrous devotion to Brigham Young.
The "legislature" of Deseret was elected later in
the season, and its only action that year was to send
a delegate to Washington, asking for the admission
of Deseret as a state, with an alternative request for
formal organization as a territory. Thus began the
long-drawn effort of the Mormon church to gain ad-
mission to the Union in order to escape the Union's
authority. How that application was received will be
told in detail later, but its general fate is known to
the reader in advance. Fo-r forty-six years the
church-kingdom was kept cooling its heels in the
territorial anteroom of the nation. It was admitted
at last only after the church authorities had set their
hands to a solemn agreement which many of them
broke the moment they had received the boon of state-
hood, and which the church as a church has been
breaking ever since.
This, however, was on the knees of the gods; and
for the time, Brigham was content to leave it there.
He had plenty to occupy his mind without borrowing
trouble as to the fate of the petition for statehood.
All through the spring and summer, until harvest be-
gan, the entire colony was on rations, and very short
rations they were. In some families there was an
allowance of four ounces of bread per capita per day.
Others, who were considered opulent, counted on a
half-pound each; but it is doubtful if this latter pro-
vision was realized by any one. A little game was
BRIGHAM YOUNG
killed, roots were dug as before, and the rich grasses
of a Utah spring fattened cattle so that beef was
fairly abundant, but practically all the grain in the
valley had to be reserved for planting. In the spring
of 1849, corn was qu ted at $ 2 and $3 P er bushel,
wheat at $4 to $5, and potatoes were rated as high
as $20 per bushel. Such figures do not express the
true scarcity, for none of these supplies were on^the
market But the first load of new barley hauled into
the city from the harvest of 1849 sold for $2 per
bushel; and this at a time when the purchasing power
of money was far greater than to-day.
Had there been only a local market for their -grain,
prices would have dropped to a low level immediately
after the harvest; for the crop of 1849 was an excel-
lent one. In point of fact, prices rose. The gold
rush to California, the most picturesque and unique
migration in history, was already streaming through
the secluded valley of the Saints.
On January 24, 1848, Thomas Marshall found in
the newly dug tail-race of Sutter's mill in the Sacra-
mento valley some yellow particles which proved to
be gold. For a time, an effort was made to keep the
discovery secret, but the very birds of the air seemed
to carry the news. They carried it to a gold-hungry
world; and from nearly every part of the world,
from Europe, from China, and the islands of the sea,
and most of all from the restless hive of the United
States, the human current began flowing to the new
El Dorado.
Perhaps the nearest parallel to this California emi-
gration is the one movement with which it has never
been compared the epidemic of pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem which led to the first Crusade. In each case,
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS 173
an age responded to the call of its master passion by
hurling itself bodily toward the land where that pas-
sion might be gratified. Each rush was prodigal of
heroism, of endurance, of meanness, of suffering, of
triumph and despair. Each was the first and truly
the last of its kind; each had forerunners, but no
models; echoes but no* successors. Certainly there is
little likeness between the " days of forty-nine/ 1 and
the adventures of Pizarro and Cortez. The Spaniards
found gold and silver in Mexico and Peru. But these
precious metals were in pagan hands, and could be
applied to Christian uses only after a season of strife
with their original but unhallowed owners. In Cali-
fornia, nature left her treasure house unlocked, and
the world raced headlong to share in the spoil. The
gold-diggers of California were the first men of Eng-
lish speech under whose laws the ownership of land
depended on its use. It is interesting to note that
Brigham had taken the same position in his first ser-
mon in the Salt Lake valley.
The rush for gold in the nineteenth century like
the race for salvation in the eleventh touched all
classes and upset all plans. Farmers, sailors, me-
chanics, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, scholars all
were present in the parties which hurried toward the
sunset, fearful lest the half -mythical metal of which
they heard should be gone before they arrived. Some
rushed to the nearest port and engaged passage by
sea; others turned their possessions into horses or
oxen and wagons, and started overland. These had
to pass through the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
Mormon writers always have assumed some mys-
terious merit in the fact that some members of their
battalion were working at Sutter's mill when the gold
BRIGHAM YOUNG
discovery was made. They had as much to do with
that event as with the discovery of the planet Neptune;
but their presence had large consequences for their
distant brethren. Being first on the ground, they had
abundant choice of locations, and some of them
washed out considerable quantities of gold-dust. Then
they set the excited settlement an example it could
little appreciate by turning their backs on the u dig-
gings/ 7 and joining their families and co-religionists
In the Salt Lake valley; of course carrying their new-
found riches with them. The first trickle of gold-
seekers passed through the valley in June, 1849; but
found only a half-starved population keeping jealous
watch on their fields and herds. By the middle of
July the trickle had become a considerable current,
and the Mormons were threshing and grinding their
new grain, and selling it to the emigrants at famine
prices. By August, the emigration was in full tide.
The Argonauts, arriving in the valley with jaded
teams and impatient hearts, saw the gold brought
back by returning members of the Mormon battalion
and the second and more valuable harvest of the
Mormons for that year was on.
A Salt Lake letter to the Frontier Guardian tells
a part of the story :
"When they saw the bags and kegs of gold-dust
brought in by our boys, it made them completely enthusi-
astic. Pack mules and horses that were worth $25 in or-
dinary times would readily bring $200 in the most valuable
property at the lowest price. Goods and other property
were daily offered at auction in all parts of the city. For
a light Yankee wagon, sometimes three or four great
heavy ones would be offered in exchange, and a yoke of
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS 175
oxen thrown in at that. Common domestic sheeting- sold
from five to ten cents per yard by the bolt. The best of
spades and shovels for fifty cents each. Vests that cost in
St. Louis one dollar and fifty cents each were sold at
Salt Lake for thirty-seven and one-half cents. Full chests
of joiners 3 tools that would cost $150 in the east were sold
at Salt Lake for $25. Indeed, almost every article, ex-
cept sugar and coffee, were selling on an average fifty
per cent below wholesale prices in the eastern states/'
Many of the articles mentioned in this list are not
such as emigrants commonly carry. But the first
gold rush for California was more than an ordinary
emigration. Hundreds of comparatively wealthy men
joined in the movement, buying full stocks of mer-
chandise which they thought would be in demand in
the new land, and starting to carry these cargoes
across the plains. By the time they reached Salt Lake,
word came that " state's goods " were arriving in
California by sea; and the disappointed speculators
sacrificed their stock on the spot. Besides, only the
trail can teach men how little they really need. Many
things that seemed necessities at the start, even to
that simple generation, had become burdensome im-
pedimenta long before they reached the settlement of
the Saints.
The deluge of cheap mercantile stocks was of short
duration; but for the rest, the harvest from the emi-
grants continued for full three years. It reached its
height in 1850. Before grain was cut that year, flour
was selling at a dollar a pound in Salt Lake City;
and after the harvest it still held at $25 per hundred
pounds. Fresh horses and oxen, though of inferior
weight and breed, could be traded to the hurrying
176 BRIGHAM YOUNG
emigrants for three or four times their number of
better but tired cattle that had made the journey
across the plains. It became a regular practice in
the valley to buy or trade for this jaded stock one
year, and sell it back, at four or five times the price,
to the next year's band of gold-seekers. As in all
lands much frequented by tourists and travellers, there
were two prices at Salt Lake, one for natives and one
for strangers. Brigham countenanced this, and in-
deed helped it along by forbidding the emigrants to
take unground wheat from the valley; but at the
same time, he insisted that men, even Gentiles, must
not be turned away hungry from the doors of the
Saints. Besides, these prices did not apply to all
things. For some unexplained reason, beef remained
cheap through the whole period of overland emigra-
tion; and Mormon households took Gentile boarders
at reasonable rates when the ostensible price of flour
was twenty-five cents per pound.
Brigham had too keen a commercial instinct not to
appreciate the advantages which this gold rush had
brought to his people ; but he was wise enough by this
time to know that the Fates are apt to wrap a serpent
in their gifts. His people were getting supplies which
they sadly needed, and were disposing of their surplus
grain at undreamed-of profits, but the account was not
all on one side of the ledger. They were selling so
short that the threat of famine was never far from the
settlement. The isolation for which he had hoped
was gone; and for the moment, at least, his colony
was on one of the world's highways. Then, too, the
Saints had begun to get the gold-fever. Men set up
fences of colour and caste and creed; but infections,
whether mental or physical, leap all barriers; and the
MANNA FROM THE GOLD-SEEKERS 177
Mormons of Salt Lake remembered how Brannan had
urged them to come on to California. Why not go
now, they asked, and claim our share of the gold
before the greedy Gentile world gathers it all?
With any other community or under any other
leader which this community ever had the suction
of the gold-fields would have been irresistible. But
Brigham knew what he wanted, and he had his people
well in hand. He set his face like flint against the
gold-craze. " I hope the gold-mines will be no nearer
than eight hundred miles! "'he declared in one of the
scolding sermons which Gentile historians have never
been able to understand, but which did more than all
fabled " Danite bands " to keep the people in line.
" There is more delusion, and the people are more
perfectly crazy on this continent than ever before.
If you elders of Israel want to go to the gold-mines,
go and be damned. ... I would not give a picayune
to keep you from damnation. ... If the people were
united, I would send men to get the gold who would
care no more about it than the dust under their feet,
and then we would gather millions into the church."
" When the musing spider steps on a red-hot
shovel," wrote Mark Twain, " he first exhibits a wild
surprise: then he shrivels." Passing Mark's error as
to the sex of the average spider, the description may
be applied to the Mormons whose desire for the gold-
fields brought them against the iron purpose and blis-
tering tongue of Brigham. A few of the more ven-
turesome persisted in going, and most of these were
cut off from the church. But practically the entire
population of the valley remained. Nearest of all
settlements to the enchanted land, they contributed
least to the gold rush,
178 BRIGHAM YOUNG
But while holding back the Saints from an indis-
criminate rush to the gold-fields, Brigham did some-
thing which more than almost any other event in
the history of Mormonism shows the mastery of this
man over his people, and the implicit, unquestioning
obedience on which he could rely in any emergency.
A group of young men were selected by Brigham and
his apostles to go to California, and dig gold for the
church. They went; and what is much more remark-
able, they returned. Some of them were highly suc-
cessful. They washed gold, not for themselves, but
for Zion; they sent back to Utah all their " dust "
beyond the cost of a frugal subsistence; and they
came back themselves at the call of their church-
emperor. There are few more noteworthy things in
modern religious history than the spectacle of these
young men toiling in the placer mines, not for their
own advancement, but that their church might have
means. with which to upbuild her glory.
XIX
THE WAY OF A SULTAN
BRIGHAM was now established as ruler of a
compact little principality. He believed his
realm capable of almost indefinite expansion;
he had proved its ability to support his colony, and
leave a substantial surplus for export. The crop of
1849 ave him and his people their first glimpse of
the possibilities of irrigated farming; and Brigham
was not slow to grasp the political significance of this
economic fact. Trade with gold-seekers was a pass-
ing incident, and not an essential part of his pro-
gramme. He was glad to get needed supplies for his
people, sorry that contact with Gentiles had become
unavoidable, hopeful that the rush across the plains
would cease and leave Zion to herself. But neither
the profits nor the dangers of overland traffic made
much change in the basic features of his plan.
He had two purposes in life; two purposes so fused
together that his unanalytic mind doubtless thought
them one. He would build the Mormon colony into
a strong, self-supporting, self -sufficing church-state;
and he would keep that state absolutely subject to his
rule. In pursuit of the first purpose, he laboured to
encourage immigration, to spread settlements that
would preempt the whole Rocky Mountain region for
the church's own, to direct and diversify industry.
In furtherance of the second and no less vital aim,
he kept every thread of community affairs in his own
179
180 BRIGHAM YOUNG
hands, formed what was substantially a church aristoc-
racy, whose fortunes were linked with his own, and per-
fected the most inescapable system of discipline and
espionage ever applied to the entire body of either
church or state in modern times.
At the conference held in October, 1849, several
important measures were taken to hasten immigration.
Foremost of these was the beginning of the " Per-
petual Immigration Fund." Five thousand dollars
were raised to make a start in this work. The money
was used to assist in the immigration of poor but de-
sirable converts, particularly from the British Isles.
It was not given them, but loaned; and they were re-
quired to pay back the loan either in cash or by labour
at the earliest opportunity. This, to be sure, put the
immigrant to some extent in the power of the church
which had advanced his passage-money; and there
were cases in which this power was used in a need-
lessly harsh manner. But broadly speaking, * the as-
sisted immigration of the Mormon church was at that
period as free from abuses of this particular kind as
any similar movement ever devised.
Besides raising money for immigration, there was
a new outburst of missionary activity. Proselyting
had not been neglected, even during the darkest hour
of the church; and the troubles of the peripatetic Zion
did not seem to discourage converts. In 1849, ft was
estimated that there were 30,000 Mormons in Britain
alone. But Mormon missionaries were required to
be colonization agents as well as evangelists, and this
part of the work had lagged. Nine dignitaries of the
church were despatched by this October conference of
1849, to labour in the Lord's vineyard in Britain;
three went to France, two to Italy, two to Denmark,
C/3
THE WAY OF A SULTAN 181
and one to Sweden. Brigham's partiality for the
British mission never showed more strongly than in
thus assigning more missionaries to England than to
the entire continent; but he would have been justified
in still greater concentration of effort.
While making preparations to gather the faithful
into the fold, Brigham was equally concerned that the
fold should be ready to receive them. It was his in-
tention to " stake out " every desirable location in the
inter-mountain country, to get It in possession and
under control of the Saints before intruding Gentiles
should come to disturb the chosen of the Lord. In
the spring of 1849, while crops were still uncertain
and the colonists were on short rations, a settlement
had been made at Provo. In November, 1849, after
the conference referred to, the Sanpete and Tooele
valleys were settled. Ogden was founded the next sum-
mer, and soon stakes were planted in every desirable
valley of Utah. In the winter of 1849-50, Parley
P. Pratt was sent with an exploring party to spy out
the land toward the south; and in the course of his
march, he passed through the valley of Mountain
Meadows. John D. Lee or even Bishop Klingen-
smith would have been a more appropriate discoverer
of this site, in view of what happened there some years
later. But Fate writes her dramas in her own dis-
cursive fashion, and seldom tries to stage all the char-
acters in the first scene.
The manner in which these settlements were made
shows the controlled, directed life of the Mormon
community. Utah was peopled by a planned coloniza-
tion like that of early French Canada, rather than by
haphazard overflow like that which settled the rest
of the United States. No solitary dreamer followed
182 BRIGHAM YOUNG
a whisper of a fairer valley further on; no restless
pioneer pushed out from the settlements to venture
lone-handed into the wilds. In two or three cases a
prominent man of the church led his feudal retainers
on a colonizing expedition; but that was the nearest
approach to individualism. When a new settlement
was desired, Brigharn would proclaim that fact, and
call for volunteers. If volunteers were slow in com-
ing forward, a scolding sermon or perhaps a more
personal word of authority would hasten the move-
ment. If men offered for distant settlements who
were not wanted, they were told to stay at home
and they stayed. Brigham prescribed the numbers
and equipment of each new colony, saw that the re-
quired trades were represented among "volunteers,"
and gave detailed instructions to the head of each ex-
pedition concerning location, colony government, in-
tercourse with Indians, and even about crops.
In the matter of Indian management, Brigham
scored a decided success. The red men of Utah were
not so warlike as those who occupied the Atlantic
coast and the Mississippi valley at the coming of the
white man. But the nature of the country, its wide
deserts and narrow oases, made it difficult for the
Indians to retreat before advancing settlements, and
tended to bring matters to a sharp issue while the
whites were still few in numbers. Brigham met this
difficulty in direct, practical fashion. His standing
motto, adopted early and retained to the end of his
life, was that it is cheaper to feed Indians than to
fight them. He had difficulty in getting all his lieu-
tenants to take the same view, and there were some
clashes between red men and white; clashes not at
all remarkable either for the skill of the combatants
THE WAY OF A SULTAN 183
or the number of the corpses. But few settlements
made in regions where Indians were numerous had
as little trouble as those of the Mormons.
Nor did Brigham's supervision of affairs end with
such broad matters as directing settlements and out-
lining Indian policy. He was no believer in the plan
of letting people follow their natural bent. In his
political gospel, all men were born free to join the
Latter Day Saints, and equal in obligation to serve
that terrestrial Zion. From the time he entered the
valley until the settlement had grown too large for
any one to keep in touch with all its activities, Brigham
ordered, altered, directed, supervised, and took toll
from every work of any importance in his little empire.
Practically every industry of the valley was directed
by him, and established at his order; and the men who
engaged in it were chosen by him. In many of these
industries, he was chief owner, either for himself or
for the church. The distinction was doubtless clear in
his mind when these partnerships were formed; but
it did not remain so. Long before his death, there
had ceased to be any definite line between the prop-
erties which Brigham held for himself, and those
which he held for God Almighty; and in such cases
of uncertainty, he usually gave himself the benefit of
the doubt.
It is not easy to see why Brigham thought the
manufacture of liquor a necessary branch of industry;
but that he did so reckon it is clear. The church
discipline, as explained before, frowns on the use of
liquors; and Brigham's personal habits were abstem-
ious; far more so than those of some of his fol-
lowers. In later life, when weakened by illness, he
used occasionally to take a glass of sweetened wine
184 BRIGHAM YOUNG
and water. That was about the extent of his drink-
Ing. Yet as early as the winter of 1849-50, the manu-
facture of whiskey known as "valley tan 3 ' was be-
gun; and Brigham had an interest in the distillery.
The stuff turned out by this establishment was no
worse than the usual "moonshine/' and the canny
church authorities used to lessen the likelihood of
drunkenness and increase church profits at a stroke
by mixing the precious brew with water. Gentiles
who bought this stuff used to wax eloquent on the
amount one had to swallow to arrive at the " glorious
refects thereafter," though a few bibulous-minded
Saints appeared to have no such difficulty. When the
community was short of seed after the crop failure
some years later, Brigham proclaimed severe penalties
for any one who should use either grain or potatoes
to make whiskey.
The first effort to establish a wine industry in Utah
is more excusable. A colony of Swiss vineyardists
came to Utah, and settled in the southern part of the
territory the part still known as " Dixie/' Wine-
making was the only industry they knew; they wished
to continue it, and Brigham encouraged and helped
them. " Dixie wine " and " valley tan " were at one
time among the chief articles of export. Like those
ancient Jews who sold to the stranger meat which it
was unlawful for them to eat themselves, the Saints
had no scruples about contributing to the drunkenness
of the Gentile world.
While building up divers forms of simpler manu-
factures, Brigham never forgot that the jchief re-
liance of his people must be on agriculture. Within
a comparatively short time, the Mormons had learned
the science and art of irrigation; and they practised
THE WAY OF A SULTAN 185
it with increasing success. In the epistle sent out
from Winter Quarters in 1847, Brigham had called
on the gathering faithful to bring with them trees and
shrubs; and this command was obeyed almost from
the first. At least as early as 1849, the Mormons be-
gan planting orchards. The planting had little in
common with the scientific, commercial orchard busi-
ness of some irrigated regions to-day; but it served
the needs of its time. Utah had thriving apple, peach,
and pear orchards thirty years before any other arid
state, except California; and in some lines of horti-
culture, even California was left behind. Every
American settler of that day deemed it necessary to
his salvation to become a landowner. The Mormons
accepted this wise gospel, and demanded that every
landowner should in addition be a tree-planter. Not
only orchard, but shade and ornamental trees, were
brought into the valley, Conspicuous among these
last was, and is, the Lombardy poplar. This tree
flourishes in northern Utah even more luxuriantly
than in northern France, and has become as essen-
tial a part of landscapes in the Salt Lake valley as it
has been for centuries in the valley of the Seine.
In agriculture, too, Brigham's insistent domination
was felt. When he travelled from his palace in Salt
Lake City to one of the outlying provinces, he was
always expected to preach from the local pulpit. Half
the time or more his sermon would consist of a
round scolding on the bad fences of the community,
or the choked-up character of their irrigation ditches,
or the poor quality of bulls and rams kept for breed-
ing. Brigham had that faculty so vital to a dictator,
an incessant and minute though not always accurate
observation. In the march across the plains it was
186 BRIGHAM YOUNG
said that he could hear the squeak of an ungreased
wagon wheel and note a badly fitted ox-yoke twice
as far as any other man in the party; and this same
instant notice was manifest in his management of his
people. To him, it was an economic crime for men
to buy anything they could grow or make. The sound-
ness of this view of things is open to dispute; but
Brigham held it religiously, and the community fol-
lowed his will. Each man must raise his vegetables,
his wheat, his potatoes, and, if possible, his wool.
Macaulay has said that while we may make shift to
live under the rule of a tyrant, to be governed by a
busybody is more than human nature could bear.
Macaulay is a sound historian so sound that the
half-educated generation which followed on his own
deemed him ignorant but he failed to .make one
necessary qualification of his dogma. Human nature
can bear anything that is imposed upon it in the name
of religion, and upheld by a vigorous and interested
priesthood.
There were advantages in this centralized control
of industry, especially while the system was new.
The diversified experience and quick intelligence which
can be bred only under a regime of individualism were
at Young's command; and he managed these qualities
in a manner that for a season seemed to the advantage
of all concerned. The entire weight of church
authority was put behind any industry which he
wished to establish in the valley. The tithing fund
usually furnished a part of the necessary capital, and
church command brought the custom. There was no
industrial quarrelling, no slip between cup and lip.
Brigham saw that the wool-clip was ready when
needed by the woollen mills; and that the tannery
THE WAY OF A SULTAN 187
started by church order was supplied with hides. Not
even a despotic authority can entirely control the
mercantile activities of men, but the church's constant
hectoring kept the people buying home products wher-
ever the difference between these and the "Babylon-
ish " things imported from outside was not too great.
The personal element likewise helped for a time in
the success of church-managed industry. Brigham
was a splendid judge of men though his prejudices
led him into some blunders; and he could shift and
alter the directing force of local industry at will He
allowed no misfits in the community, so far as his
education and intellect enabled him to recognize mis-
fits. If a man were pursuing a vocation for which
he was not adapted, Brigham found something else
for him to do. If the manager of a mill were un-
satisfactory, Brigham called him on a mission, and
put another man in his place. To be called on a mis-
sion was a compliment that kept the deposed super-
intendent from feeling injured, and work better suited
to his qualities was found for him when he returned.
So far as one-man management of communities can
succeed, the Brighamized industry of the Salt Lake
valley was successful. It enforced industry, it less-
ened friction, it diversified occupations. More im-
portant still, it went far toward abolishing the curse
of poverty. As soon as starvation ceased to menace
the entire community, it ceased to threaten any one
in that community. The moment prosperity arrived
in the valley, it was distributed, in some measure,
to all.
But the effect of this paternal system soon showed
itself in a uniform, self-satisfied mediocrity. The
little kingdom did not utterly crystallize, because the
188 BRIGHAM YOUNG
wicked world kept intruding upon it, and compelling
it to reshape itself in newer and better forms. But
it came as near to crystallization as this outside pres-
sure and infiltration would permit. There was little
invention, and less experiment. The grist-mill in
Cache valley or Sanpete valley was merely a smaller
or larger replica of the grist-mill at Salt Lake City.
The orchard of one farm showed only accidental differ-
ences from the orchard of the rest. Manufactures
were developed to a point where they satisfied the
crude wishes of a frontier community, and could
undersell merchandise that had to bear the long wagon-
haul across the plains. Having reached this point,
manufacturing development stopped almost alto-
gether; and when the railroad, a score of years later,
brought genuine competition to the valley of the
Saints, the product of these church-nourished indus-
tries was deserted for the better and cheaper goods
from the "shops of Babylon/'
Had Brigham's successors been endowed with the
same abilities and inspired by the same motives as his
own, many evils now grossly apparent in the Mormon
church-state might have been minimized or averted.
But the fundamental evil of blind submission of the
many to arbitrary control by the few would have re-
mained the same.
XX
A PATRON OF ART
EARLY in the history of the settlement, there
appeared in Utah people who were of little
use in the production of material wealth
musicians, painters, actors, dancing- and fencing-mas-
ters. If these obtained the favour of King Brigham,
they were assisted to make a living in their own way.
A teacher of music or dancing was encouraged to
open a school, and royal edict went forth that this
school must be patronized. It was as much a matter
of course that a boy belonging to the " first families "
should take regular lessons in music and dancing as
that he should be able to repeat his catechism. The
first fencing-school opened in Salt Lake City failed,
or at least did not prosper; Brigham was not suffi-
ciently interested in this exotic form of physical cul-
ture to dragoon his followers into supporting it. But
the dancing-schools grew and throve year by year.
Even before the Great Trek, the Mormons had been
famed as inveterate dancers; and in the new Zion,
going to the dances became almost a matter of re-
ligion. Brigham himself was an excellent dancer;
and he and his apostles wdre frequent attendants at
balls, It was a mark of great favour when Brigham
led out some woman on the floor for a cotillion. In
fact, when Brigham or any of his lieutenants of the
church, danced twice at any one ball with an un-
married lady, the gossip was as unctuous and conclu-
189
190 BRIGHAM YOUNG
slve as when Louis le Grand paid especial attention
to some new favourite. Every one assumed that in
the near future, there would be a new polygamous
marriage.
As illustrating the grotesque mingling of this rather
laboured culture with the hardships of frontier life,
we may note that for years throughout the outlying
settlements of Utah, the standard price of a ticket to
a dance was an order on the tithing-house for a bushel
of wheat.
Music was held in at least equal honour with danc-
ing. We have seen how Brigham, on coming out from
Nauvoo to cheer the pilgrims, camped on Sugar
creek, brought the Nauvoo band with him, and played
and danced the people into good humour before as-
sembling them to " lay down the law " that should
rule them during their westward march. Choral sing-
ing was developed very early in the Utah settlement;
and to this day, there is probably no other community
of equal numbers in America that has half so many
trained part-singers as Salt Lake City.
Music at least in its choral and orchestral forms
is the one art which demands discipline rather than
individuality. Yet one of the most individual of all
arts was highly honoured in Brigham's empire; the
art of the drama. Brigham loved the theatre, and
very soon established dramatic performances in Salt
Lake City. The actor was a person even more highly
considered in the community than the singer or danc-
ing-rnaster. As a rule, the actor had some other voca-
tion, nominally, at least. He was usually a priest,
and often a polygamist. Two of Brigham's favourite
clerks were actors in his stock company and it has
been said that Brigham himself did not disdain to
A PATRON OF ART 191
take part in a performance. Several of Brigham's
daughters became actresses; and at least three of
these be'came plural wives in prominent families, con-
tinuing their work on the stage in the intervals of
child-bearing.
Several notable additions to the American stage
have come from the Mormon community.
This frank and genuine recognition of dramatic art
by the " powers " made Salt Lake City a very pleasant
port of call for even the most celebrated actors. Sev-
eral men and women of international reputation on
the stage were induced by Brigham to spend a season
in Salt Lake City, playing in his stock company,
George Paunceforte,* James A. Herne, and Julia Dean
Hayne were some of these, and the last has the honour
of having interposed a successful barrier to Brigham's
matrimonial ambitions. He fell in love with this ex-
* In 1897, while travelling along a country road in Japan, at
the top of a hill I saw a tea-house and beautiful garden, enclosed
within a wall somewhat after English fashion. The swinging
sign in front read : ** Shakespeare Tavern. George Paunce-
forte." I could not conceive that any Japanese had such a
name. On the other hand it would be more surprising if there
were an English tavern in Japan, where foreigners, at that time,
were not allowed to own land except within city concessions.
And this place carried with it an air of permanency and owner-
ship. At the gate I paused for a moment and studied,
" Shakespeare." " George Pauncef orte." The conclusion was
obvious.
I went in and was greeted by a courtly old Englishman of
sixty-five or seventy years of age. He was tall, splendid
looking, graceful his hair and moustaches snow white. His
Japanese wife came into the room and bowed her head to the
floor as a mark of welcome. He introduced her as Mrs. Paunce-
forte. While we were taking tea I glanced about and saw a
copy of the Mormon Church Deseret News lying on a table.
Then I said to Mr. Pauncef orte : "Do you remember standing
in the lane between Brigham's theatre and one of his houses
one afternoon, talking with 'Punk' Young, one of Brigham's
beautiful and favourite daughters ? " He glanced at me quiz-
192 BRIGHAM YOUNG
cellent actress, and pressed his suit with all the ardour
of a boy of eighteen, but was firmly if gently rejected.
This is the only publicly known instance when Brig-
ham wooed in vain.
But while Brigham countenanced and encouraged
such departures from narrow utilitarianism as pro-
vided entertainment for himself and contentment for
his people, he set his face against other professions
which most people do not class as useless. Like the
pious colonist of early Pennsylvania, Brigham wanted
no " beggars nor olde maydes, neither lawyers nor
doctours, with licence to kill and make mischief."
The opposition to doctors, indeed, came near being
ingrained in Mormonism. There are few religions
which in the first callow confidence of youth have
sense enough to keep from taking a fling at the prac-
tice of medicine; and the cree<3 of Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon is not among these exceptionally gifted
zlcally and replied : " I remember talking to * Punk ' Young
there whenever I could, which was seldom, for the Lion of the
Lord kept a close watch over his daughters, and he had many
eyes to help him." Then I interrogated: "Do you remember
reaching up and pulling over Brigham's garden wall a branch of
an apricot-tree and giving some of the fruit to a little boy who
stood in the lane watching you and t Punk ' with rapt admira-
tion? Do you remember urging him to run away with the
fruit as a reward ? " He laughed and said : " I remember it
very well, as it was the last time I had an opportunity to
talk with the beautiful 'Punk'" "Well/' I said, "I was that
little boy." He seized me in warm embrace and said : " So you
are from among my old friends, the Mormons." Then he con-
tinued : " I was coming on magnificently in my art in Salt Lake ;
but I made two inevitable mistakes. I danced once too often
at a party with the lovely Amelia Folsom, who was Brigham's
favourite wife; and I fell in love, also, with his charming daugh-
ter. The meeting in the lane between the theatre and one of
Brigham's houses was a tryst. But it was the last. Not even
my art, to which Brigham was devoted, was sanctified enough
to entitle me to a marriage union with a member of his family."
F. I C,
A PATRON OF ART
faiths. Joseph " healed " Brigham of malarial fever
at Nauvoo though the exorcised devils came back so
promptly that the cured man had to be carried on a
mattress to the house of his friend; and there he lay
four days before even his iron will and magnificent
strength enabled him to continue his journey. Brig-
ham " ministered to " a sick Indian child not long
after his arrival in Utah; and got much credit at
least from church historians from the miracle of
cure which he worked. The fact that Brigham's
cousin, Willard Richards, was himself a physician
doubtless helped modify the original hostility to medi-
cine; but it is not entirely gone, even yet. During
early days in Utah, the ordinary rule in dealing with
sickness was reversed. When a man was ill, the el-
ders came first to anoint and " administer " to him,
and pray over him, and urge him to exert his faith
for recovery. If these measures failed, and the Lord
did not see fit to heal the patient, the doctors were
given a chance. It is worth noting that Brigham
did not allow his own illness to progress very far
before calling in a physician to relieve Providence
from further worry about so important a case.
Brigham's dislike for the legal profession was
rather a business-manager's abhorrence of waste, than
a tyrant's jealousy of the restraints of law. Restraint
touched him so seldom that he had , little chance to
develop this form of antagonism. He felt that time
and money spent in litigation were time and money
wasted. It never occurred to his direct and forthright
intelligence that the forms which consumed time
might on occasion preserve liberty nor did he think
of liberty as a thing in itself worth preserving. Every
religious community has practised some form of ar-
194 BRIGHAM YOUNG
bitration in the settlement of its internal disputes; but
the Mormons worked it out in greater detail than
any others, and applied it to far more complicated
affairs.
On February 14, 1849, Salt Lake City was divided
into nineteen wards, each presided over by a bishop.
This bishop was not merely an ecclesiastical officer, but
a civil one as well. He was a sort of mayor over a
little municipality, and also* a judge or kadi who was
charged with the punishment of minor offences and
the settlement of all ordinary disputes. If two of the
brethren could not agree, the case was brought be-
fore the bishop, who heard both sides and gave judg-
ment A sort of indefinite appeal to higher church
powers was permitted, but was not often exercised.
So long as society was simple, and all disputants be-
longed to the same church, there was little injustice,
and a vast saving of time and expense by this method.
Brigham used often to score these bishops' courts in
unsparing terms; but in this as in all things when
checking or trying to guide his people, Brigham's
bark was far worse than his bite. In the main he
was a just man; his position forced him to desire jus-
tice in the vast majority of cases; he had power at
any time to end these bishops' courts with a word
and he did not speak that word.
This is as good a place as any to note one error
into which nearly every Gentile writer on Mormon
institutions has fallen. Every one has taken Brig-
ham's scolding sermons as proof of the awful iniquity
of the people who were addressed in such terms. The
folly of this is surely obvious, yet it has somehow
escaped attention. The outsider who took literally the
terms of a domestic curtain lecture would be laughed
A PATRON OF ART 195
at; yet grave and sober historians have made a similar
mistake, and quoted Brigham's scathing rebukes of
sin as proof that his people were peculiarly sinful.
They prove the speaker's vehemence, and little more.
To hear Brigham lecture his people on their short-
comings, one would have thought them all villains;
and to hear him praise his people when they were
threatened by Gentiles, one would have thought them
all saints.
The truth is that Brigham was a sort of scolding
housewife to the whole Mormon community. He
jawed it into order. We shall have something to say
later about the remarkable ecclesiastical machinery by
which he maintained his power and authority; but the
mechanics of the system were after all of less moment
than the dynamics of the man. He was anything
rather than a polished orator. He was a good, direct,
forceful speaker, charged to the brim with that un-
translatable thing known as personality. He was
rather coarse, though seldom offensively so. He as-
sumed the right to scold and lecture and berate his
people on every imaginable topic, and they granted
the claim. He scolded polygamous wives for quar-
relling his own wives among the number. He scolded
women for their fondness for ornaments, a favourite
topic with church orators from the days of Chrysos-
tom, at least. He " roasted " the sheepmen of Utah
for their bad luck in raising lambs; jawed men by
name for laziness, for slackness in tithe-paying, for
failure to keep discipline in their families. All these
topics were threshed out in public, at the tabernacle;
and incredible as it may seem, all were written down
and printed by church authority. The man who will
take the trouble to read fifty pages of the Journal
196 BRIGHAM YOUNG
of Discourses may not find his respect for Mor-
monism increased. But if he has any knowledge of
evidence, or sense of proportion, he will not take these
frank jawings from the pulpit as proof of any un-
usual wickedness in the congregation.
XXI
THE CHURCH DUKES
WHILE Brigham was thus mindful of the
prosperity and happiness of his people, it
must not be imagined that he forgot the
word of the Lord which came to him through the
mouth of Joseph on his return from the British mis-
sion in 1842. In that revelation, Brigham was ex-
pressly commanded to stay at home and care for his
family. Divers misfortunes and upheavals had com-
pelled him to give a liberal construction to that part
of the mandate dealing with his stay at home; but
the care of his multifarious family never lacked Brig-
ham's earnest attention.
Even while his people were experimenting with the
novel agriculture, Brigham was " selecting his in-
heritance " with as keen an eye to the main chance
as any worldly-minded Gentile ever displayed. Land,
water, and timber were the only visible values in
Utah at that time. Brigham had forbidden the specu-
lative holding of land in his first sermon in the val-
ley. But in the same sermon he had claimed owner-
ship of the entire region for the Lord and His Saints.
As administrator for the Lord's part of the estate,
perhaps it was natural for Brigham to take his pay in
kind; and certainly at his death, some of the best
land in the valley passed to his heirs by will.
Water and timber could be had by securing con-
trol of the canons in the nearby mountain ranges.
197
198 BRIGHAM YOUNG
At the October conference of 1852 a conference of
the church, please note, not a meeting of the law-
making body Brigham proposed to turn these canons
over to individuals who should build roads into them
and collect toll. In effect, this gave the city's sole
supply of wood and the settlement's chief supply of
irrigating water into private hands, with no restric-
tions as to the duration of this control, or the charges
that might be exacted. The meekest Gentile com-
munity would hesitate before putting itself so unre-
servedly into* the grip of a corporation. But the
Mormon empire gloried in a meekness toward its
spiritual lords compared to which the most docile
gathering of American Gentiles is stiff-necked and
rebellious. Young's proposition was carried by
unanimous vote; and when the canons were assigned
"to favoured individuals, it was found that he had one
of the best*
This is a fair illustration of Brigham's keen money-
making instinct at work. As the shepherd of his peo-
ple, he deemed it his duty to protect them from wolves
and his right to gather their fleeces. To the best
of his knowledge and ability, he did both. It would be
unfair to charge him with unusual greed. The
private fortune which he amassed almost wholly
from his position as head of the church is not so
*This is by no means the first grant of the sort City Creek
canon had been assigned to Brigham by the "Deseret Legis-
lature" in 1850, and the same body apportioned divers choice
portions of wood and water to favoured church dignitaries. But
the case of 1852 shows at once Brigham' s frank claim to emolu-
ment, his absolute mastery of the church, and the church's undis-
guised control of political and economic affairs. It is much as if
the Archbishop of Canterbury should come before the Anglican
church with a claim for dock privileges at Southampton, or as
if the college of cardinals should grant to private parties the
privilege of charging tolls on the canals of Venice.
o
*sJ
C/3
a
H
O
O
w
H
THE CHURCH DUKES 199
large as many a captain of industry has taken from
a smaller community for less valuable services. It
was not so large a fortune as some " brave and self-
sacrificing missionaries "of other churches and their
sons have gathered in the Hawaiian Islands. But
that the prophet, seer, and revelator of God on earth,
the one direct link between the world and the heavens,
should concern himself with money-making at all is
a shock to the religious sense of the devout, and to the
sense of fair play by which, in the absence of more
authentic guides, the heretic must set his course. As
head of the church, Brigham made merchandise of
the gospel; as ruler of his people, he gave no account
of the moneys placed in his hands for community
use. At no other point in his varied career does Brig-
ham so far fall short of the required stature of great-
ness as in this,- his money-changing in the temple
where he ruled as high priest.
Considered as a bit of practical statecraft, how-
ever, Brigham's care to put money into his purse is
easily understood. He meant to rule his people as
long as he lived, and that his sons, if possible, should
rule after him; and he had no notion of being a king
in rags. Neither did he imagine that he could be
king without a supporting aristocracy. His first act,
after his formal elevation to headship of the church,
was to surround himself with relatives and friends as
bulwarks against possible disaffection. His first care
on being settled in Utah was to tie the chief men of
the church to himself with bands of self-interest; to
create a group of ducal families whose dignity and
riches should be derived from the favour of himself
as king.
At the head of this ducal aristocracy was Heber
200 BRIGHAM YOUNG
C Kimball. Aside from the diffuseness of his marital
relations and the singular concentration of his re-
ligious and political allegiance, Kimball was a typical
New England Yankee; austere of look, deliberate of
voice, piercing of eye. He was highly esteemed as
a prophet, not in the sense of having an especial
license to speak the Lord's will to His people, for
that was Brigham's monopoly; but in the sense of
being a foreteller of events. He promised Parley P.
Pratt an heir by his first wife, who was already a
consumptive of some years' standing, at a time when
the devout couple had quite .given up hope. The
prophecy was fulfilled, though the mother died almost
as soon as the child was born. During the pinching
poverty of early days, before the crop of 1849 had -
banished for a season the threat of famine, Kimball
prophesied that within three years, "state's goods "
would be sold in Salt Lake valley cheaper than in the
cities of the east This prediction was fulfilled in the
most unexpected way by the harvest from the over-
land gold-seekers, as recounted in a previous chapter.
Heber's own estimate of the accuracy of his
prophecies may be judged from his statement that if
he hit the truth once in ten times, he was still doing
better than most soothsayers. In that comment, his
dry, Yankee sense shone through the typings of
zealotry and pretence. ;/ r
But the distinguishing characteristic t of Heber
Kimball was not his gift of prophecy: It was rather
his incredible coarseness of speech; a coarseness which
would have banished him from any society, save one
which obeyed him as prince or revered him as prophet.
He did not stop with shocking conventional modesty;
he must needs use speech which roused a physiological
THE CHURCH DUKES 201
disgust in his hearers. He discussed the most inti-
mate personal matters in the most public way. In
all things a worshipper rather than a mere admirer
of Brigham, Heber seems to- have tried to imitate the
scolding sermons of his idol. But while Brigham,
like Shakespeare, dealt in filth only as he found it
mixed with life; Heber, like Swift, reveled in filth
for filth's sake. The comparison does both saints too
much literary honour; but it serves to* mark a distinc-
tion which cannot be explained in more specific
fashion.
With Heber, as with Brigham, a fondness for in-
cendiary speech was joined to a reluctance for violent
action. During the " reformation " a few years later,
Heber' s sermons, like those of his chief, were a direct
incitement to riot and murder; but Kimball seems to
have borne no direct part in the deeds which his un-
bridled tirades helped to precipitate. He preached the
doctrine of blood atonement; but he seems never to
have taken this method of atoning for any one's sins.
His coarseness and lack of reticence made him useful
to Brigham. He said the things which Brigham
wanted said, and did not care to utter himself* In
public and private discourse for year on year, Heber
C. Kimball bore witness to his faith that to all in-
tents and purposes Brigham was God incarnate on
earth. And with all his coarseness, with all his al-
most sickening adulation of his chief, Heber Kimball
was a man cast in a good-sized mould. He had
twenty or more wives and a swarm of children, and
seems to have been loved by all of them. He was
always ready to share his last sack of flour in time
of distress or to exact the last sack in time of
plenty from a recalcitrant tithe-payer.
202 BRIGHAM YOUNG
On the left of Brigham, as Kimball stood on the
right, was William Richards, third member of the
First Presidency. A large, stout man, with kindly,
Franklinesque face, and gentle manner, Richards
brought to the councils of the church an element of
refinement sorely needed, and ofttimes sadly insuffi-
cient. He was a physician and, for the times, a good
one; and through his familiarity with Joseph the
prophet, Willard Richards wrote some of his medical
ideas into holy writ by inspiring Joseph to dictate the
" Word of Wisdom." Richards was entirely devoted
to his chief and cousin, Brigham; but the services he
was asked to perform were gentler in character than
those demanded of some others. It was his part to
edit the Deseret News, then as now the official organ
of the Mormon empire and bring the power of the
press to Brigham's support; to serve as postmaster,
and make the United States mails subject to Brig-
ham's orders; to "comb the whiskers" of Brigham's
rough language, and put It into shape for more fas-
tidious company.
Of a directly opposite character was Jedediah M.
Grant, first mayor of Salt Lake City, founder, or at
least chief preacher, of the "reformation" whose
blood-stained annals we are approaching; and pro-
ponent of the doctrine of " blood atonement," which
has done more than any other thing save polygamy to
bring Mormonism into disrepute. Grant became coun-
sellor to Brigham upon the death of Willard Richards.
Grant was a tall, thin, cadaverous-looking man, whose
utterly undisciplined nature was inspired by an utterly
unquestioning zeal. He was an ignorant Cotton
Mather, a polygamous du Chayla, His church
biographer paints him as striding over the fields of
THE CHURCH DUKES 203
the South, preaching with flaming appeal and threat
his favourite gospel. And the picture is symbolic.
He seemed to delight in the ferocities of his religion;
to welcome opposition that he might feed the fires of
his fanaticism. He was incapable of doubt and In-
sensible to fear. That he was sincere is beyond ques-
tion. He has been called the " sledge-hammer of
Brigham," but in truth he was the one man in the
valley whom Brigham could not manage. He was
described by a contemporary as "the most essential
blackguard in the pulpit," but blackguardism even
if this charge were true is a mild offence compared
to his thirsty teaching of blood atonement.
George A. Smith, a cousin of the murdered prophet,
owed his elevation to the fact that Brigham needed
some members of the Smith family in his train. As
an Apostle, George A. Smith made an imposing figure;
and was content with that statuesque part. He was
perhaps the ablest member of his family, intellectually
speaking, though that is not extravagant praise. At
one time, when Brigham wished a legal dummy,
George A. Smith was made trustee in trust for the
church. He assumed the dignities of the office and
then Brigham, George, and the Mormon people
promptly forgot the whole matter; and church busi-
ness was transacted with Brigham once more.
John Taylor, who succeeded Brigham as president
of the church, was an Englishman of good stock, a
well-educated, dignified man. Normally, he was a
straightforward and truthful man also, though apt to
wax a bit too enthusiastic in picturing the glories of
Zion. Yet his name is linked with a piece of the most
unblushing falsehood that even ecclesiastical history
can show. In the summer of 1850, at Boulogne-sur-
BRIGHAM YOUNG
rner, John Taylor denied that his church taught or
practised polygamy. He protested that the charge of
polygamy was too outrageous for belief, and in every
way strove to give the impression that he and his fel-
low Saints regarded such a doctrine with horror and
aversion. At that very moment, John Taylor was the
husband of at least four wives. He must have^ known
that his falsehood for his church would find him out;
yet he denied the truth, because he was ordered to
deny it. He would have sworn that Utah was a level
plain had he been ordered to do so. The blighting
nature of theocratic absolutism is not often better il-
lustrated than in the case of John Taylor, a decent
gentleman by instinct, a brave, chivalrous gentleman
by nature, who never discredited himself in any act
or word of his own volition and yet deemed it an
honour to discredit himself by prophetic command.
Taylor's native integrity was demonstrated later
when he himself succeeded Brigham. One of his first
acts was to separate church properties from personal
holdings; to institute strict accountings; to limit the
access of priests to community funds. But after all,
he merely changed temporarily the method of the
despotism not the despotism itself.
It is needless to give extended portraits of other
members of the church aristocracy which Brigham
was gathering around him. One man, however, must
be noticed; not because he came within the charmed
circle, but because he did not. This man was Orson
Pratt. A deep student, a devout Mormon, an able,
handsome, dignified man, Orson Pratt suffered all the
later years of his life from one of Brigham's few per-
sonal prejudices. The cause of that prejudice must
remain uncertain; but the present writers believe it
THE CHURCH DUKES 205
due primarily to Brigham's jealousy of Pratfs attain-
ments. Brigham was fond of sneering at learning,
but he was too much of a New Englander not to covet
it. His loudly voiced contempt concealed a great
wistfulness. He never hesitated to use Pratt. It was
Orson Pratt who was assigned to conduct the argu-
ment with Newman as to whether the Bible sanctions
polygamy. It was Orson Pratt who invented the
weird " Deseret alphabet " which was to mark off the
printing-presses of the Lord's chosen from those given
over to the ungodliness of Gentiles. But Orson Pratt
was left poor when far less able men were assisted to
wealth, and was pushed down in the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles to keep him from succeeding to the
presidency on Brigham's death.
All these church dukes were polygamous. Willard
Richards was deemed rather scantily married, and he
had about eleven wives. Heber Kimball was reputed
to have more than twenty. All were reputed to be
" good family men/' nor was this quality due solely
to their large experience in that line. And all owed
their prominence in the church, their success in fi-
nance, and their esteem by the community to the
favour of Brigham Young. Not even Jedediah Grant
need be excepted from this last classification. Grant's
ferocious zeal and utter fearlessness would have made
him a marked man in any community; but there never
was a moment when Brigham could not have crushed
him with a word. Brighani's embarrassment in this
case was that he did not want to crush Grant, only
to manage him; and with the best will in the world
to be managed by the chief whom he revered as the
visible regent of God, Jedediah Grant was about as
bridlewise as the classic pony of Mazeppa.
S06 BRIGHAM YOUNG
In these men, Brigham had what polite Europe
calls an aristocracy, and what blunt America dubs a
political machine. In the tithing system he had a
financial power which carried the church through
troubles that would have wrecked any organization
depending on voluntary contributions.
The tithing law, as noted before, was established
at Far West, Missouri, on July 8, 1838. We have
given reasons for believing Brigham Young the author
of this first practical financial plan in the annals of
the church. By the terms of this rule, every convert,
on coming into the fold of the Saints, had to give
ten per cent of his property to the church. When
he had tithed his principal once, he was not required
to do so again; but ten per cent of his income each
year belonged to the church. In early days, tithes were
paid in kind. The church always has struggled to col-
lect tithes on gross income as far as possible, and
tithe-payers have sought to restrict the payment to
net returns. Mormons in business pay on their net
p ro fits any other method would ruin them. Mor-
mons working on salary pay ten per cent of their en-
tire income to the church; and if they are working
for a church institution, the tithe is deducted from
their pay-check. Farmers struggle along in hit-or-
miss fashion; some probably cheating the church and
others certainly cheating their families. The duty of
tithe-paying still forms one of the chief staples of
Mormon pulpit eloquence; for it is as true of Latter
Day Saints as of other folk that where the treasure
is, there also will be the devoted attention of the
ruling powers.
At no time in Mormon history have the heads of
the church given any regular public accounting of the
THE CHURCH DUKES 207
moneys thus received. For more than a generation,
they have given no public accounting at all. Whoever
is church emperor for the time being has absolute and
irresponsible control of this vast supply of liquid
wealth, now amounting to not less than $4,000,000
per year with yet other millions of accumulations.
He may use it for the church, or in schemes which
promote his personal profit and that of his favourites;
he may spend it wisely or fritter it away on some
adult substitute for toy balloons. The devout toilers
whose work and faith have produced this wealth have
nothing to say about the matter.
During the reign of Brigham, while tithes were tin-
questionably used to support church officials and even
on occasion to enable them to build personal fortunes,
the general management of this fund was good. It
supplied a part of the capital for new community in-
dustries. It financed the church in its long legal bat-
tle with the United States government. It gave a
fresh start in life to the poor who were young enough
to make such a start; and it provided support for the
poor whose working days were over. The aged and
devout Mormon could accept help from the tithing
fund with no loss of self-respect. All through his
working life, he had paid money into that fund; and
he was only getting back what he had given. Much
can be said against the management of tithing, even
in Brigham's day; but it showed nothing like the dis-
grace now seen in the Mormon empire, when men and
women who have paid tithes all through their produc-
ing lives are sent to the poorhouse in their old age;
and when people in receipt of public outdoor relief
pay back to the church ten per cent of the pitiful dole
they receive from the state.
208 BRIGHAM YOUNG
It was during these early years In Utah that the
ecclesiastical or rather political organization of the
Mormon church received its present shape and effi-
ciency. Joseph Smith had dreamed into existence
almost countless priestly offices. Brigham Young,
even while Smith was yet alive, had gradually brought
coherence and discipline into this much-betitled church
militia. But the Great Trek with its pressing need
of martial discipline, and the new settlement with
its isolation, were needed to complete the structure
of religious imperialism. As it stands to-day as
it has stood since Brigham Young was firmly set-
tled in his place there are twenty-six persons in the
Mormon hierarchy. The presence of twenty-five of
them is an act of grace on the part of the one.
At the head of the hierarchy stood the president of
the church and regent of the Most High God. He
alone was authorized to speak the word of the Lord
to the children of men. He alone was authorized to
receive revelations. As stated before, Brigham put
forth but one revelation during his entire term of
office and that while he was in name no more than
chief of the Twelve Apostles. But in the absence of
formal revelation, wisdom was supposed to be his by
direct inspiration of God, and few indeed were the
Mormons in good standing who had any doubt that
to resist Brigham was to resist the Lord,
Associated with Brigham in his office were his two
counsellors; at first, Heber Kimball and Willard
Richards. One was his relative and the other was his
worshipper ; and both owed their elevation to the will
of Brigham alone.
Next below the First Presidency came the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles, for three years after Smith's
THE CHURCH DUKES 209
death the supreme governing body in theory of the
church. It had been the ladder by which Brigham had
climbed to power, and now, emulating many a royal
example, he pushed it down as far as he dared. He
reorganized this Quorum in such wise as to deprive
Orson Pratt of any chance to succeed to the presi-
dency, and put John Taylor in his place. All va-
cancies in the Quorum during Brigham's life were
filled by him and all vacancies in the Quorum ever
since have been filled by the reigning sultan of the
church. To refuse to "sustain" the president's
choice would be a direct rebellion against God Him-
self.
At one side in this hierarchy stands the patriarch.
This is an office hereditary in the family from which
Joseph Smith sprang, and seems to have been created
to provide a title for one of that race. The patriarch
has no real power. He has visions of a somewhat
lower order than the authorized revelations which
come to the president. He pronounces blessings for
a consideration; and in general deports himself as
ecclesiastical supernumeraries have done since the
days of Amen Ra.
Next below the Quorum of the Twelve in direct line
of power are the seven presidents of seventies. These
seven in a way are subordinate apostles, and are sup-
posed to have a particular interest in missionary work.
Finally again in a side line are the presiding bishop
and his counsellors, who have immediate charge of
church properties. The importance of this last office
dates from Brigham's declining years, and it has in-
creased in partial ratio with the vast increase of
wealth since his death.
Following the example set by Brigham, the chief
210 BRIGHAM YOUNG
of the Twelve Apostles Is heir-apparent to the presi-
dency of the church.
Below this hierarchy there was organized and
there still subsists a myriad and close-knit body of
local church rulers. There were presidents of " stakes
of Zion." There were bishops over wards a ward
being a smaller division than a stake. There were
elders, teachers, priests. From highest to lowest,
every capable man in Mormon ranks was given some-
thing to do for the church and kept busy doing it. ^
All this large and intricate organization was in
Brigham's hands. He filled vacancies in the Quorum.
He named the presidents of seventies. He created
bishops. He promoted, deposed, shifted, supported,
or left struggling whomsoever he would and in this
irresponsible despotism he has been followed unto this
day. Never since the Mormon church was founded
has the congregation of the people nominated a ruler
of the church, nor even a member of t the hierarchy.
The congregation is always asked to "'sustain " and
always does so. And the manner of that " sustain-
ing " is a pitiful absurdity. At the general conference
of the church, one of the hierarchy announces : " It is
moved and seconded that we sustain [giving the name]!
as prophet, seer, and revelator to all the world/' And
so on, through the list. " All who are in favour of
this motion signify it by raising the right hand." A
wave of hands comes from the vast assemblage. But
no "motion" has been made. Neither nomination
nor opposition is permitted. The decree of God has
been uttered. The people are allowed to ratify but
not to refuse God's irrevocable choice. On one occa-
sion when Brigham was installing his favourite and
erratic son, John W v as assistant prophet, seer, and
THE CHURCH DUKES JU1
revelator, a murmur of shocked surprise went through
the congregation; but every right hand was raised.
Recently, when Joseph F. Smith, present ruler, was
crowding the hierarchy with his sons in order to
give each of his many wives a representation one of
the congregation muttered, " Too much Smith ! "
Near neighbours in the tabernacle tittered their ap-
proval. And then mutterers and titterers raised their
right hands to " sustain/*
Symonds remarks that the Jesuits seem to have dis-
covered the precise point to which intellectual culture
can be carried without intellectual emancipation. One
might say with yet more truth that the Mormon
church had learned the precise point to which the ap-
pearance of popular government can be carried with-
out the reality.
XXII
THE STATE OF " DESERET "
a T T o W quiet, how still, how free from excite-
I I ment we live ! " \vrote Parley P. Pratt In
--- a private letter of September, 1848. " The
legislature of our high council, the decision of some
judge of court of the church, a meeting, a dance, a
visit, an exploring tour, the arrival of a party of trap-
pers and traders, a Mexican caravan, a party arrived
from the Pacific, from the States, from Fort Bridger,
a visit of Indians, or perhaps a mail from the distant
world, once or twice a year, is all that breaks the
monotony of our busy and peaceful life. . . . Here,
too, we are all rich there is no real poverty; all men
have access to the soil, the pasture, the timber, the
water-power, and all the elements of wealth, without
money and without price."
Parley was trying to be poetic when he penned these
lines; and such efforts on his part always were dis-
astrous to language or to facts. In this case, both
suffer a little; but the author manages to convey one
important bit of information. The church authorities
were courts, legislatures, and executive council in the
early days of the colony; and they were these things
without disguise; that is, they did not put on civil
titles when they assumed to perform civil func-
tions.
At first those functions were not very important.
A few persons who violated the rather hazy church
212
THE STATE OF " DESERET " $.13
code of decorum were "severely reprimanded/' and
two or three more serious offenders were publicly
whipped. " President Young," says George Q. Can-
non, " was decidedly opposed to whipping, but matters
arose which we considered required punishment at the
time." There being no jail, the most natural substi-
tute for this emblem of civilization was the whipping-
post.
In March, 1849, the church began to put on the
disguise of civil government. A convention was held,
a constitution adopted, and a governor and judges of
the " state of Deseret " were elected by unanimous
vote of all " citizens "of the alleged commonwealth.
The omission of a legislature is significant. The
Mormons were seeking, not a government, which they
had, but a means of getting that government recog-
nized by the republic they had tried to escape. Some-
what later in the spring, a legislature was chosen. It
met July 2, 1849, and adopted a memorial to Con-
gress. The interval between March and July had not
been wholly barren of reflection, and the church lead-
ers appreciated the fact that their population was a
bit small to aspire to the dignity of statehood. There-
fore, the memorial asked Congress either to admit
" Deseret " as a state, or to grant " such other form
of civil government as your wisdom and magnanimity
may award/' Almon W. Babbitt was chosen to carry
this message to Washington, and to represent the
new commonwealth so far as he might be allowed
to do.
Nothing more is heard of the " Deseret legislature "
until January, 1850; but if one may be permitted to
paraphrase, " had it stayed for weeks away, the people
ne'er had missed it/* The gold rush that passed
214 BRIGHAM YOUNG
through the Salt Lake valley in 1849, found a fully
organized government, and one which was keenly
alive to its new opportunities. Without troubling to
call any sort of legislative assembly, and taking no
account of the provision of the federal constitution
which forbids the levying of tariffs inside the national
boundary line, Brigham and his church associates im-
posed a two per cent duty on all property sold in Salt
Lake City by gold-seekers, and on all property which
remained in the valley during the winter. Evidence
is pretty strong that they imposed this tax likewise
on the property of many emigrants who were merely
passing through; but this the Mormons deny. The
point need not be pressed. No trifle like that would
add anything to Brigham's calm assumption of in-
dependent and imperial authority.
The memorial to Congress was presented in the
Senate December 27, 1849, by no less a person than
Stephen A. Douglas, who had befriended the Mor-
mons on several occasions during their experiences in
Illinois. He had no leaning toward their religious
principles or political habits; but he was too intelli-
gent a man, in most ways too just a man, not to re-
sent the injustice of the mob that attacked them. It
is natural, however, to feel a vested right in one who
has done us a kindness; and to this day, Mormon
writers cannot forgive Stephen A. Douglas for re-
fusing to link his political fortunes absolutely and un-
hesitatingly with their own.
Four days later, on the last day of the year, a
counter-memorial was presented in the House of
Representatives by Mr. Underwood, a Whig from
Kentucky. This document was signed by William
Smith, brother of the murdered prophet, and thirteen
THE STATE OF " DESERET " 215
others. It protested against the admission of " Des-
eret," alleging that not only were the Mormons of
the Salt Lake valley practising polygamy, but that
they were actively disloyal to the Union. Going into
particulars, this second memorial stated that before
leaving Nauvoo, 1,500 exiles took the following oath
in the great temple :
" You do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty
God, His holy angels, and these witnesses, that you will
avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation, and
so teach your children; and that you will from this day
henceforth begin and carry out hostility against this na-
tion, and keep the same a profound secret, now and even
So help you God ! "
This is the first appearance of the famous oath of
blood vengeance which has troubled the Mormon
hierarchy from that day to this. It has been denied,
denounced, explained, ridiculed; cursed by bell, book,
and candle; but it still persists. It persists, because,
in substance, it is true. The present writers do not
vouch for the exact language of this vow of ven-
geance, nor for the number who repeated it in the
temple at Nauvoo. But that some such vendetta has
been handed down from 1844 even un ^o this day
does not admit of reasonable doubt. In 1906, the
committee on privileges and elections of the United
States Senate declared it proven that Apostle Reed
Smoot, then and now senator from Utah, had taken
a similar oath.
Indeed, such an oath would be no more than a
formal and emphatic statement of the attitude and
teachings of the Mormon hierarchy ever since the
216 BRIGHAM YOUNG
emigration to Utah. Brigham Young thought he had
found a place where, in ten years, he need " ask no
odds of the Gentiles/' Parley P. Pratt summoned
the powers of his awful muse to bear witness that
" Lo ! The Gentile chain is broken,
Freedom's banner waves on high ! "
Heber C. Kimball made boasting prophecy in the
heat of the Civil war that the men of the North
and the South would kill each other, and that the
Saints could then go down from their holy mountains,
gather to their bosoms the war-widowed women of
the Gentiles, and breed up a new nation. Joseph F.
Smith, present president of the church, still speaks
of the American people as his " enemies/' and he
means enemies in a literal, physical sense. From the
beginning, all church leaders have claimed that the
theocracy established by Joseph Smith and continued
by Brigham Young and his successors, is the only
just and legitimate government on earth; and that
all other governments are illegal usurpations which
the Lord will overthrow to make room for the spread
of His Saints and their dominion.
It would be all but impossible for a hierarchy to
cherish and proclaim such sentiments through seventy
eventful years without putting them in some such
form as the often quoted vow of vengeance. Such
a vow might be deduced from events without
any direct evidence and the direct evidence is
abundant.
At that time, however, nothing but the slavery issue
had any real or lasting importance at Washington.
After divers parliamentary moves and delays, the
THE STATE OF " DESERET 217
Mormons got a part of what they wanted. A bill
creating the territory of Utah was signed September
9, 1850. The boundaries of the new commonwealth,
while somewhat more modest than those proposed for
"Deseret," were still sufficiently liberal. Utah as
organized included everything from Oregon to New
Mexico, and from the crest of the Rockies to the
crest of the Sierra Nevadas. More important than
the extent of the new territory was the personnel of
its government. Here the Mormons were favoured
by fortune to a degree which they may be pardoned
for believing miraculous. If there be a miracle in
the matter, however, it is the oft-recurring miracle
of duplicity which a naturally honest man can display
in behalf of a chosen creed.
Colonel Thomas L. Kane belonged to one of the old-
est and most upright families of Philadelphia. He
was a man of independent means, chivalrous temper,
enthusiastic mind. He was a born champion of the
under-dog; and he was quite unable to see that the
under-dog sometimes deserves his position. He had
been a friend of the Mormons for years. He had
denounced, and justly, the brutality with which they
were driven from Nauvoo. He had shared their
tents at Winter Quarters, suffered there from the
fever which was decimating their ranks, acted as their
confidential friend and adviser. There is reason to
believe that he joined the Mormon church during his
stay on the Missouri; but if so, his conversion was
not made public. Doubtless it was seen that he could
be more useful to the Saints in the character of a
sympathetic friend than in that of an adherent. He
came forward now as a friend, and succeeded in
convincing President Fillmore that the Mormons were
218 BRIGHAM YOUNG
a patriotic and much-maligned people, who could be
trusted with absolute control of the territory they had
settled. He denounced as false the stories of Mor-
mon polygamy, vouched personally for the character,
attainments, and "patriotism and devotion to the
Union" of Brigham Young. As an amazing result
of Kane's skill in diplomacy, four of the seven terri-
torial officers appointed by President Fillrnore were
Mormons; and at their head was Brigham Young as
governor, commander of the militia, and superintend-
ent of Indian affairs!
These appointments caused some pleasure when
reported in Utah, but no gratitude save perhaps to
Colonel Kane. The Mormons held themselves a
peculiar and exalted people; they believed in their sole
and perpetual right to rule as Mormons over the re-
gion they had been first to settle; and instead of being
thankful that so many of their people had received
the recognition of federal appointment, they rather
resented the notion that any Gentiles should be sent
into their happy valley. Also, there were some mat-
ters which Brigham wished to get settled and out of
the way before an unsympathetic judge, or secretary,
should arrive to scan with hostile eye the perquisites
of the Lord's anointed. In December, 1850, the still
existing " legislature of the state of Deseret " passed
an ordinance "providing that Brigham Young had
sole control of City creek and canon; and that he
pay into the public treasury the sum of five hundred
dollars therefor." The Dutchmen who bought Man-
hattan Island of the Indians for $14 did not get a
much better bargain in their generation than Brig-
ham did in thus gaining this creek and gorge.
This ordinance was signed December 9 by Brig-
THE STATE OF " DESERET " 219
ham, of course. The same day he signed a grant
conveying to Apostle Ezra T. Benson the waters of
some springs in the Tooele valley. Three weeks later,
Heber C. Kimball got the waters of a couple of
canons, though his grant was limited to the use of
water for power purposes. Willard Richards got
North Cottonwood canon. George A. Smith and
Ezra T. Benson got sizable grants of timber in the
mountains. The Lord's chosen were setting their
house in order against the coming of the Philistines;
and the equal access to natural resources which Par-
ley P. Pratt had boasted was becoming a " dim re-
membered story of the old-time entombed." When
the territorial legislature met in the early fall of 1851,
it needed only to pass an innocent-seeming act vali-
dating the " ordinances " of its predecessors. We
have heard much these latter days about dummy
entrymen, but a dummy legislature makes entrymen
needless.
Brigham was sworn in as territorial governor
February 3, 1851; the oath being witnessed by Daniel
EL Wells, " Chief Justice, Deseret." On March 28,
the " Deseret legislature " passed a resolution accept-
ing the territorial government created by Congress,
and fixing April 5 as the date of their final adjourn-
ment. A few days before this legislature was dis-
solved, a census was completed, which credited Utah
with possessing 11,354 inhabitants. It is an eloquent
commentary on arguments about the necessity and
righteousness of polygamy that even the Mormon
census-taker found nearly 700 more males than fe-
males in the territory.
The census being finished, Governor Young called
an election to choose a legislature and a delegate to
220 BRIGKAM YOUNG
Congress. The fact that only 1,259 votes were cast at
this election seems to show that the census-taker had
not overlooked any citizens. Dr. John M. Bernhisel,
a native of Pennsylvania, was elected delegate to Con-
gress by a unanimous vote, and twenty-four of the
twenty-five members of the legislature were selected
by the same sweet accord. Truly, the bickering and
strife which characterize political contests in less
favoured lands were far removed from the happy
valley of Salt Lake.
A teapot tempest was on the way toward that val-
ley, however, that was destined to upset the tempers
and perhaps the digestions of many good Saints. The
president had appointed only three Gentiles to terri-
torial office. One of these was territorial secretary,
and the other two were justices of the supreme court.
The chief justice and secretary arrived in Utah the
early part of July. The Gentile associate justice,
Perry E. Brocchus, did not arrive till some time in
August. None of the three officials found Utah to
their liking. This, perhaps, was natural enough; but
it is idle and unfair to lay all the blame for the en-
suing difficulty on Brigham and the Mormons.
Judge Brocchus was invited to speak at the general
conference held September 7. He had been in the
territory where he was expected to administer justice
rather Jess, than a month. He could have only the
most superficial knowledge of its population and its
problems. He was justly offended and indignant at
the theocratic despotism which even that short sojourn
enabled him to see, and at the open disloyalty of many
of the church leaders. Probably he was honestly in-
dignant, likewise, at the practice of polygamy. But
he had not hesitated to accept the services of these dis-
THE STATE OF DESERET "
loyal and polygamous men In an effort to get an in-
crease of salary; and the most common courtesy
would seem to demand that such censures as he felt
it necessary to pass on the people among whom he
moved as a judge should be made at a meeting as-
sembled for that specific purpose, and should be
guarded in the most careful manner from needless
offensiveness.
Even in that cheap time, however, it was not easy
to employ courtesy, cool-headedness, and ability to
meet a crisis for ~$i, 800 per year the salary of a
territorial judge. Certainly no such bargain had been
secured in Perry E. Brocchus. The reports of
speeches at that notable meeting are not very reliable,
since the best of them were committed to paper some
days or weeks after the event. But it is fairly
certain that after criticising Young sharply for
uncomplimentary remarks about General Zachary
Taylor, Judge Brocchus used words substantially as
follows :
" I have a commission from the Washington Monu-
ment Association to ask of you a block of marble, as
a test of your citizenship and loyalty to the govern-
ment of the United States. But in order for you to
do it acceptably, you must become virtuous, and teach
your daughters to become virtuous, or your offering
had better remain in the bosom of your native moun-
tains."
The bitterest opponent of polygamy to-day would
not if he retained any sense of propriety imply
that women who entered polygamy from sincere con-
viction that it was a direct command of God, were a
whit less virtuous than those in monogamous homes.
If Brocchus used these words and it seems certain
BRIGHAM YOUNG
that they do not greatly misrepresent him he had no
right to be surprised at the hisses of his audience.
But the bad taste of Brocchus' remarks was quite over-
shadowed by the violence of Brigham's reply. " Are
you a judge/' he roared at Brocchus, " and can't even
talk like a lawyer or a politician, and haven't read an
American school history? Be ashamed, you illiterate
ranter, not to know your Washington better than to
praise him for being a mere brutal warrior. George
Washington was called first in war; but he was first
in peace, and first in the hearts of his- countrymen.
... Of course he could fight. But Lord! what man
can't? ... I can handle a sword as well as George
Washington. I would be ashamed to say I couldn't.
But you, standing there, white and shaking now at the
hornet's nest you have stirred up yourself you are
a coward, and that is why you have cause to praise
men that are not (cowards), and why you praise old
Zachary Taylor. ... If you or any one else is such
a baby-calf, we must sugar your soap to coax you
to wash yourself Saturday nights! Go home tQ
your mammy straight away, and the sooner the
better!"
The literature of abuse will be searched a long
time for a mate to this tirade, especially when we
bear in mind that it was said in a church assemblage
by the governor of the territory to his fellow ap-
pointee, as associate justice of the same common-
wealth. A correspondence followed between the two
men, marked by a stubborn boldness, which one can-
not help but admire, on Brocchus' part; and by in-
tentional gasconading on Brigham's. Brocchus in a
private letter expressed doubts of ever coming out of
the Salt Lake valley alive. There was better ground for
BRIGHAM YOUNG ABOUT 1865
THE STATE OF " DESERET "
his apprehensions than he realized; but on September
28, 1851 only three weeks after the conference ad-
dress Brocchus and his two fellow Gentile territorial
officers left for Washington. They took with them
$24,000 which Congress had appropriated for the pay
and mileage of the Utah legislature.
XXIII
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF
THE " runaway officials," as the Mormons
love to style Judge Brocchus and his asso-
ciates, found cold comfort awaiting them at
Washington. The Mormon version of the story was
ahead of them. Colonel Kane, with his invaluable
and unblushing partisanship, had been called to the
aid of his distressed friends, or co-religionists; and
the retreating officials were not of a calibre to cope
with his smooth falsehoods. Their report of the des-
potism they found in the distant valley was no less
incredible for being true. They laboured besides under
the odium of having quit the fight; and there are no
people more unthinkingly, instinctively intolerant of
failure, or retreat, than those of America. After a
season of unprofitable discussion, the three Gentile
officers received a curt order to resume their posts or
resign. They wisely chose the latter alternative, and
others were appointed to their place.
It is plain from the letter he wrote to President
Fillmore that Young was very uneasy over the situa-
tion for a time. Doubtless he wished he had been less
violent in denouncing Brocchus but having taken the
plunge, it was not in his nature to draw back. He
soon saw that drawing back was needless. Fate had
given him the inestimable advantage of an unearned
victory in the first clash between the new kingdom of
the Saints and the government of the United States;
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF
and Brigham made the most of it. In the remotest
hamlet where two or three Latter Day Saints were
gathered together was told the story of how Brigham,
" The Lion of the Lord/' had defied the power of the
United States, and driven an unjust judge from Zion.
When real peril approached, a few years later, the
memory of this initial triumph was an inspiration to
Mormon courage and endurance.
The new judges and secretary were not appointed
until August, 1852. They served without any fric-
tion with the Mormon population, and two of them
died in office. By an odd coincidence, the month of
their appointment was likewise the month when the
doctrine most closely identified with Mormonism in
the public mind was proclaimed to the world.
We have seen that Mormon polygamy began in
clandestine fashion in the early days at Nauvoo if
indeed it did not date from Kirtland. Joseph Smith
first taught the doctrine to a select few of his follow-
ers; then growing bolder, he issued his revelation
establishing polygamy as the crown and capstone of
his marriage system. As noted before, that revela-
tion bears witness that Joseph had anticipated precept
by performance; he had taken plural wives before
writing down the heavenly mandate authorizing him
to do so. Verse fifty-two of that revelation reads:
"And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all
those THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN unto my serv-
ant Joseph/' This phrase could be used only to refer
to polygamous marriages already accomplished.
How large a harem Joseph collected before his
death is uncertain; but six of his widows were after-
wards married to Brigham Young alone. The mur-
der of Joseph was a direct result, in part, of his ef-
BRIGHAM YOUNG
forts to secure as his " spiritual wives " women who
were already married to members of his church. Be-
fore his death, polygamy had become so ingrained in
Mormon faith and practice that of the four branches
into which the church divided after that catastrophe,
three believed and exemplified the doctrine of plural
marriage.
The " Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter Day Saints," with headquarters in Missouri, alone
has always maintained that Joseph Smith had nothing
to do with polygamy, and has laid the blame for the
doctrine on other persons, particularly on Brigham
Young. This piece of religious casuistry is too absurd
to call for extended refutation; but though Brigham
did not invent polygamy, he was an early and en-
thusiastic convert to it He had 'five or six wives
at the time of Joseph's death. He had sixteen or
seventeen at the expulsion from Nauvoo; and per-
haps twenty at the first settlement of the Salt Lake
valley. The faithful had followed his example. In
1852, probably there was not an Apostle whose death
would not have widowed from six to twenty good
women. The most casual visitor to Salt Lake knew
of polygamy. Yet officially the doctrine and practice
remained a secret; and multifariously married mis-
sionaries did not scruple to declare, with uplifted
hands and tearful voices, that the charge of polygamy
was a base and cruel slander on the Lord's long-
suffering Saints.
In 1852, however, Brigham determined on a change
of policy. He saw that the pretence of secrecy had
become too threadbare to be worth mending. On
August 29, 1852, Orson Pratt ascended the pulpit at
& conference, and formally proclaimed the gospel of
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF 227
plural marriage. Apparently, Brigham had consulted
no one in deciding on the new course, for Pratt de-
clared that the order to speak on this subject came
to him as a surprise. The revelation given to Joseph
the Seer at Nauvoo was read and expounded, the Mor-
mon doctrine of marriage, with polygamy as Its
crowning feature, was uncovered to the world. It
has had at least a due share of the world's attention
ever since.
The new proclamation caused little surprise among
the faithful, and aroused no resistance. It was merely
a public announcement of a well-known fact. Persons
who could be driven from the church by this doctrine
were already gone. During the regime of real and
pretended secrecy, polygamy had so permeated Mor-
mon society that then, as now, there was no way in
which that society, by its own strength, could rid It-
self of the custom.
It must not be thought from this remark that the
Mormon church-state of 1852 had any wish to be
rid of polygamy. The church accepted the doctrine
of plural marriage, not merely with submission, but
with enthusiasm. The whole body of Mormon the-
ology had been shaped to converge on this point with
a force which only flat disbelief could resist. To re-
cur once more to a point which cannot be over-
emphasized, Mormonisrn Is ancestor worship. Ac-
cording to that gospel, each person owes reverence
and obedience to his progenitors, and is entitled to
exact the same from his descendants. Each man is
a god unto the fruit of his loins; and the number of
his offspring is the measure of his godship. Brig-
ham once declared that the only God whom mankind
need worship, or consider, was their first father,
BRIGHAM YOUNG
Adam. This bold statement startled even the faith-
ful, and has been allowed to sink into the background;
but it remains the just and logical summing up of
Mormon theology.
The effect of such a doctrine, actively believed, is
to make every ambitious man a potential polygamist.
The appeal to women is less direct, but quite as ef-
fective. Women, in the Mormon scheme, can be
saved without marriage but it is a salvation scarcely
worth having. To be exalted, to reach any worthy
degree in the Grand Lodge which forms the Mormon
ideal of heaven, a woman must be a wife and mother.
She shines by the reflected light of her husband. If
he has but one wife and a paltry half-dozen offspring,
his radiance is dull, he is a hopeless plebeian in the
next world, and his wife shares his humble estate.
But if he be a polygamist, a man with many wives
and swarming children, he becomes an aristocrat of
the heavens, and his wives partake of his exaltation.
Nor is the religious appeal of polygamy confined
to selfish grounds. It speaks with the voice of phi-
lanthropy. The Mormons believe that countless spirits
are eagerly waiting to take upon themselves a taber-
nacle of flesh. They have risen in the chain of exist-
ence until they have come to the plane of physical
life. They can go no farther in the celestial progres-
sion till they pass the portals of earthly birth and
death. They are willing to accept illegitimacy, dis-
ease, or the stigma of an inferior race, rather than
not to be born at all. Polygamy, according to the
doctrine as preached to the Saints, is a sanctified
method for the emergence of these imprisoned spirits
into the life of this world. Viewed in the light of
this faith, marriage with a polygamist seemed a re-
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF
ligious duty to thousands of Mormon women; and
from the days of Nauvoo till now, there has been an
ever-sufficient supply of women ready to sacrifice
themselves on the altar of plural marriage.
The doctrine did not confine itself to religious argu-
ments. It has a whisper as well for the world and
the flesh. Polygamy, like despotism, represents the
unrestrained working of a single impulse or desire;
just as monogamy and democracy are the result of a
council of emotions and wills. In the Mormon king-
dom, as in older polygamous lands, social stratification
came to the aid of plural marriage. As a rule, the
polygamous families were the wealthy and highly
placed families; and the prestige of their social posi-
tion was transferred to their habits of marriage. And
finally, there was the singularity of the doctrine, and
the price that even then had been paid for it. The
Lord's chosen were already marked off from the Gen-
tiles, not only in faith, but in works.
Plural marriage in the Mormon kingdom never
reached the sordid plane of barter and sale which pre-
vails in most polygamous parts of the Old World.
Generally speaking, the polygamist woos his many
wives in much the same manner that the more modest
lover woos one. The Apostle has the advantage that
comes from experience, and he is able to bring religious
considerations to support his courting; but the essen-
tials of the process are usually much the same. From
the beginning, however, Mormon parents have had
more to say about the marriage of their children
especially about the marriage of their girls than
parents in any other English-speaking community.
There 'were many instances in which the first wife
said to the husband : " If your going into polygamy
230 BRIGHAM YOUNG
is essential to our exaltation, I consent, provided I
may choose the other wife." This was rather a com-
mon occurrence, and usually the husband accepted the
proposition. Wives then would propose to women for
their husbands. While this was not the rule, it oc-
curred frequently enough to be a large factor in the
workings of polygamy. It was a common practice,
too, for a man to marry two or even three sisters, on
the ground that they would be less likely to quarrel
than women from different families. Some doughty
elders, like Dionysius of Syracuse, did not hesitate
to be married to two wives at the same time. Besides
being something of a test of self-confidence, this like-
wise was a measure of peace, because neither could
claim precedence as the first wife.
The women involved in polygamy nearly always
became its staunchest defenders. They had accepted
it as a divine doctrine; and only by maintaining it as
such could they justify their choice. In a few cases,
doubt or despair caused women to break away from
the relation, but only in those marriages where a child
was yet lacking. When children came, the mother's
honour in the eyes of her offspring depended on the
truth and divinity of the doctrine of polygamy; and
she had no choice but to uphold it as the first and
most excellent law of God. For the same reason,
the plural wife, though secretly hating the practice,
was often driven into giving her daughter to be the
polygamous mate of an elder or Apostle. That
daughter had been born of a plural marriage. Either
the system was holy or the birth was illegitimate.
There were few women brave enough to meet the
Issue when presented in this form.
When the Manifesto of 1890 was issued, forbid-
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF 231
ding further practice of polygamy, it was the Mormon
women who were most pained and most resentful.
But here and there was one who saw deeper, beyond
the temporary disrupting of home ties to the peace
and confidence that lay ahead. One Apostle, whose
first wife was of this calibre, asked her what she
thought of it. Her answer was :
" Well, Edward, I've always thought that sometime
God would get as tired of polygamy as I am ! "
That woman was an exception, however. Even
now, when plural marriage has been renewed under
circumstances of secrecy and deceit that would ruin
the most righteous institution, Mormon women resent
the faintest challenge of polygamous faith or practice;
and they would perjure themselves before courts and
investigating committees to clear their husbands, even
at the cost of bastardizing their children.
There are still other ways of managing a polyg-
amous courtship. Men employed as teachers in co-
educational schools found their position singularly
helpful in collecting wives; and this is as true now
as in the days of Brigham. Men belonging to what
may be called the burgher class went about the matter
In a more economical manner but quite as effective
fashion. They strove to pick out good-looking im-
migrant girls for servants. If the young woman
were docile and industrious as well as pleasing in ap-
pearance, she soon graduated from the rank of house-
maid or dairymaid to that of wife. Her duties might
not be lightened, but her dignity and standing in the
community were increased; and if she "bore my
lord " a goodly company of sons, she might become
his favourite spouse. Indeed, so openly was immi-
gration used as a feeder for polygamy that Heber C
232 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Kimball, in an address to departing missionaries
August 28, 1852 the day before the public announce-
ment of polygamy used these words:
"You are sent out as shepherds to gather sheep to-
gether; and remember that they are not your sheep ; they
belong to Him that sends you. Then do not make a
choice of any of those sheep ; do not make any selections
before they are brought home and put in the fold. You
understand that.
Amen!"
The life of the average plural wife was not the
desolate, woe-begone existence which zealots and ro-
mancers have pictured it The standards of affection
were necessarily lower than in monogamy; but among
the wealthier classes, at least, standards of marital
comfort and consideration were high. Each wife of
one of the church dukes usually had her separate
establishment, to which she owned legal as well as
moral title. This, no doubt, was a concession due to
the influence of a monogamous ancestry; it is quite
different from the serfdom of women which prevails
in most polygamous countries. Rivalry among the
plural wives was usually generous. Each was anxious
that her children should be at least equal in attain-
ments and advantages to the children of any other
spouse, but the family bond was strong. The chil-
dren of one wife called each other wife of their
father, "Aunt" or " Aunty." If the only son were
called on a mission, one of his half-brothers would
assume the absent one's duties. For many years, one
of Brighani's wives acted as schoolmistress for all
the children of the family.
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF 233
In a polygamous society where child-bearing was
a duty, it was inevitable that later wives should be
younger than the first wife, and that the younger
should supersede the elder. When a wife of one of
the polygamous dukes passed her child-bearing days,
she graduated into a sort of dowager duchess. She
was her husband's friend, adviser, counsellor. Her
influence over him might be greater than that of any
younger charmer, but he lived in conjugal relations
with those who still might bring him children, and the
spouse of his own age was a wife in name, rather
than in fact.
This inevitably led to heartburnings and jealousy.
Even in families of the highest type, presided over
by men of uncommon kindliness, justice, and dignity,
the inevitable tendency of the younger wife to crowd
out the elder caused a world of trouble. Brighanfs
skill in the management of his household was pro-
verbial; yet on one occasion he publicly served notice
that his wives and those of the Apostles had until a
given date to stop their quarrelling and end their
jealousies; and that, failing submission to duty on
their part, he would divorce them all. With men of
coarser type, these evils were multiplied. Polygamy
showed at its worst in families of ignorant, ambitious
imitators of the church aristocracy; men who lacked
the financial ability to support a polygamous house-
hold, and the moral character to fit them for marriage
of any sort. Under such a husband, a polygamous
home was hell. Coarseness of speech and act, bru-
tality, tyranny, and privation formed the life of more
than one family; while the loutish lord and master
encouraged jealousy among his female chattels as a
means of insuring his own supremacy. Yet even in
234 BRIGHAM YOUNG
homes like this, the paternal despotism of the church
was a partial check on cruelty. Tyranny seldom took
the form of physical violence, and wife-murder was
practically unknown.
In polygamy, as everywhere, personal character
made its way. Strange as it may seem to those who
think of all polygamous husbands as ogres and all
polygamous wives as patient Griseldas, there was more
than one compound household in the Mormon king-
dom whose real ruler was a woman. It was uncom-
mon, to be sure; but it was not unknown. An amus-
ing incident illustrating this point may be cited here.
One of the prominent women of the church, whose
husband had been dead for several years, said to some
of her visiting relatives :
" 111 not stay here much longer. John has been
over on the other side quite a while, now, with a dozen
of his wives that went before him and I think it's
about time I went over, too, and took charge of
things!"
She went not long after; and if affairs on the
" other side " may be judged from occurrences on this,
she "took charge, " gently but completely.
The conscientious polygamous husband soon found
that the celestial system imposed duties as well as con-
ferred rights. Polygamy gratified the common mas-
culine desire to be head of a clan, and ministered to
that yet more universal feeling which Swedenborg
calls the " lust of varieties." But this last was sharply
circumscribed. The average polygamist of the old
days, at least was a continent man. Each wife was
supposed to be free from the conjugal embrace during
pregnancy, and in some cases during the nursing
period as well. His multiplication of wives gave the
POLYGAMY UNVEILS ITSELF 235
polygamist no license outside of the marriage relation.
One man well up in the councils of the church was
sent as a missionary to England. He spent several
3^ears there in successful proselyting before returning
to Utah. Twenty years afterward, a woman convert
came from England who, in a burst of confessional
zeal at receiving her endowments, told that this former
missionary had seduced her. The man was deprived
of all his dignities, was visited with the severest
humiliation, was excommunicated, and only read-
mitted in time to die in the bosom of the church.
This is an extreme case; and very likely the author-
ities had some other reason than outraged virtue which
impelled them to inflict so drastic a punishment for so
old an offence. But it may be said at once that
adultery was regarded as a serious offence in the early
days of the Mormon kingdom indeed, it is so re-
garded there now. Probably there was and is more
of it than would be found in a monogamous society
under similar control and discipline and in a similar
state of industrial development. There was far less
than is found in the alleged monogamic society of
many large cities. Except during the outburst of
fanaticism known as the " reformation/ 1 Mormon
husbands seldom seemed to apprehend unfaithfulness
on the part of their wives, and in the enormous ma-
jority of cases, their confidence was justified. Dur-
ing the first murder trial in Utah, Apostle George A.
Smith, counsel for the defence, announced as an " un-
written law " of Mormon society that the man who
seduced his neighbour's wife must die, and her near-
est relative must kill him. That savage code has not
often been invoked by those whose Apostle laid it
down.
836 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Brigham doubtless was the most married man of
his little empire; but no one at this day can say with
certainty how many wives Brigham had. Probably
he could not have told himself. There were women
sealed to him for time and eternity, with whom he
sustained marital relations. These numbered about
twenty-five. There were other women sealed to him
for eternity, some of whom he had never seen. Still
others were sealed to him for time, and to some de-
parted great one of history for a celestial spouse. All
were in some sense his wives; and according to the
interpretation that was uppermost in his mind for the
moment, he might answer with no intent to deceive
that he had twenty wives, or a hundred.
Brigham insisted on three qualifications in his
favoured lieutenants : obedience, energy, and plurality
of wives. With two or three exceptions, Brigham
never raised a man to favour who was not a polyg-
amist. The reason for this preference, especially in
the later days of his rule, is not far to seek. Once
a man was entrapped in polygamy, he had to be loyal
to the Mormon kingdom, for there alone could he
find countenance and protection from the vengeance
of the Gentiles. This is one of the policies of Brig-
ham which has endured unchanged to the present day.
The haphazard zealot speaks of polygamy as an insti-
tution which enslaves women. The student of Mor-
monisni knows polygamy to-day chiefly as a device
for the enslavement of men.
XXIV
STUDY OF POLYGAMY
POLYGAMY traverses the customs and ideals of
all European peoples for at least twenty-five
centuries. It is associated in the public mind
with sensuous Orientalism, or with that transplanted
Orientalism which rears its defiant head in America.
It shocks the moral sense of millions. It has been de-
nounced as a relic of barbarism, as legalized sensu-
ality, as the enslavement of a sex. Yet it keeps on
its clandestine way, defying or evading law and pub-
lic sentiment, celebrating its forbidden banns under
the very noses of judges and in the shadow of ortho-
dox churches. Probably there are more plural wives
in the Mormon kingdom to-day than at any previous
time in its history.
A doctrine which has proved immune to society's
cursing is at least worthy of society's study. That
study must take no account of prejudice, habit, or
sentiment. Good and bad are terms used to distin-
guish that which helps from that which hinders the
progress of the human race. All codes, all customs
must be tried at last by this standard; and polygamy
is no exception. If it can show itself helpful to man-
kind, polygamy will make its way despite laws and
anathemas. And unless an unprejudiced examina-
tion shows that polygamy tends to lower the standards
and retard the progress of humanity, any objection
to it is open to the suspicion of ignorance or preju-
237
238 BRIGHAM YOUNG
dice, and any effort to suppress it will be branded as
religious persecution.
Mormon apologists for polygamy claim for it four
points of superiority over monogamy. These are:
That polygamy tends to a more rapid increase of
population.
That polygamy gives the only chance of wife-
hood and honourable motherhood to millions of
women.
That polygamy prevents prostitution.
That polygamy secures better safeguards for
mother and child during pregnancy and the nursing
period.
The claim that polygamy tends to a more rapid in-
crease of population than monogamy is disproved by
the most casual acquaintance with history. Without
exception, countries which have shown a great and
steady growth of population for long periods are
monogamous countries. Monogamous Europe has
distanced North Africa and western Asia. Monog-
amous China is more populous and more stable in its
numbers than partially polygamous India. Monog-
amous Japan the exceptions to monogamy in the
Island Empire are hardly worth mentioning has been
Increasing in numbers while polygamous Turkey and
Persia have declined. These differences cannot be
laid to the superior civilization of countries where
population is mounting, and if they could, the asso-
ciation of a higher type of civilization with monog-
amous marriage would be sufficient.
Only once in the world's history has there been a
great and rapid increase of polygamous peoples, as
compared to those practising monogamy. This was
when the Saracens came out of their deserts to con-
STUDY OP POLYGAMY
quer and people the world. Even in this case, the
shifting balance was due to conquest, rather than to
growth. The women of Syria, Egypt, and northern
Africa were swept by hundreds of thousands into the
harems of the conquerors, and their children were
accounted Arabs and Moslems. In this case, polyg-
amy combined with successful war to change the blood,
language, and religion of vast regions. It exalted
Islam, and depressed Christendom. But there is
nothing to show that it added a single member to the
total population of the world.
Turning from the study of nations to that of in-
dividual cases, it is easy to see the fallacy in this first
of Mormon claims for plural marriage. The man of
many wives has more children than the man of one
wife. But as a shrewd observer noted long ago, the
increase of population depends on mothers; and the
average plural wife bears fewer children than her
monogamous sister. Brigham Young was a man of
amazing vigour. His wives were fine examples of
physical womanhood. A biography authorized by his
eldest son and by several of his widows credits him
with twenty-five wives. The list is incomplete; but
it will do for the purpose of this inquiry. Eleven of
those twenty-five women were childless. Six of them
bore one child each. One had two- children, one had
three, and the remaining six had four or more chil-
dren apiece. All told, the twenty-five wives had only
forty-four children. In a simple, healthy society,
where child-bearing was reckoned the first of duties,
is it thinkable that as many wives, each with a sep-
arate husband, would have borne so few children?
Similar households records are familiar to every
Student of Eastern history. Mohammed had eleven
240 BRIGHAM YOUNG
wives, and his line is extinct. Rameses Second was
perhaps the most married monarch of ancient times.
The census of his palace is not very authentic, but it
seems certain that he had more wives than children.
Theoretically, the procreative powers of a healthy
man seem almost limitless; practically, masculine
fertility is not very remarkable. Here and there is a
shining exception. Augustus the Strong had 365
children by no one knows how many mistresses. John
D. Lee, whom we shall meet again at Mountain Mead-
ows, had sixty-four children by eighteen wives, and
fifty-four of his offspring were living at the time of
his execution. Joseph F. Smith, present head of the
church, is more economical of potential motherhood
than almost any other polygamist on record; he has
forty-three children by six wives. But in practically
every case, it may be predicted that the woman who
becomes a plural wife will bear fewer children than
she would bear in monogamy.
The claim that polygamy is necessary to give every
woman her undoubted right to honourable motherhood
might be urged with some show of reason in England
or Scandinavia. Put forward in America, it is laugh-
able. The census of 1910 showed 2,692,288 more
males than females in the population of the United
States and 20,375 more males than females in Utah,
the heart of the Mormon empire. In the nation at
large, there are 106 males to every hundred females.
In Utah, there were 111.5 males to every hundred
females. If such a census indicates any change in
our present form of marriage, that change points to
polyandry, rather than to polygamy.
It has been said that the excess of males in this
country is due to immigration, and also that there is
STUDY OP POLYGAMY
no such excess among persons of marriageable age.
The first of these statements is only half true; the
second is not true at all. Detailed figures from the
census of 1910 are not available at this writing; but
in 1900, among the native whites of native parents
in the United States, there were 322,579 more men
than women between the ages of 20 and 45 years.
In point of fact, in all countries occupied by white
men, there is a considerable excess of male children
at birth. In England, 104.5 boys are born to every
100 girls. In France, the proportion is 105.5 to 100;
in Germany, about 106 to 100; and in Roumania, it
rises to 109 to 100. In all countries, to be sure, the
death-rate of males is higher than that of females; and
this fact, coupled with war, colonization, and emigra-
tion, has left a very slight excess of females over males
in most European countries. If this excess became
very marked, polygamy might perhaps be adopted as a
temporary expedient, as seems to have been the case
in Germany following the Thirty Years* War. But
the present disparity between the sexes is too slight
to warrant any proposal of change in marriage cus-
toms. It would cost less money and effort, to put the
matter on no more debatable ground, to provide for
an assisted emigration of women to lands where men
are in the majority.
The claim that polygamy prevents prostitution is
a typical case of reasoning from isolated facts. There
was no prostitution in Utah before the " Winter Mor-
mon" and the Gentile traveller came to the Happy
Valley; and Utah was polygamous. . Neither was
there any prostitution in the Boer republics until the
countrymen of Cecil Rhodes introduced it, along with
other evidences of progress; and the Boers were and
242 BRIGHAM YOUNG
are monogamous. A simple, undifferentiated society,
where there is little luxury and little want, and where
every one in the neighbourhood knows every one else,
seldom or never produces or supports any consider-
able extent of prostitution. Such societies often have
a high percentage of illegitimate births; but they are
free from commercialized vice.
It should be added that the polygamous elders of
"Utah thought it necessary to permit the introduction
of prostitution as a means of safeguarding their mul-
tiplied households from invading Gentiles.
Finally we come to the claim that polygamy guards
the rights and person of the pregnant and nursing
mother, and thus produces a better offspring than can
be expected of monogamy. Whatever advantages
there may be in abstinence from conjugal relations
during this period undoubtedly were secured to three
generations of Mormon children born in polygamy.
But it is not yet apparent that children thus " safe-
guarded" before their birth outstrip in either health
or intelligence the offspring of monogamous mar-
riages. Besides, the same rule of abstinence lias been
enforced among countless peoples where polygamy
did not prevail; and can be secured anywhere by edu-
cation, if the theory back of the rule is provably
sound. In spite of certain eloquent reformers and
zealous missionaries, few men are satyrs.
At the risk of interrupting the logical order of this
discussion, we would point out here that monogamy
has at least one valuable advantage. It gives a wife
the undivided care of her husband when she needs it
most The first experience in maternity is a beauti-
ful, a sacred, but usually an anxious time for a
woman. The nervous disturbances of her state are
STUDY OF POLYGAMY 243
considerable; and are magnified by the brooding mind
of the expectant mother. Then, if ever, she needs
the loving attention of a stronger and untroubled
mate. We believe there are few men of experience
who will say that their care would have been suffi-
cient if divided among a dozen or more wives.
The superior virtues claimed for polygamy by its
loudest champions do not exist. Even this brief and
we believe unbiassed examination has sufficed to dis-
pose of them all. But the zealot is not always the
wisest advocate; and polygamy may have virtues
which Mormon missionaries have failed to appreciate.
Casting about for such overlooked blessings, we may
ask whether polygamy would not be a help to natural
selection, or to that substitute for natural selection
known as eugenics.
Eugenics, as its foremost advocate has pointed out,
proceeds by two methods, the negative and the posi-
tive. Negative eugenics seeks merely to prevent the
marriage of the unfit. There is no evidence to show
that the number of men unfit to be fathers is greater
than the number of women unfit to be mothers;
though the causes of unfitness may differ in the two
sexes. Unless it can be shown that men show a far
higher percentage of unfitness for parenthood than
women, there is nothing in the theory of negative
eugenics to suggest a change in the present marriage
customs.
Positive eugenics seeks to encourage marriage and
child-bearing among the fit. If the breeding and rear-
ing of a child were as simple a matter as the breeding
and rearing of a colt, polygamy would score at once.
But it is not so simple. How would the proper sires
of the next generation be selected? Who would com-
244 BRIGHAM YOUNG
pel the marriageable hoi polloi who showed no de-
terring taint to stand back and give the supermen
supreme charge of propagation? The moment one
descends from theory to practice, one perceives the
absurdity of expecting to organize any system of
polygamy as a means of improving the human race.
One thing somewhat allied to improving the race
polygamy can do and has done. It is a potent aid to
assimilating a whole population to the ideals, lan-
guage, and in part to the race of the master caste.
The Arab conquest already cited is a case in point;
and the settlement of Utah is another. A little clique
of American sires dominated the entire mass of im-
migrants; and to-day, the names of those men are
the names of the master clans of Utah.
But is this power of polygamy one which society
needs in the ordinary and usual course of events; the
common course for which laws and customs are
shaped? Manifestly not. The public school is far
cheaper and less disruptive of present ideals than
polygamy; but the public school has done marvels in
assimilating immigrants. We may say with little fear
of contradiction that no country should tolerate the
coming of immigrants who need to be crossed with the
native stock to make good citizens. As for the help
of polygamy in assimilating a conquered people, mod-
ern sociology does not look with much favour on
violent conquests, or on crosses between sharply di-
vergent races. The one case where polygamy was
used on a large scale in this way brought a higher
people down to the standards of a lower. Arab civili-
zation in Syria and North Africa to-day is lower than
the Byzantine civilization of more "than twelve cen-
turies ago.
STUDY OF POLYGAMY 45
After so earnest and vain a search for good things
to say about polygamy, it is surely fair to set forth a
few criticisms. This is a terribly easy thing to do.
Polygamy tends to subordinate one sex to another.
This has been its effect in all lands where it has en-
dured for any considerable length of time as time
is counted in history; and this will be its effect wher-
ever it comes. Equality between the sexes is im-
possible when one man is deemed a sufficient mate
for six, ten, or thirty women. Mormon polygamy
had the splendid advantage of a clean start among
American people, where respect for women is perhaps
higher than anywhere else in the world; yet even
among the Mormons, the tendency of the system to
exalt one sex and depress the other was plain. Heber
C. Kimball used often to refer to his wives as his
" cows." Horace Greeley states that he never heard
a Mormon church dignitary quote the opinion of his
wife on any subject. The sermons in the Journal of
Discourses are filled with scolding advice to women
to modify their love for ornament, to busy themselves
in domestic industries, to be more economical in the
household. It seemed as if any man were thought
qualified to lecture any woman on any subject.
As polygamy depresses the standing of women, so
does it tend to prevent cordial companionship and deep
affection between the sexes. An incident which oc-
curred when Mormon polygamy was at its best will
illustrate this better than any amount of argument.
A family party was given at the country-place of an
Apostle who shall be called Jones. There was present
at this party another elder who may be known as
Smith, who seemed to be enjoying himself as much
as any one there. During general conversation, the
246 BRIGHAM YOUNG
fact was casually mentioned that one of Elder Smith's
wives had died the day before, and was to be buried
the next day. A monogamous Mormon present in
the company flamed up in wrath at Smith's presence
tinder such circumstances; but Mrs. Jones interposed.
" Never mind/' she said with sarcasm that quite
passed over the head of the offending elder. " When
a man has so many wives, he could not be expected
to let the death of one of them distract his attention
from anything so important as a party ! "
It is needless to dwell at length on further objec-
tions to polygamy, but a few may be cited in passing.
It tends to cause too early marriage, especially of
girls. Heber C. Kimball, gave it as his august de-
cision that girls should be married at the age of four-
teen and boys at least by the time they were fifteen
years old. Polygamy tends to the production of
strong family clans, whose ambitions and quarrels are
dangerous to the state. It tends to give an undue
proportion of the women of a community in marriage
to elderly men, and to men whose abilities are chiefly
of a financial order. Plural marriage is an expensive
luxury for any civilized husband; and men who have
had time to accumulate a store of this world's goods,
or who have a money-making disposition, will be much
more likely to acquire a well-filled harem than the
gallant youngsters whose adventurous idealism might
be so much more valuable to the world.
In this case, at least, the verdict of science coincides
with the verdict of instinct. Polygamy is exactly
what it was named in a political catch-phrase fifty
years ago. It is a relic of barbarism, or, at least, of
a lower order of civilization. In the Mormon king-
dom, polygamy is linked with a yet more vicious and
STUDY OF POLYGAMY 247
barbaric thing, the despotic rule of a political priest-
hood. If a plural marriage were good in itself
which it is not its alliance with theocracy would con-
demn it.
The harem is no more foreign to American ideals of
home than a prophet in politics is to American ideals
of liberty.
XXV
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG
FOR a season after the adventure of the run-
away officials and the open proclamation of
polygamy, there was peace in Brigham's king-
dom. The new judges were careful not to collide
with his imperial will, and took no notice of the now-
avowed practice of plural marriage. On his side,
Brigham was at some pains to be cordial and no
man could be more so when it suited his purpose.
He took no pains whatever to conceal his mastership
of Utah, and his intent to remain master. In a ser-
mon June 19, 1853, he said: " I am and will be gov-
ernor, and no power can hinder it, until the Lord
Almighty says : * Brigham, you need not be governor
any longer/ "
In a frontier community, however, peace seldom
lasts long enough to be monotonous; but the inter-
ruption did not come from the defied and outraged
federal authority. It came from a quarter where
Brigham had a right to look for quiet. He had pur-
sued a more uniformly conciliatory policy toward the
Indians than any frontier governor since the days of
William Penn; he was never tired of repeating that
it is cheaper to feed Indians than to fight them. Ifut
nothing could reconcile the Indians to the loss of their
scanty oases in the central deserts and the rapid de-
struction of game at the hands of white hunters; and
not even Brigham's despotism could make all of his
248
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 249
followers as careful of Indian feelings as himself. In
July, 1853, some Mormon settlers interfered to- stop
an Indian's beating of his squaw; and with an ardent
humanity characteristic of a certain class of reform-
ers, they inflicted fatal injuries on the Indian. The
brave thus cut off in his sins was a Ute belonging to
the band of Chief Walker, who was already on bad
terms with the whites, and hostilities followed with
deadly promptness. Walker's band took up arms,
harried the settlers of southern Utah, killed some
twenty persons, drove away cattle, burned houses,
destroyed crops, and otherwise enjoyed themselves.
In actual fighting, they had all the best of it & re-
sult not uncommon in border wars, though one care-
fully concealed by most histories. But the commis-
sariat of the red men was by no means equal to their
strategy. By the next spring, most of them were
ready to quit. Brigham had kept the olive branch
extended all through the trouble, and in May, 1854,
secured a meeting with Chief Walker which ended
hostilities.
Like Mark Tapley, the ecclesiastical government of
the Mormon kingdom came out strong in time of
trouble. At a council of bishops in August, 1853,
it jwas decided to enclose Salt Lake City with a wall,
like Zion of old. The work was begun but never
finished, the generous scale on which the city was
planned making a wall impossible to Mormon re-
sources. The church conference in October of the
same year took a more important decision, and or-
dered forth colonizing parties to strengthen the settle-
ments most exposed to Indian attack. The church
historian's account of this measure is well worth quot-
ing:
250 BRIGHAM YOUNG
"During the Mormon conference at Salt Lake City,
men and families were called to strengthen the settle-
ments north, south and east of Salt Lake Valley. Among
those sent on these missions were George A. Smith and
Erastus Snow, with fifty families to Iron county; Wil-
ford Woodruff and Ezra T. Benson with fifty families
to Tooele Valley, and Lyman Stevens and Reuben W.
Allred with fifty families for each of the Sanpete settle-
ments. Lorenzo Snow was directed to select another
fifty and go with them to Box Elder county, and Joseph
L. Heywood was to lead an equal number to Juab county.
Orson Hyde was given a mission to raise a company and
found a new settlement on Green River/' (Whitney,
" History of Utah," Vol. I, page 529.)
According to this record, three hundred families
left their homes to reinforce distant settlements, not
because they wanted to go, but because the church
that is to say, Brigham Young ordered them to go.
This despotic control excites no surprise in the breast
of the church historian, and stirs his ever dribbly pen
to no comment Like the colonists themselves, the
church writer accepts it as part of the natural order
of the universe that a good Mormon should go wher-
ever he is sent by his ecclesiastical superiors.
During the war with the Walker Utes, an emeute
occurred among the Pauvantes. Captain J. W. Gunni-
son of the United States Army was in Utah at that
time, exploring a route for a transcontinental railroad.
On the morning of October 26, 1853, Gunnison and
his party were attacked in their camp on the Sevier
river, and eight of the twelve, including Gunnison
himself, were killed.
This Incident belongs in a history of Brigham
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 251
Young, only because he has been accused of instigat-
ing the massacre. The present writers have given
proof of their readiness to hold Brigham to account
for his sins; but we cannot find a shred of evidence
to connect him with the murder of Gunnison. All
probabilities point the other way. Brigham had no
reason to wish for Gunnison's death, and many rea-
sons to wish him alive. The Saints had come to the
conclusion that Zion would grow faster with the help
of a railroad; and Gunnison was seeking out a route
for a railroad. He had always been on good terms
with the Mormons, and Brigham had troubles enough
without looking for war with the United States. We
have no hesitation in pronouncing Brigham wholly
innocent of this crime.
Yet it is easy to see how the charge came to be
made. Brigham's anxiety to be on good terms with
the Indians was itself a suspicious circumstance to
jaundiced eyes. Also, while he collected as much as
possible of Gunnison's effects from the Indians, he
made no immediate effort to punish the murderers;
and some who were finally brought to trial escaped
with petty sentences. The explanation is that Brig-
ham did not punish Indian murderers of his own peo-
ple, when to do so would have precipitated or con-
tinued a racial war. Rightly or wrongly, he took the
view that the Indian was a dangerous but easily man-
aged child, a creature whom no one should hold
strictly responsible, and from whom no white man
should take offence. Dignity, as the term is used by
war lords and their admirers, did not interest Brigham
when he was engaged with Indian affairs. Perhaps
Brigham was moved to this policy by a desire to enlist
Indian help in case of a quarrel with the federal gov-
252 BRIGHAM YOUNG
ernment; more likely it sprung from his abhorrence
of wasted effort, and his half -contemptuous, half -phil-
anthropic feeling for the Indians themselves. In
either case, his handling of the Gunnison affair was a
piece of his whole Indian policy.
Early in 1855, Brigham was reappointed territorial
governor of Utah; not, however, until President
Pierce had tried to secure a Gentile for that position.
In December, 1854, the president offered the place to
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe, then in Salt Lake City
on his way to California with a detachment of about
two hundred soldiers. Colonel Steptoe declined the
offer and signed a petition asking that Brigham be
confirmed in his position for another term. For an
army officer sojourning a few months in a given spot
to take part in territorial politics is almost as uncom-
mon as for a good American to refuse an office.
There is a circumstantial story to account for this
double strangeness. According to this story, Colonel
Steptoe wished to accept the governorship; but Brig-
ham laid a trap, caught the gallant colonel in a com-
promising position with a couple of ladies, and soon
convinced him that ruling Utah was no job for an
amorous soldier. In the nature of things, such a story
is incapable of exact proof. But it was believed by
most well-informed persons in Utah at that time, and
has been handed down since as a characteristic tale
of the " Lion of the Lord/' Our personal judgment is
that, in essentials, the story is true.
All this time the Mormon kingdom was growing;
more slowly, indeed, than Brigham and his counsellors
had hoped ; but more rapidly than they had any right
to expect. Part of the increase came from the natural
surplus of births over deaths. In a community with
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 25$
an unusual proportion of young and middle-aged per-
sons, all of whom believed that the way to magnify
their glory in heaven was to multiply their offspring
on earth, this surplus was large. Part consisted of
converts from the eastern and southern states. But
mostly the new blocks in Zion's wall were brought
from Europe, and especially from Great Britain the
quarry opened by Brigham himself, when he went
forth from Nauvoo.
It is the fashion of Gentile writers to sneer at the
Mormon converts as belonging to the " lower classes."
So they did. So did a certain group of fishermen
collected on the shores of Lake Tiberias nineteen cen-
turies ago. The slur has this much of justice, that
few persons of education, few persons even who had
what may be called the educational habit of mind,
were gathered in by the zealous missionaries of the
Mormon Zion. But neither did these missionaries
appeal to paupers, criminals, or ne'er-do-wells. They
wanted sturdy farmers, skilled mechanics, faithful
labourers and these they secured; and with them,
occasionally a family or an individual of high worldly
standard. Charles Dickens, who visited a shipload
of Mormon emigrants on the eve of their departure,
pronounced them the cream of England, of their class.
With all due allowance for Dickens's tendency to ex-
aggerate, this is high praise. The success of the
British mission may be judged from the fact that from
1849 to X 855, inclusive, 16,537 persons sailed from
Liverpool to join the Saints. About one thousand of
this number were Scandinavians and Germans who
came by way of England.
The method of handling the emigrants was excel-
lent throughout. They were sent in solid cargoes,
254 BRIGHAM YOUNG
instead of being shipped indiscriminately with other
passengers for the New World. The Mormon agent
at Liverpool would wait until assured of a load of
Saints and then charter a ship for them. On board,
the passengers were under the care and likewise
under the control of two or three church dignitaries
who had crossed the ocean before, and who main-
tained order and stimulated religious enthusiasm. If
the passengers came by way of New Orleans, another
experienced man attended to getting their river trans-
portation; and usually, teams and supplies were en-
gaged for them at the point where their journey across
the plains began.
Nor did this care cease when they reached their
destination. Instead of being allowed to huddle in
Salt Lake City and shift for themselves as best they
could, the newly arrived Saints were taken in hand
at once. When word came that a band of immigrants
was expected, the Mormon leaders came to Emigra-
tion Square, or the Tithing Yard, to do their part in
distributing the new arrivals where they would do
themselves and the community most good. Work was
found for all; and nearly all were helped to become
landholders. The precise nature of land allotments
varied from time to time, but the insistence on land-
owning was almost religious in its intensity.
Without doubt, some of the new arrivals were un-
justly treated; and in such case, the poorest ones suf-
fered most, as is the unfortunate rule of the ages.
Those indebted to the Perpetual Emigration Fund
were required to pay back their obligations as soon
as possible; either in cash or more commonly in
labour. Wages paid these new immigrants were not
always up to the standard of the new land. Polyg-
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 55
amous elders, of course, haunted the arriving immi-
grant trains, looking for likely spouses. But from
1852, onward, there was at least no deceit in the mat-
ter, and no one came from Europe to Salt Lake City
without having some notion that he or she was turn-
ing from a monogamous country to one where plural
marriage was customary. Polygamy does not square
with our ideals ; and peonage, even in its mildest form,
is an abhorrent thing; but truth compels the state-
ment that, with one conspicuous exception, Mormon
emigrants were watched more carefully en route, and
established in their new surroundings at far less cost
to themselves than is the case with immigrants arriv-
ing at Ellis Island to-day.
That exception came at the close of the year 1856,
a year filled with hardships and calamities. Grass-
hoppers had inflicted much damage on the crops in
1854, and in 1855, there was almost complete crop
failure. To make matters worse, winter set in early
and hard that year, with unusually deep snows, bury-
ing the pasturage, and starving the cattle. Lulled to
security by several good harvests, the Mormons had
disregarded Brigham's repeated warnings and had laid
up little store against disaster. Now, disaster was at
hand, and the absence of railway communication put
the whole settlement face to face with famine.
In this emergency, as always in times of bitter trial,
the half-military and wholly ecclesiastical organiza-
tion of Morrnonism showed at its best. Some little
grain was on hand in the tithing-house, and Brigham
and a few of his Apostles had well-filled bins. They
shared their store with the community. Such as had
money were required to pay for their supplies; but
those who had no money did not starve. A letter
256 BRIGHAM YOUNG
from Heber Kimball to his son in England gives a
picture of the situation:
" I have "been under the necessity of rationing my fam-
ily, and also yours, to two-thirds of a pound of bread-
stuff per day each; as the last week is up to-day, we
shall commence on half a pound each. Brother Brigham
told me to-day that he had put his family on half a pound
each. We do this for the purpose of feeding hundreds
that have none.
" My family at this time consists of about one hundred
souls, and I suppose I feed about as many as one hundred
besides. ... I had about seven thousand bushels of
wheat, and it is now reduced to about one hundred and
twenty-five bushels. . . . Heber has been to the mill
to-day, and has brought some unbolted flour . . . We
have some meat, and perhaps seventy bushels of potatoes,
also a very few beets and carrots, so you can judge
whether or not we can get through till harvest without
digging roots."
With a community in these straits, it was obviously
impossible to carry out the church's plan of immigra-
tion on the scale and in the manner desired. Neither
could Brigham bring himself to stop immigration for
a year, and wait until the settlement was in better
shape. As a compromise measure, he wrote that he
was " thrown back upon my old plan "of providing
hand-carts and letting the immigrants walk across the
plains from the outfitting point in Iowa to Salt Lake
City.
The mere mention of such a march would halt any
purely economic emigration, always excepting one that
was headed for a gold-field But it did not stop the
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 257
gathering of the British Saints to their mountain
Zion. On the contrary, it offered a chance to some of
the poorer but thrifty converts, who did not wish to
obligate themselves to the Perpetual Emigration Fund.
Nearly two thousand persons sailed from England,
prepared to undertake a tramp of twelve hundred
miles, pushing their supplies before them on hand-
carts.
Iowa City was then the outfitting point for Mor-
mon emigration across the plains; and trouble began
at the very start The hand-carts were not ready.
The delay thus caused made little difference to the
earlier companies, but it counted terribly to those who
came later. When the carts were ready, they were
made of green timber, and kept breaking down on the
journey.
The first two companies left Iowa City on the pth
and nth of June, 1856, and arrived at Florence, the
old Winter Quarters, July 17. Both at Iowa City
and Florence they were warned not to go on; but in
spite of these discouragements, they persisted, and
reached Salt Lake City September 26. They were
met in Emigration canon by a band and a military
company, -escorting the church dignitaries, and con-
ducted into the city like conquering heroes. On
October 2, the third company arrived, which had left
Iowa City June 23. These bands had experienced
little suffering though much hardship, and the hand-
cart route to Zion seemed a success.
Two other companies, however, were still on the
way, and winter was closing in. The foremost of
these, commanded by James G. Willie, had left Iowa
City July 15 and did not reach Florence until August
Ii. After a week to refit, Willie started on August
258 BRIGHAM YOUNG
1 8, in spite of repeated warnings that winter would
catch him on the mountain passes. Still later,
August 22, the last company, under command of
Edward Martin, arrived at Florence, and, after a
briefer stay, straggled westward from the 25th to
the 27th.
The march of these last companies was a long-
drawn tragedy. At first, their troubles were the
minor ones of hard work and short rations. Willie's
company allowed ten ounces of flour per day per
adult, and four ounces to children under eight years,
in the march from Iowa City to Florence. In addi-
tion there was an irregular distribution of tiny
quantities of rice and bacon. When they left Florence,
this ration was at first increased to a pound of flour
per day per adult, with a corresponding increase for
the children; but other troubles were not long in show-
ing themselves. The carts were made with wooden
hubs, which the dry dust and sand of the farther
prairies cut and roughened. No axle grease had been
provided, and part of the precious bacon had to be
used to grease the wheels. One wagon to draw
heavier supplies was allotted to each hundred persons;
but a stampede cost the company many of their oxen,
and each cart had to be loaded with a ninety-eight
pound sack of flour. When they reached the higher
altitudes, winter was close at hand. Wading icy
streams on the march by day and- -sleeping with in-
sufficient shelter at night, the underfed cart pullers
began to droop and then to die. The Sweetwater
took toll of them as in some form it had taken toll
of nearly every Mormon party; and at last it came
to be thought a strange thing if they left a camping-
place without stopping to bury one of their number,
THE KING CAN ADMIT NO WRONG 259
There was no lack of devotion and courage. " Many
a father/ 3 says one of the men who made that march,
" pulled his cart with his little children upo'n it until
the day before his death." But neither courage nor
religious zeal can long take the place of food.
At last, just when their condition was desperate,
came help. Some returning missionaries had passed
them on the way, and carried word of their plight to
Salt Lake City. Seeing that the situation was serious
though little guessing how serious Brigham sent
a party post-haste with provisions and blankets to
meet the hand-carts. Encountering a storm, and not
realizing the desperate need of the emigrants, the re-
lief party camped to await better weather. There it
was found by Captain Willie. His starving company
were too weak to pull a cart, and he had left them in
camp and come on in search of help. The relief party
pushed on at once through the storm. Had it been
delayed much longer, few of that hand-cart migration
would have been found alive.
Four hundred persons set out from Florence with
Captain Willie for this march across the plains. Of
these, sixty-seven died en route, and several others
died after reaching Salt Lake City. Martin's com-
pany, following still later, fared even worse, though
reliable figures for losses of this party are lacking.
Even after relief reached them, both parties had a
long and bitter journey, a journey that the coddled
traveller to-day would shudder to think of. Willie's
company reached Salt Lake City November 9, 1856.
Martin's people were straggling in through the snow
till the middle of December. On the 26th of Novem-
ber, in the camp in Echo Canon, one of the women in
Martin's company gave birth to a child. In spite of
260 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the frightful hardships of the preceding month, both
mother and child survived.
It was characteristic of Brigham to take prompt
measures for relieving the distressed immigrants. We
regret to add that it was also characteristic of him to
take equally prompt measures to relieve himself of
blame for the disaster. Perhaps we should say that
it was characteristic of his position; the king espe-
cially if he be a priest-king can acknowledge no
wrong. Every wise prince provides himself with a
stock of scapegoats, and Brigham was no exception.
In this case, he picked out Franklin D* Richards, the
Apostle in charge of the British mission at the time
the hand-cart emigrants set sail, and blamed Richards
for letting them start too late.
Brigham's course in this respect was bitterly unjust.
He and no other devised the hand-cart project; he and
no other must bear the blame of its partial but terribly
costly failure. In spite of his experience, he under-
rated all the difficulties of such an emigration, and
neglected to make proper provision even for the diffi-
culties which he recognized. Frederick the Great ran
away from Mollwitz; Lincoln put seven useless
"heres" into his matchless Gettysburg address; and
Brigham would have been better advised to join
genius in making blunders rather than to join medioc-
rity in disavowing them.
XXVI
BLOOD ATONEMENT
THE year 1856 was a bad period for the ma-
terial interests of the Mormon kingdom. It
'was yet more disastrous in a moral sense; for
1856-57 saw the culmination of a rising tide of fanat-
icism that long had been creeping on the land; a tide
that at its flood submerged not only reason but
common sense and common humanity. The stains
of that flood are on the walls of Zion, even unto this
day.
All theocracies, all governments managed by eccle-
siastical authority, have two unfailing characteristics.
They seek to make the legal code co-extensive with the
moral code; that is to say, they draw no distinction
between deeds which the fashion of their time and
place regards as sins, and other deeds which the world
for ages has agreed to regard as crimes. Next, how-
ever tolerant they may be of the opinions of neigh-
bours and visitors, they consider heresy among their
own people the most dangerous of offences, This,
indeed, is inevitable. Rebellion is something which no
government can countenance ; and when a government
is directly ordained and established by God, heresy
and rebellion become interchangeable terms. Jedediah
Grant was not an educated man nor a thoughtful one;
but his unblushing, unhesitating fanaticism gripped
this truth at once, and in a discourse in the Tabernacle
he declared:
261
262 BRIGHAM YOUNG
" I wish we were in a situation favourable to our doing
that which is justifiable before God, without any con-
taminating influence of Gentile amalgamation, laws, and
traditions, that the people of God might lay the ax to the
root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit might be hewn down. . . , Putting to death
the transgressor would exhibit the law of God, no
matter by whom it was done."
The start of the movement in the Mormon
kingdom known as the "reformation" was innocent
enough. It began as an effort on the part of Brigham
and his aids to check license and tighten the bands of
discipline. As the cheapest, easiest, most direct, and
likewise most humane method at hand, Brigham began
Ms hectoring sermons, lashing the brethren with the
rough edge of his tongue, jawing Zion into order. He
had a natural tendency to that sort of eloquence, and
it grew by exercise. Had he been among his equals,
had he even been subject to the restraints of neigh-
bouring Gentiles, he would have bridled his too effusive
tongue, and tamed it to civilized discourse. Living
in a little world of his own, a world in which he was
not only czar and pope, but well-nigh creator as well,
Brigham soon lost all measure of the speech proper to
one whose words were law unto his people.
Left to himself, Brigham's wrath had a way of
evaporating in words. His " bark was far worse
than his bite." He would rage at his congregation as
though they were all defaulters and horse-thieves; and
then, having stormed himself into a good humour, sit
down and begin courteous discourse with those he had
been berating. He had forgiven them for the tongue-
lashing he had just bestowed, and he thought it the
BLOOD ATONEMENT 263
height of uncharitableness for the recipients of the
castigation to be resentful.
Unfortunately, there were those at hand who were
ready to practise what Brigham was willing only to
preach. Foremost of these was Jedediah M. Grant,
whose portrait has been sketched in an earlier chapter.
Grant would have been a marked man in any com-
munity, and in a society where faith and zeal were
passports to promotion he was sure to rise to power.
Willard Richards, counsellor of Brigham and mem-
ber of the first presidency, died March n, 1854, and
Jedediah Grant shortly afterwards was appointed to
the vacant place.
Grant's sermon from which quotation was made was
preached the day after Willard Richards' death be-
fore Jedediah's formal promotion, but doubtless not
before he knew that promotion was coming. In the
same sermon, speaking, as in the former quotation, of
those who break their covenants, he said :
" Then what ought this meek people who keep the
commandments of God to do unto them (the covenant-
breakers) ? f Why/ says one, ' they ought to pray to the
Lord to kill them/ I want to know if you would wish
the Lord to cotrfce down and do all your dirty work ? . .
. . When a man prays for a thing, he ought to be
willing to perform it himself/'
In other words, the person who prays for the death
of a sinner ought to be willing to cut that sinner's
throat. Jedediah Grant had the fatal gift of con-
sistency which marks the born inquisitor.
This was March 12, 1854, A year before, Brigham
had crushed an incipient apostasy by a storming ser-
264 BRIGHAM YOUNG
mon, in which he threatened to " unsheath his bowie
knife, and conquer or die ! " This, however, was a
frank declaration of war, rather than the announce-
ment of a new law of persecution; and it was some
time before Jedediah Grant's ravings of blood had
company. October 6, 1855, Brigham made a tenta-
tive venture on this path. " Live on here, then, you
poor miserable curses, until the time of retribution,
when your heads will have to be severed from your
bodies. Just let the Lord Almighty say: Lay judg-
ment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and
the time of thieves is short in this community." Five
months later, March 2, 1856, Brigham went a step
farther, and declared:
" The time is coming when justice will be laid to the
line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall
take the old broadsword and ask, Are you for God ? And
if you are not heartily on the Lord's side, you will be
hewn down."
It will be noticed here that Brigham forecasts the
Lord's intentions, intimating that the order to "lay
judgment to the line and righteousness to the plum-
met " is not issued yet, but soon will be.
Weaving in and out of these hair-raising threats
we get a glimpse of a doctrine soon to be published
to the world as " blood atonement." This doctrine
was based on the words of Paul Hebrews ix, 22
"Without the shedding of blood there is no remis-
sion." Stripped of ecclesiastical verbiage, the doctrine
of blood atonement was that some sins could be ex-
piated only by spilling the blood of the sinner; and
that in such cases, it was the duty of all true believers
BLOOD ATONEMENT 265
to cut a man's throat for the saving of his soul.
Whisperings of this theory reached the ears of Lieu-
tenant Gunnison as early as 1852, but it was not pub-
licly proclaimed as church gospel until September 21,
1856, when Jedediah Grant and-Brigham Young did
their best, or worst, to make the ghastly obsession
clear to all. Grant spoke first :
" I say there are men and women here that I would ad-
vise to go to the president (Young) immediately, and
ask him to appoint a committee to attend to their case;
and let a place be selected, and let that committee shed
their blood. ... I would ask how many covenant-
breakers there are in this city and in this kingdom? I
believe there are a great many, and if there are covenant-
breakers, we need a place designated where we can shed
their blood. . . . We have been trying long enough
with this people, and I go in for letting the sword of the
Almighty be unsheathed, not only in word, but In deed."
With less of savage enjoyment in his words, Brig-
ham on the same day from the same platform went
on to explain:
" There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering
upon an altar as in ancient days ; and there are sins that
the blood of a lamb, of a calf, or of turtledoves cannot
remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of man ! "
With this enunciation of the spiritual uses of throat-
cutting, the " reformation " may be considered fairly
begun.
It was a season of community madness, like that
which afflicted Salem in the witch excitement of 1692,
366 BRIGHAM YOUNG
or that which raged against the " anointers " of Milan
in 1631, or the numberless mental epidemics which
marked the course of the Middle Ages. Hardship and
isolation had combined to give the minds of the people
a gloomy and merciless cast, and the savage preach-
ing of their chief and his aids aroused them well-nigh
to frenzy. Innocent amusements, always before sanc-
tioned and encouraged by the church, were now dis-
countenanced or suppressed. Self-accusation became
almost as common as the accusation of one's neigh-
bours. Whoever escaped infection by the prevailing
mania was marked as a son of Belial, and an enemy to
the kingdom. Elders went to and fro, exhorting the
people to repent, confess their sins, and " renew their
covenants " by baptism. That no sims might be over-
looked, a printed catechism was furnished these ama-
teur inquisitors; a catechism so indecent that it was
suppressed when the kingdom recovered its senses.
Through the whole insane time, Jedediah Grant
stormed to and fro, and the burden of his raving was
blood, blood, blood. He preached, quizzed, exhorted,
baptized almost day and night; and literally gave his
life to the unworthy cause. When Jedediah Grant
died December i, 1856, the recording angel must have
heaved a sigh of relief.
When it comes to citing specific cases of the prac-
tices of blood atonement, one must admit that the evi-
dence is faulty. It could not be otherwise. The Mor-
mons, who preserved records of most things, had too
much good sense, once the period of communal lunacy
was past, to keep detailed evidences of their madness.
One case given in the doubtful confessions of John D.
Lee, is that of Rasmus Anderson, who was charged
with adultery. According to the 1 account, Anderson
BLOOD ATONEMENT 267
made no remonstrance when notified that his blood
was to be made a sacrifice for the cleansing of his
soul, but asked only half a day for prayer and prep-
aration. His executioners dug his grave, then called
for him at midnight, found him dressed in clean
clothes for the occasion. They conducted him to the
grave and, after further prayer, cut his throat.
Another story, cited by Stenhouse, is that of the
wife of an elder. During her husband's absence, she
broke her marriage covenants, and was so remorseful
that she confessed her fault on his return. That re-
turn coincided with the height of the " reformation,"
and it was decided that the woman die, in order to
regain her place among the gods and goddesses, and
the forfeited motherhood of the children she had
borne her husband. In this case, the husband per-
formed the sacrifice, and cut his wife's throat as she
sat on his knee.
These stories are cited for what they are worth. It
is impossible to verify them, and the present writers
believe the account of the elder's wife to be particu-
larly doubtful. But in a sermon delivered in the Taber-
nacle February 8, 1857, a sermon devoted to expound-
ing this very doctrine of blood atonement, Brighatn
said :
" I could refer you to plenty of instances where men
have been righteously slain in order to atone for their
sins, . * . I have known a great many men who have
left this church for whom there is no chance whatever for
exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled it would
have been better for them."
*i
Making all possible allowance for Brigham's pulpit
268 BRIGHAM YOUNG
exaggeration, it seems certain that this modern gospel
of human sacrifice had borne some fruit.
Whatever question may exist about individual cases
of blood atonement, there is none about many plain
murders resulting from the fierce intolerance fanned by
the " reformation." Perhaps the best attested case
until we come to the crowning horror of Mountain
Meadows is the one known as the Parrish murders.
In the spring of 1857, William R. Parrish, an old
man, and a Mormon of high and long standing, was
reported to have grown cold in the faith, and to be
planning to emigrate to California. For a man of
Parrish's standing to carry his discontent and his in-
side knowledge to the Gentiles was clearly dangerous
to the kingdom. His horses were stolen, thus delaying
his escape ; and then the bishop of the ward and some
humbler church retainers planned to murder the re-
puted backslider. Pretending to sympathize with his
desire to get away, the deputed assassins decoyed
Parrish from the village, and killed him with a knife.
Two of his sons were lured after their father. One
was shot dead, the other escaped and was arrested
for the double murder! Brigham has been charged
with directly ordering this crime. The evidence to
support this charge is not of the best, but it is certain
that he made no effort to punish the murderers, not
even when one of them turned state's evidence, and
made formal confession before a federal judge. It
is some satisfaction to know that one of the precious
cut-throats shot his partner by mistake.
The Parrish case illustrates a condition much over-
worked in romance and polemics, but which, never-
theless, was at one time a large and vital fact in the
life of the Mormon kingdom. The apostate was not
BLOOD ATONEMENT 269
allowed to leave the community. In some cases he
escaped, in a few cases the authorities may have per-
mitted his escape; but the general rule was as stated.
The reason is obvious : Brigham did not want men with
inside knowledge telling evil tales of his empire in
the eager ears of Gentiles. Prior to 1853, his efforts
at dissuading such emigration were confined to scold-
ing sermons, and these usually were successful. But
as time passed on, and the arbitrary power wielded by
himself and his followers grew into a vested right,
threats succeeded scoldings; and the " reformation >J
brought executions in place of threats.
In " Ninety-Three," Victor Hugo speaks of a type
of civil war which begins by defying the lightning,
and ends by robbing a diligence. The phrase applies
to the reactionaries of the Mormon kingdom as well
as to the reactionaries of the Vendee. There is some-
thing grand, even though repulsive, in the Mormon
effort to turn back the clock of the age, and plant a
theocratic despotism in the bosom of the world's most
radical democracy. But the intolerance, and the con-
tempt of human life and human rights engendered by
this effort soon found expression in deeds whose
brutality is lightened by no gleam of mistaken en-
thusiasm.
Such was the crime known as the San Pete outrage.
Bishdp Warren Snow wished to add a girl of Manti
to his collection of wives; but she was engaged to a
man who refused to yield her to his ecclesiastical
superior. After remonstrances and threats had failed
to shake the young man's resolution, he was seized,
tied to a bench, and mutilated by Bishop Snow and
his followers. The unfortunate man regained his
health but lost his mind; Bishop Snow married the
S70 BRIGHAM YOUNG
girl, Brigham stormed furiously when he heard the
news, but, as always in such cases, he inflicted no
punishment. The San Pete case became a standing
reference in the mouths of coarse ecclesiastical authori-
ties on the rare occasions when they encountered any
opposition to their will. It was a threat, not uncom-
mon, " to make eunuchs of men who had the spirit
of apostasy."
It is useless to give extended accounts of other out-
rages in the kingdom, where the motive was greed,
instead of sexual desire. The murder of the Aiken
party six Gentiles who passed through Utah on their
way to California seems to have belonged to this
class, inasmuch as no other fault could be found with
them, and their outfit was reputed to be worth $25,000.
Minor cases of bullyings and floggings are hardly
worth citing at all. But before closing this unpleasant
chapter, it is necessary to consider the defence which
Mormon writers make for these crimes, and the
legend prevailing in the Gentile world as to the means
by which church murders were perpetrated.
The Mormon defence is that there were no more
murders in Utah than in other frontier communities.
This is true. We will go farther; there probably were
fewer murders in the Mormon kingdom than in any
other frontier settlement of equal numbers in the his-
tory of the United States. But such murders as were
committed in the Mormon kingdom grew directly out
of the wild sermons and intolerant teachings of Brig-
ham Young, and of his aids and followers,. There
is the fact which makes the history of Utah a thing
apart. In no other frontier settlement were throats
cut for the glory oi God and the benefit of a church.
In no other frontier settlement were men taught that
BLOOD ATONEMENT 271
human sacrifice was necessary for the salvation of sin-
ners. In no other frontier settlement did religious
teachers and civil authorities join in proclaiming that
human blood smoking on the ground was an accept-
able offering to the Most High. There was not a
moment when Brigham did not have as much power
and as good machinery for enforcing law in his em-
pire as is possessed by the authorities of England or
Prussia to-day in their own realm. Murders were
committed in the Mormon kingdom, not to defy Brig-
ham's authority, but to maintain it. In many cases,
perhaps in most cases, Brigham knew nothing of the
deed until it was done. In many cases, perhaps in
most cases, he regretted the over-violent acts of his
followers. But those acts grew directly out of his
own teachings and ambitions, and Brigham recognized
this fact when he failed to punish or even to condemn
those criminals who had served him too well. One
sermon denouncing murder and upholding the sanctity
of human life, as Brigham often denounced apostasy
and upheld the sanctity of the priesthood, would have
gone far to check the outrages of the " reformation/*
No such sermon was delivered.
The Gentile legend is that # all these crimes were
committed by a weird organization (known as the
" Danites," a society whos'e members were at once
murderers, missionaries, and mounted police; latter-
day knights riding abroad *' upon a mission, to cut
throats and spread religion, pure and undefiled."
The legend is a legend and no more. It has a basis
of fact. There was an organization called " Danites "
during a part of the sojourn in Missouri and at Nau-
voo. It seems to have been formed as a sort of body-
guard to Prophet Joseph Smith, and to have degen-
272 BRIGHAM YOUNG
crated into an association of strictly undesirable citi-
zens. The name was carried to Utah, but there is no
reliable evidence that the organization itself lasted
until that day. Like the famous " Black Hand/' it
was a name, a symbol, and nothing more. A single
reading of the sketch of church organization given
in a previous chapter will show that Brigham had no
need of " Danites " specially sworn to carry out his
will. The whole church was bound to do that, bound
by the most perfect discipline and the most terrific
oaths. No matter what he wanted, a new hymn, a
new wife, or a new murder, Brigham had only to
signify his will to the proper person. A separate or-
ganization, like the legendary " Danites/' would have
been both superfluous and dangerous.
Copyrighted by The Johnson Co.
BEIGHAM YOUNG AND HIS WIVES
XXVII
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
BY the summer of 1857, that first sputtering
of the cauldron of intolerance and fanaticism
known as the " reformation " had ceased.
But the cauldron was still boiling, and the flames at
its base were hotter than ever. To all other causes
for excitement had now been added that of a definite
break between the Mormon kingdom and the federal
government. In August of 1857, the new president,
James Buchanan, had appointed a Gentile governor of
Utah, and even before that date had begun preparing
a military force to uphold federal authority in that
territory. In the eyes of the Mormons, this was
an invasion of their kingdom and their rights.
They considered themselves fairly at war with the
United States; and some of them were ready to
commit any manner of atrocity in prosecuting that
war.
Earlier in the summer, a party had been organized
in Arkansas to make the overland journey to Cali-
fornia. They numbered something more than one
hundred and thirty persons, and belonged to about
thirty families. The value of their outfit has been
exaggerated in most anti-Mormon accounts of their
fate; but it seems certain that these emigrants were
a little above the average in means. They are credited
with having thirty horses and six hundred cattle on
their arrival in Utah,
BRIGHAM YOUNG
There is no evidence that the emigrants knew of
the tension between the Mormon kingdom and the fed-
eral government before setting out on their journey,
though doubtless they had heard of it during their
trip across the plains. They reached the neighbour-
hood of Salt Lake City early in August, with provi-
sions low and animals weary from the long march.
They had planned to buy supplies and rest their stock
in Utah, as other California-bound emigrants had done
for the past eight years; but to their surprise, this
privilege was denied them. They were ordered to
break camp and continue their march, and when they
sought to buy provisions no one had any to sell.
The Arkansans were going to California by the
southern route, and marched almost directly south-
ward through Utah. For more than 300 miles they
kept on, through a sullenly but passively hostile popu-
lation that refused to sell them grain or to trade cattle
or horses. The emigrants bought thirty bushels of
corn from some Indians on Corn creek; but they could
not get get it ground at any mill. At Cedar City, the
last large settlement they were destined to pass
through, they were permitted to buy fifty bushels of
wheat, which was ground for them at the mill of
John Doyle Lee. Fate was in a mood to be dramatic.
Lee was a coarse, violent man, a born fighter, fear-
less and lawless toward the world at large, but sub-
missive and obedient in all things to his church su-
periors. He had been one of the active followers of
Prophet Joseph Smith, and had gone as a political
missionary in Smith's campaign for the presidency of
the United States. It was generally understood that
when there was a rough piece of work to be done for
the kingdom, Lee was a good man to do it, Asso-
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
ciated with him in the work which was to follow were
Isaac Haight, president of the Cedar City stake of
Zion; Philip Klingensmith, a bishop in the same place;
John M. Higbee, William EL Dame, and many per-
sons of less prominence. Dame was president of the
stake of Zion at Parowan, and colonel of the militia
of Iron county; Higbee was a lieutenant-colonel and
Lee a major in the same regiment. They were birds
of a feather; narrow, fanatical, violent, and " red hot
for the gospel under the influence of the late refor-
mation/ 7 Klingensmith is credited with being the man
who so kindly cut Rasmus Anderson's throat to save
his soul, in the case of blood atonement cited in the
last chapter.
From Cedar City, the emigrants moved southwest
past Iron creek and Pinto creek, and on Sunday, Sep-
tember 6, 1857, they were camped in the little grassy
valley known as Mountain Meadows. Their condi-
tion was little short of desperate. They were facing
a march of seventy days across some of the worst
deserts of North America, with a supply of provisions
that would have been scanty for two weeks. Their
cattle were so weary that they had consumed five days
in coming the last thirty-five miles. It is doubtful if
they could have won through to their destination, even
if left alone, but the chance was not offered them.
The zealous agents of the kingdom in southern
Utah knew of the approaching emigrant train long
before it arrived, and seem early to have discussed the
advisability of smiting the Gentiles. No final arrange-
ments were made until after the Arkansans had passed
Cedar City. Then it was decided to rouse the Indians,
and set them to butcher the emigrants. Among those
involved in the plot at this stage were Lee, Haight,
276 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Klingensmith, Higbee, and, in all probability, William
H. Dame. Haight claimed to have Dame's authority
for all he did, and Dame's presence at Mountain
Meadows immediately after the massacre supports this
claim.
The emigrants were camped in an open valley, near
a large spring. They anticipated no trouble with the
Indians, their wagons were not corralled, and their
camp was commanded by the surrounding heights.
From these heights, on Monday morning, September
7, 1857, the Indians opened fire. Seven emigrants
were killed and sixteen wounded in this first attack.
With a steadiness under surprise which argues good
discipline in the camp, the Arkansans returned the fire,
gathered their wagons in a ring, and dug a rifle pit
in the centre of the corral. The spring, unfortunately,
was a hundred yards away, and water for the besieged
party could be brought only at night, or secured in
dangerous dashes by day. There were not more than
fifty fighting men in the emigrant party at the start,
and nearly half of these had been killed or wounded
at the first onset; but they held that pitiable make-
shift fort for four days against not less than three
hundred Indians.
For the moment, all three parties involved had mis-
understood the situation. The Mormon officials who
had instigated the attack expected the Indians to make
short work of the emigrant party. Zion's enemies
would thus be cut off, without loss or , blame to Zion.
The Indians likewise looked for an easy prey, and
when disappointed in that particular, called confidently
on the Mormons for assistance. The emigrants sup-
posed their assailants were Indians alone, and in spite
of the sullen looks and surly refusals to trade which
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS 277
they had encountered in the Utah settlements, believed
the Mormons would come to the rescue of their fellow
countrymen. In this faith, two men slipped out of
the beleaguered camp Wednesday night, and started to
Cedar City to summon help. They got safely past the
Indians, but encountered some Mormon fanatics gath-
ering for the massacre. One of the young men was
murdered outright. The other, though wounded, is
said to have escaped back to the besieged camp.
When word came of the gallant and successful de-
fence of the emigrants, the more violent Mormon lead-
ers saw that they must bear the odium and dangers
of failure, or carry through the plot by aid of Mor-
mon militia. They chose the latter alternative. Armed
men were called out and sent to Mountain Meadows.
No general levy was made, but the selected ruffians
were members of the local militia, and were acting
under orders of their regimental officers. Meantime
a plot was devised which it was hoped would avoid
the risks of fighting. The Mormons were to come
in as if in protection of the emigrants from the In-
dians. The emigrants were to be decoyed from their
little fort under promise of a safe conduct to Cedar
City, and their arms were to be taken away. Thus
disarmed and helpless, they were to be attacked and
murdered. Men, women, and all children " old enough
to talk*" were to' be slain; and the returning Mormons
were to report that the emigrants had been massacred
by Indians before help arrived.
The plot was a masterpiece of treachery, and like
a masterpiece it worked. Friday morning, September
u, William Bateman was sent with a flag of truce to
tell the emigrants that rescue was coming. A little
later, John D. Lee entered the camp, and completed
78 BRIGHAM YOUNG
arrangements. The Arkansrns were told that they
would be taken in safety to Cedar City, and kept there
until there was a chance to send them on their journey;
but that they must give up their arms, so as to avoid
exciting the Indians. This order must have roused
suspicion, but the ammunition of the emigrants was
nearly gone, and they yielded. Two wagons were pro-
vided. In one, driven by a man named McMurdy,
were placed the arms, and the smaller children. The
other wagon, whose driver was named Knight, was
loaded with the wounded, and a start was made for
Cedar City. The women and older children walked
immediately behind the wagons. Last came the men,
in single file, with the foremost man about fifty yards
behind the women. An armed Mormon walked at the
side of each unarmed emigrant, as if in strenuous pro-
tection.
The Indians had been withdrawn from the siege of
the camp, and placed in ambush among some low
cedars. The wagons led the way straight towards
this ambush. At a given signal : " Do your duty ! "
each guard turned and shot the unarmed man at his
side; the Indians leaped from hiding and fell upon
the women; and Lee, Knight, and McMurdy, with
some assistance from the Indians, butchered the
wounded men in the wagon. Scouts had been placed
on horseback to run down any who might escape; but
as Higbee reported : " The boys acted admirably, they
took good aim, and all but three of the Gentiles fell
at the first fire/' Of the entire party, only seven-
teen children were spared. The oldest of these was
seven years of age.
It was one of the most monstrous massacres that
ever stained the annals of North America. Other
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS 279
butcheries have numbered more victims, and been dis-
tinguished by greater refinements of cruelty; but none
can surpass Mountain Meadows for consummate
treachery. The details of guilt, the infamy of the
plot, the savagery of the murder, may be apportioned
as one likes among Lee, Haight, Dame, Klingensmith,
and their fellows. The historic responsibility for this
horror must be placed squarely on the shoulders of
Brigham Young.
The historic responsibility, not the legal Brigham
did not order this massacre. He did not want it to
take place. When a messenger arrived to tell him of
the threatening destruction, he sent word to stop, and
let the emigrants go unharmed. When another des-
patch brought word that this order had come too late,
and that the butchery was accomplished, Brigham, ac-
cording to the testimony of an eye-witness, wept like
a child. These facts clear Brigham of direct com-
plicity in the slaughter; but do not lighten by the
weight of a hair his moral accountability.
For the massacre at Mountain Meadows was the
logical culmination of that " reformation " which
Brigham had first permitted, then sanctioned and sus-
tained. It was the legitimate result of the doctrine of
blood atonement. It was no more than the translation
into deeds of sermons which Brigham and his aids
had preached for years. Brigham and Jedediah Grant
and Heber Kimball and others had risen in the pulpit
Sunday after Sunday, and raved and ranted about
"unsheathing the bowie knife/' "laying judgment to
the line and righteousness to the plummet/' ** shed-
ding blood/' " hewing down the evil tree/' and a thou-
sand other such criminal follies. Was it to be ex-
pected that simple savages like Lee or covetous sav-
280 BRIGHAM YOUNG
ages like Haight or Klingensmith would hold their
hands when thus told of the righteousness of murder?
Were they to quibble and evade and tone clown the
words of the Lord's anointed prophet and revela-
tor? If the sermons of the "reformation 3 ' meant
anything, the Mountain Meadows massacre was
justified. If they meant nothing, why were they
tittered?
But there is no need to rest the claim of Brigham's
responsibility on even so clear an argument as this.
It is proved by his subsequent actions. There is good
'evidence that Brigham had every detail of the tragedy
from the mouth of John D. Lee as soon as Lee could
get from Mountain Meadows to Salt Lake City.
There is absolute certainty that whether from Lee or
from another, Brigham knew the whole ghastly story
within a few days. His mastership of the territory in
those days has never been questioned. Yet to the clay
of his death, Brigham never lifted a finger to bring
to justice the perpetrators of this massacre. Lee was
a bishop of the church when engaged in cutting throats
at Mountain Meadows, and a bishop of the church
he remained for years afterwards. Brigham reserved
to himself the right to grant permissions for plural
marriage, and Lee took a new plural wife after the
massacre. As long as he could, with safety to him-
self, Brigham gave Lee every countenance that could
be given to a man of Lee's type and attainments; and
when finally brought to trial, Lee could not be con-
victed until the United States prosecutor had declared
in court that the government was trying to convict
this one man, not any of his church associates or
superiors ! Then, and not till then, were the tongues
of witnesses loosened, and the consciences of jurymen
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS 281
satisfied that Lee had done murder at Mountain
Meadows, nearly twenty years before.
Horrible as was the crime itself, the excuses offered
for it by Mormon historians add a touch of infamy
not often achieved. The A'rkansans, being safely
dead, are maligned. The story is told at length of
how Parley P. Pratt had been murdered in Arkansas
some years before, and a host of impossible charges
are laid to the emigrants themselves. They are
charged with having poisoned a spring, and boasted
of it, with having poisoned an ox, and fed it to the
Indians, with bragging that they took part in the mur-r
der of Prophet Joseph Smith, with insulting women,
and indulging in boisterous conduct in the towns
through which they passed.
The case of Parley P. Pratt need not detain us. He
induced a woman whom he had converted to elope
from her husband, and become Mrs. Parley P. Pratt,
No, 9. Later, she came back, and took the children
whom she had previously left behind. Pratt' s con-
nection with this kidnapping was not proved, and
Mr. McLean, the injured husband, committed a crime
when he killed the Apostle but was it a crime prop-
erly punishable by the murder of one hundred and
twenty persons who had no part in it, merely because
they came from the same state?
The charges against the emigrants themselves are
quite as idle. Had they been guilty of any such dis-
turbance, they would have been laid by the heels within
forty-eight hours after they entered the Mormon
kingdom. In one point, the absurdity of the charges
becomes grotesque. Since no Arkansans were present
at the murder of Joseph Smith, it became necessary
to invent a party of " Missouri wildcats ?> who were
282 BRIGHAM YOUNG
travelling in company with the party from Arkansas.
These Missourians are as mythical as the poisoned
spring. It is passing strange that intelligent men,
such as some of the Mormon historians are, cannot
see that by repeating these absurd slanders, they are
making themselves apologists for the most atrocious
massacre that has stained American annals.
When describing the wicked and unjust expulsion
of the Mormons from Nauvoo 1 , the present writers
pointed out that democracy is so illy organized for
violence that the worst men, accustomed to democratic
methods of government and work, make botches of
their attempt of wholesale wickedness. Democracy
must be submerged by the mob or superseded by a
semi-feudal political machine before cruelty or thiev-
ery can thrive on a large scale on the soil of freedom.
We may here point the converse of that moral. The
machinery of a theocratic despotism is ready for any
crime, when grasped by the hand of a scoundrel. The
men who engineered the massacre at Mountain Mead-
ows were both sacerdotal and military officers of the
Mormon kingdom. They were knit together in the
bonds of martial and ecclesiastical discipline. The
very signal for murder was an appeal to their mis-
guided loyalty " Do your duty ! " Lee and Haight
and Dame and Higbee and Klingensmith did not
need to alter a single detail in the organization of
Zion's empire. They needed only to assign it the task
which their villainy had conceived.
John Doyle Lee was finally convicted, and was ex-
ecuted on the scene of his crime, March 23, 1877.
His execution was just; and a goodly company might
have been kneeling beside him on their coffins with no
loss to the world, and no miscarriage of justice. But
AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
the greatest criminal of the Mountain Meadows hor-
ror cannot be disposed of in so summary a fashion.
That criminal is the evil doctrine that any man can
absolve himself from responsibility to and for his fel-
lows by yielding blind obedience to some prophet,
prince, or priest
XXVIII
THE MORMON WAR
IT is necessary now to leave the regular course of
events in Utah and bring together the threads
from which were woven that web of shamed
authority and lost opportunity known as the " Mor-
mon war." This " war " was but one more clash
between democracy and theocracy, between free gov-
ernment and despotism. The growing nation had
come once more in contact with the Mormon king-
dom, and as before, contact meant conflict. But this
time, aggression as well as provocation was com-
menced by the kingdom; and the nation failed to use
its overwhelming might to end in fitting fashion the
quarrel which Brigham and his aids had begun.
The experience of Judge Brocchus had been pro-
phetic. He was but the first of a considerable line
of retreating federal officials who proclaimed that
there was no law in Utah save the will of Brigham
Young. Steptoe was caught in an intrigue as cleverly
managed as if Brigham had been trained at the court
of Louis XV, instead of in the backwoods and prairies
of America. Judge Drummond was balked and
baffled when he undertook to resist some of the legal
predilections of the territory. Judge Stiles was defied
to his face, told that if he decided against the Mor-
mon contention, he would be taken from the bench,
" damned quick " and Brigham refused to give the
court protection. David H. Burr, surveyor-general
284
THE MORMON WAR ' 285
of Utah, made a report to the federal government,
adverse to some claims of Brigham Young. A few
days later, Burr was visited by three Mormon officials,
the clerk of the supreme court, the territorial mar-
shal, and the acting district attorney. They showed
him a copy of his report, warned him that they would
know every word he sent to Washington, and inti-
mated that he would better cease criticising the land
titles of the "Lion of the Lord/'
Insults like these could not be endured forever,
even by the complaisant federal government of the
decade prior to the Civil war. Matters were made
more serious by the persistent efforts to get Utah
admitted as a state. One such attempt was made in
1854, another in 1856; and though these efforts
failed, they gave, earnest of a settled purpose, most
skilfully ;prosecuted. Even in our day, when the
theory of absolute state sovereignty lies buried at
Appomattox, Utah's stateship has enabled the Mor-
mon hierarchy to violate its pledges with impunity,
and to seat its ambassador in the senate of the United
States. Fifty years ago, statehood was almost price-
less. Federal control of territories was substantially
as great then as now; while federal control of states
had been lessening since the days of Jackson, till it
well-nigh had reached the vanishing point. Sooner or
later, a political bargain would give the Mormons this
boon at the hands of Congress, as a political bargain
had secured them the Nauvoo charter from the legis-
lature of Illinois. With the slave state problem of
the South complicated by a polygamy state problem
in the West, the Union might become scarce worth
preserving. Every patriotic statesman, whose atten-
tion was not monopolized by slavery, recognized with
286 BEIGHAM YOUNG
irritation and alarm the growing arrogance of the
Mormon kingdom.
But as often happens in our country, the people
were taking fire faster than their officials. All over
the land was rising a slow but mighty tide of anger
against the polygamous despotism of Brigham Young.
It was an anger resting on instinct and suspicion,
rather than on knowledge; but for the moment it was
little less dangerous on that account. In June of
1856, the first Republican national convention classed
polygamy with slavery as " twin relics of barbarism."
In the same month, as if to warn the Mormons that
they could not longer play off one party against the
other, Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democratic
party, made a speech at Springfield, Illinois. He re-
cited the charges made against the Mormon kingdom,
and declared that if those charges were proven true,
it would be the duty of Congress to " apply the knife,
and cut out this 'loathsome and disgusting ulcer."
As in most disputes, there is something to be said
on both sides. The Mormon view was not entirely
without merit. They misused and bullied federal offi-
cials; but many of those officials were of a breed to
invite such treatment. Judge Drummond, for ex-
ample, left his wife in the " States," to travel openly
about Utah with his mistress; and he was in the habit
of trying cases with her sitting beside fiim. There
was also a healthy impatience with " carpet-bag gov-
ernment," which all Americans can understand and
respect. But when all other allowances are made, the
fact remains that then, as now, the Mormon kingdom
was set in sullen opposition to every principle and
practice of American government. The only question
at any time was whether the nation would accept the
THE MORMON WAR 287
provocation which the kingdom never ceased to offer.
Brigham's one declaration : " I am and will be gov-
ernor, and no power can hinder it/' was enough to
justify his summary removal, and the use of any
power or punishments necessary to make that re-
moval effective.
Mormon writers have tried to find the cause of the
" war " in the disappointment of a mail contractor,
and the subtle scheming of Southern statesmen, who
wished to disperse the regular army to make ready
for secession. As for the last, it was hardly a pow-
erful motive so early as 1857, and if it had been the
determining factor of the "war/' the number of
troops first ordered to Utah would have been much
larger than was the case. As for the mail contract,
Heber C. Kimball did underbid W. M. F. Magraw,
and Magraw did write to the president a letter de-
nouncing the Mormons in severe though general
terms. But Magraw did not write the first national
Republican platform, nor make the Springfield speech
of Stephen A. Douglas, nor seize the papers of a
United States judge, nor open the mail of a surveyor-
general, nor presume; to name the perpetual and ir-
removable governor of Utah, nor do any of the thou-
sand things which made it clear that a clash between
Mormonisrn and Americanism was inevitable.
May 28, 1857 less than three months after Presi-
dent Buchanan took office Winfield Scott, general-
in-chief of the regular army, sent a circular to heads
of departments, reminding them of the orders al-
ready issued to assemble troops at Fort Leavenworth
for the Mormon expedition, and giving in some detail
the equipment to be provided. The force was to con-
sist of 2,500 men. In addition to ordinary supplies,
288 BRIGHAM YOUNG
2,000 beef cattle were to be bought, and driven for-
ward with the army. One month later, June 29, a
letter of instructions, prepared after consultation with
the War Department and doubtless with the President,
was despatched to General W. S. Harney, then pro-
posed for commander of the expedition. He was to
accompany the new civil governor to Utah, and to
use his force as a posse comitatus to enforce the or-
ders of the governor, or the decrees of judges. He
was to avoid all conflict with the inhabitants of Utah,
so far as it was possible to do so; and particularly he
was to attack no one, except in carrying out his or-
ders from the civil authorities, or in sheer self-defence.
At the same time, he was warned to expect armed and
organized resistance on the very threshold of the re-
bellious territory and was counselled not to divide his
forces. This letter contained some remarks about the
trouble that might ensue, owing to the lateness of the
start This halting prophecy was fulfilled, as thor-
oughly as if it had been one of Heber Kimball's.
Most of the troops got away from Fort Leaven-
worth late in July. Partly by good luck which
favoured him throughout this episode and partly
through the shrewd intelligence and devotion of two
of his subordinates, Brigham knew of the expedition
almost as soon as it had started. Abraham O. Smoot,
father of the present Apostle, Senator Reed Smoot,
and at that time mayor of Salt Lake City, left that city
June 2, 1857, with the monthly mail for the East
He met soldiers on the plains, who said they were
scouting for Indians and Smoot had seen no In-
dians. Some distance west of Independence, the
eastern end of his mail route, Smoot began to meet
heavy freight teams, whose drivers would say only
THE MORMON WAR 289
that they had government freight, and were bound
as was self-evident for some western post. Two
days later, he reached Kansas City, where his sus-
picions were well confirmed, and he learned of the
proposed " invasion/* The postmaster at Independ-
ance refused to deliver any more mail for Salt Lake
City. Turning westward, Smoot and his associates
began to gather up their horses and supplies which
had been used in transporting the mails. They met
" Port " Rockwell with the July mail, 120 miles east
of Fort Laramie, and he turned back with them. On
July 1 8, Smoot and Rockwell left Fort Laramie with
four of their best horses, and a light spring wagon.
Five days and three hours later, they drove into Salt
Lake City, a distance of 513 miles.
The 24th of July is the day kept memorable by
Mormons as the anniversary of their entrance to the
Happy Valley. This being the tenth year since that
event, unusual preparations were made for the cele-
bration, which was to take place at Cottonwood Lake.
According to most Mormon accounts, Brigham was
already at the lake when Smoot and Rockwell arrived
in the city on the evening of July 23, and they fol-
lowed him thither next morning with the news.
When the people gathered round him for the speech
without which no great occasion was deemed com-
plete, Brigham told them that a federal army was
marching against Zion. He reminded them of his
own declaration on entering the valley, that in ten
years' time he would ask no odds of Uncle Sam or
the devil; and added with whimsical humour that the
devil had taken him at his word. He promised his
people that if they would live their religion, God
290 BRIGHAM YOUNG
would see them through their trials, and strike down
the legions coming against them.
Notwithstanding this reliance on the Lord, Brig-
ham did not neglect his part of the prophesied
deliverance. Messengers were sent to England, the
Continent, and the Pacific states to call home the
missionaries who were in those parts labouring for
Zion, The Western Standard, a church paper pub-
lished in San Francisco, was ordered discontinued,
and its editor and his assistants returned home to de-
fend the kingdom. A prosperous colony had been
started in southern California, and this also was sac-
rificed. The abandonment of Nevada, then known
as Carson county, was only in part the result of the
approaching peril; but perhaps this was the deciding
factor. No one hesitated, no one rebelled. With a
courage worthy of greater enlightenment and a bet-
ter cause, the Mormon people gathered argund their
prophet, prepared to do his will, even unto the utter-
most, in resisting a nation amply capable of wiping
them from the face of the earth.
Indeed, this was the fate which they believed had
been prepared for them; and Brigham was not slow
to encourage that notion. Even more than the British
authorities whom Mulvaney describes, Americans on
each new movement of troops act " like a girls* school
meeting a big red bull in the road/' Wild talk ran
from tongue to ear in the eastern states and on the
Pacific coast, that the troops had been sent to dis-
perse the Mormon community and to hang Brigham
Young. In spite of the absence of a mail service,
these rumours quickly found their way to Utah, and
they grew on the road. The experience of the Saints
in Missouri and Illinois gave colour to these tales of
THE MORMON WAR 291
destruction, and the man whose cool judgment had
he suffered it to prevail would have known at once
the absurdity of the stories and the impossibility of
resistance, was storming to and fro in the pulpit, in-
creasing the excitement.
" We have borne enough of their oppression and
abuse/' urged Brigham, " and we will not bear any
more of it . . .1 am not going to permit troops
here for the protection of the priests and the rabble
in their efforts to drive us from the land we possess.
You might as well tell me that you can make hell
into a powder-house as to tell me that they intend
to keep an army here and have peace. I have told
you that if there is any man or woman who is not
willing to destroy everything of their property which
would be of use to an enemy if left, I would advise
them to leave the territory. And I again say so to-
day; for when the time comes to burn and lay waste
our improvements, if any man undertakes to shield
his he will be treated as a traitor, for judgment will
be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet.
. . . Now, the faint-hearted can go in peace; but
should that time come, they must not interfere. Be-
fore I will again suffer as I have in times gone by,
there shall not be one building, nor one foot of lumber,
nor a fence, nor a tree, nor a particle of grass or
hay that will burn left within reach of enemies,
I am sworn, if driven to extremity, to utterly lay
waste this land, in the name of Israel's God, and our
enemies shall find it as barren as when we came
fcere."
Whether Brigham would have kept his oath if
driven to extremity can be but a matter of opinion.
The present writers believe he would. At any rate,
293 BRIGHAM YOUNG
he went on making plans for resistance. On August
i, the Nauvoo Legion was ordered to hold itself in
readiness. On August 13, a party was sent out to
reconnoitre, and get in touch with the advancing
force. The last of the same month, Captain Van
Vliet, of General Harney's staff, arrived in Salt Lake
City as a sort of (want courier, to learn what dis-
position the church leaders really bore toward the
federal government. He was not long in learning.
Brigham received him courteously, but declared over
and over that the approaching troops never should
enter the valley. The Mormons had suffered enough,
Brigham declared, and henceforth they meant to meet
persecution on the threshhold; and he dwelt at length
on his determination to make the valley a desert be-
fore the federal troops should enter it. " If they [the
government] dare to force the issue/' declared Young,
" I shall not hold the Indians by the wrist any longer
for white men to shoot at. They shall go ahead and
do as they please."
Two days before this remark was made, the In-
dians with the aid of some fifty-four Mormons
had " done as they pleased " at Mountain Meadows.
Brigham did not know this as yet; but his statement
shows that he had considered using the Indians as
allies against the United States. It speaks volumes
for his personality that in spite of his utter repudia-
tion of the nation which his visitor served, iie sent
Captain Van Vliet away more than half convinced
of the justice of the Mormon cause.
Van Vliet left Salt Lake City September 14. The
next day, Brigham issued a proclamation declaring
martial law in the territory, and breathing forth
threatenings on all enemies of the Saints.
THE MORMON WAR 293
" For the last twenty-five years we have trusted offi-
cials of this government, from constables and justices to
judges, governors and presidents, only to be scorned, held
in derision, insulted and betrayed. Our houses have been
plundered, and then burned, our fields laid waste, our
principal men butchered, while under the pledged faith of
the government for their safety, and our families driven
from their homes to find that shelter in the barren wilder-
ness and that protection among hostile savages, which
were denied them in the boastful abodes of Christianity
and civilization. . . ,
" We are condemned unheard, and forced to an issue
with an armed mercenary mob, which has been sent
against us at the instigation of anonymous letter writers,
ashamed to father the base, slanderous falsehoods they
have given to the public; of corrupt officials who have
brought false accusations against us to screen themselves
in their own infamy ; and of hireling priests and howling
editors who prostitute the truth for filthy lucre's sake."
It is needless at this day to do more than indicate
the chief absurdities of this proclamation. It assumes
two things: First, that the federal government had
no right to send troops to a territory, and second,
that the mission of these troops was to destroy the
Mormons, instead of to insure obedience to law. Both
of these assumptions were false. Brigham's procla-
mations at this time, like his sermons during the
" reformation," show how even a cool, calm judg-
ment can be unsettled by the strong wine of irre-
sponsible power.
But it was only in his rhetoric that this error of
judgment was made manifest; and when we re-
"member that his proclamations and letters were in-
294 BRIGHAM YOUNG
tended for the home market, which he understood
better than any one else, it may be there was no great
blunder there. His preparations for the " war " and
conduct of it were as perfect as possible in such a
conflict. On September 22, a scouting party camped
within half a mile of the slow-moving regular troops,
and never lost touch with them till the beginning of
winter. When the soldiers crossed the boundary of
the territory of Utah, Brigham sent a letter to Colonel
E. B. Alexander, commander of the advance guard.
This letter informed the colonel that he had trans-
gressed the orders of the august governor of Utah,
who had forbidden armed troops to enter that sacred
territory. The army must retreat immediately, de-
clared Brigham; but if this should be impossible, owing
to the lateness of the season, they might remain dur-
ing the winter, provided they surrendered their arms
to the Utah authorities ! Instead of hanging the mes-
senger who brought such an epistle, Colonel Alex-
ander returned a courteous if somewhat curt re-
joinder. With this exchange of missives, hostilities
may be said to have begun.
XXIX
END OF THE MORMON WAR
THE little federal army was formidable in out-
ward seeming; but in reality, it was helpless
as the babes in the wood. At close quarters,
it could have crushed several times its number of
Mormon or any other militia but it could not get
to close quarters. There were two infantry regiments,
the Fifth and the Tenth, and two batteries. But
there was no cavalry, and cavalry was the one arm
imperatively needed. The Second Dragoons had been
assigned to this expedition, but were held back, owing
to troubles in Kansas. Almost as bad as this mis-
judgment was the series of changes in command of
the army. General Harney was first scheduled for
this post, but, like the horsemen, was retained to deal
with Free-soilers and Border Ruffians. The man
appointed as Harney's successor died before he could
assume command. Finally, Colonel Albert Sidney
Johnston was put at the head of the expedition. No
better man could have been found for the task, but
he came too late to save the force from the humilia-
tions prepared for it.
The slow-creeping infantry regiments with their
huge supply trains sprawled across hill and plain were
a standing invitation to attack; and at last the invita-
tion was accepted. As soon as he had received
Colonel Alexander's reply to Brigham, Daniel H.
Wells, commander of the Mormon forces, issued his
295
296 BRIGHAM YOUNG
orders. His mounted scouting parties were to burn
the grass in front of the advancing soldiers, cut off
their supplies, steal their cattle, burn their wagons,
and keep them from sleeping. One strong injunc-
tion was laid on the Mormon militia in carrying out
these orders. They were not to take life if they
could by any means avoid it. This was a measure,
less of humanity than of foresight. With all his rav-
ing and ranting in the pulpit, Brigham knew that
negotiation, rather than fighting, must bring him
through this crisis, and he wanted no bloodshed to
make slippery the steps of diplomacy.
The Mormon plans were absurdly easy to put into
effect. Lot Smith, with forty-four men, was first
among the Saints to spoil the Gentiles. On October
4, 1857, Smith came upon an unarmed supply train,
and ordered the commander of it to turn round, and
go east till he reached the States. The captain obeyed
as long as the Mormons were in sight, then headed for
the West again. At this, Smith returned, unloaded
the wagons, left the drivers to their own devices, and
divided his little force for further raiding. Twenty
men were sent to stampede the mules of one of the
regiments. The rest, under Smith, performed an ex-
ploit of which Mormon writers are still boasting.
At midnight of October 5, they held up there is no
other word for it another supply train consisting of
seventy-five wagons, and burned them all These
wagons were loaded with bacon, ham, coffee, flour,
hard-tack, and desiccated vegetables; and their loss
was an expensive mishap for the government. The
next day, Smith burned some more wagons about
twenty miles away.
Colonel Alexander was helpless. Well mounted,
END OF THE MORMON WAR 29?
and knowing the country as if it were their door-
yard, the Mormons had the federal infantry netted.
Alexander had no instructions as to the government's
wishes, and he does not seem to have been a man who
could go ahead and take his chances without instruc-
tions. He called a council of war, at which it was de-
cided to turn northward, avoiding the canons which
were known to be fortified, and trying to reach the
Salt Lake valley by a side door. It might have been
a good plan for a cavalry force in June; but for a
heavy, slow-moving, overloaded expedition, on the
very edge of winter, it was a scheme of destruction.
Trails had to be cut through the heavy brush, the
endless wagon trains had to receive some sort of pro-
tection; and the march was so slow that often the ad-
vance guard was making camp for the night before
the rearmost wagons had begun to move. Mor-
mon scouts hung on the flanks of the floundering
column, and one night cut out eight hundred oxen,
which were driven in triumph to Salt Lake City.
Alexander mounted some infantry on mules; but the
Mormons only laughed at the " jackass cavalry " ;
and continued their depredations unchecked. After
persisting for nine days and covering only thirty-five
miles, Colonel Alexander called a new council of war,
turned back to the south, and made for Fort Bridger.
He reached that place November 2, 1857, to find
that the Mormons had burned all the buildings, all
the wood, and all the trees that would take fire. The
next day Colonel Johnston arrived, after a march
which gave the troops a foretaste of winter campaign-
ing in the Rocky Mountains. The presence of this
able commander quickly restored the morale of the
force, but the passes were already blocked with snow,
298 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the army was nearly destitute of horses, and there was
nothing to do but go into winter quarters. Accord-
ingly, Camp Scott was laid out near the ruins of Fort
Bridger, one hundred and fifteen miles from Salt Lake
City, and the troops soon made themselves fairly com-
fortable. It was November 19 before the cavalry
joined them, bringing the new governor in their train.
These troops had had a terrific struggle with storms,
and the journal of their commander, Colonel Philip
St. George Cooke, reads more like the story of an
expedition in Siberia than the record of a military
advance in the soldier's own country.
This was the crisis of the " war/ 7 The only hon-
ourable course, the only safe course for the govern-
ment, was to finish the task it had begun, no matter
what the cost in treasure or suffering. The nation
had been flouted and defied, its property destroyed or
carried off as plunder, its troops resisted, its officials
denied access to its own territory. To draw back at
this time was to offer direct encouragement to re-
bellion, to announce in plain terms that any one might
defy federal authority with safety, provided the de-
fiance were couched in loud enough tones. On the
other hand, a prompt and uncompromising suppres-
sion of the Utah outbreak would have strengthened
the hands of the national government in any future
stress, and would have done something, at least, to
lessen the growing popularity of secession.
Unfortunately, President Buchanan was not the
man to strike strong blows in a brave cause. He
understood the situation perfectly. He spoke of the
need so to assert federal authority that this first re-
bellion should likewise be the last. He sent a mes-
sage to Congress, explaining his action in sending an
END OF THE MORMON WAR 299
armed force to the Rocky Mountains, and demanding
support, which was rather grudgingly given. Troops
were ordered to prepare for the front, General Scott
was instructed to sail for California, and despatch a
force to Utah from that direction. There was brave
talk of a decisive advance in the spring. But it was
only talk. Even while the President was writing his
message, Brigham was undermining his purpose,
stealing away his confidence, and preparing for him
a cup of unmixed humiliation.*
It is hardly necessary to say that Brigham' s agent
in the negotiations now begun was Colonel Thomas
L. Kane. Kane alone had the duplicity, the diplo-
macy, the social standing, and the absolute devotion
to the Mormon cause which were required to bring
the kingdom through this crisis without disaster.
Kane had vouched for Brigham's purity and patriot-
ism to President Fillmore. President Buchanan now
paid this official debt by vouching for Kane. He
wrote letters, describing the wily colonel as an un-
selfish philanthropist, who was about to visit Utah
from a stern sense of duty, and commending him to
all federal officials whom he might meet. With these
documents in his pocket, Kane sailed for San Fran-
cisco in January, 1858, under the name of "Dr.
Osborne," and from California made his way to Salt"
Lake City. There he had an extended conference
with the Twelve, and a short but absolutely private
one with Brigham. This over, after a short rest,
Kane set out for Camp Scott, to meet Alfred Cum-
tning, the new governor of Utah.
Gumming was a good-natured, bustling individual;
*The President's letters were dated December 3, 1857. His
message was sent to Congress December 8.
300 BRIGHAM YOUNG
pompous without being dignified and intelligent with-
out being sensible. He was exactly the sort of man
to be wrapped around the finger of a skilled diplomat,
and doubtless his character was considered in shaping
the Mormon plot. Kane's mission in Camp Scott was
twofold. First, he was to stir up trouble between
Governor Gumming and General Johnston, so that
hearty co-operation between them should be impos-
sible. Next, he was to persuade Gumming to trust
to the " loyalty " of the Mormons, whom Kane rep-
resented as willing to accept any governor the Presi-
dent might send, but who feared persecution from the
troops. If the governor would first show his confi-
dence in the Mormons, then Brigham, without too
obvious a backdown, might consent to take the gov-
ernor's word for it that the troops would be put td
no tyrannical uses; and it was even possible that rep-
resentations from Governor Gumming might secure
the recall of the army altogether.
Kane performed his work with a smooth assurance
which baffles comprehension now as it baffled inter-
ference then. He reached Camp Scott March 10,
Within forty-eight hours he had established an un-
derstanding with Governor Gumming, and picked a
quarrel not too serious a one with General John-
ston. From that time forward, events in camf>
moved with the regularity of a text-book game of
chess. April 3 just twenty-four days after Kane's
arrival Gumming announced that he was going to
Salt Lake City without waiting for the troops, and
intimated his confidence that he could bring the dis-
pute to a satisfactory ending.
Two days later, the governor started of course in
company with Kane. The Mormons provided a
END OF THE MORMON WAR 801
"guard of honour" for the official whom they had
kept cooling his heels in a winter camp for five months
and Gumming accepted the attention. Mormon
talent for amateur dramatics never showed to better
advantage than in this journey and the events imme-
diately following it. Echo canon had been provided
with the usual style of militia fortifications; walls
and rocks and ditches; things which look impregnable
to the unprofessional eye, but which disciplined
troops are accustomed to take to pieces with neatness
and despatch. It was desired to give Curnming the
impression that this canon was garrisoned in, force,
and the trip through it was made by night. Fires were
built at various points to give the impression of a large
army an old trick, but one which still works. Every
little distance the governor was challenged by a group
of Argus-eyed sentries. It was the same group each
time; for while he was being taken aside and quizzed,
and Kane was whispering the countersign in the most
approved style of a comic-opera conspirator's chorus,
the hard-working sentinels would hasten ahead, and
get ready to challenge the incoming Gentile again.
Probably there were less than two hundred men in
the canon, but to the governor they seemed at least
as many thousands.
Gumming arrived at Salt Lake City April 12, 1858,
and was taken to the home of a prominent Mormon
elder. Brigham at once called on the Gentile gov-
ernor, and delivered to him the territorial seal. The
plot was working beautifully. Three days after his
arrival, Gumming wrote a self-congratulatory letter
to Johnston, but made no mention of a forward move
of troops. His second Sunday in Salt Lake City, Gov-
ernor Gumming was asked to speak in the Tabernacle,
302 BRIGHAM YOUNG
where another bit of theatricals had been arranged
for his benefit. The governor made a most concilia-
tory not to say abject speech; but as soon as hei
stopped, a large number of the audience began to be-
rate and abuse him, calling him an office-seeker and
worst insult in Mormon vocabulary a Missourian.
They harangued each other in fiery phrases on the
wickedness of the federal government, and the suffer-
ings of Zion in the past; and testified to their readi-
ness to fight for their rights and their religion. Over
all presided Brigham, soothing the tumult with a word
when it grew too loud, deprecating the grossness of
his people's language, and generally showing himself
master of the situation. The obvious result of this
performance was to convince Gumming that no one
could govern Utah without the aid of Brigham
Young.*
Thus far, the scheme had worked admirably, but
the kingdom and especially the chiefs of the kingdom
were not yet out of danger. The federal force was
not composed entirely of Alfred Cummings. Judge
D. R. Eckles, new chief justice of the territory, had
called a grand jury at Camp Scott during the winter,
and this inquisitorial body had indicted Brigham
Young for treason. Similar true bills were found
against Heber C Kimball, General Wells, " Port "
Rockwell, " Bill " Hickman, and a number of others.
* Linn and other writers speak of this performance in the Taber-
nacle as designed by Brigham to show his flock that he was
not surrendering. Just why he needed such a demonstration at
this time, or how the Tabernacle meeting could have provided one
if he did need it, the present writers are unable to see. It was
the governor who needed impressing on this occasion, not the
people; and a better way of showing Gumming what would hap-
pen to him if he quarrelled with Brigham is not easy to imagine.
END OF THE MORMON WAR
Such indictments were embarassing to the Saints., the
more so since Judge Eckles was standing on his dignity
and refusing to enter Salt Lake City till the flag of his
country was flying there. General Johnston, too,, was
contumacious; he plainly had no faith in the patriot-
ism, loyalty, or good intentions in any way of Brig-
ham and his aids; and at this time, General Johnston
was still free to use his troops in support of the
judge, without asking consent of the governor.
Under such circumstances, the natural strategy
would be for Young and his fellows in trouble to
keep out of the way until representations could be
made at Washington which would get them a par-
don, or until the troops could be recalled. But Brig-
ham had no notion of playing the part of a lone fugi-
tive, nor of pleading for mercy from the government
he had insulted and defied. Whatever one may think
of his general character, however one may reprobate
his undisguised treason, the candid student must ad-
mit that Brigham's nerve and daring at this juncture
approach the sublime. Instead of drawing his stake
and quitting the game, now that fate had favoured
him for the moment, he pushed his winnings back on
the board to play for all or nothing. He had cap-
tured the Gentile governor without a fight. Very
well; he would now disarm the federal judiciary and
tie the hands of the federal commander; or he would
carry out his threat to make the valley a desert.
Practically the whole population of Salt Lake City
and the northern settlements deserted their homes at
Brigham's counsel, and moved southward to camp by
the shores of Utah lake. They took with them arms
and provisions, and such household furniture as could
be of use in camp life; but their heavier property
304 BRIGHAM YOUNG
was left behind. Each man on leaving his house fixed
it so as to burn as rapidly as possible. Shavings and
kindling were placed handy, and a squad of deter-
mined men were assigned to the task of applying the
torch when Brigham should give the word.
It was a deliberate and superb defiance; but it was
never carried out Had President Buchanan owned a
tithe of Brigham's daring stubbornness, there would
be no Mormon problem in America to-day, and the
history of the Civil war might have read somewhat
differently. Even while Governor Gumming was be-
ing treated to carefully arranged theatricals in Echo
canon, President Buchanan was making a practical
surrender of federal authority over Utah. April 6,
1858 on the anniversary of the founding of the
church he issued a proclamation on Utah affairs.
After a blustering prelude which merely emphasized
the weakness of the document, the President con-
tinued :
" Being anxious to save the effusion of blood, and to
avoid the indiscriminate punishment of a whole people
for crimes of which it is not probable that all are equally
guilty, I offer now a free and full pardon to all who will
submit themselves to the just authority of the federal
government/'
Senator-elect L. W. Powell of Kentucky and Major
Ben McCullough, a Texas veteran of the Mexican
war, were appointed peace commission to carry this
amnesty to the Mormons, and " bring those mis-
guided people to their senses/' These commissioners
reached Salt Lake City June 7, 1858. Four days later,
they held a conference in the Tabernacle with Brig-
END OF THE MORMON WAR 805
ham and his aids, who had come back from their
camp on Utah lake for this purpose. A considerable
number of their followers had accompanied them,
and with these and the population remaining in the
city, the building was crowded. While the conference
was in progress, " Port " Rockwell rode up to the
building on a foaming horse, and entering, informed
Brigham that the troops were marching toward the
city. Brigham stepped to the front of the platform
and called out:
"Is Brother Dunbar present?"
Brother Dunbar, a Scotchman and precentor of the
Mormon congregation, was present. On receiving
this assurance, Brigham gave the order:
" Brother Dunbar, sing Zion ! "
" Zion " was the chief military hymn, the Mar-
seillaise, of the Mormons, if the bones of Rouget de
Tlsle do not resent the comparison. Brother Dunbar
immediately led off in the hymn, and the whole con-
gregation joined in singing:
" Here our voices we'll raise and we'll sing to thy praise,
Sacred home of the prophets of God ;
Thy deliverance is nigh,
Thy oppressors shall die
And the Gentiles shall bow 'neath thy rod ! "
Tullidge, pro-Mormon historian, is kind enough to
explain that this lapse into poetry meant : " Stop that
army, or our peace conference is ended ! " The army
could not be stopped, for it had not yet started; Major
McCullough of the peace commission remained quite
unimpressed; but the singing and the subsequent
harangues were not without their value. They eu-
306 BRIGHAM YOUNG
abled Brigham to consent to the presence of the sol-
diers without seeming to back down, and that was
the only difficulty remaining. President Buchanan
"had conceded everything else. The next day, June 12,
Brigham delivered another harangue. He denied that
the Mormons had done anything which required the
President's pardon, except, perhaps, to burn a few
wagon trains. This was a justifiable act under the
circumstances; but if the President wanted to pardon
them for it, he was welcome to do so. Warming to
his subject, Brigham went on:
" We have the God of Israel the God of battles on
our side; and let me tell you, gentlemen, we fear not
your armies. I can take a few of the boys here, and with
the help of the Lord, can whip the whole United States.
. . . The United States are going to destruction as fast
as they can go. If you do not believe it, gentlemen, you
will soon see it to your sorrow. It will be with them like
a broken potsherd. Yes, it will be like water spilled
on the ground, no more to be picked up.
" Now, let me say to you peace commissioners, we are
willing those troops should come into our country, but
not to stay in our city. They may pass through, if needs
be, but they must not quarter less than forty miles from
us!"
The commissioners were there under express or-
ders to make peace, not to punish impudence; there-
fore this statement was all they required. The
" war " was practically over.
Meanwhile, General Johnston had been waiting the
arrival of horses and supplies, not for the report of
the peace commissioners. These reached him sooner
END OF THE MORMON WAR 307
than he expected, and on June 13, 1858, he broke
camp, and began the march to Salt Lake City. It is a
fair inference that this clear-headed, soldierly man
hoped against hope that he might come into some col-
lision with the Nativoo Legion which would justify him
in putting his soldiers to work; but if so, he was dis-
appointed. On June 14, word of the " peace " reached
him. He sent ahead a dignified statement, that no
citizen of Utah who obeyed the laws had anything
to fear from the federal soldiery. On June 26, he
entered Salt Lake City. It was like a city of the dead.
Not a flag waved from any public building, not a
citizen was out of doors, not a window was open.
Mrs. Gumming, wife of the governor, was literally
the only woman in the city. The troops marched in
perfect order through the town, and camped on the
Jordan, still within the city limits. After a couple
of days in this camp, they moved west and south, and
on July 6, formed Camp Floyd in Cedar Valley, at al-
most the prescribed distance of forty miles from Salt
Lake City.
Thus closed the "Mormon war"; in unmitigated
humiliation for the federal government, in almost un-
mixed triumph for the Mormon kingdom. Brigham
Young and Colonel Kane had tricked, outwitted, and
brought to naught the overwhelming might of the
United States. There are few more astonishing and
fewer more disgraceful chapters in our history. A
clique of polygamous priests, holding despotic sway
over a handful of people, were allowed to insult, defy,
and make war upon the nation; and then, without
retracting their insults, without apologizing for their
rebellion, without being beaten or punished in any
way, they were given a pardon which they con-
308 BRIGHAM YOUNG
temptuously denied needing, and left in complete
though informal mastery of one of the most impor-
tant territories in the United States. The daring, the
adroitness, the resourcefulness of Brigham and of
Kane, and the unreckoning devotion of the Mormon
people are worthy of all praise; but the weakness and
inefficiency of the federal administration can scarcely
receive too great a measure of contempt.
For the Mormon war, as "even Buchanan recog-
nized, was the knock of opportunity at the gate of the
federal union. Here was the chance, at little com-
parative cost of life and treasure, to assert the su-
preme authority of the nation, to rouse the latent
Americanism in every community where national
sentiment was yielding before the propaganda of se-
cession. Had Buchanan dealt with rebellion in Utah
as President Cleveland dealt with anarchy in Chicago,
the rally of national feeling might have begun three
years before it was waked at Fort Sumter. No sin-
gle administration, perhaps no succession of adminis-
trations could have averted the Civil war altogether.
But a very slight shift of sentiment would have kept
Virginia in the Union; and had Robert E. Lee and
" Stonewall " Jackson stayed with their state instead of
going out with her, there would have been a different
tale to tell of the days of *6i.
XXX
A PROFIT-SEEKING PROPHET
IN spite of the governor's friendship, the Presi-
dent's pardon, and the reassuring despatch of
General Johnston, the Mormons camped by Utah
lake did not immediately return to their homes.
Brigham was still suspicious, both of the army and
of its commander; and he knew that the federal
judges bore him no good will. Governor Gumming
bustled about, swearing that the amnesty should be
kept, that no one need fear anything saying " No,
sir ! By God, sir ! " and generally making himself
a model of pompous incompetence. No one paid any
attention to him a fact which does not seem to
have lessened his good humour in the least.
Brigham waited until satisfied that the troops were
tinder perfect discipline, and that General
Johnston had no night-riding tendencies. Then,
on July 5, the uncrowned emperor climbed on
his wagon at the camp by the lake, and told his
people that he was going home. The return began
at once.
But it was not a return to the care-free, irrespon-
sible dominion he had enjoyed before. Brigham's
power was almost as great as ever; but he was
obliged to be more circumspect in the use of it. He
remained ruler of the kingdom, but now he found it
necessary to rule with some slight regard for "for-
eign " public opinion. Even so slight a restraint was
309
310 BRIGHAM YOUNG
irksome to the free-spoken despot, and for a time he
or his people had some apprehensions for his per-
sonal safety. Wherever he went, a small but devoted
bodyguard attended him, and a watch was kept over
the house where he passed the night.
This fear was not wholly without foundation. The
new federal judges appointed to Utah were of higher
character than most of their predecessors. But they
were endowed with long memories, and they did not
grasp the necessity of ignoring past political offences.
At the November term of court in 1858, Judge Sin-
clair tried to secure the arrest of Brigham and his
aids on the indictments for treason found against
them the previous winter* He admitted that the Presi-
dent's pardon covered these offences, but insisted that
this pardon must be pleaded in court; that it was a
bar to punishment, but not to arrest. This may have
been good law, but in the existing condition of Utah
affairs, it was bad sense. The president had chosen
to forgive the Mormon leaders. There was nothing
to do but accept that pardon as a fact, close accounts,
open a new set of books, and start afresh. To fail
in this, to seek to humiliate Brigham and Heber Kim-
ball was to repeat the blunder of the Mormon chiefs,
who, by their everlasting harping on their trials in
Missouri and Illinois, were giving to their followers
an almost incurable case of political jaundice. The
United States district attorney, wiser than Judge Sin-
clair, refused to take any action in the matter, and
this first clash passed harmlessly.
There were offences not covered by any mantle of
forgiveness, however; and with such Judge Cradle-
baugh came in contact when he held court in south-
ern Utah. The story of Mountain Meadows had
A PROFIT-SEEKING PROPHET 311
leaked out. Some doings of the " reformation " had
come to light. Cradlebaugh made a personal investi-
gation of these crimes, and not unnaturally seemed
to lose his sense of judicial propriety in anger at the
ecclesiastical tyranny which could permit or promote
such atrocities. Cradlebaugh became convinced that
Brigham and his aids were not only morally but
legally responsible for Mountain Meadows. In the
full belief that he had found a way to break up the
Mormon hierarchy, the judge called a grand jury at
Provo in March, 1859. He laid before them the facts
he had collected and the opinions he had formed, and
practically ordered them to return indictments, not
only against actual participants in the various out-
rages, but against the heads of the church. In order
to protect the court and witnesses from Mormon ven-
geance, Judge Cradlebaugh had a detachment of
soldiers from Camp Floyd stationed at Provo.
It was a bad move in a good cause; but if it had
no other effect, it at least showed the marvellous
solidarity of Brigham's empire. Judge Cradlebaugh
had supposed that the Mormons were held in eccle-
siastical bondage through terror, that they would
break away gladly the moment they were assured of
protection. The Spartan king who thought to rouse
the people of Alexandria by the cry of " Liberty ! "
was not more grievously disappointed. The whole
Mormon community blazed forth in indignation at
the judge who dared accuse their holy priests of crime,
and who proclaimed that the law of the land was
higher than the law of God, as revealed through the
mouth of His prophet. The grand jury refused to
return indictments. Judge Cradlebaugh issued bench
warrants, but they could not be served. The whole
312 BBIGHAM YOUNG
community closed ranks and acted as one man in pro-
tection of their hierarchy. Governor Gumming or-
dered the troops at Provo to return to Camp Floyd.
General Johnston replied that Cradlebaugh had asked
for protection and should have it. In spite of the
soldiers, in spite of his own unjudicial zeal, Cradle-
baugh's efforts came to nothing. At last, he entered
on the docket a minute that the whole population
seemed leagued to defeat justice, and adjourned court
without day in a bitter speech, whose unseemly
phrases are kept alive by Mormon historians even yet.
The matter of military protection for the courts
was appealed to Washington, and decided against
Judge Cradlebaugh. President Buchanan held that
the governor alone had a right to make requisition
for troops, and that the judges must prefer their re-
quests through him. It was a proper, indeed, an in-
evitable decision; but it completed the triumph of
Brigham, and showed that in stirring up strife be-
tween Governor Gumming and General Johnston,
Colonel Kane had builded better than he knew. The
governor hated the commander with all the venom
that pompous inefficiency feels for haughty com-
petency. The soldiers could scarcely have had less
effect on the administration of Utah if they had been
camped on the Missouri river.
Hardly had Cradlebaugh's scheme of redemption
come to an inglorious end at Provo than a yet sharper
excitement broke out at Salt Lake City. A Gentile
named Brewer had conceived the plan of counterfeit-
ing the notes drawn by the quartermaster at Camp
Floyd on the assistant treasurer of the United States.
A counterfeit plate was engraved by a young Mormon
artist, who is said not to have known the purpose for
A PROFIT-SEEKING PROPHET 813
which his work was required. The fraud was de-
tected, Brewer was arrested, and immediately tried
to clear himself by confessing and offering to turn
state's evidence. He implicated Brigham in the
plot. A writ was issued for Brigham' s arrest, and
officers from Camp Floyd asked Governor Gumming
to deputize them to seize the Mormon king. Gum-
ming indignantly refused to have any part in the plan.
A few days later, word was brought to Salt Lake
City that General Johnston was preparing to make
a night march on the city for the purpose of arrest-
ing the heads of the church. The story was false;
but without waiting for confirmation, Governor Gum-
ming ordered General Wells to call out the Nauvoo
Legion, and prepare to repel the threatened " inva-
sion ! " In a few hours, five thousand armed Mor-
mons had gathered for the fight.
The charge against Brigham of counterfeiting was
both malignant and absurd; though whether Gum-
ming was wise in refusing to permit a judicial ex-
amination of that charge may well be doubted. The
point worth noting in this episode is the completeness
with which Brigham controlled the official head of the
territory. Little more than a year had passed since
Gumming was cooling his heels in a mountain camp,
waiting for federal troops to disperse the rebellious
Nauvoo Legion, and seat him in the governor's chair.
Now, from that very chair, he was calling on these
same rebels to resist the troops who had brought him
to the city. The federal governor had become a mere
cog in Brigham's political machine. American his-
tory holds few, if any, more striking instances of the
triumph of personal ascendency over official power.
With the military arm thus effectually bound, the
BRIGHAM YOUNG
army soon became a source of revenue, rather than
of fear. Brigham at first preached strict non-inter-
course between the Saints of Zion and the sinners of
Camp Floyd; but his practice did not square with his
precepts and the doctrine of quarantine was soon
abandoned altogether. A number of Gentile mer-
chants with Mormon connections established trading-
houses at the camp ; and supplied for a consideration
goods for Uncle Sam's soldiers, and for the numer-
ous camp followers who trail after an army. The
Walker brothers, whom we shall soon find in open
and not unsuccessful opposition to Brigham, got their
real start in merchandising at Camp Floyd. But
Brigham, as might have been expected, took a larger
profit than any of his followers. On representations
that no flour could be had in Utah, a contract had
been let by the government to bring this article from
the Missouri valley to Camp Floyd at the outrageous
price of $28.40 per hundred pounds. The price of
flour in Utah was $6 per hundred, Brigham and the
contractors got together, the troops were fed on flour
from the Mormon tithing-hottse, the contractors made
a tremendous profit, and it is fair to believe that they
made an equitable division of their plunder with the
" Lion of the Lord/' Many faults have been laid to
his charge, but Brigham Young was never accused of
the profitless weakness of being easy to cheat.
The presence of federal troops and judges could
not even save the lives of persons whom the kingdom
wished to execute. Such matters had to be handled
more circumspectly than in the days of the " refor-
mation," and minor church officials no longer dared
assume to dispense the high justice, the middle, and
the low. But the man who incurred the serious
'A PROFIT-SEEKING PROPHET
enmity of the hierarchy, unless protected by high
character and corresponding influence, had short
shrift. For example, Brewer, the man who had ac-
cused Brigham of complicity in counterfeiting, was
shot one night while walking in company with a
gambler. The coroner's jury next day declared that
the two men had shot each other. No one in Utah
believed the ridiculous verdict, but it stood. Brewer
had sought to defile the Lord's anointed, and death
was his only possible punishment. The killing of the
gambler was a by-product, so to speak. No one had
any especial reason for wishing him dead; but he was
in the way; and the life of a gambler never has been
esteemed very highly in western communities. The
soldiers were not allowed to come to the city; but
camp followers could not be put under the same re-
straint. A considerable street was given over to
saloons and disorderly houses designed to cater to
this new class of custom though it is not to be sup-
posed that Gentiles alone visited this quarter. Kill-
ings in this neighbourhood were frequent and ex-
cited little attention. If perchance any one was ar-
rested for a " Whiskey Street " offence, the odds were
against his being brought .to trial. The "ley fuga"
was as well established in Utah at this time as in the
Mexico of the Diaz regime; and seriously undesirable
citizens who got into the Salt Lake City jail espe-
cially if under guard of " Port " Rockwell ac-
quired the habit of being " killed while attempting to
escape."
The only cloud that menaced Bngham's supremacy
during this period was a design to remove Governor
Gumming. General Johnston and other officers had
not been slow in reporting the governor's subservience
316 BRIGHAM YOUNG
to the Mormon hierarchy; and President Buchanan
determined to replace the compliant official with some
one more nearly capable of asserting federal authority.
From this danger, Brigham was saved once more by
Colonel Kane. Rising from the bed where he was
confined with pleurisy, when every word and move-
ment cost him a pang, Colonel Kane delivered a lec-
ture on " the situation in Utah " before the Historical
Society of New York. He declared that the Mor-
mons were divided into two parties : one of fire-eaters,
who wanted war with tha federal government; and
one, headed by Brigham, who were determined to
keep the peace. He praised Governor Gumming in
the highest degree, as the ideal man to cope with the
difficult situation. Mormon officials in New York
saw to it that this lecture was reported in the press
throughout the East; and Buchanan was forced to
halt. He had himself praised Kane's exalted patriot-
ism, and attested his superior knowledge of all Utah
affairs; and now he was powerless before the reputa-
tion he had helped to build.
This is the last time we shall meet Colonel Kane
in this history and it may not be amiss to pause a
moment in contemplation of his character. That
character was one which Richelieu or Charles Second
would have appraised more correctly than did Presi-
dent Buchanan or General Johnston. It is one of the
conventions of English-speaking lands that the brave
man is ever truthful; that the untruthful man is ever
cowardly; that false-speaking is so corrosive a poison
that it destroys the whole moral nature, and leaves the
liar a whited sepulchre, filled with all uncleanness, and
empty of all soundness or virtue. The persistence of
this theory is due to the Anglo-Saxon's skill in de-
A PROFIT-SEEKING PROPHET 17
ceiving himself, rather than to his reluctance in de-
ceiving others; and the single case of Colonel Kane
upsets the notion altogether.
Kane was a man of unblushing mendacity and un-
faltering courage; and both qualities were used for
the advantage of others, rather than of himself. In
his zeal for the Mormon cause, he stopped at no false-
hood and hesitated at no danger. He believed it his
task to save the Mormon church from the destruction
which Gentiles were plotting against it; and nothing
was allowed to interfere with that sacred mission. In
a letter to President Fillmore, Kane denounced the
" spiritual wife story " as an unmixed outrage when
he must have had personal acquaintance with at least
half a dozen of Brigham's plural wives. When so
weak from illness that most men in like condition
would have deemed it an act of courage to go to a
well-warmed office, Kane wallowed through snow-
filled canons to Camp Scott, to turn aside the threat-
ened blow at the Mormon hierarchy. Reaching camp,
he dared the fire of the sentry, broke the astonished
soldier's head with his own musket, and challenged
the commanding officer to a duel. He did these
things, not from passion, but deliberately to secure
attention, to show his contempt for General John-
ston, and give point to his subtle flattery of Governor
Gumming. The event proved the correctness of his
reasoning.
Such a man never fails to win unsparing curses
from enemies, and unmeasured praise from friends.
Praises and curses alike are deserved; but neither,
standing alone, give a picture of the man. Kane
earned condemnation from the United States govern-
ment; and escaped it. He earned canonization from
818 BRIGHAM YOUNG
the Mormon hierarchy; and received it He deserves
from history only the just and unprejudiced estimate
which belongs to every man; and this the present
writers have tried to accord. Had Kane done for
himself what he did for others, he would have been
an unmitigated scoundrel. Had his honour been equal
to his unselfish devotion, he would have been well-
nigh a saint. The combination left him a strange,
"baffling man, a figure that at once attracts and repels;
an ecclesiastical diplomat, with the mien of a soldier,
a warrior in the habit of a priest.
XXXI
SPOILING THE GENTILES
RELIEVED of the danger of a new and less pli-
able governor by Colonel Kane's final bit o
diplomacy, Brigham and his people could now
rest in peace and enjoy the troubles of the nation which
had " persecuted " the Saints. Their enjoyment was
the keener because these troubles came as the fulfilment
of prophecy. Joseph Smith had foretold in 1832 that
civil war would come to the American republic, be-
ginning with the revolt of South Carolina. If Joseph
had been wise enough to hang up the receiver at this
point, his fame would be more lasting among those
contumacious Gentiles who insist on looking into the
machinery of miracles. But he must needs go on to
predict an uprising of negro slaves, and a devastating
war with Great Britain; and lack of accuracy in these
small matters has distracted attention from the proph-
ecy which came true.
Indeed, it required no seer to foretell something
of the storm about to break on the too-confident
nation. President Buchanan had shown his fear of
such a misfortune and recognized the best way to
avert it, when he spoke in his message to Congress
of the necessity of treating the Utah uprising in such
a way that this first rebellion should likewise be the
last. Instead of carrying out his own sound recom-
mendation, the President had so behaved as to en-
courage treason and stimulate secession,
320 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Most of the troops at Camp Floyd were sent to
New Mexico early in 1860. In March of the same
year, General Johnston returned to the " States " by
way of California, leaving Colonel Philip St. George
Cooke in command. That fall brought the triumph of
the Republican party, with its doctrine that polygamy
and slavery were twin relics of barbarism ; the election
of Abraham Lincoln, and the certainty of civil war. In
May, 1 86 1, Governor Gumming went back to his be-
loved Georgia, leaving the territory so quietly that few
knew of his departure till they saw it mentioned in
the local paper. Then came orders from Washington
for Colonel Cooke to abandon the post, sell all stores
which could not with profit be carried back across
the plains, and bring the soldiers east to fight for the
very life of the nation.
Up to this time, the Saints had received only a
sentimental satisfaction from the troubles of the un-
godly. Now, they were to reap a pecuniary reward
as well. Thanks to the activity of contractors and the
complaisance to use no harsher word of former
Secretary of War Floyd, there were some $4,000,000
worth of government property at Camp Floyd, aside
from weapons, ammunition, and rations needed on
the march. These were now thrown on the market
at forced sale and there were none but Mormons to
buy. The result may be guessed. Four million dol-
lars' worth of goods changed hands for not more than
$100,000. Flour for which the government had paid
$28.40 per sack was bought for 52 cents per sack;
though the standard tithing price at that time was $6.
Surplus uniforms and clothing were sold for about
the price of the wool required to, make the cloth.
Army bacon was sold at a cent a pound. Tools and
SPOILING THE GENTILES 321
materials of all sorts were sacrificed at similar rates.
It was the harvest of the gold rush over again with
the added pleasure of spoiling the Egyptians.
Brigham was the chief buyer on this occasion. He
invested nearly $50,000 practically as much as all
other buyers put together and his bargains were the
choicest of the lot. The thrifty Yankee soul of him
must have rejoiced especially over the repurchase of
the fteur. He had taken it from the tithing-house
at $6, got his share of the profits of selling it to the
government for $28.40, and now bought it back again
for fifty-two cents, to sell once more to the faithful
for $6.
To this day, the Civil war is regarded by the Mor-
mons as an incident of that miracle by which God
replenished the storehouses of the Prophet and the
Saints at the expense of an unrighteous nation. They
were collecting a part of the debt which was due to
them for the pillaging to which they had been sub-
jected in Missouri and Illinois.
The Mormon attitude was one of frank rejoicing
at the troubles of the Federal government. Brig-
ham's feelings were more nearly loyal than any of his
followers who went on record at this time and
surely Brigham's discourses are the reverse of
patriotic in tone. " I feel disgraced at having been
born under such a government!" he raged at the
church conference on April 6, 1861. " I do not think
there is a more corrupt government on the face of
the earth," chimed in Daniel H. Wells, chief of the
Nauvoo Legion. Other speakers took a similar tone.
It was left to Apostle George A, Smith, however, to
vindicate the supremacy of his family in imaginative
discourse, At this same conference, George A,
322 BRIGHAM YOUNG
solemnly informed the assembled Saints that un-
less the South kept Lincoln busy, he would be forced
by the " priestly influences " around him to " put to
death every tnan who believes in the divine mission of
Joseph Smith."
This attitude was modified at times, especially if
Brigham happened to want something from the gov-
ernment; but it never was permanently changed dur-
ing the early half of the war. In October, 1861, when
the telegraph line was completed into Salt Lake City,
Brigham sent a telegram in which were the words;
" Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the constitu-
tion and the laws of our once happy country." Mor-
mon writers speak of this formal telegram as evi-
dence of exalted patriotism. Perhaps it is such by
comparison with the sentiments habitually nourished
and expressed by the Mormon hierarchy but it
would not take high rank in a broader collection of
patriotic literature. Brigham's theory of the consti-
tution was that this instrument gave the central gov-
ernment supreme authority to protect the Mormons,
and no authority to govern them; and it required no
great accession of loyalty to commend an instrument
interpreted in this wise. In this as in other matters,
actions speak more decisively than words, The Mor-
mon kingdom probably had the best organized militia
in the United States; but not a company, not a squad,
not a man enrolled in the Nauvoo Legion crossed the
plains to fight for the Union and the flag. Brigham on
more than one occasion declared that he would see the
federal government in hell before he would allow
a single Saint to enlist in its defence, and so far as
he was brought to the test, he kept his word.
Here, as in the story of the Mormon battalion, the
BRIGHAM YOUNG IN 1870
SPOILING THE GENTILES
student is struck with the singular obtuseness of Mor-
mon writers and hierarchs on this important matter.
They literally do not know what patriotism is. They
have given to their church kingdom all the loyalty
which the Gentile citizen bestows on country and
state. A few men of high intellectual and emotional
character among them have been able to rise above
ecclesiastical prejudice, and really love their country.
A few who have been much in contact with the out-
side world -have absorbed the patriotic sentiment of
their neighbours. Aside from these chance excep-
tions, patriotism has scarcely had an existence among
the rulers of the Mormon kingdom.
The season of 1861 was well advanced before
President Lincoln appointed new federal officers in
Utah. Then he sent John W. Dawson as governor,
and John F. Kinney as chief justice, besides other
executive and judicial {officers. Both Kinney and
Dawson were thoroughly bad appointments; but the
blame for them rests on the congressmen who did not
scruple to recommend them, rather than on the Presi-
dent who was carrying the salvation of a nation on
his shoulders. While nearly equal in unworthiness,
the two men were widely separated in the fate which
overtook them. Kinney pandered to the Mormon em-
pire at every turn, and was removed at last only when
the scandal of his subserviency became too great to
endure. Governor Dawson antagonized the hierarchy
and provoked private vengeance by his evil conduct.
In spite of their virulent comment on the Ameri-
can government, Brigham and his aids were anxious
as ever to secure admission of Utah as a state. Gov-
ernor Dawson reached Salt Lake City early in De-
cember. The legislature passed a bill calling for the
324 BRIGHAM YOUNG
adoption of a constitution and the election of state
officers and representatives at Washington. Daw-
son vetoed this bill, on the ground that it gave neither
time nor heed to learn whether Congress would grant
the statehood desired. Almost immediately, Dawson
found himself in trouble. He made improper ad-
vances to a woman employed in his office, she told of
his offending, and the governor received word that
the sooner he got out of the territory the better. He
left on the evening of December 31, 1861, taking
along a guard specially hired to protect him till be-
yond the borders of the kingdom. In spite of this
guard or perhaps by their collusion Dawson was
set upon by a gang of bullies, beaten, kicked, and ac-
cording to one account, emasculated.
This was another case in which the rude inter-
preters of the law of blood atonement went farther
than the emperor desired; and on this occasion, Brig-
ham thought best to punish such inopportune exhibi-
tion of religious zeal. One of the fellows concerned
in the outrage was shot by " Port " Rockwell, Jan-
uary 1 6, 1862, "while attempting to escape from the
officers." Two others were killed by the police of
Salt Lake City the next day, and their taking off was
explained in a similar manner.
Neither the veto nor the departure of Governor
Dawson was allowed to halt the effort to gain state-
hood for Utah. On January 20, 1862, a convention
met in Salt Lake City to frame a state constitution,
nominate officials, and ask for admission to the Union.
On March 3, without any authorization from Con-
gress, an election of state officers was held, Brigham
was chosen governor, Heber C. Kimball lieutenant-
governor, and John M. Bernhisel member of Con-
SPOILING THE GENTILES &2S
gress by unanimous vote. A legislature was elected
at the same time. Six weeks later, this legislature
met, and chose George Q. Cannon and William H.
Hooper as United States senators.
This attempt to rush Congress into granting state-
hood came to nothing unless, perchance, it helped
forward the passage of the first of federal laws deal-
ing with polygamy in the territories. President Lin-
coln signed this anti-polygamy bill July 2, 1862. But
for a season, the hopes of the hierarchy ran high.
Indians were troubling the telegraph line; and Brig-
ham was authorized to raise a company of militia for
the protection of the wires until federal troops could
be sent to the threatened spot. The required com-
pany was on its way in forty-eight hours under com-
mand of the same Lot Smith who had burned govern-
ment trains five years before. But though Lincoln
was willing to avoid trouble with the kingdom until
more weighty matters were off his hands, he had al-
ready appointed a new territorial governor, and had
no thought of yielding the federal authority to dis-
loyal hierarchs.
In the absence of Dawson, Secretary Fuller was
acting governor of Utah; and during his not very
vigorous administration occurred one of the most
pathetic tragedies of Mormon history. Joseph Mor-
ris was an ignorant and fervid Welshman, a convert
to the Mormon church, who for years had eked out
the halting processes of his reason by frequent and
voluble communication with " spirits/' Some months
before the events now to be chronicled, the " spirits "
had given Morris the task of delivering a rebuke to
Brigham Young. Brigham answered only by a coarse
jest. Thereupon Morris, who by this time undoubt-
326 BRIGHAM YOUNG
edly had crossed the wavering line which separated his
fanaticism from insanity, withdrew to Kington Fort,
thirty-five miles north of Salt Lake City, and began to
put forth full-fledged revelations. Several scribes were
kept busy writing down the communications which
Morris received from the Lord; and quite a number of
Mormons, who had felt cheated at Brigham's refusal
to deal in this sort of literature, flocked to the new foun-
tain of inspiration. Brigham sagaciously sat back, and
allowed the delusion to run its course. Morris had in-
sisted on a scheme of communism, and also had told
his followers that there was no need for them to
plant or harvest any more, since they had food enough
on hand to last them till the second coming of Christ.
A few weeks of close contact with this voluble mad-
man sufficed for the more worldly-minded of his con-
verts, who returned to the orthodox fold, and tried to
get back from Morris their " consecrated " property,
It is claimed that these recusants attempted to cheat
the community by withdrawing more and better cattle
and horses than they had brought At any rate, the
Morrisites seized two of the apostates and held them
prisoners in Kington Fort.
Judge Kinney issued writs of habeas corpus, de-
manding that Morris produce his prisoners in court.
When the unfortunate lunatic failed to do this, a posse
was sent to arrest him. Morris refused to surrender.
With what seems at best unseemly haste, General Bur-
ton, in command of the posse under authority of the
United States marshal, opened fire on the Morrisite
camp with a cannon, killing two women at the first
shot. The Morrisites returned the fire with such
weapons as were at their disposal, and killed two of
Burton's posse. They kept up the fight three days,
SPOILING THE GENTILES 327
until their ammunition was gone, and then, June 16,
raised the white flag. Burton and his followers at
once entered camp.
The usual account of what followed is that Burton
called on Morris to surrender, that the lunatic turned
to address his people, and that Burton thereupon shot
him dead. Immediately after still continuing the
accustomed tale Burton shot and seriously wounded
a Morrisite elder named Banks. A woman, Mrs.
Bowman, ran up to Burton, calling him a blood-
thirsty wretch; and remarking, "No one shall call
me that and live ! " Burton killed her. A Danish
woman approached him crying, and Burton ended his
work by shooting her, likewise.
This account cannot be accepted. Sixteen years
afterwards, in 1879, Burton was tried for the mur-
der of Mrs. Bowman, and acquitted by a jury com-
posed of equal numbers of Mormons and Gentiles.
Making all due allowance for the difficulty of securing
a conviction after this lapse of time, and for the de-
gree of evidence required and properly to secure
a verdict of " Guilty " in a capital case, it is fair to
conclude that Burton was innocent of this most
heinous crime. His innocence of the murder of the
Danish woman is still more certain, since it may be
presumed that the district attorney elected the strong-
est case for trial.
The women were killed, however; Morris was
killed; Elder Banks was wounded and died suddenly
the same evening. There is nothing to show that a
single one of these killings was necessary, yet they
were done; and with the exception of Burton, no one
was ever brought to trial for the multiplied slaughter.
Neither has any just excuse been offered for Burton's
328 BRIGHAM YOUNG
act in suddenly firing with cannon on a camp known
to contain women and children. This cannon fire cost
at least two lives, again the lives of women; and for
this, Burton was both morally and legally responsible.
The simple fact was that Burton and Brigham, for
that matter, were as careless of the lives of "apos-
tates " as some bad types of union men are of the lives
of " scabs," or as the average strike-breaking gunman
is of the lives of strikers. It would be wrong to find
any peculiar demerit in Mormonism because of a cal-
lousness which is as well known in industrial centres
as in Utah. But if the new religion did not originate
human intolerance, neither did it help that failing.
In July, 1862, the new federal appointees reached
Utah. They were Stephen S. Harding, governor;
and Thomas J. Drake and Charles B. Waite, associate
judges. These last were appointed to take the places
left vacant by the resignations of Flenniken and
Crosby, who had been sent to Utah along with Gov-
ernor Dawson, and had left only a month later than
their distinguished executive. In the interim, Chief
Justice John F. Kinney represented the federal judicial
power in the territory, in odd moments spared from
running his boarding-house. His decisions, like his
menus, were shaped to please the tastes of his patrons.
No immediate clash took place between representa-
tives of the Republic and heads of the kingdom, though
It would have needed no great exercise of Brigham's
prophetic faculty to see such conflicts approaching. For
the time, the hierarchy was more concerned with an-
other prospective " invasion/' Colonel P. E. Connor,
a veteran of the Mexican war and a superb soldier,
had been ordered to Utah at the head of the Third
California infantry. The service was unpleasant both
SPOILING THE GENTILES 329
to officers and men, who had enlisted for fighting,
and were much disgusted at being set the task of
watching Brighani. Colonel Connor begged to be or-
dered to the front. His men offered the government
$30,000 for the privilege of being sent to the thick
of the fighting in Virginia. The administration, how-
ever, considered that the Mormon kingdom would be
the better for a little watching; and the Calif ornians
took up their march to Salt Lake City.
Connor had only 700 men a force which Brig-
ham's Nauvoo Legion could have crushed in a few
hours; but the colonel was a fair-sized army in him-
self. It had been supposed that he would go into quar-
ters at Fort Crittenden, and those who had bought
property at the fort were already counting the profits
of a re-sale to the government. But Colonel Connor
conceived that if he were to watch the Mormon king-
dom, he needed to be as near the centre of that in-
stitution as possible, and flatly declined to be marooned
forty miles away.
The moment this decision became known, rumours
were heard that the federal troops would not be per-
mitted to cross the Jordan, that they would be an-
nihilated if they tried to enter the city. To these
stories, Connor returned the answer that he would
cross the Jordan, though hell yawned beneath him.
On October 19, 1862, his little force passed this sacred
river quite unopposed. When two miles from the
city, he halted, formed his men in column with loaded
muskets and shotted cannon, threw his few horsemen
forward as ant advance guard, and in this order, with
bands playing and colours flying, entered the principal
street of the city, marched to Emigration Square, and
thence to the residence of Governor Harding, The
330 BRIGHAM YOUNG
whole population was out, but they gave the soldiers
neither insult nor cheer. The only flag waving over a
building in the city was that raised by Governor Hard-
ing. The governor made a short speech to the sol-
diers, who responded with three cheers, led by their
colonel; then they resumed their march to the high
ground under the Wasatch Mountains, where they
proceeded to form Camp Douglas. Brigham's resi-
dence was directly in range of their guns.
It was the first time Brigham had encountered a
thoroughbred soldier, who was free to act as a sol-
dier, without waiting on civilian "negotiations." It
cannot be supposed that the " Lion of the Lord " found
the experience a pleasant one. He was as little of a
coward as Connor's self; but he had not and could not
have the readiness for combat which marks the pro-
fessional fighter; and the prophet had many things to
consider which troubled the bold colonel not a whit.
A few months later, Colonel Connor earned the grati-
tude of the northern Utah settlements by his victory
over the Indians at Bear River; and the startling com-
pleteness of this campaign did not lessen the respect
for his military prowess. Brigham bitterly hated
being under the guns of federal soldiers; but he took
the sensible course of ignoring an annoyance which
it was unsafe to try to abate.
The territorial legislature met in December, 1862,
and on the eighth of that month, Governor Harding
read his message to the joint assembly. He tried to
be both complimentary and conciliatory. But he also
tried to speak the truth, to warn his hearers against
certain practices and tendencies; and he had not
learned that a community which claims to be under
Divine guidance and inspiration accepts the most ex-
SPOILING THE GENTILES . 331
travagant praise as no more than Its due, and resents
the mildest criticism as both insult and injury. Early
in his message occur the following paragraphs :
" I am sorry to say that since my sojourn among you I
have heard no sentiments, either publicly or privately ex-
pressed, that would lead me to believe that much sym-
pathy is felt by any considerable number of your people
in favour of the Government of the United States, now
struggling for its very existence in the ' valley and the
shadow ' through which it has been called to pass. If I
am mistaken in this opinion, no one will rejoice more
than myself in acknowledging my error. I would, in the
name of my bleeding country, that you, as representa-
tives of public sentiment here, would speedily pass such
resolution as will extort from me, if necessary, a public
acknowledgment of my error if error I have com-
mitted.
" I have said this in no unkind spirit ; I would much
rather learn that the fault has been on my part than on
yours."
Further on in his message, Governor Harding re-
ferred to the new federal law against polygamy in the
territories, and warned the people that this law must
be obeyed until repealed, or until declared unconsti-
tutional.
The legislature heard this message with suppressed
indignation, and refused to order it printed. They
adjourned January 16, 1863, without having passed
a single appropriation bill. The next day, the so-
called legislature of the t( State of Deseret" met; and
Brigharn, as " governor/ 7 sent in a message which
was most respectfully received.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
This was one of the most impolitic acts of Brig-
ham's life. Considering that the application for state-
hood was still before Congress, it was an utterly ab-
surd piece of impertinence. The only visible explana-
tion is that both Brigham and the legislature were
boiling with fury at Harding, and were more anxious
to show their contempt for the governor than careful
to trim their course with reference to its effect on
Congress.
Governor Harding did not long remain in lone-
some dignity on Brigham's black books. He was soon
joined by the new associate justices. Judge Waite
had been quick to notice the conflict of authority be-
tween local and federal courts, and the martial and
legal weapons which were left in the hands of the
kingdom through its control of the militia and of
juries. He drew a bill providing that the United
States marshal should select juries in the federal
courts, limiting the power of the probate courts of
the territory, and reorganizing the militia under the
federal governor. This bill was sent to Washington,
introduced in Congress; and immediately its chief pro-
visions were wired back to Utah by " senator-elect "
W. H. Hooper. To make matters worse, it was found
that Governor Harding had endorsed the bill with the
words : " This act should be passed."
The recall of judges is quite an issue in American
politics at present; but the present writers believe
Brigham Young was nearly or quite the first Ameri-
can who tried to put this doctrine into practice. A
mass-meeting was called, which packed the Tabernacle
March 3, 1863. Governor Harding's message to the
legislature was read, and pronounced an " insult " to
the community. John Taylor made a fiery address,
SPOILING THE GENTILES 333
and Brigham indulged to the full his rhetoric of in-
vective. "Man, did I say?" he shouted. "Thing,
I mean a nigger-worshipper, a black-hearted aboli-
tionist, is what he is, and what he represents; and that
I do naturally despise. ... Do you acknowledge
this man Harding for your governor? (Voices all
through the audience responded, 'No, you are our
governor! 7 ) Yes, I am your governor; and I will
let him know that I am governor; and if he attempts
to interfere in my affairs, woe, woe unto him!
" Will you allow such a man to remain in the ter-
ritory? (Voices, ' No; put him out!') Yes, I say
put him out. Judges Waite and Drake are perfect
fools, and the tools of Governor Harding, and they,
too, must leave. If all three do not resign, or if the
President does not remove them, the people must at-
tend to it ! "
Resolutions were adopted, denouncing Governor
Harding and Judges Waite and Drake. A petition
was drawn up and circulated, asking President Lin-
coln to recall them. A committee was appointed to
visit the three officials, and demand that they resign
their offices and leave the territory forthwith.
These representatives of kingly and ecclesiastical
arrogance were met in unfaltering fashion. Gov-
ernor Harding received the committee courteously, and
frankly told them that their charges against him were
self -convicted lies. He declined to resign, declined
to modify in any way his official actions, and prom-
ised his visitors that while it was well within their
power to kill him, it was not within their power to
escape retribution. Judge Waite answered that for
him to resign would be to admit that he was guilty or
afraid. " I am not conscious of either guilt or fear/*
BRIGHAM YOUNG
he added. " I must therefore respectfully decline to
accede to your request."
But it was from Judge Drake that the " committee
on recall of judges " received a baptism of pepper
which still tingles the skins of church historians as
they write. The staunch old man lacked something
of the temper of a judge but nothing of the spirit
of a citizen. " Go back to Brigham Young, your
master, that embodiment of sin and shame and dis-
gust, and tell him that I neither fear him nor love
him nor hate him that I utterly despise him. Tell
him, whose tools and tricksters you are, that I did
not come here by his permission, and that I will not
go away at his desire nor by his directions. ... I
am no skulk from the punishment of crimes, I tell
you if you, or the man whom you so faithfully serve,
attempt to interfere with my lawful business, you will
meet with trouble of a character you do not expect.
" A horse-thief or a murderer has, when arrested,
the right to speak in court; and unless in such ca-
pacity, or under such circumstances, don't you ever
dare to speak to me again."
This flat and triply repeated defiance of kingly
authority was uttered March 4, 1863. Four days
later, the officers at Camp Douglas forwarded to
President Lincoln a statement, denying in toto Mor-
mon charges against the three officials, and protesting
against their removal. Events were moving with un-
accustomed rapidity in the Mormon kingdom. Before
the month was out, the Gentile governor had defied
Zion again, and in most practical fashion. Ninety-
three Morrisites, arrested after the death of their
leader, had been bound over for trial before the board-
ing-house judge, John F. Kinney. At the March term
SPOILING THE GENTILES 335,
of court, this eminent jurist sentenced seven of these
Morrisites to terms in prison for murder in the second
degree, and imposed fines on sixty-eight others for
" resisting an officer." The fact of resistance was un-
questionable, and death caused in this manner is
doubtless to be classed as manslaughter or murder.
But every extenuating circumstance which the Mor-
mons have ever claimed for themselves in their con-
flicts with their " enemies/' could be; pleaded in be-
half of the Morrisites; and no person can read the
evidence to-day without being convinced that the pris-
oners were far more sinned against than sinning. On
March 31, Governor Harding pardoned the entire
seventy-five.
If it had not been for the presence of the indom-
itable Connor and his small but ready army, it is very
unlikely that Harding would have escaped vengeance.
The fortunes of the Union were not high, and a little
later, between Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, they
sunk so low that no threat from Washington could
have given pause to the outraged lord of the Mormon
kingdom. But Patrick Edward Connor was a very
present deterrent of strife. The bravest man, if unac-
customed to soldiering, shrinks from attack on even
a small force, when that force is known to be enthu-
siastically devoted to a commander of the sort who
will die rather than yield. Connor had to the full the
vanity of the native-born fighting man, and his Indian
campaigns show a mercilessness closely bordering on
cruelty. But many a man won glory and renown on
eastern battlefields whose real services to the nation
were ten times surpassed by those of the gallant briga-
dier marooned in the inter-mountain deserts. His
presence averted trouble until news came of Getty s-
836 BRIGHAM YOUNG
burg and Vicksburg; and after that, the danger of
armed strife was over.
Still Brigham's campaign for the recall of federal
officials bore fruit He enlisted the help of the tele-
graph and express companies; they called in friendly
senators; and Lincoln, who had enough of fighting on
hand in the East, gave partial compliance. He re-
moved Harding from the governorship of Utah to
make him chief justice of Colorado territory. At the
same time, however, Judge Kinney's official ^ head
dropped into the basket; and Dr. Fuller, territorial
secretary, was likewise removed. The kingdom had
little to boast of in the encounter, after all, though
Brigham relieved his feelings and emphasized his con-
tempt for eastern opinion by sending Judge Kinney
to Congress as territorial delegate.* Judge Waite
held a term of court at which not a single case was
presented, and resigned in disgust. Judge Drake re-
mained, but there was nothing for him to do. The
tone of ecclesiastical comment seems to show that
Brigham respected the old judge's courage.
Meanwhile the Civil war was drawing to its close,
and the kingdom began making overtures to the now
dominating power of the nation. General Connor was
taken into favour at Salt Lake City despite the fact
that he was encouraging miners to dig among the
hills of Utah. Members of the hierarchy joined with
officers from Camp Douglas in celebrating the late
Union victories, and the second inauguration of Lin-
*That was the beginning- of high political rewards to ** Jack-
Mormons " as sycophantic Gentiles are called. The policy has
enlarged with the growth of the kingdom : and to-day the Mor-
mon ruler showers senatorships, governorships, judgeships, arid
seats in the lower house at Washington, upon Jack-Mormons of
the states which are under his dominion.
SPOILING THE GENTILES 337
coin. When Lincoln was murdered, memorial serv-
ices were held in the tabernacle. ,When General Con-
nor left to assume command of the military depart-
ment of the Platte, a ball was given in his honour in
the city but Brigharn was not present. As he had
been alone in expressing regret when the republic
seemed rushing to destruction, so Brigham was the
last to stand out against paying homage to her new
fortune. The Sunday before Appomattox, he de-
clared from the pulpit that there were still four years
of war ahead. One may smile at this unconscious
comment on the pretension to prophecy; but one must
recognize the staunchness of the prophet
XXXII
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER
BRIGHAM doubtless expected the federal gov-
ernment to celebrate its triumph over slavery
by moving with resistless force on slavery's
twin relic, polygamy. It was the logical thing to look
for, and direct evidence on the point is not lacking.
Schuyler Col fax, Speaker of the House of Represen-
tatives, visited Utah in June, 1865, on what closely
resembled a tour of inspection. He was accompanied
by Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republi-
can then, as now, a power in the wiser councils of
the Republican party. In a conversation with Young,
Colfax suggested that the Lord might be induced to
send a new "revelation," abolishing polygamy.
Bowles reports Brigham's answer as follows : " Mr.
Young responded quietly and frankly that he should
readily welcome such a revelation; that polygamy was
not in the original Book of the Mormons; that it was
not an essential practice of the church, but only a
privilege and a duty, under special command of God/*
To Linn, one of the most painstaking but hardly
the most impartial historian who has dealt with Mor-
mon matters, this story serves only as a text for a
sermon on the absurdities of Editor Bowles. The
present writers, however they may be inclined to laugh
at the phrase, " Book of the Mormons/' believe that
Brigham spoke seriously and was quoted correctly.
That he would have given up the practice of polygamy
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER 339
m good faith we do not for a moment believe. But
we have not a doubt that he was prepared to issue
such a revelation stopping polygamy as the price of
statehood for Utah, if such a step had seemed neces-
sary. Brigham was a fighter, not a martyr; and he
was ready to use any strategem that seemed promising
in a fight against such overwhelming odds.
As it turned out, however, Brigham was not long
in learning that so far as the efficiency of the federal
government was concerned, the death of Lincoln had
more than counterbalanced the surrender at Appomat-
tox. The assassin's pistol had hardly cooled before
the murdered President's successor was locked in a
futile quarrel with Congress, a quarrel which brought
credit to neither party, and which left the Mormon
kingdom for years undisturbed save by troubles which
came from within.
First of these in point of time were a series of
crimes in which Gentiles were the victims, and whose
perpetrators usually escaped discovery. The earliest
of these was the Brassfield case. Newton Brassfield,
a Gentile, married the plural wife of a Mormon elder
named Hill, who was then absent in Europe on a
mission. Holding that the marriage of Mrs. Hill was
not properly a marriage at all, the parties did not even
apply for a church divorce, and the woman's maiden
name was used in the ceremony which united her to
Brassfield. She attempted to secure possession of her
children by Hill through, a write of habeas corpus;
but before the matter could be decided, Brassfield
was shot.
The murder was at once laid to the Mormon hier-
archy. There is nothing to show that Brigham or
any of his aids planned or ordered the killing; but
340 BRIGHAM YOUNG
their complete approval of it was not disguised.
Brassfield was murdered the night of April 2, 1866.
At the opening of the church conference four days
later, Brigham declared from the pulpit that in a simi-
lar case in his own family, he would lay justice to
the line and righteousness to the plummet. " I say
that for myself, not for another," he went on. " Were
I absent from my home, I would rejoice to know that
I had friends there to protect and guard the virtue of
my household; and I would thank God for such
friends."
This is nothing but the Mohammedan harem law
over again. The Oriental marriage system had
brought all sorts of Asiatic notions in its train. Brig-
ham stuck to his guns, even when serious trouble
threatened as the result of the murder. General W.
T. Sherman, commander of the military department
of the plains, telegraphed that he hoped to hear of no
more murders of Gentiles in Utah, and intimated that
it would be easy to re-enlist some of the volunteers
recently disbanded. Brigham answered by wire that
Brassfield was a seducer, who merited his fate; and
procured another telegram signed by some Gentiles,
to the effect that non-Mormons who minded their own
business were not troubled in Utah. The affair blew
over; but the soldiers then stationed at Camp Douglas
were not disbanded.
Without endorsing either the Mohammedan harem
law unconsciously imported by Brigham or the Ameri-
can plea of the " unwritten law/' the present writers
feel bound to say that there were many extenuating
circumstances about the Brassfield killing. Brass-
field's marriage to Mrs. Hill was conducted in a man-
ner which combined offence to the whole community
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER 34*1
with unfair advantage taken of an absent man. If
Brassfield wished to challenge the system of plural
marriage, he should have waited till Hill came home.
If he did not wish to make such a challenge, he should
have conformed to the customs and regarded the feel-
ings of Hill's co-religionists. The attempt to get con-
trol of the children during their father's absence was
peculiarly unfair, and the whole business was con-
ducted with lack of taste and lack of sense. This does
not justify the murder; if bad taste were a capital
offence in the Mormon kingdom, there would have
been a terrific mortality among elders and Apostles.
But people who take pains to attack community sanc-
tities in the most offensive way are walking in danger.
The historian may say of Brassfield, as the coroner's
jury said of the tenderfoot who called a gun-fighter
a liar, that the man committed suicide.
In October of the same year came another killing
devoid of all mitigating circumstances. Dr. J. King
Robinson, formerly assistant surgeon at Camp Doug-
las, laid claim to some warm springs in the northern
part of the city. He was ordered off by the city
marshal, took his case to the courts, and Judge Titus
decided in favour of the city. Then, when all possible
excuse for violence had passed, Dr. Robinson was de-
coyed out one night on a pretended professional call,
and murdered. There is good reason to believe that
the original intention was to beat him; but a young
and courageous athlete is not lightly handled in this
fashion. The shot which killed the doctor was fired,
either by a phenomenally short man, or more probably,
by a man lying on the ground, whither the physician's
fist had sent him. Brigham felt it necessary to offer
a reward for the apprehension of Robinson's mur-
342 BRIGHAM YOUNG
derers ; but they never were found. It is hardly neces-
sary to say that Brigham could have laid hands on
them in three hours had be wished to do so. But
however angry he may have been at the embarrassing
and useless outrage, Brigham had no notion of allow-
ing reputable Saints to suffer at the hands of Gentiles
for upholding the kingdom too zealously.
The Gentile population horrified at Robinson's
fate, and alarmed for themselves turned out en masse
to the funeral, and conducted the best inquiry possible
into the circumstances of his death. But their investi-
gation came to nothing, and for the moment, at least,
their courage faltered. General Connor, whose un-
hesitating nerve had been a tower of strength during
the dark days of the Civil war, was gone; and there
was none to take his place. Brave men, in the sense
that the average soldier is brave, are common enough;
but men whose nerve snaps into action automatically,
and is disconcerted neither by odds nor surprise, are
rather rarer than true poets. The Gentile merchants
took counsel together, and drew up a statement to
Brigham, offering to leave the territory. They asked
only that he would guarantee their outstanding ac-
counts, and take their goods off their hands at a 25
per cent reduction from appraised cash values.
Brigham answered curtly that he had not asked
them to come and did not intend to bribe them to go.
He was too shrewd to entertain such a proposal for
a second. To have the Gentile merchants of Utah
emigrate en masse would be sure to bring clown upon
the territory the heavy hand of the federal govern-
ment; and Brigham knew by this time that open re-
sistance to that government was totally out of the
question.
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER 843
A season of comparative quiet followed; or rather,
none of the troubles threatening the Mormon kingdom
came to a head. The new attempt to secure statehood
failed; but on the other hand, the new and more
drastic anti-polygamy bill did not pass. Indian trou-
bles continued to bother frontier settlements, but this
annoyance was not sufficient to check the growth of
the territory. That growth was substantial, though
perhaps too largely expressed in public works, and in
the prosperity of the heads of the church. A tele-
graph line between Salt Lake City and Ogden was
finished in the fall of 1866; and early in 1867, the
wires were carried into the southern settlements.
Brigham was one of the incorporators of this " Des-
eret Telegraph Company/' as well as its first presi-
dent. Crickets ruined crops in several counties this
year, but in spite of this loss, the new Tabernacle, seat-
ing nearly ten thousand persons, was ready for the
general conference in October.
We may pause, too, to chronicle the death of Heber
C Kimball, June 22, 1868; Perhaps the loss of any
of his wives would not have affected Brigham so
nearly. Brigham had little trouble in getting mar-
ried, but he paid the despot's price in the uncertainty
of new-found friends. Heber's friendship was not
open to question. He had followed Brigham into
baptismal waters, and he continued this devoted ad-
herence all through life. Coarse, uneducated, but
loyal to the core, Heber had made a place for him-
self in the rather cold heart of his master; and that
place was never filled. George A. Smith was chosen
counsellor in Heber's place; and some time later, the
list of counsellors was enlarged to enable Brigham to
include the only one of the younger generation who
BRIGHAM YOUNG
ever won his entire confidence George Q. Cannon.
That confidence was not mistaken. George Q. Can-
non was as loyal as Heber had been, and brought
far more intelligence and infinitely more knowledge
and independence of thought to the churchly
cabinet. But the ancient association was not to be
replaced.
All this time, the Union Pacific Railroad was creep-
ing westward across the plains, and the Central Pa-
cific was working eastward toward a junction of
which no man knew more than that it must occur in
some part of Utah. Brigham once had said that he
wished he could build a wall around the territory so
high that no Gentile could enter; and perhaps that
would have been his choice to the last hour of his
life. But he knew how to accept facts; and since iso-
lation was impossible, the sooner the railroad arrived
the better. To some of the faithful who expressed
doubts as to the effect of this new enterprise on the
church, Brigham had answered roughly, " Damn a
religion that can't stand one railroad ! " He became
a director in the company, and secured contracts for
grading a considerable extent of the track contracts
which he immediately sublet at a profit. That he made
a tidy sum of money in this way is certain; but it was
a petty fraction of what the eastern and western syn-
dicates concerned in that enterprise managed to
squeeze out of stockholders and government.
The approaching railroad focussed and brought to
a head the long-drawn mercantile problem of the
kingdom. In the beginning, as the Mormon historian
Tullidge points ont, " to become a merchant was to
antagonize the church/* This first antipathy had
passed; but even yet, an undue proportion of Utah
MAIN STREET, SALT LAKE CITY, 1913
Brigham used to denounce this as Whiskey Street
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER
trade was in the hands of Gentiles, or worse yet-
of apostates.
Foremost of these were four Englishmen, the
Walker brothers. Their parents had joined the Mor-
mon faith while the lads were yet minors, and all had
come to America together. The father died of chol-
era, but the mother and her sons made the journey
to Utah, and shared in all the hardships of the early
days. When Camp Floyd was established, the Walk-
ers started a store to supply soldiers and camp fol-
lowers. Brigham could not well object to this, while
he was making a fortune by supplying wood and
flour to the army, but he did not look on the new en-
terprise with any enthusiasm. When the camp was
abandoned, the Walkers bought a considerable share
of the goods thrown on the market, and moved their
store to Salt Lake City. Here they came more directly
under the espionage of the prophet; and soon found
themselves in trouble over tithes. They refused to let
the bishop of the ward see their books. When a
rather pressing demand for their tithes was made upon
them, they gave a check for $500 as a contribution to
"the poor." Brigham sent back the check with a
high-handed message, and a demand for a tenth of
their profits, on pain of cutting them off from the
church. Joseph Robert Walker, who though not the
oldest was clearly the leader of the four brothers, took
the check, tore it up, and told the bishop-messenger
boy to "cut away/'
Had the clash come before the Civil war, the de^
fiant merchants must have been beaten. Even now
they had a hard struggle. But they were natural
traders and business men, they had the merit of abso-
lute loyalty within their own ranks, and the soldiers
BRIGHAM YOUNG
at Camp Douglas relieved them of any fear of sum-
mary proceedings. The Walkers sold goods cheaper
than any one else in the valley; and women, even
though they be Saints, and stars in the crown of a
coming deity, cannot resist a bargain. Brigham sta-
tioned "pickets" before the apostate door to warn
away trade and trade went around to the back door.
He resorted to the expedient of placing an " all-seeing
eye," and the words " holiness to the Lord " over the
doors of Mormon storekeepers; but even this did not
suffice. If the Walker brothers could thus defy the
church when it still had considerable control over
means of transportation, what would happen when the
new railroad arrived, and the great Gentle world was
brought to the kingdom's very door?
Brigham saw the danger, and prepared to meet it.
Where he got the notion for his great plan cannot be
told. It may have grown naturally out of the other
co-operative enterprises of the Mormons. It may
have been a sudden thought of his own. The im-
portant point is that late in 1868, Brigham assem-
bled a few of the chief men of the church, and an-
nounced his scheme of a co-operative store, " Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution," quickly abbre-
viated to Z. C M. I.
The scheme was nothing less than the forming of
a trust. All Mormon merchants were required to go
into this one grand undertaking. The tithing power
and reserve of the church were to be put behind it.
Shares of the new institution were to be offered to all
the faithful, and in this way a large body of interested
patrons would be secured. Instead of competing
with each other, the Saints were to join forces to
crush Gentile and apostate traders.
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER
At first, every one balked at the new idea; and
Mormon merchants whose business was doing well
were particularly loud in denunciation. But Brig-
ham's savage will and imperial power overrode all
opposition. To the plea of one man that the scheme
would ruin him, since he had debts that would more
than cover the bare value of his stock, Brigham re-
plied brutally that it would serve him right, as he had
no business to be in debt. " If Henry W. Lawrence
doesn't look out, I'll send him on a mission, and W.
S. Godbe, I'll cut off from the church ! " he roared in
answer to the protests of another pair. William Jen-
nings, richest of the Mormon traders, had to face a
yet more galling kind of treatment; for on Sunday
Brigham would rise in the pulpit, and denounce by
name those who, while pretending to be Saints, yet
were " grinding the faces of the poor ! " Jennings 1
name led all the rest. After a short course of this
kind of ecclesiastical discipline, Jennings succumbed,
joined the new corporation, turned in his stock at a
good figure, and rented his store to the new enterprise
for three years. Z. C. M. I. was launched early in
1869, and has been the chief mercantile factor in
Utah ever since.
No event in Brigham's life shows more clearly his
strength and resourcefulness than the founding of
Z. C. M. I. None gives a better view of his utter
ruthlessness toward those who crossed his path.
None illustrates more concisely the money-making
instinct which was so basic an element of his nature.
Tullidge does not exaggerate when he says that the
founding of this trading trust saved the temporal
power of the church; and he might have added that
without this temporal power, Mormonism would soon
348 BRIGHAM YOUNG
sink to the position of a rather interesting, and very
unimportant sect. From this " innocuous desuetude/'
the church was saved by Brigham. He gathered its
scattered resources, combined them in a financial
fighting institution which is to-day a power from
coast to coast; beat back the threatened inroad of
Gentile merchandising; made the railroad pay toll to
the kingdom, instead of wrecking it The conception
at that day was great in its novelty and its daring;
the domineering will which carried the conception to
reality is worthy of the same praise we accord to a
stubborn soldier.
And for this priceless service to the church, Brig-
ham took pay. He was the first president of the new
corporation. As would be said of a new trust flota-
tion, he came in on the ground floor. Having fought
for his people like a crusader, he proceeded to charge
them full price for his brains and energy.
The financial peril against which Brigham guarded
so ably was not the only one which menaced his su-
premacy at this time. There was also a determined
effort at doctrinal and disciplinary reform of the
church from within. A considerable group of well-
educated and well-placed Mormons had been growing
gradually away from the simple gospel of paying
tithes and taking orders, which had come to be the
orthodox confession of faith in the kingdom. They
did not wish to leave the church. They only desired
to reform it, to rescue it from the despotic control of
Brigham, and from the narrow exclusiveness which
had inevitably grown up in a religious body so thor-
oughly isolated from the world.
Foremost in this " New Movement " at least in
point of time were W. S. Godbe and K L. T. Har-
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER
risen. Both were men of independent means, Godbe
was widely travelled, and Harrison was an architect
by profession, besides having some claims to promi-
nence as a writer. With them were soon associated
Edward W. Tullidge, doubtless the leading literary
light of the kingdom; Henry W. Lawrence, like
Godbe a merchant and a wealthy man; and a num-
ber of others of similar standing. All things are com-
parative. It is probable that the New Movement
included a larger proportion of the available brains and
education of Utah than the Encylopedists did of the
brains and learning of France. Certainly, there were
few in the orthodox ranks who could meet the New
Movement men for a moment in debate.
Their attack on the despotism to which they ob-
jected was conducted with remarkable skill. Harri-
son and Godbe owned the Utah Magazine, which was
dying of inanition as a purely literary periodical.
This magazine was now put to work as a journal
of reform. It did not directly attack the church poli-
cies of Brigham, but it antagonized him in many
ways. It encouraged the development of Utah min-
ing, something which Brigham had always avoided.
It declared openly that the greatest of all religious
errors was to imagine " that God intended the priest-
hood to do our thinking." It sought to familiarize
Mormon youth with the careers of great men in the
outside world, fully trusting that the inevitable com-
parison would not redound to the advantage of
the high-handed despot who ruled the church in
Zion.
A little circumstance helped for a time the propa-
ganda of the New Movement leaders, and then hur-
ried their downfall Alexander and David Hyrum
850 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Smith, two sons of the prophet Joseph, and leaders
of the " Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter Day Saints," came to Salt Lake City. Apparently,
they brought with them some charming dream that
the house of Zion, which Brigham had builded with
toil and bloody sweat, would be handed over to them
on the mere presentation of their cards. They were
not long in learning their error. Having been reared
by their mother, Emma Smith, who had always ab-
horred the doctrine of polygamy, these young men
accused Brigham of having engrafted this cult on the
pure religion left by their father. Brigham answered
that they possessed the spirit of their mother, not of
their father; and added that the aforesaid mother,
Emma Hale Smith, was "the damnedest liar that ever
^ived." Instead of terminating the interview with
a pistol, as most men would have been tempted to do
under like circumstances, the young men argued the
matter, and failing with Brigham, tried to hold meet-
ings through the city, and preach the. superior merits
of the " Reorganized " church.
Their efforts came to nothing, as might have been
anticipated. Brigham' s aids saw to it that each meet-
ing was attended by persons familiar with church his-
tory in Missouri and Nauvoo, and each meeting de-
generated into a wrangle. Joseph F. Smith, present
president of the church, was especially useful in this
regard, because he was a nephew of the prophet.
But the New Movement leaders noted the struggle in
the Utah Magazine, and managed to take a shot at
both sides. " If we know the true feelings of our
brethren/' they declared, " it is that they never in-
tend Joseph Smith's son nor any other man's son to
preside over them, simply because of their sonship,"
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER 351
This was a thrust at Brigham's well-known wish to
secure the prophetic succession to his son, John W.,
as well as the pretensions of the resuscitated Smiths
from Missouri. Brigham retorted by ordering Godbe
and Harrison to go on missions. They refused. Not
long after, timing his movements so as to do the most
good, Brigham summoned the two men before the
high council, which promptly excommunicated them.
Eli B. Kelsey, who objected to this summary pro-
ceeding, was instantly dealt with in the same manner.
A manifesto was issued, signed by Brigham and sev-
eral others high in church counsels, denouncing the
Utah Magazine as a pernicious work, and forbid-
ding the faithful to read it. The " reformers " had
a clear-cut issue sooner than they expected it.
Writers on Mormonism, unconsciously copying the
estimate which the literary leaders of the New
Movement placed on their own work, have assured
the world for a generation that this revolt did serious
damage to Brigham's rule, and threatened for a time
to overthrow his sway altogether. The present writ-
ers regret to dissent from so amiable and unanimous
a conclusion, but are quite unable to reconcile that
opinion with the facts. The reformers had courage,
devotion, steadfastness, and high intelligence; but
their movement went to wreck the moment it was
launched. With all their wit, they found themselves
unable to reach the people whom Brigham held as in
the hollow of his hand, and a single raging sermon
from him made the term " Godbeite " hated and feared
throughout the kingdom. And with all their resent-
ment of Mormon autocracy, its capital was the only
place where the ablest of the New Movement
leaders felt secure, Godbe and several of his qo-
852 BRIGHAM YOUNG
workers were polygamists, whose hands were tied by
plural wives, and children born in plural marriage.
The New Movement cost the Mormon kingdom
the cession of not a single dogma, and the loss of
scarcely a hundred members. Seldom, if ever, has so
formidable seeming an attack on ecclesiastical ram-
parts been so quickly and finally repelled.
And all this time Brigham was colonizing through-
out the inter-mountain region and some other parts of
the world with his usual energy and skill. Neither
trouble nor triumph at home deterred him. His ablest
pioneers were directed into the choicest valleys of
southern Idaho, western Wyoming, Arizona, and
New Mexico to establish the Lord's possession and
Brigham's rule. Any man who made a notable suc-
cess in the kingdom proper, either as a tiller of the
soil or as a governor of tillers of the soil, was likely
to be called to open new provinces. Such a man was
usually sent as a leader after the land had been
carefully and shrewdly observed by himself, or a
predecessor; and a body of faithful young men with
their families was selected to accompany him. There
was neither rebellion nor delay in fulfilling this mis-
sion. To leave the Salt Lake and other valleys of
Utah with their plenitude and their ties may have
been a hardship, but it was invariably endured with-
out murmur.
Brigham had said that all this land was Zion, to
be ruled by the prophet of Zion; and, beginning with
1855 and continuing to the time of his death, Brig-
ham was establishing his claim as a fact. Nor did
he pause with colonization in the United States, His
missionaries had gained a strong foothold in the
Hawaiian Islands, where one-fifth of the native
BRIGHAM A TRUST BUILDER 853
ulation had accepted his gospel; and there he secured
profitable plantations. In Mexico on the south and
Canada on the north, his pioneers located their
towns, built their meeting-houses, and reached out for
all the valuable land that joined them. It was the ex-
ercise of imperial ambition, as well as wisdom. Brig-
ham wanted rich provinces to feed with unfailing
stream the growing capital of his kingdom. He
wanted land-owning and the work attendant there-
upon for the oncoming generation of his people. He
saw without any dimness the political and commercial
splendour of a kingdom which should hold the back-
bone of the continent.
Idaho was the most promising of the provinces and
here he established an Apostle the only place out-
side of Utah itself which has had a resident governor
of this high ecclesiastical dignity. To the other states
he sent elders of proved valour and executive ca-
pacity. His orders to all of these representatives were
direct and sufficient: "Get choice land; till it intelli-
gently; get water-power for your mills; file on coal-
mines and quarries; build good meeting-houses and
comfortable homes; pay your tithes pay your tithes.
Make no unnecessary political conflict with your Gen-
tile neighbours; but hold our own and our own is
all that comes within your reach/'
From the hour when the kingdom was self-sus-
taining at home this work of colonization went on
definitely without intermission; but it reached its in-
tensity always in any period of trouble. Brigham
had found in the days of Nauvoo the superlative
value of work for his people when they were as-
sailed by dangers from without or doubts from within.
He continued to magnify the hope and courage of his
354 BRIGHAM YOUNG
followers, and quell nearly all questioning of his Di-
vine authority by finding prodigious tasks for his peo-
ple to perform.
To all these new colonies wherever situated he
was the law-giver supreme. The man who went to
Idaho, Arizona, Canada, or Mexico, owed and paid his
allegiance to Brigham Young. And the circumstances
as well as the inclination of the adventuring colonist
compelled this deference. The Mormon no matter
what his wealth carried very little with him from
Utah to the new settlement. He was dependent upon
community industry for the building of a new home,
surrounded by the comforts and the sustenances of
civilization. He was dependent upon Brigham's fa-
vour to finance any large enterprise in the new land.
He was dependent upon Brigham's recognition of in-
cipient success for the sending of colonists in larger
body to build towns and to diversify profitable occu-
pation.
Almost without exception every attempted settle-
ment became a fixture; almost immediately in every
case the new colony began to send in its stream of
tithes.
After Brigham had been ten years in the valley of
Salt Lake, when he travelled from the southern
boundary of Utah to the southernmost settlement, in
every halting-place he could see some mill or granary
or other edifice usually built of adobe, bearing the
hammered iron letters " B. Y." He did not extend
this definite mark of ownership into his provinces;
but if Brigham had chosen to use a flag, and if he had
chosen to plant it wherever his power was supreme, it
could have floated in an almost unbroken line through
the Rocky Mountain region, from Alberta to Sonora,
XXXIII
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED
WHILE Brigham was guarding his kingdom
from financial subjugation, suppressing tem-
poral and spiritual insurrection among his
people, and planting his tithing offices from Canada
to Mexico, there was maturing a campaign which
was intended to level against him the whole over-
whelming might of the United States. Vice-Presi-
dent Colfax, on his second visit to Salt Lake City
in 1869, had intimated that such a campaign was
imminent. He was urged to stay the government's
hand, and wait for the New Movement to re-
form the church from within. But it was early ap-
parent to all save the Godbeite leaders that this move-
ment was hopeless almost from its beginning, and no
more than amusing long before its close. If the " Lion
of the Lord " were to be driven from his ecclesiastical
jungle, it was clear that the federal government must
furnish beaters and station marksmen to bring down
the game.
The initial attempt to do this was made by Con-
gress it being a standing superstition in our good
land that the first thing to do in any emergency is to
pass a new law. Drastic bills applying to the Mor-
mon situation were introduced in both houses : In the
Senate by Cragin of New Hampshire, in December,
1869; and in the House by Cullom of Illinois a few
days later. Cullom's bill passed the House by a de-
355
356 BRIGHAM YOUNG
cisive vote, which was not influenced in the least by
Delegate Hooper's genuinely eloquent plea against it.
It was accepted in the Senate by Cragin as a substi-
tute for his own measure, and the fight was thus trans-
ferred to that body.
Fortunately for the overmatched Mormon emperor,
the Cullom bill lent itself to attack by Brigham's east-
ern sympathizers. It swept aside nearly every ele-
ment of local self-government in Utah. It reduced
the safeguards of trial by jury very nearly to the
vanishing point. In a word, it treated Utah as a
conquered but rebellious-minded province, rather than
as an embryonic state; and the country was not pre-
pared for such radical measures.
Brigham had no trouble in organizing at home a
resistance to the Cullom bill, in which Gentiles, God-
beites, and orthodox Mormons stood side by side.
The women of Utah made a special and particular
protest. The fact that the territorial legislature had
conferred the franchise on women in an act approved
February 12, 1870, gave this action extra weight. The
Influence of railroad and telegraph friends was also
called upon. Whether more tangible means of persua-
sion were used cannot be affirmed though some of
Brigham J s allies and protectors of that day were no
more above susceptibility to financial influence than
Brigham was above using it. At any rate, the Cullom
bill died of wilful neglect, and the kingdom was free
from this direct and dangerous menace to its inde-
pendence.
Little time was allowed for jubilation, however.
Before the Cullom bill was formally dead, plans were
begun to conquer the defiant Mormon theocracy by
the aid of laws already in existence. Like the hu-
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 357
mourist who cared little who cast the votes so long
as he might count them, the government concluded
that by appointing the right sort of men to positions
in Utah, it might crush Brigham's empire without
waiting on legal changes.
Pursuant to this plan, J. Wilson Shaffer was ap-
pointed governor of Utah in February, 1870. On
June 17 of the same year, James B. McKean was
made chief justice of the territory. Both were men
of high personal character, and what was more im-
portant in the present crisis both were men of un-
usual courage and steadfastness. Shaffer was dying
of consumption at the time of his appointment, but
expressed himself willing to devote the remaining
fraction of his life to crushing what he considered the
treasonable hierarchy headed by Brigham Young.
That hierarchy took a deal more crushing than Gov-
ernor Shaffer had anticipated; but before his death
he had struck one blow at its power. He forbade
the assembling of the Nauvoo Legion. The victory
was sentimental, rather than practical, since the Le-
gion no longer was able to inflict even serious annoy-
ance on an army of the United States. But it ended
a long and tenaciously held tradition, and compelled
the dullest zealot to recognize that in a test of phys-
ical force his kingdom was helpless in the grasp of
the encompassing Republic.
Judge McKean's career in Utah lasted years, in-
stead of the months allotted to Governor Shaffer.
Indeed, the history of the territory during those years
is composed in large measure of the unceasing strug-
gle between the Mormon monarch and the Methodist
chief justice. McKean was brave, earnest, and zeal-
ous. His private character was above reproach. His
358 BRIGHAM YOUNG
intelligence was high. His learning was by no means
slight. But the Mormon wag who first dubbed Mo
Kean the " mission jurist " hit the mark with impish
accuracy. McKean was in truth a missionary on the
bench, a judge who used the law to magnify the gos-
pel. His gospel was one of patriotism, of high civic
and domestic ideals; but this does not alter the fact,
obvious to the most casual student of the time with
which we deal, that McKean stretched his authority
to cover every act which he conceived might work
an injury to the Mormon kingdom.
By this time the non-Mormon element in the king-
dom had grown to appreciable proportions approxi-
mately it was twenty per cent of Utah's population. It
comprised some apostates; many families whose heads
had come as federal office-holders; daring merchants,
and traders; preachers; professional men, and a small
army of railroad builders and operators. It was
strengthened, too, and animated by an ever-moving,
aggressive host of prospectors and miners, who had
smilingly and yet grimly braved Brigham's anathema
in order to tap Zion's hills for their treasures of gold
and silver. Above the capital still frowned Camp
Douglas, a warning to the kingdom and an encourage-
ment to the invaders. All these were contemptuously
classed as " Gentiles," " Outsiders/' " Enemies "ex-
cept the handful of seceders from the church, and
these were usually called " Damned Apostates " by
Brigham's court and subjects*
All these otherwise incongruous elements cohered
in a sympathetic fraternity. They learned an en-
forced solidarity from their dangers as well as the
example of the kingdom.
Best of all, these Outsiders soon had a great news-
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 359
paper, the Salt Lake Tribune. Started by liberal
Mormons and apostates as a protest from within the
ranks of Mormons, it soon passed under the control
of Gentiles talented and trained newspaper men who
took a fierce joy in baiting the " Lion of the Lord,"
Nowhere in the world has a more brilliant battle
been made for freedom of speech. It was too late
and Brigham did not feel inclined to copy Joseph's
fatal mistake of suppressing an American newspaper
" by order of the king." So the Tribune fought, and
flourished by fighting. It was an act of faith for Gen-
tiles to support it; and thousands of Mormons read
it on the sly, " just to see what the damned thing
said."
In resisting the crusade now launched against them,
the Mormons had three important breastworks.
Comprising an immense majority of the population
of Utah, they were sure of controlling any jury drawn
in ordinary fashion. The probate courts of the ter-
ritory of course entirely subject to the kingdom
had been vested with extensive icivil and criminal
jurisdiction, conflicting, in many cases, with that as- .
sumed by the district courts whose judges were named
by the President. To clinch this control of judicial
machinery, there was a territorial marshal, who made
out the venire from which jurymen were drawn; and
an attorney-general, who was held the proper officer
to prosecute all cases arising under territorial law.
So long as these defences remained intact, the king-
dom was safe.
The first care of the crusaders if we may borrow
this term which the Mormons applied to Judge Me-
Kean, his associates, and their supporters was to
beat down the judicial bulwarks of the kingdom. The
360 BRIGHAM YOUNG
earliest movement in this direction was begun before
McKean reached the territory, but it did not reach
final adjudication until he was present. In September,
1870, Judge Strickland, associate judge with McKean
and Hawley, denied the jurisdiction of probate courts
in criminal cases; and the next month Judge Hawley,
in a more sweeping decision, practically restricted
these local courts to the proving of wills and the ad-
ministering of estates. The first defence of the Mor-
mon kingdom was down.
The other barriers did not last long. On August
27, 1870, a saloon belonging to one Englebrecht was
raided by the territorial marshal and the Salt Lake
City chief of police, and its stock of liquors poured
into the gutter. The proceeding was a regular one
according to territorial law; but the marshal and his
aids were arrested, and bound over to await action by
the grand jury. At the term of court beginning Sep-
tember 19, 1870, Judge McKean decided that courts
presided over by federal judges were not subject to
territorial law in the drawing of juries, that they were
in effect United States courts, rather than territorial
courts. The grand jury thus drawn in defiance of
Utah law indicted the Mormon officials concerned in
raiding the saloon; and on November 4 of the same
year a trial jury drawn in the same fashion gave a
verdict in favour of the saloon owners and against
the marshal and his aids for $59,063.25. The case
was promptly appealed to the higher federal courts.
We shall meet it again later.
Judge McKean's decision in this case practically
superseded the territorial marshal and attorney-gen-
eral by the United States marshal and district attor-
ney. If any shred of doubt had remained, however,
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 361
it was set at rest the following spring. Two quo
warranto suits had been brought to settle this point.
In March, 1871, Judge McKean and his associates
ruled that the territorial marshal and attorney-general
had no place in the district courts of the territory
the only courts left having any jurisdiction worth
naming. Juries in these courts were to be drawn by
the United States marshal, in blissful disregard of
territorial law, and cases were to be prosecuted by the
United States district attorney.
With federal appointees holding the sole power to
empanel juries, prosecute cases, and render decisions,
the crusade had at least a favourable start. But it
was checked for a time by an unexpected obstacle.
The Mormon legislature of Utah took the very hu-
man view that if the district courts of the territory
were United States courts, as Judge McKean had
affirmed, then the United States might pay for their
maintenance. Acting on this theory, the legislature
failed to make an appropriation to carry on the work
in these courts. When the grand jury and petit
jurors were drawn for the March term, 1871, Judge
McKean explained to them that he was obliged to
send them home, because no money had been provided
for their per diem allowance, not even for their board.
He commented on this as a proof of the disloyalty of
the legislature. Some of his language is worthy of
quotation :
" Gentlemen of the grand and petit juries, I am a
federal official in Utah. I apologize to nobody for being
here; I shall stay here as long as I choose, or so long
as the government at Washington shall choose to have
me here ; and I venture the prediction that the day is not
362 BRIGHAM YOUNG
far in the future when the disloyal high priesthood of
the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
shall bow to and obey the laws that are elsewhere re-
spected, or else those laws will grind them to powder/'
One may grant the accuracy of McKean's descrip-
tion of the Mormon high priesthood without admit-
ting his judicial right to so characterize them at such
a time. The whole point and purpose of the crusade
thus momentarily halted was to bring Brigham and
his aids into court. Even if it had been fair for the
judge before whom they must come to brand them
in advance as disloyal and traitorous, it certainly was
not sagacious to deliver such premature judgment
from the bench to men who had been drawn as jurors
once, and might be so drawn again.
But the check thus given the crusaders was tem-
porary as McKean had predicted it would be. After
some delay and a fruitless application to Washington,
funds for such prosecutions as were deemed desirable
were advanced by the United States marshal, Colonel
Patrick, and the business of " using up Brigham "
went forward once more.
One small barricade, however, remained to the af-
flicted Saints; and this was now to be stormed. The
warden of the territorial penitentiary was a Mormon
of course. On August 2, 1871, Colonel Patrick, as
United States marshal, took possession of this penal
institution under authority of a law passed the pre-
ceding January, which perhaps applied to the case,
and perhaps did not. The Mormon warden yielded
tinder protest, but he yielded. Preparations for the
grand attack on the citadel of theocracy were now
complete. From the serving of a warrant to* the in-
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 363
fliction of capital punishment, every process of law
was in the hands of men who deemed it a duty and a
pleasure to humble the Mormon monarch, and scatter
his adoring court.
. There was no delay in making the assault. At the
September term of court, 1871, only seven Mormons
were included in the jury list. Each of these de-
clared that he believed that plural marriage was prac-
tised in accordance with a revelation from God, and
that if he had to choose between sustaining the revela-
tion and upholding the law, the law would have to
fall. They were excused from service. A grand jury
composed entirely of Gentiles indicted Brigham for
" lewd and lascivious cohabitation/ 3 The warrant was
served on him October 2, 1871.
The law under which these indictments were found
was a territorial one, passed by the Mormons them-
selves. It never was intended to apply to plural mar-
riage, but was designed to check irregular unions
which had no sanction of either church or state.
However illegal, a polygamous marriage was still a
marriage; it was a union recognized by society, and
one which in general was faithfully observed by both
parties to the contract. Yet it was now proposed to
define Brigham's plural marriages as " lewd and
lascivious cohabitation," and punish him under a law
which he as governor had signed. Such legal con-
struction is permissible in comic opera and historical
fiction, but hardly in sober fact in a country where the
manifest intent of the law-makers is of vital import
In determining the application of a statute.
Even more objectionable to the Mormons than this
effort to punish polygamy without naming it, was the
language held by Judge McKean, When the warrant
364 BRIGHAM YOUNG
was served Brigham was confined at home by illness.
A week later he appeared in court, and his attorney
moved to quash the indictment, pointing out that it
had been returned by a jury summoned in defiance of
Utah law, and making other objections. McKean
denied this motion in an address of which the follow-
ing is a part.
" Let the counsel on both sides, and the court also keep
constantly in mind the uncommon character of this case.
The supreme court of California has well said : ' Courts
are bound to take notice of the political and social con-
dition of the country which they judicially rule/ It is
therefore proper to say that while the case at bar is.
called, * The People versus Brigham Young/ its other and
real title is ' Federal Authority versus Polygamic Theoc-
racy/ The government of the United States, founded
upon a written constitution, finds within its jurisdiction
another government claiming to come from God iw-
perium in imperio whose policy and practices are, in
grave particulars, at variance with its own. The one
government arrests the other, in the person of its chief,
and arraigns it at this bar. A system is on trial in the
person of Brigham Young. Let all concerned keep this
fact constantly in view; and let that government rule
without a rival which shall prove to be in the right/'
Unjudicial zeal has seldom scaled loftier heights
than that reached in these words of Judge McKean.
As the case stood after the Judge's ruling, Brig-
ham was indicted for lewd cohabitation that he
might be tried for polygamy and punished for
treason; yet the prisoner and his counsel were
gravely bidden to observe and admire the "un-
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 365
common" character of the net in which they found
themselves entangled. As well might Luther, after
nailing his theses to the church door, have been cited
before the Pope on a charge of disorderly conduct,
tried for defacing church property and sentenced
as a heretic. Brigham's lawyers filed an exception
to the judge's language, but that was the most they
were permitted to do.
This was only the initial stroke. Several of Brig-
ham's most devoted followers were indicted for the
same offence. Indictments were found against Brig-
ham, Daniel H. Wells, and several others for mur-
der, in connection with the killing of Richard Yates
during the " Mormon war." Still further indictments
were returned against another group of Saints al-
ways including Brigham, however for the murder
of the Aiken party in the spring of 1857. Thomas
Hawkins was tried for adultery this being another
of Judge McKean's definitions of plural marriage
convicted, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment
on October 20. Informers multiplied in the land,
telling tales which always found ready credence if
they were sufficiently bloody and applied to persons
sufficiently high in the kingdom. It seemed as if the
"mission jurist" were in a fair way to crush those
whom he could not convert.
Brigham met these multiplied attacks with a steady
courage which must have aroused the admiration of
his enemies. His bluff and bluster dropped from him
like a discarded cloak; and he faced his prosecutors,
cool, watchful, determined more of a king in his
hour of distress than in all the years of his unchal-
lenged supremacy. Not for an instant did he lose
his head. Not for a moment did he allow the fer-
366 BRIGHAM YOUNG
vour of his people to escape bounds. It would have
been easy for him to arouse an 6meute among his
devoted followers; doubtless also it would have been
easy for him to escape from the country, and live
a life of ease outside the " persecuting " Republic.
Erighani would have none of either riot or flight-
He would neither retreat before the overwhelming
might of the nation, nor suffer his worshipping fol-
lowers to fling themselves against its bayonets.
Up to this time, the crusaders had carried every-
thing before them; but now, in an hour, the weapons
were struck from their hands. It will be remem-
bered that in the Engelbrecht case, Judge McKean
had declared his court a United States tribunal,
rather than a territorial one; had disregarded local
law in drawing a jury; and had rendered a heavy
judgment against the Mormon officials who had
poured Engelbrecht's liquors into the gutter. The
officials thus mulcted carried their case to the Su-
preme Court of the United States doubtless with
money supplied from the tithing fund. On April 15,
1872, the Supreme Court rendered a decision freeing
the officials of the judgment against them, and wreck-
ing McKean's carefully planned campaign. For the
supreme justices unanimously agreed that the district
courts of Utah were territorial courts; that juries
must be drawn in accordance with territorial law,
and that the district attorney and United States mar-
shal appointed by the President must confine their
activities to cases arising under the laws and con-
stitution of the United States.
It was a crushing defeat for the crusaders. In
their zeal to end a regime which they believed both
treasonable and immoral, they had made the world-
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 367
old blunder of straining the law; and they were deal-
ing with an antagonist strong enough and clever
enough to take advantage of every such slip. All
indictments found by what may be called the Mc-
Kean process were quashed at once; and the Mormon
kingdom regained at a stroke nearly everything which
a two years' crusade had cost.
Most men in Brigham's position would have cele-
brated such a triumph by offers of conciliation, would
have avoided giving further offence to the all-power-
ful Republic. Not so the " Lion of the Lord." He had
been hounded for polygamy. Very well, he would
let the nation know that he held fast to that dis-
tasteful doctrine. At the election of 1872, William H.
Hooper was notified that he need no longer serve
as delegate in Congress, and George Q. Cannon was
sent in his place. Hooper was a monogamist. Can-
non was a polygamist, an Apostle, a hierarch, and a
special counsellor to Brigham. Of all the younger
generation then coming forward, Cannon was fore-
most in the regard of both people and prophet in the
Mormon kingdom. His selection as delegate was a
flat defiance of the United States government to do
its worst; a notification that the kingdom would treat
with the Republic only on terms of substantial equal-
ity. There was a time, we believe, when Brigham
might have been induced to trade polygamy for state-
hood. There never was a moment when he was ready
to surrender polygamy to a crusade. He was always
willing to barter and few indeed were the objects
excluded from his list of trading stock. But sur-
render he would not.
Not yet, however, was ended the long duel between
Brigham and Judge McKean. Chance for a time
368 BRIGHAM YOUNG
gave the jurist new weapons In place of those he had
lost. Some years earlier, the father of Ann Eliza
Webb, a dashing divorcee, urged her in marriage
upon Brigharn Young. Neither Brigham nor the
young woman at first inclined to the arrangement.
The prophet was approaching old age, he was bur-
dened with imperial cares, he had already unnum-
bered consorts, several of whom were young and
beautiful; and Sister Webb had no devout leanings
to polygamy. But the duty to see that every lovely
woman shall get to heaven was too much for Brig-
ham's reluctance; and "Ann Eliza 5 ' as she was
called throughout the realm was induced to yield
under paternal persuasion and the hint that her fas-
cinations would soon win the place of favourite in the
prophet's harem. The marriage was solemnized
April 6, 1868 celebrating the anniversary of the
founding of the church; and all Zion stood agape
with respectful curiosity to see whether " Ann
Eliza" could supplant "Amelia" (Folsom) the
statuesque, cold, childless beauty who had reigned
as the prophet's favourite for six years. Brigham
had been multifarious, but not usually fickle in his
loves; and to Amelia he continued his unwavering
devotion. Ann Eliza soon dropped from the role
of ordinary wife to that of neglected wife; and finally,
July 28, 1873, s he sued Brigham for divorce, and
demanded a substantial share of his fortune.
It is necessary to pause here for a moment to re-
peat a caution given several times before, Ann Eliza
Webb posed as Brigham's nineteenth wife, and cus-
tom has fixed that as her number. There is just as
good warrant for calling her the twenty-ninth, or the
hundred and nineteenth. At the time of her
ANN ELIZA WEBB YOUNG, AT THE TIME SHE SUED BRIGHAM
AS HIS "NINETEENTH WIFE"
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 869
riage there were known to be eigHteen other women
with whom Brigham had sustained or was sustaining
marital relations. Careful search probably would
have doubled the number, and not even Brigham
could have told to how many women he had been
" sealed." The marriage ceremony was sufficient to
cover cohabitation in every case; and no domestic
census-taker could have drawn the line between the
three sorts of spouses.
Brigham's answer to this divorce suit was a bit
startling. He pleaded that there was no marriage
between himself and the plaintiff which the laws of
the United States recognized; and therefore, there
was no occasion for divorce. Judge McKean was
plainly embarrassed by the situation, yet quite as
plainly determined to use it to the injury of the Mor-
mon emperor. On February 25, 1875, McKean or-
dered Brigham to pay Ann Eliza $3,000 for attor-
ney's fees and $500 per month alimony pending a
final decision. Brigham's attorneys took an excep-
tion, and prepared to appeal to the supreme court of
the territory. The delay thus occasioned did not suit
Judge McKean. On March 8, he cited Brigham to
appear before him, and show cause why he should not
be punished for contempt of court in not having paid
the required money. Brigham appeared in court
three days later, and after a short argument by his
attorneys, was sentenced to pay a fine of $25 and to
be confined one day in the penitentiary. He was
taken to his home by the deputy marshal, and after
dining and being supplied with some clothing, was
driven to the jail. Here, he was locked for a short
time in a cell, and then allowed to pass the night In
& room opening off the warden's office. The follow-
370 BRIGHAM YOUNG
ing day, March 12, 1875, he walked out free, into
the arms of a worshipping crowd who had assembled
to do him homage.
McKean had made a fatal blunder at last. The
animus of his sentence for contempt was too clear to
be doubted or disguised, and almost as bad was the
sanction he had given to polygamy by his award of
alimony. The Poland bill, signed by President Grant
nearly a year before, permitted a judge to grant ali-
mony to a woman who sued to have a marriage de-
clared void because of a previous marriage. But
Ann Eliza was suing, not to have a marriage annulled,
but to get a divorce; she made no plea of ignorance
to gloze her relations with Brigham, and the grant
of alimony was practically a recognition of polyg-
amous marriages as legal unions, to be dissolved only
Joy formal divorce. Four days after Brigham left
the prison, a telegram arrived in Salt Lake City, stat-
ing that McKean had been removed from the bench,
and that a successor was on the way.
The removal of Judge McKean was perhaps the
greatest of Brigham's later victories. Certainly it
was the one which gave him most unalloyed pleasure,
and his people the strongest assurance of Divine pro-
tection for their prophet and his rule. The Ann
Eliza suit still dragged on without coming to trial,
but no one doubted how it would end. Brigham was
for some time in the custody of the United States
marshal, but never again was he required to spend a
night in jail. The " Lion of the Lord " had once more
baffled the wiles! of the hunters, and those who an-
noyed him had been removed from his path. No
faithful Mormon questioned that the Divine guardian-
ship thus made manifest would endure to the end,
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED 371
Brigham's mastery had not lessened during the
years when he was so closely assailed. In 1874, his
fortunes were perhaps at the lowest ebb they had
reached since the Supreme Court had freed him from
a criminal prosecution for polygamy. On June 23d
of that year, President Grant signed the Poland bill,
a measure which did by congressional act mucK that
Judge McKean had sought to do by judicial con-
struction. It deprived the probate courts of Utah
of their extensive jurisdiction, and gave large powers
to federal officials in pursuing polygamy. Such a
law, interpreted by Judge McKean, was calculated to
make almost any man doubt the temporal benefits of
plural marriage; and meantime, that implacable Puri-
tan, McKean, had control of the divorce suit against
the Mormon emperor. Yet even under such circum-
stances, Brigham would not yield an inch. Apostle
George Q. Cannon was once more named for dele-
gate to Congress. Election riots in Salt Lake City
that year were of a serious character; and in the
Tooele district, some Gentile miners introduced the
latest devices in ballot-box stuffing, but all in vain.
Delegate Cannon went back to Congress, to represent,
not a territory, but a kingdom; not a constituency,
but a prince; and to stand as a living example of that
prince's defiance of the laws and customs of the Re-
public.
Brigham came out from his single day of imprison-
ment March 12, 1875. Exactly four months later,
John D. Lee was brought to trial for the first time
for the Mountain Meadows horror. The federal offi-
cials had worked up their case until they felt certain,
not only of convicting Lee, but of implicating the
higher officials of the church, including Brigham him-
BRIGHAM YOUNG
self. They presented their case with skill and energy
and the jury promptly disagreed. The word of
the " brethren " had been passed to all prospective
jurors, and it reached those who sat in the box. Lee
was not to be convicted until the federal authorities
should abandon their effort to connect the head of
the church with the massacre at Mountain Meadows.
By this time, Gentile officials were learning some-
thing of the tenacity of Brigham's control. When
Lee's second trial came in September, 1876, the United
States district attorney took pains to make it clear that
he was prosecuting only the man before him in the
dock, and had no wish, desire, or expectation of ob-
taining evidence against the high and holy men whom
Providence had put in control of Utah affairs and
whom all efforts of the United States government had
failed to put out of control. The result of this frank
offer of compromise was gratifying. Lee was con-
victed, as he deserved to be; and on March 23, 1877,
under direction of Colonel William Nelson, the United
States marshal, he was shot at the scene of his fright-
ful crime. Lee maintained, and with some justice,
that he was thrown to the wolves as a sacrifice; but
assuredly, no sacrifice was ever less deserving of sym-
pathy.
On April 20, 1877, ^e long-drawn divorce case
came to a sudden ending. Judge Schaeffer, before
whom the trial was joined, ruled that Ann Eliza Webb
never had been legally married to Brigham Young,
and therefore did not need and could not get a divorce
from him. All orders for alimony were cancelled, but
the judge rather illogically assessed the costs against
the defendant. The cause celebre had dragged on for
four years; it had sold many books, piled up large
THE CRUSADE DEFEATED S12
lecture receipts, inspired countless editorials and ser-
mons, and broken a United States judge. But it had
not broken the man it was designed to ruin. Its end-
ing, taken in connection with the failure of prosecu-
tions for polygamy, was virtually a confession that
the federal government could neither protect the plural
wife nor punish the polygamous husband. Brigham
might consider the time and money well spent which
procured such a certificate from such a source,
His kingdom seemed to be acknowledged of man
as well as " ordained of God."
XXXIV
STILL " LION OF THE LORD "
BRIGHAM was now at the zenith of his worldly
fortunes. Thirty years had passed since the
creaking wagon that was his sick-bed had lum-
bered down the half-broken trail of Emigration canon,
to the valley of his vision and his hope. His handful
of heroic followers had become a myriad. The pov-
erty of a little band had changed to the wealth of a
mighty community; and their devotion to their chief
had grown with their numbers and his triumphs. The
seeming desert had uncovered its fertility. There was
no want. There was no serious schism within, and no
imminent menace from without.
The outcasts of Illinois had made an empire; an
empire not only in the assurance of Brigham and the
faith of his subjects, but in the scarcely veiled recog-
nition of the Republic and the world. Brigham's am-
bassador sat in the halls of Congress. Brigham's
agents made treaties with foreign governments for the
protection and profit of Mormon residents abroad; and
every large interest (with the bare exception of min-
ing) which desired security and advantage within his
realm negotiated with Brigham, in full knowledge that
the word of the king was at once contract and fulfil-
ment, the law, the judgment, and the execution.
Here again we must pause to emphasize a fact little
understood, and where understood, too lightly es-
teemed ; the fact that Brigham's assumption of a Divine
374
STILL " LION OF THE LORD " 375
right to rule was vindicated to his people by the mar-
vellous success of that rule. Many men have won
lands from savagery to civilization, to be rewarded
only with placid gratitude or dismissed in quick for-
getfulness by their successors. But they were only
men, while Brigham was so he claimed the prophet
of God. Each victory of his career piled itself on each
preceding victory as cumulative proof that he was the
king anointed of God, and that the empire he had
founded in the wilderness was to be the everlasting
inheritance of his people. It was impossible to shake
the faith of the ordinary Mormon in Brigharn Young.
He had been a witness of Brigham's triumphs in con-
tests with man and Nature; he had seen Brigham's
courage and strategy win a score of times in struggles
with earthly powers; he had seen the will of the great
Republic bow before the rod of Zion's ruler and that
ruler never failed to teach that his success was proof
of Divine authority. That teaching remains to this
day the mainspring of Mormon solidarity and dis-
cipline. Now, as then, the survival of the kingdom is
cited as the only necessary evidence of God's promise
and purpose that it should survive. Now, as then,
the increasing wealth and power of the kingdom are
proclaimed as proof that it must eventually overthrow
all other governments on the face of the earth. And
now, as then, the assurance of the Mormon kingdom
its victories, its persistence, its almost sublime self-
satisfaction commands a thousand allies in the un-
believing but profit-hungry world. Gentiles in Zion
paraphrase Brigham's old aphorism about the In-
dians, and say : " It is cheaper to feed the Mormon
church than to fight it"; and captains of industry,
876 BRIGHAM YOUNG
finance, and politics in the nation at large take it at its
own valuation.
In the early summer of 1877, the point which this
history has now reached, Brigham himself paused in
gratified contemplation of the peace which had come
to his power. With no apparent premonition of his
death, which was hovering near, he remarked in con-
versation : " Now the kingdom can spread. The
machinations of our enemies have all been over-
thrown. For the first time since I heard the gospel
I feel that we are free from tribulation by the wicked."
He was soon to find the rest for himself which he
had erroneously predicted for the church. With the
cessation of legal troubles at home and apparent peace
abroad Brigham set himself the task of putting the
Lord's house in order. He organized new stakes of
Zion. He projected new missionary and colonizing
labours. He selected vigorous personalities to take
the place of men who had fallen into inutile routine.
Some of his aggressive men had grown away from
him in their financial operations. He planned the con-
solidation of their interests into institutions which
should take their license to live from the ruler of the
kingdom and should therefore pay deference to his
will. But all this activity and all these plans to
further solidify his power at the capital, and to push
back the horizon of his empire, were to be but the last
flash of his creative genius and his autocratic and mo-
nopolistic will.
On August 19, 1877, h e spoke at the organization
of a new stake of Zion. Four days later, he was
taken with cholera-morbus. The difficulty quickly de-
veloped into inflammation of the bowels a disorder
to which he had been subject at intervals since the
STILL " LION OF THE LORD " 377
time of his severe trials in the exodus from Nauvoo.
Word of his serious condition went by wire through-
out the kingdom and all the Saints joined in prayer
for his recovery. His elders administered to him and
promised in the name of Israel's God that he should
be raised up to continue his divine work in the world.
But Brigham had notions of his own. Administration
by the elders the laying on of hands for the healing
of the body was a doctrine for a child with mem-
branous croup, or a barren woman, or a man with
pneumonia; but a royal case of bowel complaint de-
manded something more. The physicians were called
in and they used all their Babylonish skill and drugs;
the Prophet steadily failed; and on August 29, at four
o'clock in the afternoon at his home in the " Beehive
House " in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young passed
away. He had been wavering on the borderland of
consciousness for hours, and his last words, uttered
shortly before he died, were: "Joseph! Joseph!
Joseph ! " Brigham Young had passed a thousand
dangers. He had been threatened by an army and
prosecuted by the law. For more than twenty years
the mass of the people in the United States had ex-
pected to see him imprisoned or executed as a traitor.
And he died at a good old age in his bed, surrounded
by a worshipping court, in the capital of an empire
which he had built and which he maintained to the
hour of his death in the heart of a republic.
Thus closed the career of one of the most remark-
able men ever born on the western continent. We will
not here say one of the greatest; though many a hero
occupies a seemingly permanent place in the hall of
fame whose abilities and achievements are not a tithe
of those of the "Lion of the Lord." Perhaps the
378 BRIGHAM YOUNG
physiological historian of the future will find a proof
for Brigham's greatness in the high abilities of many of
his descendants, and this often in lines wherein their
sire's mastership helped them not a whit.
Tens of thousands of mourners came from all parts
of Zion to attend Brigham Young's funeral, which
was held in the vast tabernacle which he had designed
and built. There was deep mourning among the
Saints, but, strange to say, no fear. Brigham himself
had shown to the Mormons, by his leadership upon the
death of Joseph, how the passing of one founder only
made room for another ruler of equal or greater gen-
ius. At the services, George Q. Cannon expressed the
pathos of personal and public feeling; and John Tay-
lor, President of the Quorum of Apostles, who was
to succeed Brigham in -the presidency of the church,
expressed the calm unemotional certainty that Brig-
ham's death left no gap which could not be filled in
the rulership of the kingdom, that God would endow
his prophets with wisdom, and that Zion would ad-
vance with accelerated momentum to its place of
sovereignty in the world.
Brigham Young's body was buried in the heart of
one of the blocks which he had selected as his in-
heritance when he first came to the Salt Lake valley.
His grave is covered by a slab of granite weighing
many tons, and surrounded by a wrotight-iron fence.
About a half acre of space surrounding is given to
lawn and Howers. To this place Saints and travellers
alike pay pilgrimage of devotion and curiosity.
For a little time an amusing error was circulated
among the Gentiles of the kingdom, and it gained
hopeful credence among the faithful: that Brigham
was not dead and that a wax figure had been sub-
STILL " LION OP THE LORD " 379
stituted for the funeral ceremonies; that he intended
to show a miracle to the world by his resurrection.
For some time the Saints hoped, as some of the Gen-
tiles feared, that this might be true. But both hope
and fear were soon dissipated by the assertive way
in which John Taylor took charge of the affairs of
the kingdom, and the attitude which Taylor assumed
toward the estate of Brigham Young.
Brigham left a fortune well above two million dol-
lars in the valuations of that time potentially it was
worth tens of millions. This fortune he divided by
will among nineteen " classes " of wives and off-
spring. The division into classes did not mean any
particular difference in the valuation of inheritance
to each; it was made to give practically equal recog-
nition to nineteen parts of his large family. The only
notable favouritism which was shown in his will was
in his bequest to his favourite wife, Amelia Folsom
Young. To her he devised the famous Gardo house,
then just completed, in which he had intended to
install her as a royal consort in royal splendour. The
Gardo house was called and is called to this day
" The Amelia Palace/' though Amelia never occupied
it. John Taylor demanded and received it for the
church from the executors of Brigham' s will in a
settlement of the estate, and it has since passed to
other ownership.
Brigham said in public not long before his death
that he had grown rich in finding work for the poor
and paying them for it. His enemies declared that
he had grown rich by using the tithing fund to ad-
vance his own projects. There is truth in both state-
ments.
He was essentially a builder and a manager. He
380 BRIGHAM YOUNG
hated idleness, and he loathed inefficiency. He
created the Mormon empire, and by all commercial
rules he had a right to exact pay for his building.
His fortune, we repeat, was less than many a captain
of industry whom the world calls honourable has col-
lected for services insignificant compared to those
rendered by Brigham Young. Also, he had the
money-making instinct, and on at least two occa-
sions the departure of the garrison from Camp
Floyd and the arrival of the Union Pacific railroad
his legitimate or quasi-legitimate chances for gain
were very great.
But these things alone neither explain: nor excuse
his fortune. Brigham did not build his kingdom as
a business enterprise, but as a holy sanctuary for a
distressed church. To accept the pay of a real estate
promoter for the services of a prophet and a king
shocks the moral sense of mankind and justly.
There is nothing sacred about the rags of Lazarus,
and nothing especially sinful about the purple and
fine linen of Dives. But the world has long since
learned that he who serves a cause with his whole
heart and soul has little time or chance to serve him-
self. Brigham gave wonderful service and unques-
tionable loyalty to his people but never for a mo-
ment did he lose sight of his own interests, never did
he forget the revelation which commanded him to
"care for his family." Brigham had undisputed
charge of the tithing fund, which must have amounted
to nearly a million dollars a year by the time of his
death. He gave no accounting of this vast income.
He drew no sharp line between the funds which he
held for himself and the funds which he held in
trust for the church. In such a case, the unrep-
STILL "LION OF THE LORD 55 381
resented party always suffers. The story that Brig-
ham once squared accounts with the church by credit-
ing himself with $967,000 " for services rendered/*
has been denied many times, and certainly lacks spe-
cific proofs. But there is no doubt that the tale at
least represents Brigham's habitual way of thinking.
The size of Brigham's fortune and its method of
acquirement are of more significance as showing the
materialistic and temporal character of the kingdom
which he built, and which his successors maintain.
In the early teachings of the church, it was assumed
by all the faithful that the Saints must devote them-
selves to immediate preparation for the second com-
ing of Christ. A temple was built that Christ might
have a place fittingly prepared from which to rule
the world when He came. Long before Brigham's
death, this faith was so overlaid by worldly activities
that it had place neither in the purpose of the king-
dom nor in the thoughts of the Saints except as
some dreamer like Joseph Morris might read Prophet
Smith's predictions, and rashly fix a date for the
coming of the Heavenly Prince. The belief in a
divine mission remained as firm as ever, but that mis-
sion was no longer concerned with spiritual advan-
tages. Neither in Brigham's day nor now can the
devout Mormon see the anomaly of having a tem-
poral kingdom built in place of a heavenly kingdom;
of having commerce harnessed to theology; of the
idea that God Almighty, Creator and Possessor of the
Universe, wants ten per cent of every human crea-
ture's income held in trust for Him by a self-chosen
and self-perpetuating line of priests and kings.
The most insatiable and not altogether the most
creditable interest in Brigham centres about his mari-
382 BRIGHAM YOUNG
tal experiences. We have already explained the im-
possibility of saying how many wives he had Ann
Eliza claimed to be the nineteenth, but according to
a semi-official biography published shortly after the
monarch's death, she was No. 25. In the early clays
of his Utah emperorship, all his wives lodged in the
"Beehive House" and the " Lion House"; concern-
ing which a thousand stories were told. At this time,
all the work of his household was done by his wives,
and one of them served as school-teacher to the chil-
dren of all. They dined then at a common table,
Brigham sitting at the head, with his legal wife, Mary
Ann Angell, on one hand, and the reigning favourite
on the other.
One of his favourites, Mary Van Cott, presented
him with an heir when he was in his seventieth year.
In his will, drawn some years later, Brigham bravely
acknowledges in advance as his own any child born
to any of his wives within nine months following his
death. This confidence was justified, and he did not
wait until the writing of his will to testify to it. His
sermons on many occasions show him the possessor
of at least the usual quantity of masculine jealousy,
but that jealousy seldom showed itself in concrete
form.
His collection of wives included many of the finest
women of Utah, both from an intellectual and a phys-
ical point of view. Altogether, we may say of Brig-
ham as Townsend says of Mohammed, that he was
a lover and possessor of women, whose sensuousness
never degenerated into mere sensuality.
Like many of his much-married Apostles, Brigham
was called a good family man. He was a good pro-
vider for his households. He was gracious to his
STILL " LION OF THE LORD " 383
wives, and tender to most of his children. At the
death of one of his favourite wives, Emeline Free,
Brigham mournfully walked alone from her house to
the church undertaker's establishment and there sadly
made arrangements for the casket and the funeral
Brigham did not do this to be spectacular he had
no occasion to use such petty aids for his fame; but
that he had refused the use of his carriage and the
companionship of his counsellors on this occasion, was
told throughout Zion at every gathering of the good
sisters as a demonstration of his gentleness and a
proof of the love which the Divine ordination plants
in the male heart toward the female.
Avarice is said to be the vice of old age; and in
a way, it showed itself in Brigham's declining years.
He was no keener for personal gain than before, but
he came to set more and more store on material suc-
cess. In one instance, shortly before his death, he
appointed a local Shylock to be president of a stake.
The man was a note-shaver and money-loaner on
the hardest kind of terms. His appointment was
secretly resented by the whole population of the stake.
But the appointment was made and not revoked, and
Brigham rebuked the brethren for their suspected
murmuring in a scathing sermon, wherein he praised
the new president for having diligently served his
own interests and thereby given proof that he could
serve the Lord.
Every year, Brigham made the rounds of his im-
mediate empire. His visit to the northern settle-
ments lasted usually three or four weeks; that to the
southern towns about twice as long. He was accom-
panied on these trips by a considerable number of his
courtiers, and by one or more of his wives. They
384 BRIGHAM YOUNG
were royal progresses, and were treated as such. At
each town, the visiting monai'ch was met by deputa-
tions of citizens and officials; and in each place where
he stopped for more than a casual halt, he gave clear
indications of his imperial pleasure. In earlier years,
his scolding sermons included everything in their
scope, from the proper education of children to the
nature of women's sunbonnets, and the character of
community fences. Toward the close of his life, his
harsh speech was modified, but he continued to be
interested in everything, and to express his views as
those of one who has a right to give orders on all
subjects.
If Brigham had a weakness, it was one which has
afflicted despots since the days of Khufti a love of
heaping up huge public buildings. The gigantic taber-
nacle and the far more costly temple in Salt Lake
City were a serious drain on the resources of the com-
munity. In smaller settlements, the effort was even
more severely felt. Whether this drain was com-
pensated by the resultant unity of community effort
is a question to which men will give different answers.
Our own view is that the specific cost of the great
temple is trifling compared to the cost of that sup-
pression of individuality which made the temple
possible.
It is noticeable that the public works under Brig-
ham's regime were mostly spectacular in character.
The temple, the tabernacle, the theatre, were wonders
whose like was unknown in any new Gentile city of
similar size and wealth. But laboratories, libraries,
and hospitals were conspicuous by their absence.
The point has been made clear in preceding chap-
ters that at the death of Brigham Young his empire
STILL " LION OF THE LORD " 385
comprised Utah as its centre and held possession and
political control of choice spots from Canada to
Mexico. One of the strong evidences of Brigham' s
genius as a ruler is the fact that he had so well pre-
pared that extensive realm to survive and flourish
after he should have passed away. No other single
thing so completely marks and proves the difference
between Brigham and Joseph.
At the death of the prophet Joseph, the church be-
gan to disintegrate immediately, and only the master-
ful hand of Brigham kept it from going to pieces al-
together. At the death of Brigham, the church stood
secure. There were no schisms, no revolts, no impor-
tant apostasies. The kingdom went on, though the
king was dead. But it was a kingdom of the dead
monarch's fashioning; and to-day, in every corner
of the Mormon empire, one may trace the handiwork
of Brigham Young.
XXXV
THE KINGDOM ENDURES
A A the principal corner of Temple Square in Salt
Lake City rises a figure of bronze on a ped-
estal of granite the monument to Brigham
Young. The great business manager of Mormonism
is standing in cairn but alert attitude, as he so often
stood in life. His back is turned on the great tem-
ple symbolic of the fervid faith of the people he
ruled so long. His face is to the south, that his eyes
may look upon Zion's Bank, and Zion's Co-operative
Mercantile Institution; and toward these his open
hand is outstretched. Whether he is conferring a
blessing or demanding a dividend the sculptor has not
made clear.
That statue of the real founder of Mormonism,
with the spiritual things of the church behind him,
and the material values of the world before, is sym-
bolic of the empire which he built. That, likewise, has
turned from doctrines to dividends. Behind that also
is the temple, and before it are the courts of Dives.
In the past are heroic faith and steadfast endurance.
In the present, and looming larger in the near future,
are banks and stores and factories and railroads, pro-
cured tariffs, and secret rebates.
In avarice as in heroism, the kingdom is but the
lengthened shadow of the bronze caliph on his ped-
estal Its glories and its failings are his own,
886
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S MONUMENT
His statue represents him with his back to the temple and his hand
outstretched to the Zion's bank
THE KINGDOM ENDURES 387
At the death of Brigham, there was promise of a
change. Under his successor, John Taylor, the king-
dom seemed to turn a while from that worship of
material success which Brigham frankly avowed,
Taylor demanded a sharp accounting from Brigham's
estate. He separated the funds which he held as trus-
tee from those of his own private fortune. He sought
to exalt the devotional side of his church-state, and
to curb its increasing anxiety for wealth and political
power. For a time, he and his immediate successor
seemed to make progress along this line. But the
bent wood sprang back into place; the essential na-
ture of the organization which Brigham had be-
queathed to the kingdom triumphed over the pass-
ing whim of a passing potentate; and soon the suc-
cession came to one who had no quarrel with money-
changers, provided they were ready to share their
profits with the anointed of the Lord.
Joseph F. Smith, present president of the Mor-
mon church and ruler of the Mormon kingdom, is
likewise president of, or officer in, a score of financial,
commercial, and manufacturing institutions. To give
an up-to-date list of his enterprises is impossible, for
this prophet, seer, and revelator to all the world has
not lately been on the witness stand. The last de-
tailed information on this point is contained in his
testimony before the Senate committee which was
investigating the right of Apostle Reed Smoot to sit
in the United States Senate. At that time, Joseph
F. Smith was president of Zion's Co-operative Mer-
cantile Institution, one of the strongest commercial
organizations in the West. He was president of
Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company, where the
humble Mormon people keep their savings. He was
388 BRIGHAM YOUNG
president of the State Bank of Utah, the chief com-
mercial bank of the hierarchy* He was president of
the Salt Lake Knitting Company, which manufactures
the sacred undergarments that each Mormon wears
through life after he takes his endowments. He was
president of the Utah Light and Power Company,
which got a fifty-year blanket franchise on the streets
of Salt Lake City, and then sold out to the Harriman
interests. He was president of the Utah Sugar Com-
pany, a local branch of the sugar trust; of the Inland
Salt Company, which sustains the same relation to
the national salt trust; of the Consolidated Wagon
and Machine Company, which is a selling trust in
agricultural implements. He was president of a
summer resort, of a dramatic association, of a
railroad.
More important than all else, Joseph F. Smith was
and is master of a tithing fund of approximately
$4,000,000 per year; an unfailing river of liquid
capital, which rises in springs of faith on a hundred
thousand farms and workshops, and flows through
appointed channels to that secret, silent reservoir of
gold, from which only the Mormon sultan and his
designated favourites may dip. As head of the king-
dom, Joseph F. Smith is absolute master and owner
of this vast income and its yet vaster accumulations;
and no human being can hold him to account for a
dollar. Courts have decided, in substance, that Smith
is trustee for God, rather than for the people; and
therefore nothing less than Divine authority is com-
petent to compel an opening of the books. Since he
is likewise the only man now living through whom
God deigns to hold converse with the world, Smith's
grip on the tithing fund seems fairly secure.
THE KINGDOM ENDURES S89
And this, too, is Brigharn's handiwork. He would
not take pride in it, but he could not deny it. He
might claim, and truly, that when he was master of
the tithes, no destitute Mormon was sent to the poor-
house in his old age, and make scathing comparison
with the records of to-day. He might claim, again
with truth, that he built the kingdom over which he
tyrannized, and that the wealth which he dispensed
with such arbitrary hand was in some sort his own
creation. He might rage as of old at the present sul-
tan, whose rule is an accident of inheritance, not a
triumph of personality; and whose wealth is the gift
of a church, not the product of his financial genius.
But these are changes which come in any monarchy;
they do not lessen Brigham's responsibility for creat-
ing the system which has fallen into such hands. He
designed and enforced this tax on faith and industry;
he asserted and maintained an irresponsible despotism
in the midst of the freest republic on earth. The per-
version of that theocracy, the misuse of that tax, come
back at last to the " Lion of the Lord," and claim heir-
ship in his household.
As in finance, so in other matters. After Brig-
ham's death, pressure by the federal government com-
pelled his successors to yield their pretensions for a
time. They renounced the practice of polygamy.
They pledged their sacred honour to take the church
out of politics. By these means, they gained sur-
cease from persecution, restoration of citizenship and
of property, and the boon of statehood for which
Brigham had worked so long. Then, they resumed
the practices and politics which they had renounced.
They bought their independence and stole back the
purchase price.
390 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Joseph F. Smith, the present head of the kingdom,
has begotten twelve children by five wives since he
pledged his word and oath to abstain from polyg-
amous living. To the best of their ability, his faith-
ful subjects have followed his example. Nowhere
in the kingdom, perhaps, can be found new house-
holds of the dimensions known to Brigham and to
Heber Kimball; but probably there are more plural
wives in that kingdom now than ever before.
The political control of the hierarchy is so abso-
lute that a Mormon official has been reduced to the
ranks for circulating at a school election a different
ticket from the one favoured by his church superiors;
and at Washington an Apostle sits in the Senate as
ambassador of the polygamous kingdom an am-
bassador who has a highly important vote in the Sen-
ate of the republic to which he is accredited.
Throughout the whole range of political activities
in the Mormon kingdom, the present polygamous
ruler is supreme and almost unquestioned. The legis-
latures of a dozen states are influenced by his will.
Governors court his favour. Visiting Presidents of
the United States give to him as much deference as
they receive. And national parties carefully avoid
offence to his authority.
And for this also Brigham is responsible. He en-
couraged contempt for the United States. He talked
and almost proved that within the Mormon do-
minion there could be no rulership except as subordi-
nate to that of the Mormon prophet. He concen-
trated all the power of devotion which his people
could feel into an idolatrous loyalty to the head of
the church, leaving no emotion to be wasted upon
national patriotism. And what he set in the plastic
THE KINGDOM ENDURES 391
time of his kingdom has become its fixed and im-
movable character.
Through more than forty years of service and of
sovereignty, Brigham builded his kingdom; and the
indignant might of civilization has not wrecked his
handiwork. It stands to-day, inscrutable in its very
simplicity; a theocracy encysted in a republic, an an-
cient clan turned into a modern trust. It endures
adversity, it thrives on neglect, and it waits in con-
fidence for the day when the faith of Joseph and the
works of Brigham shall march to dominion over the
entire earth. And on his pedestal, Brigham waits
also, with outstretched hand.
INDEX
Blood Atonement, 261-272.
Boggs, Gov. L. W.,
Calls out militia, 50.
Issues " extermination "
order, 51.
Shooting of, 80.
Brocchus, Judge Perry E.,
Quarrel with Brigham, 221-2.
Cannon, George Q.,
Chosen " Senator from
Deseret," 325.
Counsellor to Brigham,
343- .
Delegate to Congress, 307.
Re-elected delegate, 37**
Connor, Col. P. E.,
Ordered to Utah, 328-9.
Influence for peace, 335-
Cradlebaugh, Judge, Baffled in-
vestigations of, 311-2.
Dimming, Gov. Alfred,
Character of, 299-300.
Comes to Salt Lake City,
301-2.
Reassures Mormons, 309.
Calls out Nauvoo Legion,
3*3-
Leaves Utah, 320.
Danites, 271.
Dawson, Gov. John W., Trou-
bles and flight of, 323-4.
Drake, Judge Thomas J.,
Appointed, 328.
Reply to demand for
resignation, 334-
" Deseret/'
Meaning of name, 170.
State of, organized, 213.
Land grants by legislature
of, 218.
Reorganization in 1863, 331.
Emigration (including immi-
gration),
From Great Britain, 61.
Perpetual fund for, 180.
Charles Dickens on Mor-
mon, 253.
Management of, 254-5.
By hand-carts, 256-60.
Gold,
Discovery of, 172.
Seekers reach Salt Lake
City, 174-
Brigham sends men to
mines, 178.
Grant, Jedediah M.,
Part in first emigration,
154-
Character, 202.
Part in blood atonement,
262-6.
Harding, Gov. Stephen S.,
Appointed governor, 328.
Message to legislature,
330-1.
Resignation demanded,
333-
Pardons Morrisites, 335.
Removed to Colorado
judgeship, 33&
Indians,
Encountered on pioneer
march, 133-5-
Fort for protection from,
148.
INDEX
Brigham's policy toward,
182.
War with, 248.
Massacre of Gunnison by,
250.
At Mountain Meadows,
276.
Defeated by Connor, 330.
Johnston, Gen. Albert Sidney,
Commander of Utah ex-
pedition, 295.
Reaches Fort Bridger, 300.
Marches toward Salt Lake
City, 307-
Leaves Utah, 320.
Judges, Recall of. See Drake,
Judge Thomas J.
Kane, Col. Thomas L,.
At Winter Quarters, 118.
Statements to President
Fillmore, 217-8.
Goes to Salt Lake City,
299.
Mission to Gov. Cumming,
300.
Prevents Cummmgs re-
moval, 316.
Summary of character,
316-8.
Kimball, Heber C,
Baptized, 16.
Comes to Kirtland, 33.
British mission of, 58.
Brigham's lieutenant, 105.
Counsellor to president,
X 59. . . .
Division of, in emigration,
162.
Chief justice of "Deseret,"
170.
Character, 199-200.
Prophecies of, 216.
Injunction to missionaries,
232,
Letter to his son, 256.
Death of, 343.
Kinney, Judge John F,
Appointed, 323,
Orders arrest of Morris,
326.
Sentences Morrisites, 334-
Territorial delegate, 336.
Kirtland,
Brigharn brings converts
to, 33-
Church organization at, 35-
6.
Bank at, 44-6.
Abandonment of, 47.
Polygamy at, 65,
Lee, John Doyle,
Campaigns for Smith, 88.
Wives and children of, 240*
Goes to Mountain Mead-
ows, 274.
Supported by Brigham,
280.
First trial, 371.
Conviction, 372.
McKean, Judge James B.,
Appointment and char-
acter, 357.
Overrules territorial jury
law, 360.
Speech to juries, 361.
Ruling on " polygamous
theocracy," 364.
Overruled by Supreme
Court, 366.
Sends Brigham to jail,
369.
Removed, 370.
March,
From Kirtland to Missouri,
34-
Across Iowa, 107, et seq*
Of pioneer company, 129,
et scq.
Of first emigration, 153-
5-
Second, from Winter
Quarters, 161*3.
Of hand-cart companies,
256-60,
INDEX
395
To Mountain Meadows,
274-5-
Federal expedition, 287, ct
seq.
CoL Connor's, into Salt
Lake City, 329.
Missions,
Brigham in Canada, 33.
To the " Lamanites," 37-9.
To England, 58-62.
Sent out in 1849, 180-1.
Missouri,
Expedition to, 34.
Pioneers at Independence,
39-
Revelation on, Jackson
County, 40.
Quarrel with Gentiles in
Jackson County, 41-2.
Founding of Far, West,
43-,
Purging of church in, 47.
Final trouble begins, 49.
Expulsion of Mormons
from, 52-5.
Brigham returns to, 56.
Mormon Battalion,
Raised, no.
Members join pioneers at
Laramle, 136.
Pueblo division reaches
Salt Lake City, 148.
Part in gold discovery,
173-4-
Mormon, Book of, 18.
Mormon Church,
Founded, 19.
Sketch of organization,
208-11.
Present character, 387, et
Morris, Joseph,
Rebukes Brigham, 325.
Killed by posse, 327.
Followers pardoned, 335-
Mountain Meadows,
Discovery of, 181.
Massacre at, 273, et seq.
Brigham's responsibility
for, 279-
Lee's execution at, 282.
Story of, leaks out, 310.
Nauvoo,
Founding of, 56.
Unhealthfulness of, 57.
Charter, 75-6.
Growth of, 77.
Temple, 78-9, 98, 106.
Whittling out at, 83.
Schism at, 88.
Expositor, 90-1,
Burnings at, 101.
Exodus from, begins, 105.
Last attack on, 112-4.
Nauvoo Legion,
Independence of, 76.
Called out by Gov. Gum-
ming, 313.
Suppressed, 357.
New Movement, 348-52,
Polygamy,
Mormon doctrine of, 63.
At Kirtland, 65.
Revelation establishing,
65-8.
Reasons for, 69.
Denials of, 72.
Joseph's part in, 73.
Church dukes practice,
205.
Publicly proclaimed, 225.
Practice of, 228, et seq.
Study of, 237-47.
First law of Congress
against, 325.
McKean's definition of,
363.
Practised by present head
of church, 389.
Revelation,
Of Book of Mormon, 18.
Character of, 24.
Smith's fruit fulness in, 30.
At Fishing creek, 34-
On business, 36.
Concerning Jackson
County, 40.
396
INDEX
Commanding Brigham to
stay at home, 62.
Concerning polygamy, 65,
et seq.
Of Brigham at Winter
Quarters, 121, et seq.
Of Joseph Morris, 326.
Richards, Willard,
Present at prophet's mur-
der, 94.
Counsellor to president,
159-
One of church dukes, 202.
Death, 263.
Rigdon, Sidney,
Part in founding Mor-
monism, 32.
Opposition to Brighatn,
Flight from Kirtland, 47.
"Salt sermon," 49.
Counsellor to president,
Opposes Nauvoo settle-
ment, 56,
Postmaster at Nauvoo, 77-
Claims presidency, 97,
Excommunicated, 99.
Rockwell, "Port/'
Charged with assault on
Boggs, 81.
Shoots Worrall, 102.
Brings word army is ad-
vancing, 305.
Practises "ley fuga" 315.
Shoots man implicated in
Pawson case, 324.
Settlement,
Jackson County, 39-40.
At Far West, 43.
Nauvoo, 56-7, 78.
Salt Lake City, 142, et seq.
Other Utah points, 181.
Controlled character of
Mormon, 181, et seq.
In Idaho, 353,
Shaffer, Gov, J. Wilson, Sup-
presses Nauvoo Legion, 357.
Smith, Emma Hale,
Commanded to receive
plural wives, 67.
Infxtience over Joseph, 71.
Opposition to polygamy,
72-3-
Smith, Joseph,
Meeting with Brigham, 17.
Account of Book of Mor-
mon, 18.
Reputation of, 19.
Contrast between Brigham
and, 28-32.
Revelations of, 30.
Trip to Missouri, 34.
Experience with cholera,
35-
Favour to Brigham, 38.
Bank at Kirtland, 44-7.
Leaves Kirtland, 47. a
Conduct in Missouri, 49.
Surrender to Gen. Lucas,
51.
Escape from jail, 56.
Revelation on polygamy,
65-8.
Adventures in polygamy,
70.
Awe of wife Emma, 71.
General of Nauvoo Legion,
80,
Political trickery and
power, 84-5,
Aspires to presidency of
United States, 86.
Publishes platform, 87.
Sends out workers, 88,
Suppresses Expositor, 91,
Murder of, 94.
Sons come to Salt Lake
City, 350.
Smith, Joseph F.,
American people his en-
emies, 216.
Useful to Brigtiam, 350.
Commercial activities of,
387.
Mastery of tithing fund,
Polygamy of, 389,
INDEX
397
Tithes,
Origin of, 48.
For Nauvoo temple, 79.
Payment in early Utah,
206.
Uses of tithing fund, 207.
Walkers refuse payment
f 345- ,
From outlymg provinces,
353-
Brigham's use of, 379.
Present status of, 388.
Winter Quarters,
Sickness at, 117.
Organization of, 119.
Revelation given at, 121.
Start from, 129.
First Presidency restored
at, 151.
Young, Ann Eliza,
Sues Brigham for divorce,
368.
Suit ends, 372.
Young, Brigham,
Romance of career, 9.
Parentage, 13,
Marriage, 15.
Conversion, 16.
Meeting with Smith, 17.
Contrast between, and
Smith, 28.
Mission to Canada, 33.
Becomes Apostle, 35.
Feud with Rigdon, 37,
Leaves Kirtland, 47.
Helps "purging" at Far
West, 47-8.
Practical head of church,
54-
British mission, 58, et seq.
Returns to Nauvoo, 62.
Discourages Smith's rev-
elations,^ 79.
Campaigning for Smith, 88.
Defeats Rigdon, 98.
Letter to church, 99.
Expels Rigdon, 99,
Begins marrying Smith's
widows, loo.
Promises to leave Nauvoo,
102.
More marriages of, 105.
At Sugar creek, 106.
At Winter Quarters, 119.
Issues revelation, 121, et
seq.
Marriages at Winter Quar-
ters, 128.
Heads pioneer party, 129.
Sick with mountain fever,
140,
Reaches valley, 141.
Lays down law for settle-
ment, 145.
Appoints place of temple,
147.
Returns to Winter Quar-
ters, 150.
President of church, 159.
Epistle to church, 161.
Return to Salt Lake City,
161.
Coins money, 165.
Governor of " Deseret," 170.
Stops rush to gold-fields,
176.
Control of colony, 181-7.
Indian policy of, 182.
Patron of arts, 189.
Opposition to lawyers and
doctors, 192.
Selecting his inheritance,
197-
Grant of City Creek canon
to, 198, note.
Founds church aristocracy,
*99-
Demands polygamy of fa-
vourites, 205.
Opposed to whipping-post,
213-
Territorial governor, 218-9.
Attack on Brocchus, 222.
Number of marriages, 236.
Proclaims mastership, 248.
Innocence of Gunnison
murder, 251*
398
INDEX
Reappointed governor, 252.
Responsibility for hand-
cart tragedy, 260.
Preaches persecution, 264.
Preaches blood atonement,
265,
Responsibility for Moun-
tain Meadows, 279-80.
Defies United States, 289.
Orders federal troops from
territory, 294.
Prepares to burn city, 303.
Harangues peace commis-
sion, 306.
Accused of counterfeiting,
313-
Makes profit from troops,
3H-
Buys military supplies, 321.
Encounter with Col. Con-
nor, 330.
Quarrel with Harding, 331.
Denounces federal officials,
333.
Organizes Z, C M. I.,
346, ct scq.
Excommunicates Godbe-
ites, 351.
Indicted for " lewd and
lascivious cohabitation,"
363-
Defiance of Congress,
367-
Sued for divorce by Ann
Eliza, 368.
Sentenced to jail, 369.
Growth of empire, 374, ct
seq.
Last illness and death of,
376-7.
Fortune and will, 379.
Summary of character,
379-Bs.
Monument, 380.
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile
Institution, 346,
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so wide a field that it was thought best to prepare a. supple-
mental text book from an entirely different standpoint. The
author has written a "parable atudy" which deals more with
lessons and agencies than with issues and processes.
LEILA ALLEN PIMOCK
Comrades from Other Lands
Home Mission Junior Text Book. Illustrated,
ismo, paper, net 250. (postage 4c.) t * . ...
-This book is complementary to the last volume in this
course of study, Dr. ikenry's SOME IMMIGRANT NEIGH-
BORS which treated of the lives and occupations of foreign-
ers in our cities. This latter tells what the immigrants are
doing in country industries. Teachers of children of from
twelve to sixteen will find here material to enlist the sym-
pathies and hold the interest of their scholars*
HOME MISSIONS
LEMUEL a &ARNJSS, P.P.
Elemental Forces in Home Missions
l^rno* cloth, net 750.
By the author of that popular missionary text-book, **Tw
Thousand Years of Missions Before Carey.** Some of the
tnost important issues connected with the work of Christina-
jzrag- America are presented with a breadth, a clcxtrnesv,
a^ force and a conviction that will give the reader it new
vision of the Home Mission opportunity and a new sense of
Jais responsibility.
& D.
Aft. Cor $*c Mom Mfxxton Swrd ffoxurfo m **&# Cmvtntim
The Mission of Our Nation
T2mo, cloth, net $1.00.
* 'Doctor kQve shows himself at onoe a historian and *a
prophet as he opens the book of the past and points out it*
suggestion for the future. The reader ia irresistibly carried
forward to the cqncltjsions of the author, Intcrestto^. illum-
inating- and inspiring.** Baptist Ycecher*
MAR y CLARK BARNES
Early Stories and Songs for New Students
of English
Illustrated, i6mcx cloth, net 6oc. ; paper, net 3$a
Dr. Mdward A^ Steiner says: "Hot only practical "but It
affords easy transition to the higher things. The Bible I m
wonderful ^ primer, simple, yet wonderfully profound- I am
glad that it is the basis of yottr system of teaching Enj*lt*h
to foreigners.'* _ *
HOME MISSIONS TEXT BOOKS
MRUCM KINNEY, JP>,JPj,
Mormonism : The Mam of America
Home Mission Study Course. Illustrated*
cloth, net sex;.; paper, wet 300.
Dr. Kinney treats the subject in a Judiclottsi way, -
M&^^J** 01 * or JS**^ crmdim. The facts of Mormon
?^!l !', 4 me i SS d *u hfc J* re . wovcn im a daWe 0toiy
that is sure to hold the attention
JO JEW Jg, HENRY
Some Immlgtant Neighbor
The H&me Mission Junior Text Book. Mlustratedt.
mo, cloth, net 400.; paper* net 25c-
* K?* 1 *^^ ^ the pastor of -ftht Church of All Hat!on^
in New York City. He write* of many nationalities from his
own expenewce. Through his sympathetic portrayal the child
t? TS? 1 todxpm toward a neighborly fcclinic for lil
brothers of foreign, speech* ******
136890
