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Full text of "History of Salt Lake City"

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979.202 

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1198570 



GENEALOGY COLLECTION 



ALLEN COUNTY PV^WPiiFi'in m'lVlh 1 



3 1833 00828 5048 




iMaUSStnsJiBariUjSt.Vy 



HISTORY 



SALT LAKE CITY, 



-r''. /j.<'i-'t.- 



RV AUTHORITY OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND UNDEI^.THF. 
SUPERVISION OF A COMMITTEE APPOTNTKD "- 
BY THE COUNCIL AND AU IHOR. 



REVISING COMMITTEE : 

lOHX k WINDER, Chairnui.,, R. T. BURTON, ^GEORGbi^A. NU^KARS. 

S. L JONASSON, GEORGE REYNOLDS,- 5<r<:r<r/flri., 



EDWARD W, TULLIDGE . 

PUBLISHER AND PROPRIKIUK " 



SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH; 

STAR PRINTING COMPANY. 
1886. 



I'.ntererl according lo Act of Congress in tlif year 1886, hv 

EDWARD W. TULLIDGE, 

in the Office of the Librarian at Congress, Washington D. C. 

Am. Kk.hts Ri-.sKRVFi'. 



1198570 

INDEX. 



CHAPTER I. 

Prefaton' Review of the People who Founded Salt Lake City, Grand Colonization Design 

of the Mormon Prophet q 

CHAPTER n. 

Governor Ford urges the Migration of the Mormons to California. Compact of the Removal. 
Address to the President of the United States. The Exodus. Mormon Life on the 
Journey. A Sensation from the United States Government 8 

CHAPTER HI. 

The Call for the Mormon Battalion. Interviews with President Polk. The Apostles Enlisting 

Soldiers from their People for the Service of the Nation. The Battalion on the March, . . 24 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Mormons Settle on Indian Lands. A Grand Council held between the Elders and Indian 
Oiiefs. A Covenant is made between them, and land granted by the Indians to their 
Mormon Brothers. Characteristic Speeches of famous Indian Chiefs. Winter Quarters 
Organized. The Journey of the Pioneers to the Rocky Mountains, '32 

CHAPTER V, 

The First Sabbath in the Valley. The Pioneers apply the Prophecies to themselves and their 
location. Zion has gone up into the Mountains. They locate the Temple and lay off the 
"City of the Great Salt Lake." The Leaders return to Winter Quarters to gather the 
Body of the Church 44 

CHAPTER VI. 

Progress of the Colony. Destruction of the Crops by Crickets. Description of Great Salt 

Lake City, • • 5^ 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Primitive Government of the Colony. Provisional State of Deseret organized. Passage 

of the Gold Seekers through the Valley 56 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Arrival of Captain Stansbury. His Interview with Governor Young. Government Survey of 
the Lakes. Commencement of Indian Difficulties 63 

CHAPTER IX. 

Incorporation of Great Salt Lake City. Its Original Charter. The First City Council and 
Mimicipal Officers. Organization of the Territory. Arrival of the news of Governor 
Ycnng's Appointment. Dissolution of the State of Deseret. Governor's Proclamation. 
Legalizing the Laws passed by the Provisional Government. Correspondence between 
Colonel Kane and President Fillmore. Stansbury's Voucher for Brigham Young, ... 72 

CHAPTER X. 
Arrival of the Federal Judges. First appearance of the United States Officials before the tit- 
izens at a Special Conference. Judge Brocchus assaults the Community. Public Indig- 
nation. Correspondence between Judge Brocchus and Governor \oung. The Kuna- 
wav" Judges and Secretary. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, sustains f'overnor 
Young and removes the offending officials. First United States Court. The new Fedei^l 
Officers. Arrival of Colonel Steptoe. Re-appointment of Brigham \oung. Judge 
Shaver Found dead. Judges Drummond and Stiles, 5 

CHAPTER XI. 
Sociological Exposition. Sources of our Population. Emigration. Polygamy 97 



U. INDEX. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Pictures of Mormon Society in the Founding of Utah. Life among the Saints. Their Social 
and Religious Peculiarities and Customs. Ecstasy of the Gold-hunters when they came 
upon " Zion." Views by Stansbury, Gunnison, and noted English Travelers, of the Mor- 
mons and their Institutions. Petitions for a Railroad. General Events 102 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Carson Colony. The Great Famine in Utah. The Hand-cart Companies. Constitutional 
Convention. Death of J. M. Grant, Mayor of Great Salt Lake City. Biographical 
Sketch, ." '. 113 

CHAPTER XV. 

Exposition of the causes and Circumstances of the Utah War. General Scott's Circular and 
Instructions to the Army. Magraw's Letter to the President. Drummond's Charges. 

• The Republican Party Associates Utah with the South. The " Irrepressible Conflict." 

Fremont' and Douglas 121 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Review of Judge Drummond's Course in Utah. He assaults the Probate Courts and de- 
nounces the Legislature at the Capitol. judge Snow's Review of the Courts of the Ter- 
ritory. His Letter to the Comptroller of the Treasury. Judge Drummond leaves Utah 
and commences his Crusade. The Conspiracy to work up the " Utah War." The Con- 
tractors. Charges of Indian Agent Twiss. The Postal Service. Contract awarded to 
Mr. Hyrum Kimball. Governor Young organizes an Express and Carrying Company. 
New Postal Service. War against Utah. The Post Office Department repudiates its 
Contract. " Troops are on the way to invade Zion ! " 144 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Pioneer Jubilee. Celebration of their Tenth Anniversary. Arrival of Messengers with the 
News of the Coming of an Invading .\rmy. The day of Jubilee changed to a day of In- 
dependence Captain Van Vliet and the Mormon People,. 157 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Governor Young places the Territorj' under Martial Law. The Militia ordered out. The Seat 
of War. Correspondence between Governor Young and Colonel Alexander. Burning 
the Government Trains. Lot Smith's Story. Congress declares Utah in a state of 
Rebellion, 166 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Correspondence between Governor Young and Colonel Alexander. Unflinching Attitude of 
both sides. Exchange of Courtesies. The Governor invites a peaceful visit of the Officers 
to the City. A remarkable Letter from Apostle John Taylor to Captain Marcy 176 

CHAPTER XX. 

Review of the Expedition. Kansas Troubles. General Harney relieved of the Command. 
General Persifer F. Smith appointed in his stead. He dies and Colonel Albert Sidney 
Johnston is appointed. Disastrous March of the Second Dragoons to Utah. Scene of 
' the Army in Winter Quarters 189 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Tlie Nauvoo Legion ordered in for the Winter. Picket Guard Posted, March of the Legion 
to Great Salt Lake City: received with Songs ot Triumph, A Jubilant Winter in Zion. 
Summary of Government Movements for the Spring Campaign, 197 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Buchanan Coerced by Public Sentiment into sending a Commission of Investigation. He sends 
Colonel Kane with a Special Mission to the Mormons. Arrival of the Colonel in Salt 
Lake City. His First Interview with the Mormon Leaders. Incidents of his Sojourn. 
He goes to meet Governor Cumming, and is placed under Arrest by General Johnston. 
His Challenge to that Officer. He brings in the New Governor in Triumph. Return of 
Colonel Kane 201 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Report of Governor Cumming to the Government. The Government Records found not 
Burned, as reported by Drummond. The Mormon Leaders justified bv the facts, and the 
People Loyal. Graphic and Thrilling Description of the Mormons in their Second Ex- 
odus. The Governor brings his Family to Salt Lake City. His wife is moved to tears at 
witnessing the Heroic .'Attitude of the People 207 



INDEX. , lii. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Arrival of Peace Commissioners. E.xtraordinary Council between them and the Mormon 
Leaders. A Singular Scene in the Council. Arrival of a Courier with Dispatches. 
"Stop that Army! or we break up the Conference." "Brother Dunbar, sing Zion! " The 
Peace Commissioners Marvel, but at last find a Happy Issue. Retrospective view of the 
Mormon Army 214 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Reflections upon the '^ Utah War." The Reaction. Current Opinion, as expressed by the 
Leading Journals of Europe and America. Governor Gumming pleads with the Saints. 
They return to their homes. The Judges. Cradlebaugh's Court. He calls for troops. 
Provo City invaded by the army. Conspiracy to arrest Brigham Young. Governor Gum- 
ming orders out the Utah Militia to repel invasion. Timely arrival of a dispatch from 
Government stays the conflict. Attorney-General Black's rebuke to the Judges. General 
Johnston's friends demand the removal of Governor Gumming. The situation recovered 
by the patriotism of Thomas L, Kane. Division in the Cabinet. Parallel of the Blane 
reminiscence of Jere S. Black. Judge Cradlebaugh Discharges the Grand Jury and turns 
Society over to Lawless Rule. The Indians Encouraged to Depredations' on the Settle- 
ments. A Dark Picture of Salt Lake Society. Why Governor Gumming did not Investi- 
gate the Mountain Meadow Massacre, 238 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

After the Utah War. Celebration of the Fourth of July. Benefits of Camp Floyd to the 
Community Trade with the Camp. The Pony Express. The Bulk of the Troops 
march for New Mexico and Arizona. Johnston leaves for Washington. The Departure 
of Governor Gumming. The Remnant of the Army ordered to the States. Sales of 
Camp Floyd. Goods worth Four Million Dollars sold for One Hundred Thousand De- 
struction of Arms and Ammunition. Lincoln's New Appointments for Utah. Comple- 
tion of the Telegraph Line. First Message from ex-Governor Young — " Utah has not 
Seceded." The Governor to President Lincoln and his Response. Utah's Manifesto on 
the Civil War, 245 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Mormon Service on the Overland Mail Line. President Lincoln calls on Brigham Young for 
Help. The ex-Governor's Response. Ben Holladay thanks Brigham. Lot Smith's 
Command. Report of the Service. General Craig Compliments the Mormon Troops, . 252 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Utah again asks Admission into the Union as a State. The History and Passage of the anti- 
Polygamic Bill in the House and Senate. The Bill signed by Abraham Lincoln. Presen- 
tation to Congress of the Constitution of the " State of Deseret," 259 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Fourth of July Proclamation by the City Council. The City's Loyalty. The Two Governors. 
Great Speech of Governor Harding. The City honors the California Senator. Thanks- 
giving Proclamation. A change in Governor's Harding's Conduct 267 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

The California Volunteers Ordered to Utah Sketch of General Connor. His First Military 
Order. Interestine Letter from the Command. Petition of the Volunteers to go to tlie 
Potomac. March from Fort Crittenden to Salt Lake. Preparations for Battle at the Jor- 
dan. Zion at Peace, Surprise of the Troops. The Halt at the Governor's Mansion. 
His Address to the Troops. Camp Douglas ^73 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Battle of Bear River. Connor's Report to the Department. History of the Battle. Congratu- 
lations of the Colonel to his Troops. Burial of the Dead. Our Citizens at the Funeral. 
The Battle as Recorded in the Military History of Cache Valley 283 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 




Committee Appointed to Wait upon them and ask their Resignation m the Name ot tht 
People. The Committee's Report 



IV. INDEX. 



CHAPTER XXXtV. 



A Counter Petition from Camp Douglas to Prest. Lincoln. Impending Conflict between 
Camp Douglas and the City. A Supposed Conspiracy to Arrest Brigham Young and run 
Him off to the States. Judges Waite and Drake hold Unlawful Courts in Judge Kinney's 
District. The Chief Justice Interposes with a Writ to Arrest Brigham Young for Polyg- 
amy. It is Served by the U. S. Marshal instead bf a Military Posse. The City in Arms. 
E.xpecting a descent from Camp Douglas. The Warning Voice of California heard. 
Booming of the guns of Camp Douglas at Midnight. The City again In Arms. False 
Alarm. Connor created Brigadier-General, 3^2 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Trial of the Morrisites. Sentence of the Prisoners. They are immediately Pardoned by Gov- 
ernor Harding. Copies of the Extraordinary Pardons. The Grand Jury declares the 
Law outraged and presents Governor Harding in the Third U. S. District Court for Judicial 
Censure. Their History of the Morrisite Disturbance. The Court sustains the Censure, 318 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Removal of Governor Harding, Secretary Fuller, and Chief Justice Kinney. Lincoln's Policy 
to " Let the Mormons Alone." Starting of the Union Vedette. Opening of the Utah 
Mines. Military Documents. Creation of a Provost .Marshal of Great Salt Lake City, 325 

CHA!*TER XXXVII. 

Happy change in the Relations between the City and the Camp Grand Inaugural Celebration 
of Lincoln by the Military and Citizens. Connor greatly moved by the Loyalty of the 
Masses of the Mormon People The Banquet at night. The Citizens give a Ball in 
honor of General Connor. The City in Mourning over the Assassination of President 
Lincoln. Funeral Obsequies at the ifabernacle, 331 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Visit of the Colfax Party to Salt Lake City. A Telegram from the Municipal Council mc ts 
them on the way with Tribute of the City's Hospitalities. They Accept the Welcome. 
Entrance into the City under Escort. Eiithusiasm of the Party over the Beauties of the 
Rocky Mountain Zion. Grand Serenade and Speeches. Forecast of the Great Future 
of Salt Lake City 337 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The City Fathers take the Party to the Great Salt Lake. Meeting of the Speaker of the 
House and the Founder of Utah. The Nation Dines with the Church. The President 
Preaches in the Tabernacle at the Request of the Speaker, who in turn treats the Saints 
with his Eulogy on Lincoln. Advice to the Fathers of the Church to .Abolish Polygamy by 
a New Revelation, in Exchange for a State. The Colfax Closet Views. Adieu to the 
Mormon Zion. Death of Governor Doty. A Talk on Polygamy with the Chairman on 
Territories, 350 

CHAPTER XL. 

Beginning of the Anti-Mormon Crusade. The Change in the Colfax Views. Initial of the 
Action against the Utah Militia. Urging the Administration. Corrected Views con- 
cerning the Militia 358 

CHAPTER XLI. 

History of the Utah Militia for the years 1865, 1866, and 1867. The Governor calls upon 
Camp Douglas for Aid Against the Indians, but is refused. The Government orders the 
Utah Militia for that Service. Secretary Rawlins Submits the Report to Congress. The 
Government's Debt to our Citizens of over a Million Dollars for Military Services Un- 
paid 363 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Wade's Bill. Contemplated Reconstruction of the Militia, .\bsolute Power in Ci\'il and Mil- 
itary Affairs to be given to the Governor. The Mormon Church to be disqualified from 
Officiating in Marriage Ceremonies. .Acknowledgement of Plural Marriage sufficient 
Proof of "Unlawful Cohabitation." Aims on the Church Property and Treasury. The 
Trustee-in-Trust to be Under the Governor's Thumb 373 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

Opening of the First Commercial Period. Reminiscences of the Earliest Merchants. Camp 
Floyd. The Second Commercial Period. Utah Obtains an Historical Importance in the 
Commercial World. Organization of Z. C. M. 1 37S 



INDEX. 



V. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Political Significance to Utah of the Election of Grant and Colfax. 'I he '' Fathers of the 
Church Speak to the Nation on the Subject of abolishing Polygamy. Colfax's Disap- 
pointment and Ire. A Delegation of Chicago Merchants Visit Salt Lake on the comple- 
tion of the U. P. R. R.; also Distinguished Statesmen. Brigham Young's Famous Con- 
versation with Senator Trumbull. Council of the Chicago Merchants, Statesmen and 
Utah Gentiles held at the House of J. R. Walker. Trumbull relates the Conversation 
with Brigham. A General War Talk." The Second Visit of Colfa.x to Salt Lake City, . 391 

CHAPTER XLV. 

The Vice-President Arranging for War on the Saints. He is let into the Secret of the Projected 
Godbeite Schism and Encourages it. His Question— "Will Brigham Young Fight?" Out- 
burst of the Schism. The New York Herald sends on a Special Agent with Instructions to 
Support the Seceders 398 

CHAPTER XLVL 

Famous Discussion Between Vice-President Colfax and Apostle John Taylor. Speech of the 
Vice-President at Salt Lake City. Apostle Taylor's Reply and Answer to the Colfax 
Letter 403 

CHAPTER XLVH, 

Birth of the Utah Liberal Party. Political Coalition of Gentiles and Mormon Schismatics. 
Contest at the Municipal Election of 1870. Report of the First Central Committee of the 
Liberal Party, 428 

CHAPTER XLVHL 

Passage of the Woman's Suffrage Bill. Grand Mass Meeting of the "Sisters" Protesting 
Against the Cullom Bill, then before the Congress. Extraordinary Resolutions and Heroic 
Speeches of the Women of Mormondom 433 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Brief Review of Utah in Congress, from its organization to the passage of the Cullom Bill. 
Great Speech of Delegate Hooper in Congress against the IBill, in which he Reviews the 
Colonizing Work of the Mormons in the West, and Justifies his Polygamous Constituents, 439 

CHAPTER L. 

Passage of the Cullom Bill in the House. Salt Lake City excited by the news. Mass*Mecting 
at the Tabernacle. Memorial to Congress from the Mormon Community, aflfirming Poly- 
gamy as a Divine Law to them, and Reviewing the Unconstitutional Features of the Bill. 
Resolutions. A Rare Puritanic Spectacle 453 

CHAPTER LL 

Conservative Gendles of Salt Lake Citv and the Seceding Mormon ^Elders hold Meetings to 
Petition for a Modification of the Cullom Bill. They maintain the Integrity of Mormon 
Families. Federal Officers and Radical Gentiles oppose the Petition, and favor the Bill 
with Mihtary force, to execute it. Mr. Godbe goes to Washington to invoke forbearance. 
Interviews with Grant and Cullom, 464 

CHAPTER LII. 

Dr. Newman's Evangelical Crusade against Mormon Polygamy. He arrives in Salt Lake 
Citv. Correspondence between the Chaplain of the Senate and the President of the Mor- 
mo'n Church. Newman accepts the Challenge. Brigham denies the Challenge, but invites 
the Doctor to Preach in the great Tabernacle. Newman's Indignation : he Challenges 
Brigham, who accepts, and names Orson Pratt as his substitute. The Great Discussion 
before Ten Thousand People ^' 

CHAPTER LIII. 
President Grant bent on the Conquest of Mormon Theocracy. He appoints Shaffer Governor 
for that purpose. Arrival of the War Governor. Councils. Preparations for Confiicl 
with the Utah Militia. General Phil. Sheridan sent out to view the situation. He is inter- 
ested in the Mormons and tempers the War Policy with a "Moral Force. Shatfer s Mil- 
itary Coup de Main. General Wells avoids a collision. Correspondence between the 
Lieut.-General and the Governor, 

CHAPTER LIV. 
Contest for the Delegate's Seat in Congress. Call of the Liberal Central Committee^ Corinne 
chosen for their Convention. The Convention in Session Resolution to "Pho'd Go - 
ernor Shaffer. Nomination of Maxwell. Naming of the Party. The Liberals shamefully 
beaten, but resolved to send their "Delegate" to Congress, he being chosen for the pur- 
pose of contesting the Seat 



479 



yl INDEX. 

CHAPTER LV. 

The "Wooden Gun Rebellion." Arrest of Militia Officers for assembling their Company. 
They are held Prisoners at Camp Douglas ; examined before Judge Hawley for Treason ; 
committed to the Grand Jury for Treason and placed under Bonds. The Grand Jury 
io-nores the case. The serious face behind the extravaganza of the "Wooden Gun 
Rebellion." 492 

CHAPTER LVI. 

The Two Celebrations of the Fourth of July, 1871. Resolutions of the Gentile Committee 
addressed to the City Council. Answer of the Mayor. The Rupture Grand prepar- 
ations on both sides. Proclamation of Acting-Governor Black, forbidding Militia Com- 
panies to march in the Procession. General De Trobriand with his Troops ordered out. 
Notes of the Grand D.ay 499 

CHAPTER LVII. 

Local Politics. Campaign of 1871. J. R. Walker heads the Liberal Ticket. Fair Prospects 
for the Liberals. Their Ratification Meeting. The Sudden Cloud. Break-up of the 
Meetino-. Split in the Liberal Party. Kelsey's Protest. Withdrawal from the Ticket. 
The Coalition Party buried at the Election 505 

CHAPTER LVHL 

History of the Judicial Administration of James B. McKean as reviewed by U. S. District 
Attorney Bates. The Chief justice harangues the Grand and Petit Juries on the "High 
Priesthood of the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and sends them 
home for lack of funds. A Remarkable Document. The Press of the Country on the 
anomalous condition of McKean's Court, 512 

CHAPTER LIX. 

The U. S. Marshal preparing to receive prisoners. Action against the Warden of the Peniten- 
tiary and the Territorial Marshal. Hearing of the Case before Judge Hawley. Fitch and 
Baskin. The U. S. Attorney prefers the guns of Camp Douglas to the tedious process 
of law. Governor Woods commits himself also; whereat the Court in consternation calls 
them all to order, 522 

CHAPTER LX. 

Opening of McKean's Court in September, 1871. Selecting the Grand Jury. Arrests of 
Brigham Young and Daniel H. Wells. General expectation in the States that the Mor- 
mons would rise in arms to rescue their Leaders. Brigham Young in Court. A touching 
Spectacle. The Chief [ustice proclaims from the Bench that " a system " — "Polygamic 
Theocracy" — is on trial in the person of Brigham Young 526 

CHAPTER LXL 

Mass Meeting called by the Mayor of Salt Lake City to assist the sufferers of the Chicago Fire. 
Response of Mormon and Gentile. Donations led by Brigham Young and the City. 
" One touch of Nature." The Telegraph to Pioche completed. Congratulations and 
Thanks of Connor and others to Brigham Young 536 

CHAPTER LXH. 

The Hawkins' Trial. His polygamy construed into the crime of adultery. Found guilty and 
sentenced for three years to the Penitentiary. A characteristic sentence. The .American 
Press on the Polygamous trials, 540 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

President Young returns and confounds his enemies. His presence in Court. Judge McKean 
refuses $500,000 bail. Brigham a prisoner. Important correspondence between the Dis- 
trict Attorney and the Attorney-General. Suspension of Criminal Trials 551 

CHAPTER LXV. 

Great Political Movements in the City in the spring of 1872. Governor Woods vetoes the 
State Convention Bill. The people elects their Delegates notwithstanding. Salt Lake 
County elects nine Gentiles and ten Mormons to the Convention. S. Sharpe Walker de- 
clines. Arrival of the Japanese Embassy. The City pays homage to the Ancient Empire. 
Grand receptions of the Embassy, 557 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

The State Convention at work. The Constitution of Nevada preferred as a basis. Gen- 
eral Connor declines his election as delegate. Judge Haydon opposes the State and 
moves that the Convention adjourn sine die. Hon. Thomas Fitch's remarkable speech 
for the State, in which he rehearses the histor>' of the Judicial Proceedings in the U. S. 
Courts of the Territory of that period, and appeals to his Mormon Colleagues to abolish 
polygamy, 562 



INDEX, yij_ 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

The discussion for the State continued. Havdon and Bainum eulogize the Chief Justice 
Fitch challenges the Record and is unanswered. Motion to adjourn kst, and business 
resumed. Deseret or Utah ? The name of Deseret prevails. The all important stni-rgle 
over the Fifth Section of the Ordinance inviting Congress to put in its Plank. Orson 
Pratts leads the opposition, George Q. Cannon the members for the Section. The Fifth 
Section prevails. Grand points of the Model Constitution. Work of the Convention 
finished. Election for Congressman. Balloting for U. S. Senators. Efforts to organize 
the citizens into National parties, -__ 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 

Chief Justice McKean writes Editorials for the Salt Lake 7> z^/^wi?, sustaining his own De- 
cisions. The Senior Editor Impeached, in consequence, before a Board of Directors and 
Resigns. The "Gentile League of Utah" Organized to break up the Mormon Power, 
Attempts to Force the City Council, Revolutionary Meeting. Call for Troops 587 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

Congressional History from 1870. Local Politics carried to Washington, Contest for the 
Seat. The Election of 1S72. Hooper Retires with Honors. Geo, Q Cannon Elected, 
and Polygamic Colors Nailed to the Mast. Maxwell again Contests the Seat. The "En- 
dowment Oath" Charge against the Delegate. Denials of the Oath against the United 
States being Administered in the Endowment House. Scenes in Congress over Utah 
Affairs. Notes from the Delegate's Private Journal. Hon. Geo. Q. Cannon takes his 
Seat in the Forty-Third Congress, but a Committee is .\ppointed to Investigate the Con- 
testant's Charges. The Contest carried into the Second Session. Cannon Holds his Seat. 596 

CHAPTER LXX. 

Political Coalition of 1874. Jennings for Mayor. Election for Delegate to Congress in 1874. 
Baskin Nominated. Election Day. U. S. Marshal Maxwell and his Deputies take charge 
of the Day and the Polls. Tumult in the City. The City Police Arrested by the U. S. 
Marshal and his Deputies. U. S. Deputy Marshal Orr Arrested by the Police and is 
Habeas Corpused by Judge McKean. The Mob Assault Mayor Wells and tear his coat to 
pieces. He is Rescued by the Police Force, and Doors of City Hall closed. The Mayor 
Appears on the Balcony and Gives the Order to his Force to Beat Back the Mob, which is 
instantly done. The Sequel. Cannon Elected by a 20,000 Majority against a 3,300 Vote 
of his Opponent ; but Baskin Contests the Seat in Congress 607 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

The Fall of Judge McKean. The Ann Eliza Suit against Brigham Young. Alimony and 
Lawyer's Fees Granted pending the Decision. The Head of the Mormon Church Sent to 
the Penitentiary for Contempt of Court. The Public Censure Compels President Grant 
to remove Judge McKean from oflfice 614 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 

The Presidental visit to Salt Lake City. Federal Officers and Gentiles claim the honor of re- 
ceiving the President; but the City Fathers charter a tram and "pioneer" the Presidential 
train t'o our citv. Meeting between U. S. Grant and Brigham Young. Character marks. 
Long familiar chat on the wav between Mrs. Grant and Brigham. Public reception given 
to the citizens. Visit to Temple Block, Mrs. Grant weeps for "these good Mormon 
people." The departure. Grant touched by the tribute of the Mormon Sunday Schools 
to him as President, " I have been deceived," 620 

CHAPTER LXXIV. 

Death of Brigham Young. The City draped for its founder. Grand Solemn Funeral. Scr- 
ees at the Tabernacle. Tribute of the City Council to his memory 624 

CHAPTER LXXV, 

Return to the early history of the City. Revolution of the Mormon Colonization plan. Patri- 
archal Order. Exposition of the formation of Society in Salt Lake City. 631 

CHAPTER LXXVI. 
Organization of Society in Salt Lake City. The Land Rights, Views and incidents of the 

early days • 

CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

Oricrin of the British Emigration to Salt Lake City, Its circumstantial history. The P. E. 
Fund Company Arrival of the first British Emigrants. Grand reception by the citizens. 
Mode of Conducting the Emigration. Dickens' Graphic Description of " My Emigrant 
Ship.'- ^^^ 



640 



VIU. 



INDEX. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Eearly resources of our Territory. Emigrant trains laden with British homes. The Cliurch 

Agent making purchases on the frontiers. Race mixture of the population 656 

CHAPTER LXXX. 

Social grading of Utah. A community of Manuficturers. The Public Works. Our indus- 
tries and Industrial Men. Biographical sketches. Z. C. M. I. Boot and Shoe Factory. 
Prospects of Home Manufacturse. ... • 669 

CHAPTER LXXXI. 

Opening of the Mines. Early Counsels of Brigham Young to ihe Mormons against their 
going into mining. General Connor and his troops prospecting in our canyons for gold 
and silver. Godbe and his party antagonize "the President's" home pohcies and advocate 
"the True Development of the Territory." Mining operations of the Walker Brothers. 
Epitome of Mining operations 679 

CH.\PTER LXXXI I. 

Our Railroads. Brigham Young marks out the Track of the " National Central Railroad " on 
the Pioneer journey to the Rocky Mountains. Petition of the First Legislature of Utah 
to Congress to build the Road to the Pacific. Building of the U. P. R, R. and C. P. R. 
R. Opening of the Utah Central and Utah Southern. The Railroads of later days. . . . 708 

CHAPTER LXXXIII. 

Circumstances that gave birth to Z. C. M. I. Its Incorporation and Constitution. Review of 
its History and Financial .Status up to July, 1885, by the Church Authorities. The Direc- 
tors and Officers of the Board in 1880. Summary 725 

CHAPTER LXXXIV. 

Theatricals in the early days in .Salt Lake City. Organization of the First Tlieatrical Company. 

The Social Hall. Bowring's Theatre. Organization of the Deseret Dramatic Association. 735 

CHAPTER LXXXV. 

Building and Opening of the Salt Lake Theatre. The first play. Reminiscences of the Com- 
pany. Theatrical Criticisms. The early Stars. T. A. Lyne. The Invins. Pauncefort, 
"You Can't Play Alexander." Julia Dean Hayne. John T. Caine's Benefit. The First 
Local Play put upon the Salt Lake Stage — " Eleanor DeVere." The Crowning Days of 
the Theatre. The World's Stars that have visited Zion 740 

CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
Musical History of our City. Grand performance of the " Messiah." Personal sketches of 
the Musical Professors 768 

CHAPTER LXXXVII. 

Literature and the Fine Arts. Utah Authors and Poets. Specimens. Salt Lake Painters. Our 

Young Sculptors. Art descriptions : — " Our Desolate Shores." 785 

CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 

General History Resumed. Death of Judge McKean. Memorial of the Bar on the event. 
The Miles Case. D. H. Wells sent to the Penitentiary for Contempt. Grand Demon- 
stration of Citizens on his release 818 

CHAPTER LXXXIX. 

Renewal of the Political Action. Foreshadowing the Edmunds Bill in Hayes' Message. Gov- 
ernor Murray gives the Election Certificate to Campbell. Contest for the Delegate's Seat. 
Great Speech of Cannon on his retirement from Congress 823 

CHAPTER XC. 

Polirical Campaign of 1882. Nomination of John T. Caine. Van Zile's Challenge. The 

Candidates before the People. Victory of "the People's Party 841 

CHAPTER XCI. 

Organization of "The Democratic Club of Utah." The Election with its Ticket in the field. 

The Organ of the Club— The Salt Lake Democrat 854 

CHAPTER XCII. 
Digest of the Municipal administration. City notes 864 



THE 



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RY OF SALT LAK 



n 



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m 



Ull 



AND ITS FOUNDERS. 



BY EDWARD W. TULLIDGE. 



CHAPTER I. 



I'kEFArORY REVIEW OF THE PEOPLE WHO FOUNDED SALT 
GRAND COLONIZLNG DESIGN OF THE MORMON PROPHET. 



LAKE CIIY. 



It WILL be well afifirmed in history that the Pioneers who founded Salt Lake 
City, were as the crest of that tidal wave of colonization which peopled these 
Pacific States and Territories. And the colonies which this wonderful state- 
founding community has sent to the West, since that tidal wave rose in the exodus 
from Nauvoo, will stand as the most marked example of organic colonization 
which has occurred in the growth and spread ot the American nation. Other 
States and cities, which have been founded since the first colonization of America 
by the Pilgrims of New England, have grown up and increased in their popula- 
tion upon the ordinary laws of national growth, to which has been superadded the 
promiscuous emigration of Europeans to this country; but not even in the ex- 
traordinary case of the growth of the Western States and Territories, excepting 
that shown by the Mormon people, has there been a spectacle of colonization 
proper, to mark the history of America in the present century. Thus considered, 
it is a most unique fact of the age that Salt Lake City was founded by a 
colony of the strictest type. In most of its leading features, the founding and 
growth of Utah resembles the founding of the American nation by the Pilgrim 
colonies, which sailed from England and Holland to establish religious liberty on 
a virgin continent, driven by the cruel force of persecution, yet whose every 
exile from the dear mother land became big with the genius of colonization, 
until the little companies of emigrants who left their native shores, very much in 
the character of religious outlaws, grew into a galaxy of States. Persecution 
undoubtedly at the onset drove the Mormons hitherward, as it drove the Puritans 
to this continent— drove them in fact into the very path of their destiny— but as 
they came westward from Ohio, where their Zion first rose, they so fast imbibed 
the genius of colonization, that extermination brought forth in the mind of the 
Mormon Prophet the grand scheme to colonize the Pacific Slope with his people, 
and with them form in the West the nucleus of a new galaxy of American States. 



4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The first recorded note of the grand design of the Mormon Prophet to col- 
onize the Pacific Slope with his people, will be seen in the following entry from 
his diary: 

"Saturday, 6th [August, 1842]. Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, 
in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer, and others, and witnessed the 
installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge of Ancient York Masons, at 
Montrose, by Gen. James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the 
Deputy Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the 
Master elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren, in the shade of the 
building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri, and the constant annoy- 
ance which has followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied 
that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to 
the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize, others would be put to death by 
our persecutors, or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and 
some would live to go and assist in making settlements and building cities, and 
see the Saints become a migiity people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." 

A year and a half later his design was matured, and his people ready to 
execute it. Here is a diary note of that date : 

"Tuesday, P^eb. 20th [1S44]. I instructed the Twelve Apostles to send out 
a delegation and investigate the locations of California and Oregon, and hunt 
out a good location where we can remove to after the Temple is completed, and 
where we can build a city in a day, and have a government of our own." * * 

On the evening of the following day the Twelve met at the Mayor's office, 
and, according to the above instructions, appointed the following committee: 
Jonathan Dunham, Phineas H. Young, David D. Yearsley, David Fullmer, 
Alphonso Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt, Daniel Spencer. Subsequent 
action was also taken on the same subject, and volunteers were added to the 
committee. 

It was at this date that the Elders undertook a political campaign through 
the States to nominate Joseph Smith for the Presidential chair of the nation, but 
it is very evident that the removal of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains, or to 
Cstlifornia, was the real action contemplated by the Prophet, and not a successful 
campaign for the presidency of the United States. The event, however, did 
afford a rare opportunity for sending out the Apostles and a company of the 
ablest Elders, to make another missionary eflfort in the States before the contem- 
plated exodus. 

A few days later we find Joseph Smith alluding to himself in connection 
with the presidential chair, but he at once branches off to a subject which more 
particularly attracted his thoughts, namely, the annexation of Texas and the pos- 
session of the Pacific Coast by the United States. Said he : 

" As to politics, I care but little about the Presidential chair. I would not 
give half as much for the office of President of the United States as I would for 
the one I now hold as Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion. * * * 

"What I have said in my views in relation to the annexation of Texas is, 
with some, unpopular. The people are opposed to it. Some of the Anti-Mor- 
mons are good fellows. I say it, however, in anticipation that they will repent. 



HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY. j 

* * * We should grasp all the territory we can. * * The goveinment 
will not receive any advice or counsel from me: they are self-sufficient. * * 

''The South holds the balance of power. By annexing Texas I can do 
away with this evil. As soon as Texas was annexed I would liberate the slaves in 
two or three Stales, indemnifying their owners, and send the negroes to Texas, 
and from Texas to Mexico, where all colors are alike. And if that was not suffi- 
cient, I would call upon Canada and annex it." 

Mark next his bold empire-founding move, in petitioning Congress to raise 
a volunteer force of a hundred thousand in the service of the United States, to 
possess the Pacific Coast. Says he, under date of March 30th : 

"I had prepared a memorial to his Excellency, John Tyler, the President of 
the United States, embodying in it the same sentiments as are in my petition to 
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, dated March 26th, 
1844, asking the privilege of raising 100,000 men to extend protection to persons 
wishing to settle Oregon and other portions of the Territory of the United 
States, and extend protection to the people in Texas. * * * 

"Also signed an introductory letter for Elder Orson Hyde, who is going to 
carry the memorials to Washington." 

To found empire for America was iust in the line of his character. Destiny 
was pushing the Saints westward, and had Joseph Smith reached California at the 
head of an army of 20,000 pioneers, backed by the remainder of the 100,000 as 
emigrants, he would have given quite a Napoleonic account of himself, and 
opened .the war with Mexico. This was clearly his intention, and it may be 
observed that he did not overrate his forces. 

And what makes the Prophet's bold national design so deserving of attention 
is the fact that the United States Government and the British Government were 
at that moment in an attitude of rivalry for the possession of the Pacific Coast, 
and that the United States barely escaped being worsted. 

Thus prefaced; let us listen to the report of Elder Hyde to the Prophet from 
the capital : 

"* * Judge Douglas has been quite ill, but is just recovered. He will 
help all he can; Mr. Hardin likewise. But Major Semple says that he does not 
believe anything will be done about Texas or Oregon this session, for it might 
have a very important eifect upon the Presidential election; and politicians are 
slow to move when such doubtful and important matters are likely to be affected 
by it. * * * 

" I will now give you my opinion in relation to this matter. It is made up 
from the spirit of the times in a hasty manner, nevertheless I think time will 
prove it to be correct:— That Congress will pass no act in relation to Texas or 
Oregon at present. She is afraid of England, afraid of Mexico, afraid the Pres- 
idential election will be twisted by it. The members all appear like unskillful 
players at checkers— afraid to move, for they see not which way to move advan- 
tageously. * * 

"The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies, the 
mobocrats of Missouri. If, however, the settlement of Oregon and Texas be 
determined upon, the sooner the move is made the better ; and I would not advise 



6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

any delay for the action of our Government, for there is such a jealousy of our 
rising power that Government will do nothing to favor us. 

•' Your superior wisdom must determine whether to go to Oregon, to Texas, 
or to remain within these United States and send forth the most efficient men to 
build up churches, and let them remain for the time being; and in the meantime 
send some wise men among the Indians and teach them civilization and religion, 
to cultivate the soil, to live in peace with one another and with all men." * * 

In a subsequent letter Elder Hyde said : 

'• We have this day [April 26th] had a long conversation with Judge Doug- 
las. He is ripe for Oregon and California. He said he would resign his seat in 
Congress if he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, and would be on 
the march to that country in a month. 'In five years,' said he, *a noble State 
might be formed, and then if they would not receive us into the Union, we 
would have a government of our own.' " 

So we see that the American nation was not at that time prepared for the 
Prophet's bold design of occupying the Pacific Coast by an irresistible American 
emigration; yet several years afterward Fremont, with his volunteers in Califor- 
nia, and Houston and Taylor by their action in forcing the war with Mexico, 
proved that a manifest destiny was in some such plan as that proposed; and an 
American emigration swept on like a tidal wave. And as it was, the Saints, per 
ship Brooklyn, were the first company of American emigrants to arrive in Cali- 
fornia; while simultaneous was the exodus of the entire community to the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Perhaps it were well also to note here that this petition of Joseph Smith, in 
1844, was probably the original basis of the action of President Polk in calling the 
" Mormon Battalion," and designing to use the Saints for the national conve- 
nience of possessing California. The whole of Polk's action in the case, and the 
instructions of the Secretary of War to General Kearney to "make a dash into 
California, conquer the country, and set up a government there" in the name of 
the United States, show that the Cabinet were not only familiar with the 
Prophet's scheme, but that certain statesmen, at this date, endorsed it. 

A passing review of our national affairs of that period, will connect here 
most suggestively with the Mormon Prophet's bold proposition to the United 
States Government to possess the Pacific Coast by a hundred thousand Mormon 
colonists. 

From the period of Mr. Jefferson's administration the United States had 
been striving to checkmate the European Powers, especially Great Britain, 
France, Russia and Spain, in their schemes to occupy the Pacific coast and 
firmly establish thereon the dominion of Europe. At length the contest for the 
Pacific Coast laid between the United States and Great Britain, Mexico herself 
resigning to our ambitious mother country to prevent the march of American 
empire upon herself. The ships of both nations were riding in the Bay of San 
Francisco, the admirals were watching for their respective opportunities. 

In 1845 Great Britain had matured a masterly scheme to forestall our govern- 
ment in the possession of California, with the co-operation of Mexico. Mr. 
Forbes, the British Vice-Consul, was the principal agent of his government in 
carrying out this finely conceived design. A declaration of the independence of 



HISTOR\ OF SALT LAKE CITY. j 

California from Mexico was to be made, to be followed by a petition from a con- 
vention of Californians, to be taken under the protection of Great Britain. But 
the most diplomatic part of the scheme of the British government was to emigrate 
ten thousand of its subjects to the valley of San Joaquin, to own and occupy the 
country. An Irish priest by the name of MacNamara was chosen to fill this part 
of the scheme, and he went to Mexico in 1845, on his mission to arouse the holy 
zeal of that republic against the "usurpation of the anti-Catholic and irreligious 
nation," He urged that no time should be lost or " within a year, California 
would become a part of the American nation, be inundated by cruel invaders, 
and their Catholic institutions the prey of Methodist wolves." Thus the Irish 
priest worded his petition to the Mexican government, urging an Irish emigration 
to that country for colonization in the interest of Great Britain. The Mexican 
government listened to this petition, and everything moved on favorably to the 
completion of the diplomatic scheme, which would have given California into the 
hands of Great Britain. Indeed, a treaty to this effect was actually signed be- 
tween the British and the authorities of Mexico and her province of California, 
and then came events of another shaping, culminating in the war between 
Mexico and the United States. 

Thus may be seen from the counterpart records of those times, that the Mor- 
mon Prophet was before-hand with Great Britain in the design of possessing the 
Pacific Coast by colonization, as the record shows that early in 1844 he petitioned 
the United States for the privilege of raising 100,000 men "to extend protection 
to persons wishing to settle Oregon and other portions of the territory of the 
United States, and extend protection to the people in Texas," while at the same 
time he was planning the removal of his entire people on to the Pacific slope, as 
seen in his diary note of February 20th, 1844, already presented. And it is a singu- 
lar fact in American history that two years later, and nearly simultaneous with 
the signing of the contract between the British Consul Forbes, Governor Pice 
of California, and General Castro, President Polk and his cabinet were entertain- 
ing the policy of sending a battalion of one thousand Mormon soldiers (this be- 
ing the original number) overland into California fully equipped and armed, to 
take possession of and defend that country, while another thousand were de- 
signed to be sent from the Eastern States by way of Cape Horn for the same service. 
President Polk, at this later date, designed to checkmate the British Govern- 
ment, with its ten thousand Irish emigrants, with from twenty to forty thousand 
Mormon Protestants under the American flag. Thus the true history of those 
times compared, shows the extraordinary fact that, two years after the assassination 
of the Mormon Prophet, the United States Government was actually prepared to 
accept his grand colonizing plan to take possession of the Pacific territory, 
which he offered in his memorial to President Tyler and the Congress of the 
United States, bearing date March 26th, 1844- Nothing seems more certain in 
the record than the fact that had not the assassination of the Mormon Prophet 
so soon followed his colonizing offer to the United States, he had moved with his 
people to the Pacific Coast two or three years earlier than the occupation of 
Utah. And had he gone on to California he would have raised the American 
flag there, and struck the first blow with his Legion, instead of Fremont doing it 
in 1846 with his volunteers. 



8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Had the Prophet moved with his people, either to the Rocky Mountains or 
California proper, it had been at the head of his Legion. Force of circum- 
stances, it seems, would have made him thenceforth a Prophet-General, while 
the very strength of his Napoleonic character would have shot him, like Jove's 
thunderbolt; into the action between the United States and Mexico. 



CHAPTER II. 



GOVERNOR FORD URGES THE MIGR.\TION OF THE MORMONS TO CALIFORNIA, 
COMPACT OF THE REMOVAL. ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. THE EXODUS. MORMON LIFE ON THE JOURNEY. A 
SENSATION FROM THE UNITED .STATES GOVERNMENT. 

Soon after the assassination of the Pro[)het and his brother Hyrum, Governor 
Ford, in a letter to President Young, under date of April 8th, 1845, urging the 
migration of the Mormons to California, said : 

" If you can get off by yourselves you may enjoy peace ; but, surrounded by 
such neighbors, I confess that I do not see the time when you will be permitted 
to enjoy quiet. I was informed by General Joseph Smith last summer that he 
contemplated a removal west: and from what I learned from him and others at 
that time, I think, if he had lived, he would have begun to move in the matter 
before this time. I would be willing to exert all my feeble abilities and influence 
to further your views in this respect if it was the wish of your people. 

"I would suggest a matter in confidence. California now offers a field for the 
prettiest enterprise that has been undertaken in modern times. It is but sparsely 
inhabited, and by none but the Indian or imbecile Mexican Spaniards. I have not 
enquired enough to know how strong it is in men and means. But this we know, 
that if conquered from Mexico, that country is so physically weak, and morally 
distracted, that she could never send a force there to reconquer it. Why should 
it not be a pretty operation for your people to go out there, take possession of 
and conquer a portion of the vacant country, and establish an independent gov- 
ernment of your own, subject only to the law of nations? You would remain 
there a long time before you would be disturbed by the proximity of other settle- 
ments. If you conclude to do this, your design ought not to be known, or 
otherwise it would become the duty of the United States to prevent your emigra- 
tion. If once you cross the line of the United States Territories, you would be 
in no danger of being interfered with." 

Knowing the intentions of Joseph Smith to remove the Mormon people, 
Senator Douglas and others had given similar advice to him ; and the very fact 
that such men looked upon the Mormons as quite equal to the establishment of 
an independent nationality, is most convincing proof that not their wrong- 
doing, but their empire-founding genius has been, and still is, the cause of the 
''irrepressible conflict" between them and their opponents. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. p 

The advice of Governor Ford, however, was neither sought nor required. 
Brigham Young, carrying out Joseph Smith's plan, had nearly matured every 
part of the movement, shaping also the emigration from the British Mission ; but 
the Rocky Mountains, not California proper, was the place chosen for his people's 
retreat. 

It was then that the Mormon leaders addressed the famous petition to Presi- 
dent Polk and the Governors of all the States, excepting Missouri and Illinois, 
changing simply the address to each person. Here it is: 

" Nauvoo, April 24th, 1845. 
"His Excellency James K. Po[>k, 

President of the United States. 

''Hon. Sir: Suffer us, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted peo- 
ple, to prefer a iew suggestions for your serious consideration, in hope of a 
friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period as may suit your con- 
venience, and the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand. 

"It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggravated wrongs 
that we have received in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Most of us 
have long been loyal citizens of some one of these United States, over which you 
have the honor to preside, while a few only claim the privilege of peaceable and 
lawful emigrants, designing to make the Union our permanent residence. 

" We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told by the highest 
authorities of the State that it is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the 
polls ; still we have continued to maintain our right to vote, until the blood of 
our best men has been shed, both in Missouri and Illinois, with impunity. 

"You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our expul.-ion from 
the State of Missouri, wherein scores of our brethren were massacred. Hundreds 
died through want and sickness, occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings. 
Some millions worth of our property was destroyed, and some fifteen thousand 
souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful shores of Illinois : 
and that the State of Illinois granted to us a liberal charter, for the term of per- 
petual succession, under whose provision private rights have become invested, and 
the largest city in the State has grown up, numbermg about twenty thousand in- 
habitants. 

" But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State of Illinois, for- 
bids us to think that her designs are any less vindictive than those of Missouri. 
She has already used the military of the State, with the executive at their head, 
to coerce and surrender up our best men to unparalleled murder, and that too 
under the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a salve for such un- 
earthly perfidy and guilt, she told us, through her highest executive ofificers, that 
the laws should be magnified and the murderers brought to justice ; but the blood 
of her innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful 
arena, ere the Senate of that State rescued one of the indicted actors in that 
mournful tragedy from the sherifif of Hancock County, and gave him a seat in 
her hall of legislation ; and all who were indicted by the grand jury of Hancock 
County for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, are suffered to roam at 

large, watching for further prey. 
2 



JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CTTY. 

"To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has repealed those 
chartered rights, by which wc might have lawfully defended ourselves against 
aggressors. If we defend ourselves hereafter against violence, whether it comes 
under the shadow of law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it in both 
ways), we shall then be charged with treason and suffer the penalty; and if we 
continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly expect to perish, for our 
enemies have sworn it. 

'•And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith, during his short 
life, was arraigned at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged with crim- 
inal offences, but was acquitted every time by his country ; his enemies, or rather 
his religious opponents, almost invariably being his judges. And we further tes- 
tify that, as a people, we are law-abiding, peaceable and without crime; and we 
challenge the world to prove to the contrary; and while other less cities in 
Illinois have had special courts instituted to try their criminals, we have been 
stript of every source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling 
around to destroy us, except the common magistracy. 

" With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us without delay as a 
father and friend, and advise us what to do. We are members of the same great 
confederacy. Our fathers, yea, some of us, have fought and bled for our country, 
and we love her Constitution dearly. 

"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied tiesot country and 
kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too much for 
us to ask you to convene a special session of Congress, and furnish us an asylum, 
where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or, will 
you, in a special message to that body, wiien convened, recommend a remon- 
strance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation as this people 
liave continued to receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you 
favor us by your personal influence and by your official rank? Or will you ex- 
]:)ress your views concerning what is called the "Great Western Measure" of 
colonizing the Latter-day Saints in Oregon, the north-western Territory, or some 
location remote from the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush 
every noble principle and extinguish every patriotic feeling? 

"And now, lionored sir, having reached out our imploring hands to you, with 
deep solemnity, we would importune you as a father, a friend, a patriot and the 
head of a mighty nation, by the Constitution of American liberty, by the blocd 
of our fathers who have fought for the independence of this republic, by the 
blood of the martyrs which has been shed in our midst, by the wailings of the 
widows and orphans, by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, 
wives and children, by the dread of immediate destruction from secret combina- 
tions now forming for our overthrow, and by every endearing tie that binds man 
to man and renders life bearable, and that too, for aught we know, for the last 
time, — that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the violence of mobocracy, 
and exert your influence to establish us as a people in our civil and religious 
rights, where we now are, or in some part of the United States, or in some place 
remote therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as circum- 
stances will permit. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CL7\. 



II 



"We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us will be dic- 
tated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of humanity, and the blessings 
of a grateful people, and many ready to perish, shall come upon you. 
'•We are, sir, with great respect, your obedient servants, 

Brigham Young, ^ 
WiLLARD Richards, 
Orson Spencer, 

Orson Pratt, )■ Committee, 

W. W. Phelps, 
A. W. Babbitt, 
J. M. Bernhicel, 

In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-duy Saints, at Nauvoo, Illinois. 
"P.S. — As many of our communications, post-marked at Nauvoo, have failed 
of their destination, and the mails around us have been intercepted by our 
enemies, we shall send this to some distant office by the hand of a special mes- 
senger." 

The appeal itself is not a mere attempt at rhetoric. The very inelegance of 
multiplied ties and sacred objects invoked and crowded upon each other, to 
touch the hearts of men in power, is truly affecting. There is a tragic burden in 
the circumstances and urgency of the case. But the prayer was unanswered. 

Towards the close of the year 1S45, ^^""^ leaders, in council, resolved to re- 
move their people at once and seek a second Zion in the valleys of the Rocky 
Mountains. It was too clear that they could no longer dwell among so-called 
civilized men. They knew that they must soon seek refuge with the children of 
the forest; and as for humanity, they must seek it in the breasts of savages, for 
there was scarcely a smouldering spark of it left for them, either in Missouri or 
Illinois, nor indeed anywhere within the borders of the United States. 

They had now no destiny but in the West. If they tarried longer their 
blood would fertilize the lands which they had tilled, and their wives and 
daughters would be ravished within the sanctuary of the homes which their in- 
dustrious hands had built. Their people were by a thousand ancestral links 
joined to the Pilgrim Fathers who founded this nation, and with the heroes who 
won for it independence, and it was as the breaking of their heartstrings to rend 
them from their fatherland, and send them as exiles into the territory of a for- 
eign power. But there was no alternative between a Mormon e.xodus or a Mor- 
mon massacre. 

Sorrowfully, but resolutely, the Saints prepared to leave; trusting in the 
Providence which had thus far taken them through their darkest days, and multi- 
plied upon their heads compensation for their sorrows. But the anti-Mormons 
seemed eager for the questionable honor of exterminating them. In September 
of the year 1S45, delegates from nine counties met in convention, at Carthage, 
over the Mormon troubles, and sent four commissioners: General Hardin, Com- 
mander of the State Militia; Senator Douglass; W. B. Warren; and J. A. Mr- 
Dougal, to demand the removal of the Mormons to the Rocky Mountains. The 
commissioners held a council with the Twelve Apostles at Nauvoo, and the Mor- 
mon leaders promptly agreed to remove their people at once, a movement, as we 



12 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY 

have seen, which they had been considering for several years. Now were they 
brought face to face with the issue. The Mormon leaders sought not to evade it; 
but, with their characteristic Israelitish methods, resolved to grapple with the 
tremendous undertaking of the exodus of a people. 

On that exodus hung, not only the very destiny of the people, but the peace 
of the State of Illinois. Probably it was a sensible comprehension of this fact 
that prompted General Hardin to ask of the Twelve Apostles, at the council in 
question, what guarantee they would give that the Mormons would fulfill their 
part of the covenant. To this Brigham Young replied, with a strong touch of 
common-sense severity : " You have our all as the guarantee ; what more can we 
give beyond the guarantee of our names?'' Senator Douglass observed, "Mr. 
Young is right." But General Hardin knew that the people of Illinois, and 
especially the anti-Mormons, would look to him more than to Douglass, who had 
been styled the Mormon -made senator; so the commissioners asked for a written 
covenant, of a nature to relieve themselves of much of the responsibility, and 
addressed the following: 

" Nauvoo, Oct. ist, 1845, 
" To the President and Council of the Church at Nauvoo : 

"Having had a free and full conversation with you this day, in reference to 
your proposed removal from this country, together with the members of your 
church, we have to request you to submit the facts and intentions stated to us in 
the said conversations to writing, in order that we may lay them before the Gov- 
ernor and people of the State. We hope that by so doing it will have a tendency 
to allay the excitement at present existing in the public mind. 

"We have the honor to subscribe ourselves, 

Respectfully yours, 

John J, Hardin, 
W. B. Warren, 
S. A. Douglass, 
J. A. McDouGAL." 

The covenant itself is too precious to be lost to history ; here it is: 

"Nauvoo, III., Oct. ist, 1845. 
"To Gen./. Hardin, IP. B. Warren, S. A. Douglass, and J. A. McDougal: 

"Messrs : — In reply to your letter of this date, requesting us ' to submit the 
facts and intentions stated by us in writing, in order that you may lay them be- 
fore the Governor and people of the State,' we would refer you to our communi- 
cation of the 24th ult. to the 'Quincy Committee,' etc., a copy of which is 
herewith enclosed. 

"In addition to this we would say that we had commenced making arrange- 
ments to remove from the country previous to the recent disturbances; that we have 
four companies, of one hundred families each, and six more companies now 
organizing, of the same number each, preparatory to a removal. 

"That one thousand families, including the Twelve, the High Council, the 
trustees and general authorities of the Church, are fullv determined to remove in 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ij 

the Spring, independ^t of the contingencies of selling our property; and that 
this company will comprise from five to six thousand souls. 

"That the Church, as a body, desire to remove with us, and will, if sales 
can be effected, so as to raise the necessary means. 

"That the organization of the Church we represent is such that there never 
can exist but one head or presidency at any one time. And all good members 
wish to be with the organization : and all are determined to remove to some dis- 
tant point where we shall neither infringe nor be infringed upon, so soon as time 
and means will permit. 

"That we have some hundreds of farms and some two thousand houses for 
sale in this city and county, and we request all good citizens to assist in the dis- 
posal of our property. 

" That we do not expect to find purchasers for our Temple and other public 
buildings; but we are willing to rent them to a respectable community who may 
inhabit the city. 

"That we wish it distinctly understood that although we may not find pur- 
chasers for our property, we will not sacrifice it, nor give it away, or suffer it 
illegally to be wrested from us. 

"That we do not intend to sow any wheat this Fall, and should we all sell, 
we shall not put in any more crops of any description. 

"That as soon as practicable, we will appoint committees for this city, La 
Harpe, Macedonia, Bear Creek, and all necessary places in the county, to give 
information to purchasers. 

" That if these testimonies are not sufficient to satisfy any people that we are 
in earnest, we will soon give them a sign that cannot be mistaken — we wii.t. 

LEAVE THEM. 

" In behalf of the council, respectfully yours, etc., 

Brigham Young, President. 
WiLLARD Richards, Clerk.''' 

The covenant satisfied the commissioners, and for a time also satisfied the 
anti-Mormons. 

But their enemies were impatient for the Mormons to be gone. They would 
not keep even their own conditions of the covenant, much less were they dis- 
posed to lend a helping hand to lighten the burden of this thrice-afflicted people 
in their exodus, that their mutual bond might be fulfilled— a bond already sealed 
with the blood of their Prophet, and of his brother the Patriarch. So the High 
Council issued a circular to the Church, January 20, 1846, in which they stated 
the intention of their community to locate "in some good valley in the neigh- 
borhood of the Rocky Mountains, where they will infringe on no one, and not 
be likely to be infringed upon." " Here we will make a resting place," they sai^d, 
" until we can determine a place for a permanent location, * * * We also 
further declare, for the satisfaction of some who have concluded that our griev- 
ances have alienated us from our country, that our patriotism has not been over- 
come by fire, by sword, by daylight nor by midnight assassination which we have 
endured, neither have they alienated us from the institutions of our country." 

Then came the subject of service on the side of their country, should war 



i^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

break out between it and a foreign country, as was indicated at that time by our 
growing difficulties with Mexico. The anti-Mormons took advantage of this war 
])rospecfe-, and not satisfied vvith their act of expulsion, they raised the cry, " The 
Mormons intend to join the enemy ! ' ' This was as cruel as the seething of the kid 
in its mother's milk, but the High Council answered it with the homely anecdote 
of the Quaker's characteristic action against the pirates in defence of the ship on 
which he was a passenger, when he cut away the rope in the hands of the 
boarder, observing: " If thee wants that piece of rope I will help thee to it." 
" The pirate fell," said the circular, "and a watery grave was his resting place." 
'I'heir country had been anything but a kind protecting parent to the Saints, but 
at least, in its hour of need, they would do as much as the conscientious Quaker 
did in the defence of the ship. There was, too, a grim humor and quiet pathos in 
the telling, that was more touchingly reproachful than would have been a storm 
of denunciations. In the same spirit the High Council climaxed their circular 
thus : 

" We agreed to leave the country for the sake of peace, u|)on the condition 
that no more persecutions be instituted against us. In good faith we have labored 
to fulfill this agreement. Governor Ford has also done his duty to further our 
wishes in this respect, but there are some who are unwilling that we should have 
an existence anywhere; but our destinies are in the hands of God, and so are 
also theirs." 

Early in February, 1846, the Mormons began to cross the Mississippi in flat 
b.ats, old lighters, and a number of skiffs, forming, says the President's Journal, 
"quite a fleet," which was at work night and day under the direction of the 
police, commanded by their captain, Hosea Stout. Several days later the Miss- 
issippi froze over, and the companies continued the crossing on the ice. 

On the 15th of the same month, Brigham Young, with his family, accom- 
panied by Willard Richards and family, and George A. Smith, also crossed the 
Mississippi from Nauvoo, and proceeded to the " Camps of Israel," as they were 
styled by the Saints, which waited on the west side of the river, a few miles on 
the way, for the coming of their leaders. These were to form the vanguard of 
the migrating Saints, who were to follow from the various States where they were 
located, or had organized themselves into flourishing branches and conferences; 
and soon after this period also began to pour across the Atlantic that tide of em- 
igration from Europe which has since since swelled to the number of over one 
hundred thousand souls. 

As yet the "Camps of Israel" were unorganized, awaiting the coming of 
the President, on Sugar Creek, which he and his companions reached at dusk. 
T^e next day he was busy organizing the company, and on the following, which 
was February 17th, at 9:50 a. m., the brethren of the camp had assembled near 
the bridge, to receive their initiatory instructions, and take the word of command 
from their leader, who ended his first day's orders to the congregation vvith a real 
touch of the law-giver's method. He said, " We will have no laws we cannot 
keep, but we will have order in the camp. If any want to live in peace when we 
have left this place, they must toe the mark." He then called upon all who 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ,^ 

wanted to go with the camp to raise their right hands. " All hands flew up at 
the bidding," says the record. 

After the dismissal of the congregation, the President took several of the 
Twelve with him half a mile up a valley east of the camp and held a council. A 
letter was read from Mr. Samuel Brannan, of New York, with a copy of a curi- 
ous agreement between him and a Mr. A. G. Benson, which had been sent west, 
under cover, for the authorities to sign. 

To make clear to the reader a story, which now belongs to our national his- 
tory, in connection with the first settling of California, it must be observed that 
Brannan, once known as one of the millionaires of the Golden State, had 
been the editor of The Prophet, published at New York. He seems to have been 
one of those sagacious men who saw in Mormon ism the means to their own ends. 
At the date of the exodus he was in the charge of a company of Saints, bound 
for the Pacific Coast, in the ship Brooklyn. They took all necessary outfit for the 
first settlers of a new country, including a printing press, upon which was after- 
wards struck off the first regular newspaper of California. This company was, 
also, the earliest company of American emigrants that arrived in the bay of San 
Francisco, and really the pioneer emigration of American citizens to the-Golden 
State, for Fremont's volunteers cannot be considered in that character. Indeed, 
it is not a little singular that the Mormons were not only the pioneers of Utah, 
but also the pioneers of California, the builders of the first houses, the starters of 
the first papers, and, what has contributed so much to the growth of the Pacific 
Slope, the men who discovered the gold, under Mr. Marshal, the foreman of Sut- 
ter's mills. These facts, however, the people of California seem somewhat to 
hide in the histories of their State. 

Relative to the sailing of this company, Samuel Brannan had written to the 
Mormon authorities. Ex-Postmaster Amos Kendall, and the said Benson, who 
seems to have been Kendall's agent, with others of political influence, represented 
to Brannan that, unless the leaders of the Church signed an agreement with them, 
to which the President of the United States, he said, was a "silent party," the 
government would not permit the Mormons to proceed on their journey westward. 
This agreement required the pioneers " to transfer to A. G. Benson &: Co., and to 
their heirs and assigns, the odd numbers of all the lands and town lots they may 
acquire in the country where they may settle." In case they refused to sign the 
agreement the President, it was said, would issue a proclamation, setting forth 
that it was the intention of the Mormons to take sides with either Mexico or 
Great Britain against the United States, and order them to be disarmed and dis- 
persed. Both the letter and contract are very characteristic, and the worldly- 
minded man's poor imitation of the earnest religionist has probably often since 
amused Mr. Brannan himself. In his letter he said: 

" I declare to all that you are not going to California, but Oregon, and that 
my information is official. Kendall has also learned that we have chartered the 
ship Brooklyn, and that Mormons are going out in her; and, it is thougnt, she 
will be searched for arms, and, if found, they will be taken from us; and if not, 
an order will be sent to Commodore Stockton on the Pacific to search our vessel 
before we land. Kendall will be in the city next Thursday again, and then an 



i6 THE HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

effort will be made to bring about a reconciliation. I will make you acquainted 
with the result before I leave." 

The "reconciliation" between the Government and the Mormons, as the 
reader will duly appreciate, was to be effected by a division of the spoils among 
the political chiefs, including, if Brannan and Kendall are to be relied on, the 
President of the United States. The following letter of fourteen days later date 
is too rich and graphic to be lost to the public : 

"New York, January 26, 1846. 
' * Dear Brother Young: 

" I haste to lay before your honorable body the result of ray movements since I 
wrote you last, which was from this city, stating some of my discoveries, in rela- 
tion to the contemplated movements of the General Government in opposition 
to our removal. 

"I had an interview with Amos Kendall, in company with Mr. Benson, 
which resulted in a compromise, the conditions of which you will learn by read- 
ing the contract between them and us, which I shall forward by this mail. I 
shall also leave a copy of the same with Elder Appleby, who was present when it 
was signed. Kendall is now our friend, and will use his influence in our behalf, 
in connection with twenty-five of the most prominent demagogues in the country. 
You will be permitted to pass out of the States unmolested. Their counsel is to 
go well armed, but keep them well secreted from the rabble. 

"I shall select the most suitable spot on the Bay of San Francisco for the 
location of a commercial city. When I sail, which will be next Saturday, at one 
o'clock, I shall hoist a flag with ' Oregon' on it. 

" Immediately on the reception of this letter, you must write to Mr. A. (}. 
Benson, and let him know whether you are willing to coincide with the contract 
I have made for our deliverance. I am aware it is a covenant with death, but we 
know that God is able to break it, and will do it. The Children of Israel, in 
their escape from Egypt, had to make covenants for their safety, and leave it for 
God to break them; and the Prophet has said, 'As it was then, so shall it be in 
the last days.' And I have been led by a remarkable train of circumstances to 
say, amen; and I feel and hope you will do the same. 

"Mr. Benson thinks the Twelve should leave and get out of the country first, 
and avoid being arrested, if it is a possible thing ; but if you are arrested, you 
will find a staunch friend in him ; and you will find friends, and that a host, to 
deliver you from their hands. If any of you are arrested, don't be tried west of 
the Alleghany Mountains; in the East you will find friends that you little 
think of. 

"It is the prayer of the Saints in the East night and day for your safety, 
and it is mine first in the morning and the last in the evening. 

" I must now bring my letter to a close. Mr. Benson's address is No. 39 
South Street ; and the sooner you can give him answer the better it will be for us. 
He will spend one month in Washington to sustain you, and jie will do it, no 
mistake. But everything must be kept silent as death on our part, names of 
parties in particular. 

"I now commit this sheet to the post, praying that Israel's God may pre- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jy 

vent it from falling into the hands of wicked men. You will hear from me attain 
on the day of sailing, if it is the Lord's will, amen. 

"Your's truly, a friend and brother in God's kingdom. 

S. Brannan." 

The contract in question was signed by Samuel Brannan and A. G. Benson, 
and witnessed by W. I. Appleby. To it is this postscript: 

" This is only a copy of the original, which I have filled out. It is no gam- 
mon, but will be carried through, if you say, amen. It was drawn up by Ken- 
dall's own hand ; but no person must be known but Mr. Benson." 

The following simple minute, in Brigham Young's private journal, is a fine 
set-off to these documents: 

"Samuel Brannan urged upon the council the signing of the document. 
The council considered the subject, and concluded that as our trust was in God, 
and that, as we looked to him for protection, we would not sign any such unjust 
and oppressive agreement. This was a plan of political demagogues to rob the 
Latter-day Saints of millions, and compel them to submit to it by threats of 
Federal bayonets." 

No matter what view the reader may take of the Mormons and their leaders 
relative to the intrinsic value to the world of their social and theological prob- 
lems, no intelligent mind can help being struck with the towering superiority of 
men trusting in their God, in the supremest hour of trial, compared with the 
foremost politicians in the country, including a President of the United States, 
as illustrated in the above example. It is charitably to be hoped, however, that 
President Polk was a very "silent party" to this scheme, and that his name was 
merely used to give potency to the promise of protection, and to the threat that 
the General Government would intercept the Mormons in their exodus. 

Little did the political demagogues of the time, and these land speculators, un- 
derstand the Mormon people, and still less the character of the men who were lead- 
ing them; nor did "Elder Brannan" know them much better. From the beginning 
the Mormons never gave up an inch of their chosen ground, never, as a people, 
consented to a compromise^ nor allowed themselves to be turned aside from their 
purposes, nor wavered in their fidelity to their faith. They would suffer expul- 
sion, or make an exodus if need be, yet ever, as in this case, have they answered, 
"Our trust is in God. We look to Him for protection." So far "Elder 
Brannan" understood them; hence his profession of faith that the Lord would 
overrule and break the "covenant with death." But these men did wiser and 
better. They never made the covenant, but calmly defied the consequences, 
which they knew too well might soon follow. Not even as much as to reply to 
Messrs. Benson, Kendall & Co. did they descend from the pinnacle of their 
integrity. 

But, be it not for a moment thought that the Mormon leaders did not fully 
comprehend their critical position in all its aspects. A homely anecdote of the 
apostle George A. Smith will illustrate those times. At a council in Nauvoo, of 
the men who were to act as the captains of the people in that famous exodus, one 
after the other brought up difficulties in their path until the prospect was without 



iS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

one poor speck of daylight. The good nature of "George A." was provoked at 
last, when he sprang up and observed with his quaint humor that had now a touch 
of the grand in it, " If there is no God in Israel we are a 'sucked in ' set of fel- 
lows. But I am going to take my family and cross the river, and the Lord will 
open the way." He was one of the first to set out on that miraculous journey to 
the Rocky Mountains. 

Having resolved to trust in their God and themselves, quietly setting aside 
the politicians, Brigham Young and several of the Twelve left the Camp of Israel 
for a few days, and returned to bid farewell to their beloved Nauvoo, and hold a 
parting service in the Temple. This was the last time Brigham Young ever saw 
that sacred monument of the Mormons' devotion. 

The Pioneers had now been a month on Sugar Creek, and during llie time 
had, of course, consumed a vast amount of the provisions; indeed, neaily all, 
which had been gathered up for their journey. Their condition, however, was 
not without its compensation ; for it checked the movements of the mob, among 
whom the opinion prevailed that tlie ouifit of the Pioneers was so utterly insuffi- 
cient that, in a short time, they would break in pieces and scatter. Moreover, it 
was mid-winter. Up to the date of their starting from this first camping ground, 
detachments continued to join them, crossing the Mississippi, from Nauvoo, on 
the ice; but before starting they addressed the following memorial : 

*' To His Excellency Governor of lite Territory of Io7va : 

Honored Sir : The time is at hand in w!iich several thousand free citizens 
of this great Republic are to be driven from their peaceful homes and firesides, 
their property and farms, and their dearest constitutional rights, to wander in the 
barren plains and sterile mountains of western wilds, and linger out their lives in 
wretched exile, far beyond the pale of professed civilization, or else be extermi- 
nated upon their own lands by the people and authorities of the State of Illinois. 

"As life is sweet, we have chosen banishment rather llian death, but, sir, the 
terms of our banishment are so rigid, that we have not sufficient time allotted us 
to make the necessary preparations to encounter the hardshijjs and difficulties of 
these dreary and uninhabited regions. We have not time allowed us to dispose 
of our property, dwellings and farms, consequently many of us will have to leave 
them unsold, without the means of procuring the necessary provisions, clothing, 
teams, etc., to sustain us but a short distance beyond the settlements; hence our 
persecutors have placed us in very unpleasant circumstances. 

" To stay is death by ' fire and sword ;' to go into banishment unprepared 
is death by starvation. But yet, under these heartrending circimistances, several 
hundred of us have started upon our dreary journey, and are now encamped in 
Lee County, Iowa, suffering much from the intensity of the cold. Some of us 
are already without food, and others have barely sufficient to last a few weeks : 
hundreds of others must shortly follow us in the same unhappy condition, 
therefore : 

"We, the presiding authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints, as a committee in behalf of several thousand suffering exiles, humbly ask 
Your Excellency to shield and protect us in our constitutional rights, while we 
are passing through the Territory over which you have jurisdiction. And, should 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CrjY. jg 

any of the exiles be under the necessity of stopping in this Territory for a time, 
either in settled or unsettled parts, for the purpose of raising crops, by renting 
farms or upon public lands, or to make the necessary preparations for their exile 
in any lawful way, we humbly petition Your Excellency to use an influence and 
power in our behalf, and thus preserve thousands of American citizens, together 
with their wives and children, from intense sufferings, starvation and death. 
And your petitioners will ever pray." 

In the diary of the President is a sort of valedictory, written before starting 
on their journey from Sugar Creek, which concludes thus: " Our homes, gar- 
dens, orchards, farms, streets, bridges, mills, public halls, magnificent temple, 
and other public improvements we leave as a monument of our patriotism, indus- 
try, economy, uprightness of purpose, and integrity of heart, and as a living 
testimony of the falsehood and wickedness of those who charge us with disloyalty 
to the Constitution of our country, idleness and dishonesty." 

The Mormons were setting out under their leaders, from the borders of civil- 
ization, with their wives and their children, in broad daylight, before the very 
eyes of ten thousand of their enemies, who would have preferred their utter de- 
struction to their " flight," notwithstanding they had enforced it by treaties out- 
rageous beyond description, inasmuch as the exiles were nearly all American born, 
many of them tracing their ancestors to the very founders of the nation. They 
had to make a journey of fifteen hundred miles over trackless prairies, sandy 
deserts and rocky mountains, through bands of warlike Indians, who had been 
driven, exasperated, towards the West; and at last, to seek out and build up their 
Zion in valleys then unfruitful, in a solitary region where the foot of the white man 
had scarcely trod. These, too, were to be followed by the aged, the halt, the 
sick and the blind, the poor, who were to be helped by their little less destitute 
brethren, and the delicate young mother with her new-born babe at her breast, 
and still worse, for they were not only threatened with the extermination of the 
poor remnant at Nauvoo, but news had arrived that the parent-government de- 
signed to pursue their pioneers with troops, take from them their arms, and scat- 
ter them, that they might perish by the way, and leave their bones bleaching in 
the wilderness. 

Yet did Brighani Young deal with the exodus of the Mormon people as sim- 
ply in its opening as he did in his daily record of it. So, indeed, did the entire 
Mormon community. They all seemed as oblivious of the stupendous meaning 
of an exodus, as did the first workers on railroads of the vast meaning to civiliza- 
tion of that wonder of the age. A people trusting in their God, the Mormons 
were, in their mission, superior to the greatest human trials, and in their child- 
like faith equal to almost superhuman undertakings. To-day, however, with the 
astonishing change which has come over the spirit of the scene, on the whole 
Pacific Slope, since the Mormons pioneered our nation towards the setting sun, 
the picture of a modern Israel in their exodus has almost faded from the popular 
mind; but, in the centuries hence, when the passing events of this age shall have 
each taken their proper place, the historian will point back to that exodus in the 
New World of the West, as one quite worthy to rank with the immortal exodus 
of the children of Israel. 



20 ■ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

At about noon, on the ist of March, 1846, the " Camp of Israel" began to 
move, and at four o'clock nearly four hundred wagons were on the the way, travel- 
ing in a north-westerly direction. At night, they camped again on Sugar Creek, 
having advanced five miles. Scraping away the snow, they pitched their tents 
upon the hard frozen ground; and after building large fires in front, they made 
themselves as comfortable as possible under the circunibtances. Indeed, it is 
questionable whether any other people in the world could have cozened them- 
selves into a happy state of mind amid such surroundings, with such a past, fresh 
and bleeding in their memories, and with such a prospect as was before both 
themselves and the remnant of their brethren left in Nauvoo to the tender mer- 
cies of the mob. In his diary Apostle Orson Pratt wrote that night, " Notwith- 
standing our sufferings, hardships and privations, we are cheerful, and rejoice 
that we have the privilege of passing through tribulation for the truth's sake." 

These Mormon pilgrims, who took much consolation on their journey in 
likening themselves to the pilgrim fathers and mothers of this nation, whose de- 
scendants many of them actually were, that night made their beds upon the 
frozen earth. "After bowing before our great Creator," wrote Apostle Pratt, 
"and offering up praise and thanksgiving to him, and imploring his protection, 
we resigned ourselves to the slumbers pf the night." 

But the weather was more moderate that night than it had been for several 
weeks previous. At their first encampment the thermometer, at one time, fell 
twenty degrees below zero, freezing over the great Mississippi. The survivors of 
that journey will tell you they never suffered so much from the cold in their lives 
as they did on Sugar Creek. And what of the Mormon women? Around them 
circles an almost tragic romance. Fancy may find abundant subject for graphic 
story of the devotion, the suffering, the matchless heroism of the *•' Sisters," in 
the telling incident that nine children were born to them the first night they 
camped out on Sugar Creek, February 5th, 1S46. That day they wept their 
farewells over their beloved city, or in the sanctuary of the Temple, in which 
they had hoped to worship till the end of life, but which they left, never to see 
again; that night suffering nature administered to them the mixed cup ot 
woman's supremest joy and pain. 

But it was not prayer alone that sustained these pilgrims. The practical 
philosophy of their great leader, daily and hourly applied to the exigencies of 
their case, did almost as much as their own matchless faith to sustain them from 
the commencement to the end of their journey. With that leader had very 
properly come to the "Camp of Israel" several of the Twelve and the chief 
bishops of the Church, but he also brought with him a quorum humble in pre- 
tensions, yet useful as high priests to the Saints in those spirit saddening days. 
It was Captain Pitt's brass band. That night the President had the "brethren 
and sisters" out in the dance, and the music was as glad as at a merry-making. 
Several gentlemen from Iowa gathered to witness the strange interesting scene. 
They could scarcely believe their own senses when they were told that these were 
the Mormons in their "flight from civilization," bound they knew not whither, 
except where God should lead them by the "hand of his servant." 

Thus in the song and the dance the Saints praised the Lord. When the 



HIS TOR y OF SA LT LA KE CITY. 21 

iiight was fine, and supper, which consisted of the most primitive fare, was over, 
some of the men would clear away the snow, while others bore large logs to the 
camp fires in anticipation of the jubilee of the evening. Soon, in a sheltered 
place, the blazing fires would roar, and fifty couples, old and young, would join, 
in the merriest spirit, to the music of the band or the rival revelry of the soli- 
tary fiddle. As they journeyed along, too, strangers constantly visited their 
camps, and great was their wonderment to see the order, unity and good feeling 
that prevailed in the midst of the people. By the camp fires they would linger, 
listening to the music and song; and they fain had taken part in the merriment 
had not those scenes been as sacred worship in the exodus of a God-fearing peo- 
ple. To fully understand the incidents here narrated, the reader must couple in 
his mind the idea of an exodus with the idea of an Israelitish jubilee; for it was 
a jubilee to the Mormons to be delivered from their enemies at any price. 

The sagacious reader will readily appreciate the wise method pursued by 
Brigham Young. Prayers availed much. The hymn and the prayer were never 
forgotten at the close of the dance, before they dispersed, to make their bed 
within the shelter of the wagon, or under it, exposed to the cold of those bitter 
nights. But the dance and the song kept the Mormon pilgrims cheerful and 
healthy in mind, whereas, had a spirit of gloomy fanaticism been encouraged, 
such as one might have expected, most likely there would soon have been murmur- 
ing in the congregation against their Moses, and the people would have been 
sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. The patriarchal care of Brigham Young 
over the migrating thousands was also something uncommon. It was extended 
to every family, every soul ; even the very animals had the master friend near to 
ease and succor them. A thousand anecdotes could be told of that journey to 
illustrate this. When traveling, or in camp, he was ever looking after the wel- 
fare of all. No poor horse or ox even had a tight collar or a bow too small but 
his eye would see it. Many times did he get out of his vehicle and see that some 
suffering animal was relieved. 

There can be no doubt that the industrious habits of the Mormons, and the 
semi-communistic character of their camps, enabled them to accomplish on their 
journey what otherwise would have been impossible. They were almost destitute 
at the start, but they created resources on the way. Their pioneers and able- 
bodied men generally took work on farms, split rails, cleared the timber for the 
new settlers, fenced their lands, built barns and husked their corn. Each night 
brought them some employment; and, if they laid over for a day or two at their 
encampment, the country around was busy with their industry. They also 
scattered for work, some of them going even into Missouri among their ancient 
enemies to turn to the smiter the "other cheek," while they were earning sup- 
port for their families. 

At one of their first camping grounds, on a ten-acre lot which the pioneer 
had cleared of timber, they made the acquaintance of its owner, a Dr. Jewett. 
The worthy doctor was an enthusiast over mesmerism and animal magnetism, so 
he sought to convert the Mormon leaders to his views. Brigham Young replied, 
"I perfectly understand it, Doctor. We believe in the Lord's magnetizing. 
He magnetized Belshazzar so that he saw the hand-writing on the wall." The 



22 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Mormons, too, had seen the hand-writing on the wall, and were hastening to the 
mountains. 

Tlie citizens of Farmington came over to invite the Nauvoo Band, under 
Captain Pitt, to come to their village for a concert. There was some music left 
in the "brethren." They had not forgotten how to sing the " Songs of Zion," 
so they made the good folks of Farmington merry, and for a time forgot their 
own sorrows. 

As soon as the "Camp of Israel" was fairly on the march, the leader, with the 
Twelve and the captains, divided it into companies of hundreds, fifties, and 
tens ; and then the companies took up their line in order, Brigham Young direct- 
ing the whole, and bringing up the main body, with the chief care of the 
families. 

The weather was still intensely cold. The Pioneers moved in the face of keen- 
edged northwest winds ; they broke the ice to give their cattle drink ; they made 
their beds on the soaked prairie lands ; heavy rains and snow by day, and frost at 
night, rendered their situation anything but pleasant. The bark and limbs of 
trees were the principal food of their animals, and after doubling their teams 
all day, wading through the deep mud, they would find themselves at night 
only a few miles on their journey. They grew sick of this at last, and for 
three weeks rested on the head waters of the Chariton, waiting for the freshets to 
subside. 

These incidents of travel were varied by an occasional birth in camp. There 
was also the death of a lamented lady early on the journey. She was a gentle, 
intelligent wife of a famous Mormon missionary, Orson Spencer, once a Baptist 
minister of excellent standing. She had requested the brethren to take her with 
them. She would not be left behind. Life was too far exhausted by the perse- 
cutions to survive the exodus, but she could yet have the honor of dying in that 
immortal circumstance of her people. Several others of the sisters also died at 
the very starting. Ah, who shall fitly picture the lofty heroism of the Mormon 
women ! 

It was near the Chariton that the organization of the " Camp of Israel " was 
perfected, on the 27th of March, when Brigham Young was formally chosen as 
the President ; and captains of hundreds, fifties, and tens were appointed. 

Thus the Twelve became relieved of their mere secular commands, and were 
placed at the heads of divisions, in their more apostolic character, as presidents. 

The provisioning of the camp was also equally brought under organic man- 
agement. Henry G. Sherwood was appointed contracting commissary for the 
first fifty ; David D. Yearsley for the second ; W. H. Edwards for the third ; 
Peter Haws for the fourth ; Samuel Gulley for the fifth : Joseph Warburton for 
the sixth. Henry G, Sherwood ranked as acting commissary-general. There 
were also distributing commissaries appointed. Their duties, says the President's 
diary, "are to make a righteous distribution of grain and provisions, and 
such articles as shall be furnished for the use of the camp, among their respec- 
tive fifties." 

Thus it will be seen that the "Camp of Israel" now partook very much of a 
military character, with all of an army's organic efificiency. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 23 

Towards the end of April the camp came to a place the leaders named Gar- 
den Grove. Here they determined to form a small settlement, open farms, and 
make a temporary gathering place for '-'the poor," while the better prepared 
were to push on the way and make other settlements. 

On the morning of the 27th of April the bugle sounded at Garden Grove, 
and all the men assembled to organize for labor. Immediately hundreds of men 
were at work cutting trees, splitting rails, making fences, cutting logs for houses, 
building bridges, digging wells, making plows, and herding cattle. Quite a num- 
ber were sent into the Missouri settlements to exchange horses for oxen, valuable 
feather beds and the like for provisions and articles most needed in the camp, 
and the remainder engaged in plowing and planting. Messengers were also dis- 
patched to call in the bands of pioneers scattered over the country seeking work, 
with instructions to hasten them up to help form the new settlements before the 
season had passed ; so that, in a scarcely conceivable time, at Garden Grove and 
Mount Pisgah, industrious settlements sprang up almost as if by magic. The 
main body also hurried on towards old Council Bluffs, under the President and 
his chief men, to locate winter quarters, and to send on a picked company of 
pioneers that year to the Rocky Mountains. Reaching the Missouri River, they 
were welcomed by the Pottowatomie and Omaha Indians. 

By this time Apostle Orson Hyde had arrived at headquarters from Nauvoo, 
and Apostle Woodruff, home from his mission to England, was at Mount Pisgah. 
To this place an express from the President at Council Bluffs came to raise one 
hundred men for the expedition to the mountains. Apostle Woodruff called for 
the mounted volunteers, and sixty at once followed him out into the line; but 
the next day an event occurred which caused the postponement of the journey to 
the mountains till the following year. 

It was on the 26th of June when the camp at Mount Pisgah was thrown into 
consternation by the cry, "The United States troops are upon us ! " But soon 
afterwards, Captain James Allen arriving with only three dragoons, the excite- 
ment subsided. The High Council was called, and Captain Allen laid before it 
his business, which is set forth in the following 

' * Circular to the Mormons : 

I have come among you, instructed by Col. S. F. Kearney, of the U. S. 
Army, now commanding the Army of the West, to visit the Mormon camp, and 
to accept the service for twelve months of four or five companies of Mormon 
men who may be willing to serve their country for that period in our present war 
with Mexico ; this force to unite with the Army of the West at Santa Fe, and be 
marched thence to California, where they will be discharged. 

"They will receive pay and rations, and other allowances, such as other 
volunteers or regular soldiers receive, from the day they shall be mustered mto 
the service, and will be entitled to all comforts and benefits of regular soldiers of 
the army, and when discharged, as contemplated, at California, they will be 
given gratis their arms and accoutrements, with which they will be fully equipped 
at Fort Leavenworth. This is offered to the Mormon people now. This year an 
opportunity of sending a portion of their young and intelligent men to the ulti- 
mate destination of their whole people, and entirely at the expense of the United 



2^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

States, and this advanced party can thus pave the way and look out the land for 
their brethren to come after them. 

"Those of the Mormons who are desirous of serving their country on the 
conditions here enumerated, are requested to meet me without delay at their 
principal camp at the Council Bluffs, whither I am now going to consult with 
their principal men, and to receive and organize the force contemplated to be 
raised. 

" I will receive all healthy, able-bodied men of from eighteen to forty-five 
years of age. 

J. Allen, Capt. ist Dragoons. 
'^Camp of the Mormons at Mount Pisgah, ij8 miies east of Council B luffs y 

June 26th, 1846. 

" Note. — I hope to complete the organization of this battalion in six days 
after my reaching Council Bluffs, or within nine days from this time." 

The High Council of Mount Pisgah treated the military envoy with studied 
courtesy, but the matter was of too great importance for even an opinion to be 
hazarded in the absence of the master mind : so Captain Allen was furnished 
with a letter of introduction to Brigham Young and the authorities at headquar- 
ters, and a special messenger was dispatched by Apostle Woodruff to prepare the 
President for the business of the government agent. 



CHAPTER HI. 



THE C.\LL FOR THE MORMON BATTALION. INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT 
POLK. THE APOSTLES ENLISTING SOLDIERS FROM THEIR PEOPLE FOR 
THE SERVICE OF THE NATION. THE BATTALION ON THE MARCH. 

We now come to a subject in Mormon history of which two opposite views 
have been taken, neither of which, perhaps, are unqualifiedly correct. It is that 
of the calling of a Mormon battalion to serve the nation in its war with Mexico, 
as set forth in the circular already given. One view is that the Government, 
prompted by such men as Senator Benton of Missouri, sought to destroy, or at 
least to cripple the Mormons, by taking from them five hundred of their best 
men, in an Indian country, and in their exodus; while the other view is that the 
Government designed their good and honor. The truth is that a few honorable 
gentlemen like Colonel Thomas L. Kane did so design ; but it is equally true 
that the great majority heartily wished for their utter extinction ; while Senator 
Douglass and many other politicians, seeing in this vast migration of the Mor- 
mons towards the Pacific the ready and most efficient means to wrest California 
from Mexico, favored the calling of the battalion for national conquest, without 
caring what afterwards became of those heroic men who left their families and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 2^ 

people in the "wilderness," or whether those families perished by the way or 
not. Moreover, the Mormon leaders are in possession of what appears to be very 
positive evidence that, after President Polk issued the "call," Senator Thomas 
Benton obtained from him the pledge that, should the Mormons refuse to re- 
spond, United States troops should pursue, cut off their route, and disperse them. 
Such a covenant was villainous beyond expression ; for, to have dispersed the Mor- 
mon pilgrims at that moment would have been to have devoted a whole people to 
the cruelest martyrdom. 

In any view of the case, it shows that the Mormons were an essentially 
loyal and patriotic people ; and, if we take the darkest view, which be it em- 
phatically affirmed was the one of that hour, then does the masterly policy of 
Brigham Youhg, and the conduct of the Mormons, stand out sublime and far- 
seeing beyond most of the examples of history. The reader has noted Mr. Bran- 
nan's letter, received by the leaders before starting on their journey; they looked 
upon this "call" for, from five hundred to a thousand, of the flower of their 
camps as the fulfillment of the " threat." The excuse to annihilate them they 
believed was sought; even the General Government dared not disperse and dis- 
arm them without an excuse. At the best an extraordinary test of their loyalty 
was asked of them, under circumstances that would have required the thrice 
hardening of* a Pharaoh's heart to have exacted. 

Here it will only be just to both sides to give Colonel Kane's statement, in 
his historical discourse on the Mormons, delivered before the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, as that gentleman sustained in the case very much the character 
of a special agent of the Administration to the Mormons. He said: 

"At the commencement of the Mexican war, the President considered it de- 
sirable to march a body of reliable infantry to California, at as early a period as 
practicable, and the known hardihood and habits of discipline of the Mormons 
were supposed peculiarly to fit them for this service. As California was supposed 
also to be their ultimate destination, the long march might cost them less than 
other citizens. They were accordingly invited to furnish a battalion of volun- 
teers early in the month of July. 

" The call could hardly have been more inconveniently timed. The young and 
those who could best have been spared, were then away from the main body, 
either with pioneer companies in the van, or, their faith unannouuced, seeking 
work and food about the north-western settlements, to support them till the re- 
turn of the season for commencing emigration. The force was, therefore, to be 
recruited from among the fathers of families, and others, whose presence it was 
most desirable to retain. 

" There were some, too, who could not view the invitation without distrust; 
they had twice been persuaded by Government authorities in Illinois and Mis- 
souri, to give up their arms on some special appeals to their patriotic confidence, 
and had then been left to the malice of their enemies. And now they were 
asked, tn the midst of the Indian country, to surrender over five hundred of their 
best men for a war march of thousands of miles to California, without the hope 
of return till after the conquest of that country. Could they view such a propo- 
sition with favor? 
4 



26 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"But the feeling of country triumphed; the Union had never wronged 
them. ' You shall have your battalion at once, if it has to be a class of elders,' 
said one, himself a ruling elder. A central mass-meeting for council, some har- 
angues at the more remotely scattered camps, an American flag brought out from 
the storehouse of things rescued, and hoisted to the top of a tree-mast, and, in 
three days, the force was reported, mustered, organized and ready to march." 

The foregoing is a graphic summary, but the reader will ask for something 
more of detail of this one of the chief episodes of the Pioneer history. 

On the first of July Captain Allen was in council at the Bluffs with Brigham 
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, George 
A. Smith, John Taylor, John Smith and Levi Richards. At head-quarters they 
had not nearly sufficient force to raise the battalion. Yet they lost not a moment. 
In the character of recruiting sergeants Brigham, Heber and Willard at once set 
out for Mount Pisgah, a distance of 130 miles, on the back track. Here they 
met Elder Jesse C. Little, home from Washington, having had interviews with 
President Polk and other members of the Government. A condensation of Elder 
Little's report will, at least, give to the public the original plan of the Govern- 
ment in the call of the battalion : 

" 7o Fresident Brigham Young and the Council of t lie Tcelve Apostles: 

^^ Brethren: In your letter of appointment to me dated Temple of God, 
Nauvoo, January 26th, 1846, you suggested, 'If our Government should offer 
facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace those facilities if possible. 
As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can. 
Be thou a savior and deliverer of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth 
be your motto — salvation and glory the prize for which you contend.' In ac- 
cordance with my instructions, I felt an anxious desire for the deliverance of the 
Saints, and resolved upon visiting James K. Polk, President of the United 
States, to lay the situation of my persecuted brethren before him, and ask him, 
as the representative of our country, to stretch forth the Federal arm in their be- 
half. Accordingly, I called upon Governor Steele, of New Hampshire, with 
whom I had been acquainted from my youth, and other philanthropic gentlemen 
to obtain letters of recommendation to the heads of the departments." 

Governor Steele gave to Elder Little a letter of introduction to Mr. Ban- 
croft, Secretary of the Navy, in which the Governor said : 

" Mr. Little visits Washington, if I understand it correctly, for the purpose 
of procuring, or endeavoring to procure, the freight of any provisions or naval 
stores which the Government may be desirous of sending to Oregon, or to any 
portion of the Pacific. He is thus desirous of obtaining freight for the purpose 
of lessening the expense of chartering vessels to convey him and his followers to 
California, where they intend going and making a permanent settlement the 
present summer. 

Yours truly, 

John Steele." 

From Colonel Thomas L. Kane, Elder Little received a letter of introduc- 



H J STORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 27 

tion to the Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice-President of the United States, in 
which the writer said : 

"This gentleman visits Washington, with no other object than the laudable 
one of desiring aid of Government for his people, who, forced by persecution to 
found a new commonwealth in the Sacramento Valley, still retain American 
hearts, and would not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner, or forget the old 
commonwealth they leave behind." 

Armed with these and other letters, Mr. Little started to Washington from 
Philadelphia, where he had enlisted, for his afflicted people, the zealous friend- 
ship of the patriotic brother of the great Arctic explorer; and, soon after his 
arrival at the capital, he obtained an introduction to President Polk, through Ex- 
Postmaster- General Amos Kendall. The Elder was favorably received by Mr. 
Polk, which emboldened him to address a formal petition to the President, which 
he closed as follows : 

" From twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons have already left Nauvoo for Cali- 
fornia, and many others are making ready to go ; some have gone around Cape 
Horn, and I trust, before this time, have landed at the Bay of San Francisco. We 
have about forty thousand, in the British Isles, all determined to gather to this 
land, and thousands will sail this fall. There are also many thousands scattered 
through the States, besides the great number in and around Nauvoo, who will go 
to California as soon as possible, but many of them are destitute of money to pay 
their passage either by sea or land. 

"We are true-hearted Americans, true to our native country, true to its 
laws, true to its glorious institutions; and we have a desire to go under the out- 
stretched wings of the American Eagle; we would disdain to receive assistance 
from a foreign power, although it should be proffered, unless our Government 
should turn us off in this great crisis, and compel us to be foreigners. 

"If you will assist us in this crisis, I hereby pledge my honor, as the repre- 
sentative of this people, that the whole body will stand ready at your call, and act 
as one man in the land to which we are going ; and should our Territory be in- 
vaded, we will hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then, like our 
patriotic fathers, make the battle-field our grave, or gain our liberty." 

There were present at the first interview between the Mormon Elder and the 
President of the United States, Gen. Sam. Houston, just from Texas, upon Mex- 
ican affairs, and other distinguished men, A singular circumstance in American 
history is here connected; for at that important juncture in the history of our 
nation, as well as the Mormons, Washington was thrown into great excitement by 
the news that General Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexicans. This 
important event was directly bearing on the affairs of the Mormons, as much as 
upon those of the nation at large. The news of the actual commencement of the 
war between the two rival republics came in the very nick of time. Had Elder 
Little arrived in Washington six months before, or six months later, there would 
have been a marked variation from that which came to pass. We know not what 
the exact difference would have been, tut it is most certain that President Polk 
would not then have designed to possess California by the help of. these State- 



28 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

founding Saints, nor would their shovels have turned up the gold at Sutter's 
Mill, nor would General Stephen F. Kearney have had at his back the Mormon 
Battalion as his chief force, when he made himself master of the land of precious 
metals, and put his rival, Fremont, under arrest. 

The day alter his first interview with President Polk, Elder Little called 
again upon ex-Postmaster-General Kendall, who informed him that the President 
had determined to take possession of California; that he designed to use the 
Mormons for this purpose, and that they would receive orders to push through 
to fortify the country. This induced the Elder to address the petition already 
quoted. 

The President now laid the matter before the Cabinet. The plan offered to 
his colleagues was for the Elder to go direct to the Mormon camp, to raise from 
among them "one thousand picked men, to make a dash into California and take 
possession of it in the name of the United States." The Battalion was to be 
officered by their own men, excepting the commanding officer, who was to be 
appointed by President Polk, and to take cannon and everything necessary for 
the defence of the country. One thousand more of the Mormons from the East- 
ern States were proposed to be sent by way of Cape Horn, in a U. S. transport, 
for the same service. This was the original plan which President Polk laid before 
his Cabinet. 

After this Elder Little had his second interview with President Polk, who 
told the Elder that he " had no prejudices against the Saints, but that he believed 
them to be good citizens; " that he "was willing to do them all the good in his 
power consistently ; " that " they should be protected ; '" and that he had "read 
the petition with interest." He further emphatically observed that he had 
" confidence in the Mormons as true American citizens, or he would not make 
such propositions as those he designed." This interview lasted three hours, so 
filled was the President with his plan of possessing California by the aid of the 
Mormons. But this generous design was afterwards changed through the influ- 
ence of Senator Benton. 

Before his departure west. Elder Little had another special interview with 
the President, who further said that he had " received the Mormon suffrages," 
that " they should be remembered ; " and that he had " instructed the Secretary 
of War to make out dispatches to Colonel Kearney, commander of the Army of 
the West, relative to the Mormon Battalion." 

On the 1 2th of June, Elder Little, in company with Colonel Thomas L. 
Kane, started for the West, the Colonel bearing special dispatches from the Gov- 
ernment to General Kearney, who was at Fort Leavenworth. Judge Kane jour- 
neyed with his son as far as St. Louis. 

The following is the order under which the Battalion was mustered into 
service : 

" Headquarters, Army of the West, 

Fort Leavenworth, June 19, 1846. 
" Sir : It is understood that there is a large body of Mormons who are de- 
sirous of emigrating to California, for the purpose of settling in that country, 
and I have therefore to direct that you will proceed to their camps and endeavor 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2g 

to raise from amongst them four or five companies of volunteers, to join 
me in my expedition to that country, each company to consist of any number 
between 73 and 109 , the officers of each company will be a captain, first lieu- 
tenant, and second lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates, and subject 
to your approval, and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned officers, 
also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being thus organized, will 
be mustered by you into the service of the United States, and from that day will 
commence to receive the pay, rations, and other allowances given to the other 
infantry volunteers, each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into 
service the fourth company, be considered as having the rank, pay, and emolu- 
ments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an adju- 
tant, sergeant-major, and quartermaster-sergeant for the battalion. 

"The companies, after being organized, will be marched to this post, where 
they will be armed and prepared for the field, after which they will, under your 
command, follow on my trail in the direction of Santa Fe, and where you will 
receive further orders from me. 

"You will, upon organizing the companies, require provisions, wagons, 
horses, mules, etc. You must purchase everything that is necessary, and give the 
necessary drafts upon the quartermaster and commissary departments at this post, 
which drafts will be paid upon presentation. 

"You will have the Mormons distinctly to understand that I wish to have 
them as volunteers for twelve months ; that they will be marched to California, 
receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they 
will be discharged, and allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and 
accoutrements furnished to them at this post. 

" Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel 
with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the laun- 
dresses of our army. 

" With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the Mormons, 
and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will in a few days be 
able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for this expedition. 

" Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

(Signed) S. F. Kearney, Col. of First Dragoons. 

Per Capt. James Allen, First. Reg. Dragoons, Fort Leavenworth." 

The following from important documents sent from the War Office a quarter of 
a century later, to aid this author in his investigation of the call of the Mormon 
Battalion is presented here to perfect the view : 

"Adjutant General's Office. 
"Sir: I send herewith such papers as I have been able to find relating to 
the way the Mormon Battalion was received into service during the Mexican war. 

Your obedient servant, 

E. D. TowNSEND, Adjutatit- General.'' 

"Hon. W. L. Marcy, Secretary of War, in a letter to General Kearney, 
dated June 3, 1846, states that it is known that a large body of Mormon emi- 



oe BIS TORY OF SAL T LAKE CIT V. 

grants are twi route to California, for the purpose of settling in that country, de- 
sires the General to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them, 
to the end that the United States may have their cooperation in taking posses- 
sion of and holding the country; authorizes the General to muster into service 
such as can be induced to volunteer, not, however, to a number exceeding one- 
third of his entire force. Should they enter the service they were to be paid as 
other volunteers ; to be allowed to designate, as far as it could be properly done, 
the persons to act as officers. 

''This appears to be the authority under which General Kearney mustered 
the Mormon Battalion into service. 

" The command was mustered out of service in California, in 1847, and one 
company was again mustered in immediately after to serve for twelve months. 
This company was mustered out in 1848 at San Diego." 

The other document of this Battalion history, furnished by the Adjutant- 
Gen(;ral, is General Kearney's order under which the Battalion was mustered 
into service. 

It will be seen from the above abstract of Secretary Marcy's letter to Gen- 
eral Kearney, that there exists in the War Office to-day positive proof that the 
United States did design to colonize California by the aid of the Mormons. 
Extraordinary was the wording, that the United States Government " desires the 
General to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them, to the 
etui that the United States may have their co-operation in taking possession of and 
holding the country.'"' 

We return to the Pioneer narrative : 

It will be remembered that Brigham Young, while believing the Battalion call 
to be a test of loyalty, hastened with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards to 
Mount Pisgah, 130 miles, to execute the "demand," as they deemed it, for a 
battalion ot their picked men to serve their country. They immediately sent 
messengers, with official dispatches from their High Council to Nauvoo, Garden 
Grove, and the regions around, calling to headquarters their old men and able- 
bodied boys to supply the place of their picked men going for the service of their 
country. 

Returning to Council Bluffs, the Twelve gathered the " Camp of Israel " to 
enrol the companies of volunteers. While Major Hunt, of the volunteers, was 
calling out the first company, Brigham Young conversed with Colonel Kane in 
Woodruff's carriage about the affairs of the nation, and told him the time would 
come when the Mormons would "have to save the Government of the United 
States, or it would crumble to atoms." 

Forty minutes after twelve of the same day, July 15, the Elders and the 
people assembled in the Bowery. President Young then delivered to the congre- 
gation a simple but earnest speech, in which he told the brethren, with a touch 
of subdued pathos, "not to mention families to-day;" that they had "not time 
to reason now." "We want," he said, " to conform to the requisition made 
upon us, and we will do nothing else until we accomplish this thing. If we want 
the privilege of going where we can worship God according to the dictates of 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. jr 

our consciences, we nnust raise the Battalion. I say, it is right; and who cares 
for sacrificing our comfort for a few years? " 

Nobly did the Mormons respond to this call of their country. The Apostles 
acted as recruiting sergeants; nor did they wait for their reinforcements, but 
moved as though they intended to apply their leader's closing sentence literally; 
he said : "After we get through talking, we will call out the companies ; and if 
there are not young men enough we will take the old men, and if they are not 
enough we will take the women. I want to say to every man, the Constitution 
of the United States, as framed by our fathers, was dictated, was revealed, was 
put into their hearts by the Almighty, who sits enthroned in the midst of the 
heavens; although unknown to them it was dictated by the revelations of Jesus 
Christ, and I tell you, in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as ever I could 
ask for. I say unto you. magnify the laws. There is no law in the United 
States, or in the Constitution, but 1 am ready to make honorable." 

"There was no sentimental affectation at their leave-taking," said Thomas L. 
Kane, in relating the story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. " The af- 
ternoon before their march was devoted to a farewell ball ; and a more merry 
rout I have never seen, though the company went without refreshments, and their 
ball was of the most primitive. It was the custom, whenever the larger camps 
rested for a few days together, to make great arbors, or boweries, as they called 
them, of poles, and brush, and wattling, as places of shelter for their meetings 
of devotion or conference. In one of these, where the ground had been trodden 
firm and hard by the worshippers, of the popular Father Taylor's precinct, was 
gathered now the mirth and beauty of the Mormon Israel. 

" If anything told that the Mormons had been bred to other lives, it was the 
appearance of the women as they assembled here. Before their flight they had 
sold their watches and trinkets as the most available recourse for raising ready 
money ; and hence like their partners, who wore waistcoats cut with useless 
watch pockets, they, although their ears were pierced and bore the marks of re- 
jected pendants, were without earrings, chains or broaches. Except such orna- 
ments, however, they lacked nothing most becoming the attire of decorous 
maidens. The neatly- darned white stockings, and clean white petticoat, the 
clear-starched collar and chemisette, the something faded, only because too-well 
washed lawn or gingham gown, that fitted modishly to the waist of its pretty 
wearer — these, if any of them spoke of poverty, spoke of a poverty that had 
known better days. 

'•'With the rest attended the elders of the Church within call, including 
nearly all the chiefs of the High Council, with their wives and children. They, 
the bravest and most trouble-worn, seemed the most anxious of any to throw off 
the burden of heavy thoughts. Their leading off the dance in a double cotillion 
was the signal which bade the festivity to commence. To the canto of debonnair 
violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of 
the tambourines, they did dance ! None of your minuets or other mortuary pos- 
sessions of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes and pinching gloves, but the spirited 
and scientific displays of our venerated and merry grandparents, who were not 
above following the fiddle to the lively fox-chase, French fours, Copenhagen jigs, 



J 2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y. 

Virginia reels, and the like forgotten figures, executed with the spirit of people 
too happy to be slow, or bashful, or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures, and 
light feet had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped 
behind the sharp sky-line of the Omaha hills. Silence was then called, and a 
well-cultivated mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to a young lady with fair face and 
dark eyes, gave with quartette acccompaniment, a little song, the notes of which 
I have been unsuccessful in repeated efforts to obtain since — a version of the text 
touching to all earthly wanderers : 

" By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept ; 
We wept when we remembered Zion. 

"There was danger of some expression of feeling when the song was over, 
for it had begun to draw tears, but, breaking the quiet with his hard voice, an 
elder asked the blessing of heaven on all who, with purity of heart and brother- 
hood of spirit, had mingled in that society, and then all dispersed, hastening to 
cover from the falling dews." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE MORMONS SETFLE ON INDIAN LANDS. A GRAND COUNCIL HELD BE- 
TWEEN THE ELDERS AND INDIAN CHIEFS. A COVENANT IS MADE 
BETWEEN THEM, AND LAND GRAN lED BY THE INDIANS TO THEIR MOR- 
MON BROTHERS. CHARACTERISTIC SPEECHES OF F.\MOUS INDIAN 
CHIEFS. WINTER QUARTERS ORGANIZED. THE JOURNEY OF THE PION- 
EERS TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 

With the departure of the Battalion, the flower of their strength, vanished all 
expectation of going to the Rocky Mountains that year, and the elders immediately 
set to work to locate and build their winter quarters. Ever exact to the organic 
genius of their community, their first business was to organize the High Council 
of a "Traveling Stake of Zion." This was done at Council Bluffs, July 21st, 
with Father Morley at the head of an incorporated council of twelve high 
priests. 

The Indians welcomed their " Mormon brothers" with a touch of dramatic 
pathos. "They would have been pleased," said Colonel Kane, "with any 
whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip them for 
their poor gipsy habits, nor bear themselves indecently toward their women, 
many of whom among the Pottowatomies, especially those of nearly unmixed 
French descent, are singularly comely, and some of them educated. But all 
Indians have something like a sentiment of reverence for the insane, and admire 
those who sacrifice, without apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph 
of an idea. They understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and 
think it is the duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj 

To this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow sufferers for those who could 
talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story how from it they also had 
been ruthlessly expelled. 

"Their hqspitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny Le Clerc, the 
spoiled child of the great brave, Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, would 
have the pale face. Miss Divine, learn duets with her to the guitar; and the 
daughter of substantial Joseph La Framboise, the interpreter of the United 
States (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed all the nicest young Mor- 
mon Kitties and Lizzies and Jennies and Susans, to a coffee feast at her father's 
house, which was probably the best cabin in the river village. They made the 
Mormons at home there and elsewhere* Upon all they formally gave them leave 
to tarry just so long as it suited their own good pleasure. 

"/rhe affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under the 
auspices of an officer of the United States, their chiefs were summoned, in the 
form befitting great occasions, to meet in the dirty yard of one Mr. P. A. Sarpy's 
log trading house, at their village; they came in grand toilet, moving in their 
fantastic attire with so much aplomb and genteel measure, that the stranger found 
it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen attending a costumed ball. 

When the red men had indulged to satiety in tobacco smoke from their 
peace pipes, and in what they love still better, their peculiar metaphoric rodo- 
montade, which, beginning with celestial bodies, and coursing downwards over 
the grandest sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their great 
Father Polk, and the tenderness of him for his affectionate colored children; all 
the solemn funny fellows present, who played the part of chiefs, signed formal 
articles of convention with their unpronounceable names. 

"The renowned chief, Pied Riche (he was surnamed Le Clerc on account 
of his remarkable scholarship) then rose and said : 

" ' My Mormon Brethren: The Pottowatomie came sad and tired into this 
unhealthy Missouri bottom, not many years back, when he was taken from his 
beautiful country beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber, 
and clear water everywhere. Now you are driven away the same from your 
lodges and your lands there, and the graves of your people. So we have both 
suffered. We must keep one another and the Great Spirit will keep us both. 
You are now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make your 
improvements and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by us. Be- 
cause one suffers and does not deserve it, it is no reason he should suffer always. 
I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we do not, our children will. 
Bon jour ! ' " 

And thus ended the pageant. But the Mormons had most to do with the 
Omaha Indians, for they located their camps on both the east and west sides of 
the Missouri River. Winter Quarters proper was on the west side, five miles above 
the Omaha of to-day. There, on a pretty plateau, overlooking the river, they built, 
in a few months, over seven hundred houses, neatly laid out with highways and 
by-ways, and fortified with breastwork, stockade, and block-houses. It had, too, 
its place of worship, "tabernacle of the congregation;" for in everythig they 



j^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

did they kept up the character of the modern Israel, The industrial character 
of the people also typed itself on their city in the wilderness, which sprang up as 
by magic, for it could boast of large workshops, and mills and factories provided 
with water power. They styled it a "Stake of Zion." It was the principal 
stake, too; several others, such as Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah having al- 
ready been established on the route. 

The settlement of headquarters brought the Mormons into peculiar relation- 
ship with the Omahas. A grand council was also held between their chiefs and the 
Elders. Big Elk made a characteristic speech for the occasion, yet not so 
distinguished in its Indian eloquence as that of Le Clerc. Big Elk said, in re- 
sponse to President Young : 

" My son, thou hast spoken well. I have all thou hast said in my heart. I 
have much I want to say. We are poor. When we go to hunt game in one 
place, we meet an enemy, and so in another place our enemies kill us. We do 
not kill them. I hope we will be friends. You may stay on these lands two 
years or more. Our young men may watch your cattle. We would be glad to 
have you trade with us. We will warn you of danger from other Indians." 

The council closed with an excellent feeling ; the pauper Omahas were 
treated to a feast, very gracious even to the princely appetite of Big Elk ; and 
then they returned to their wigwams, satisfied for the time with the dispensation 
of the Great Spirit, who had sent their " Mormon brethren " into their country 
to care for and protect them from their enemies — the warlike Sioux. 

The Omahas were ready to solicit as a favor the residence of white protec- 
tors among them. The Mormons harvested and stored away for them their 
crops of maize ; with all their own poverty they spared them food enough be- 
sides, from time to time, to save them I'rom absolutely starving ; and their en- 
trenched camp to the north of the Omaha villages, served as a sort of a break- 
water between them and the destroying rush of the Sioux. 

But the Mormons were as careful in their settlement on the Indian lands as 
they had been in the Battalion case, to make their conduct irreproachable in the 
e)es of the General Government, and to do nothing, even in their direst necessi- 
ties, that would not force the sanction of the nation. They were, therefore, 
particular in obtaining covenants from the Indians and forwarding them to the 
President of the United States. Here is the covenant of the Omahas : 

" West Side of the Missouri River, 
» Near Council Bluffs, August 31, 1846. 

" We, tlie undersigned chiefs and braves, representatives of the Omaha 
nation of Indians, do hereby grant to the Mormon people the privilege of tarry- 
ing upon our lands for two years or more, or as long as may suit their conven- 
ience for the purpose of making the necessary preparations to prosecute their 
journey west of the Rocky Mountains, provided that our great father, the Pres- 
ident of the United States, shall not counsel us to the contrary. 

And we also do grant unto them the privilege of using all the wood and 
timber they shall require. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j^ 

And furthermore agree that we will not molest or take from them their cattle, 
horses, sheep, or any other property. 

Big Elk, his x mark, 
-4 A nOP^HN^-* Standing Elk, his x mark, 

J--Lw/O0 r U Little Chief, his x mark." 

On this matter Brigham Young wrote to the President in behalf of his 
people : 

Near Council Bluffs, Butler's Park, 

Omaha Nation, Sept. 7, 1846. 
"Sir: Since our communication of the 9th ult. to Your Excellency, the 
Omaha Indians have returned from their Summer hunt, and we have had an in- 
terview in general council with their chiefs and braves, who expressed a willing- 
ness that we should tarry on their lands, and use what wood and timber would be 
necessary for our convenience, while we were preparing to prosecute our journey, 
as may be seen by a duplicate of theirs to us of the 21st of August, which will 
be presented by Col. Kane. 

"In council they were much more specific than in their writings, and Big 
Elk, in behalf of his nation requested us to lend them teams to draw their corn 
at harvest, and help keep it after it was deposited, to assist them in building 
houses, making fields, doing some blacksmithing, etc., and to teach some of their 
young men to do the same, and also keep some goods, and trade with them while 
we tarried among them. 

We responded to all their wishes in the same spirit of kindness manifested 
by them, and told them we would do them all the good we could, with the same 
proviso they made — if the President is willing; and this is why we write. 

Hitherto we have kept aloof from all intercourse except in councils, as re- 
ferred to, and giving them a few beeves when hungry, but we have the means of 
doing them a favor by instructing them in agricultural and mechanical arts, if it 
is desirable. 

Jt might subject us to some inconvenience in our impoverished situation, to 
procure goods for their accommodation, and yet, if we can do it, we might re- 
ceive in return as many skins and furs as would prove a valuable tempo- 
rary substitute for worn-out clothing and tents in our camp, which would be no 
small blessing. 

"A small division of our camp is some two or three hundred miles west o( 
this, on the rush bottoms, among the Puncaws, where similar feelings are mani- 
fested towards our people. 

"Should Your Excellency consider the requests of the Indians for instruc- 
tion, etc., reasonable, and signifying the same to us, we will give them all the 
information in mechanism and farming the nature of the case will admit, which 
will give us the opportunity of getting the assistance of their men to help us 
herd and labor, which we have much needed since the organization of the 
Battalion. 

"A license, giving us permission to trade with the Indians while we are tar- 
rying on or passing through their lands, made out in the name of Newel K. 
Whitney, our agent in camp, would be a favor to our people and our red neigh- 



j6 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE C/l Y. 

bors. All of which is submitted to Your Excellency's consideration and the 
confidence of Colonel Kane. 

"Done in behalf of the council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints, at the time and place before mentioned, and Camp of Israel. 

Most respectfully, 

Brigha.m Young, President, 
WiLLVRD Richards, Clerk." 
''To James K. Polk, President U. S:' 

Out of an absolute destitution, and in spite of their expulsion, the Mormons 
had flourished and increased in the wilderness, so that at the end of the year 

1846, Wmter Quarters had grown into twenty-two wards, with a bishop 
over each. 

As the spring opened, they began to prepare for their journey to the moun- 
tains, which at that day was almost appalling to the imagination. Tliey had still 
over a thousand miles to the valley of the Salt Lake, and so little was known 
of the country any more than its name implied — the Great American Desert — 
that the Mormons could not look forward to much of a land of promise to repay 
them for all the past. Yet sang their poet, Eliza R. Snow, who has ever on their 
great occasions fired them with her Hebraic inspiration : 

"The time of winter now is o'er, 
There's verdure on the plain; 
We leave our shelt'ring roofs once more, 
And to our tents again. 

Chorus : — O Camp of Israel, onward move, 
O, Jacob, rise and sing ; 
Ye Saints the world's salvation prove. 
All hail to Zion's King ! " 

The pioneer song (as it was called) was, like their journey, quite lengthy. 
But the pioneers sang it with a will. It told them of their past; told them in 
exultation, that they were leaving the " mobbing Gentile race, who thirsted for 
their blood, to rest in Jacob's hiding place,'' and it told of the future, in pro- 
phetic strains. 

The word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in its journey- 
ings to the West, was published from head-quarters, on the 14th of January, 

1847. As it is tlie first 7<;v7//^// revelation ever sent out to the Church by President 
Young, the following passages from it will be read with interest : 

"Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-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. Let 
the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, 
and captains of tens, with a president and councilor at their head, under the di- 
rection of the Twelve Apostles; and this shall be our covenant, that we will walk 
in all the ordinances of the Lord. 

" Let each company provide itself with all the teams, wagons, provisions 
and all other necessaries for the journey that they can. When the companies are 
organized, let them go to with all their might, to prepare for those who are to 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jy 

tarry. 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 ex- 
pert men to take teams, seed, and farming utensils to go as pioneers to prepare 
for putting in the spring crops. Let each company bear an equal proportion, 
according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, and 
the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone with the army, that the 
cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord 
against his people. 

" Let each company prepare houses, and fields for raising corn for those who 
are to remain behind this season ; and this is the will of the Lord concerning this 
people." 

"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; and if ye do this with a 
pure heart, with all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your 
herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families." * * 

On the 7th of April, 1847, '^'"'^ day after the general conference, the pion- 
eers started from Winter Quarters, 

As soon as they got fiiirly on the journey, they were organized as a military 
body, into companies of hundreds, fifties and tens. The following order of the 
officers will illustrate : 

Brigham Young, Lieutenant-General ; Stephen Markham, Colonel ; John 
Pack, ist Major; Shadrach Roundy, 2d Major; Captains of hundreds, Stephen 
Markham and A. P. Rockwood. 

Captain of Company i, Wilford Woodruff; Company 2, Ezra T. Benson; 
Company 3, Phineas H. Young; Company 4, Luke Johnson; Company 5, 
Stephen H. Goddard ; Company 6, Charles Shumway; Company 7, James Case: 
Company 8, Seth Taft ; Company 9, Howard Egan ; Company 10, Appleton M. 
Harmon; Company 11, John Higbie; Company 12, Norton Jacobs; Company 
13, John Brown ; Company 14, Joseph Mathews. 

The camp consisted of 73 wagons ; 143 men, 3 women and 2 children — 
148 souls. 

Nothing could better illustrate the perfection of Mormon organization than 
this example of the pioneers, for they vvere apostles and picked elders of minute 
companies, and under strict discipline. 

Lieutenant-General Young issued general orders to the regiment. The 
men were ordered to travel in a compact body, being in an Indian country ; every 
man to carry his gun loaded, the locks to be shut on a piece of buckskin, with 
caps ready in case of attack ; flint locks, with cotton and powder flask handy, 
and every man to walk by the side of his wagon, under orders not to leave it, 
unless sent by the officer in command, and the wagons to be formed two abreast, 
where practicable, on the march. At the call of the bugle in the morning, at 
five o'clock, the pioneers were to arise, assemble for prayers, get breakfast, and 
be ready to start at the second call of the bugle at seven. At night, at half-past 
eight, at the command from the bugle, each was to retire for prayer in his own 
wagon, and to bed at nine o'clock. Tents were to be pitched on Saturday nights 
and the Sabbath kept. 



j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The course of the pioneers was up the north bank of the Platte, along which 
they traveled slowly. They crossed Elk Horn on a raft, forded the Loup Fork 
with considerable danger in consequence of the quicksands, and reached Grand 
Island about the ist of May. 

This was the day on which the pioneers had their first buffalo hunt. There 
was much exciting interest in the scene, for scarcely one of the hunters had 
chased a buffalo before. They killed four cows, three bulls, and five calves. 

While on a hunt, several days after, the hunters were called in, a party of 
four hundred Indian warriors near by liaving shown signs of an attack. The 
Indians had previously been threatening, and were setting fire to the prairie 
on the north side of the Platte. The pioneers fired their cannon twice to warn 
the Indians that they were on the watch. 

A council was now held to consider whether ox not it were wise to cross the 
river and strike the old road to Laramie, there being good grass on that side, 
while the Indians were burning it on the north. In view, however, of the thou- 
sands who would follow in their track, it was concluded to continue as before, 
braving the Indians and the burning j)rairies ; for, said the pioneers: 

" A new road will thus be made, which shall stand as a permament route for 
the Saints." 

Thus the i)ioneers broke a new road across the plains, over which tens of 
thousands of their people have since traveled, and which was famous as the "old 
Mormon road," till the railway came to blot almost from memory the toils and 
dangers of a journey of more than a thousand miles, by ox teams, to the valleys 
of Utah. (It is a curious fact that for several hundred miles the grade of the 
great trans-continental railway is made exactly upon the c)ld Mormon road). 

The pioneers were wary. Colonel Markham drilled his men in good mili- 
tary style, and the cannon was put on wheels. 

William Clayton, formerly the scribe of the Prophet, and, in the pioneer 
journey, scribe to President Young, and Willard Richards, the Church historian, 
invented a machine to measure the distance. 

General Young himself marked the entire route, going in advance daily with 
his staff. This service was deemed most important, as their emigrations would 
follow almost in the very footprints of the pioneers. 

Those were days for the buffalo hunt, scarcely to be imagined, when cross- 
ing the plains a quarter of a century later. Some days they saw as many as fifty 
thousand buffalo. 

They came to the hunting ground of the Sioux, where, a itw days before, 
five hundred lodges had stood. Nearly a thousand warriors had encamped there. 
They had been on a hunting expedition. Acres of ground were covered with 
buffalo wool and other remains of the slaughter. No wonder the Indian of the 
plains bemoans his hunting grounds, now lost to him forever. 

Several days later there were again fears of an Indian attack, and the cannon 
was got ready. 

The pioneers were within view of Chimney rock on Sunday, the 23d of Ma\-. 
Here they held their usual Sabbath service. 



HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CIT V. jg 

On the first of June they were opposite Laramie. I^re they were joined by 
a small company of Mormons from Mississippi, who had been at Pueblo during 
the winter. They reported news of a detachment of the battalion at Pueblo that 
expected to start for Laramie about the first of June, and follow the pioneer 
track. This addition to the camp consisted of a brother Crow and his family 
I fourteen souls, with seven wagons). 

The next day President Young and others visited Fort Laramie, then occu- 
pied by thirty-eight persons, mostly French, who had married the Sioux. 

Mr. Burdow, the principal man at the Fort, was a Frenchman. He cor- 
dially received General Young and his staff, invited them into his sitting-room, 
gave them information of the route, and furnished them with a flat-bottom boat 
on reasonable terms, to assist them in ferrying the Platte. Ex-Governor Boggs, 
who had recently passed with his company, had said much against the Mor- 
mons, cautioning Mr. Burdow to take care of his horses and cattle. Boggs and 
his company were quarreling, many having deserted him ; so Burdow told the 
ex-Governor that, let the Mormons be what they might, they could not be 
worse than himself and his men. 

It is not a little singular that this exterminating Governor of Missouri should 
have been crossing the Plains at the same time with the Pioneers. They were 
going to carve out for their people a greater destiny than they could have reached 
either in Missouri or Illinois — he to pass away, leaving nothing but a transitory 
name. 

It was decided to send Amasa Lyman, with several other brethren, to Pueblo, 
to meet the detachment of the Battalion, and hurry them on to Laramie to fol- 
low the track. 

At the old Fort they set up blacksmith shops, and did some necessary work 
for the camp. Then commenced the ascent of the Black Hills, on the 4th 
of June. 

Fifteen miles from Laramie, at the Springs, a company of Missouri emi- 
grants came up. The pioneers kept the Sabbath the next day ; the Missourians 
journeyed. Another company of Missourians appeared and passed on. 

A party of traders, direct from Santa Fe, overtook the Pioneers, and gave 
information of the detachment of the battalion, at Santa Fe, under Captain 
Brown. 

The two Missouri companies kept up a warfare between themselves on the 
route. They were a suggestive example to the Mormons. After they had traveled 
near each other for a week, on the Sunday following. President Young made this 
the subject of his discourse. He said of the two Missourian companies: 

"They curse, swear, rip and tear, and are trying to swallow up the earth; 
but though they do not wish us to have a place on it, the earth might as well 
open and swallow them up ; for they will go to the land of forgetfulness, while 
the Saints; though they suffer some privations here, if faithful, will ultimately in- 
herit the earth, and increase in power, dominion and glory." 

General Young called together the officers, to consult on a plan for crossing 
the river. He directed them to go immediately to the mountains with teams, to 
get poles. They were then to lash from two to four wagons abreast, to keep them 



40 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

from turning over, and float them across the river with boats and ropes ; so a 
company of horsemen started to the mountains with teams. 

The ''brethren" had previously ferried over the Missourians, who paid them 
51.50 for each wagon and load, and paid it in flour at ^2.50; yet flour was worth 
ten dollars per cwt., at least, at that point. They divided their earnings among 
the camp equally. It amounted to five and a half pounds of flour each, two 
l)0unds of meal, and a small piece of bacon, 

"It looked," says Wilford Woodruff", "as much of a miracle to me to see 
our flour and meal bags re[)lenished in the Black Hills as it did to have the Chil- 
dren of Israel fed with manna in the wilderness. But the Lord had been truly 
with us on our journey, and had wonderfully preserved and blessed us." 

These little stores of flour were supposed to have saved the lives of some of the 
pioneers, for they were by this time entirely destitute of the " staff of life." 

The pioneers were seven days crossing the river at this point. While here 
they established a ferry, and selected nine men to leave in charge of it, with in- 
structions to divide the means accumulated equally, to be careful of the lives and 
]Droperty of those they ferried, to "forget not their prayers," and "to come on 
with the next company of Saints." 

They reached Independence Rock on the 21st of June, and the South Pass 
on the 26th. 

Several days later they met Major Harris, who had traveled through Oregon 
and California for twenty-five years. He spoke unfavorably of the Salt Lake 
country for a settlement. 

Next day Col. Bridger came up. He desired to go into council with the 
Mormon leaders. The apostles held the council with the colonel. He spoke 
more favorably of the great basin ; but thought it not prudent to continue emi- 
gration there until they ascertained whether grain would grow there or not. He 
said he would give a thousand dollars for the first bushel of wheat raised in the 
valley of the Salt Lake. 

At Green River they were met by Elder Samuel Brannan from the Bay of 
San Francisco. He came to give an account of the Mormon company that sailed 
with him in the ship Brooklyn. They had established themselves two hundred 
miles up the river, were building up a city, and he had already started a news- 
paper. 

They were several days fording Green River. Here the pioneers kept the 
4th of July. 

The Mormon battalion now began to reinforce the pioneers. Thirteen of 
these soldiers, returning from the service of their country, joined them at Green 
River, and reported that a whole detachment of 140 were within seven days' 
drive. 

As the pioneers approached the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the interest 
became intense. The gold-finders of California, and the founders of the Pacific 
States and Territories generally, had but a fever for precious metals, or were im- 
pelled westward by the migrating spirit of the American people; but these Mor- 
mon pioneers were seeking the "Pearl of Great Price," and their thoughts and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



41 



emotions, as they drew near the Salt Lake Valley were akin to those of the Pil- 
grim Fathers as they came in sight of Plymouth Rock. 

During the last days of the journey, President Young was laid up with the 
" mountain fever," from which he did not fully recover till on the return trip to 
Winter Quarters. 

After passing Bear River, a council of the whole was called, and it was re- 
solved that Apostle Orson Pratt should take a company of about twenty wagons, 
with forty men, to go forward and make a road. Twenty-three wagons started the 
next morning. For awhile we will follow the journal of Orson Pratt : 

'' July 2 1st — We resumed our journey, traveled two and a half miles, and 
ascended a mountain for one and a half miles; descended upon the west side one 
mile; came upon a swift running creek, where we halted for noon: we called 
this Last Creek. Brother Erastus Snow (having overtaken our camp from the 
other camp, which he said was but a few miles in the rear,) and myself proceeded 
in advance of the camp down Last Creek four and a half miles, to where it passes 
through a canyon and issues into a broad open valley below. To avoid the can- 
yon the wagons last season had passed over an exceedingly steep and dangerous 
hill. Mr. Snow and myself ascended this hill, from the top of which a broad 
open valley, about twenty miles wide and thirty long, lay stretched out before us, 
at the north end of which the broad waters of the Great Salt Lake glistened in 
the sunbeams, containing high mountainous islands from twenty-five to thirty 
miles in extent. After issuing from the mountains among which we had been 
shut up for many days, and beholding in a moment such an extensive scenery 
open before us, we could not refrain from a shout of joy which almost involun- 
tarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within 
our view. We immediately descended very gradually into the lower parts of the 
valley, and although we had but one horse between us, yet we traversed a circuit 
of about twelve miles before we left the valley to return to our camp, which we 
found encamped one and a half miles up the ravine from the valley, and three 
miles in advance of their noon halt. It was about nine o'clock in the evening 
when we got into camp. The main body of the pioneers who were in the rear 
were encamped only one and a half miles up the creek from us, with the excep- 
tion of some wagons containing some who were sick, who were still behind. 

"July 22d. — This morning George A. Smith and myself, accompanied by 
seven others, rode into the valley to explore, leaving the camp to follow on and 
work the road, which here required considerable labor, for we found that the 
canyon at the entrance of the valley, by cutting out the thick timber and under- 
brush, connected with some spading and digging, could be made far more prefer- 
able than the route over the steep hill mentioned above. We accordingly left a 
written note to that effect, and passed on. After going down into the valley 
about five miles, we turned our course to -the north, down towards the Salt Lake. 
For three or four miles north we found the soil of a most excellent quality. 
Streams from the mountains and springs were very abundant, the water excellent, 
and generally with gravel bottoms. A great variety of green grass, and very 
luxuriant, covered the bottoms for miles where the soil was sufficiently damp, but 
in other places, although the soil was good, yet the grass had nearly dried up for 



42 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ' ' 

want of moisture. We found the drier places swarming with very large crickets, 
about the size of a man's thumb. This valley is surrounded with mountains, ex- 
cept on the north, the tops of some of the highest being covered with snow. 
Every one or two miles streams were emptying into it from the mountains on the 
east, many of which were sufficiently large to carry mills and other machinery. 
As we proceeded towards the Salt Lake the soil began to assume a more sterile 
appearance, being probably at some seasons of the year overflowed with water. 
We found as we proceeded on, great numbers of hot springs issuing from near 
the base of the mountains. These springs were highly impregnated with salt and 
sulphur: the temperature of some was nearly raised to the boiling point. We 
traveled for about fifteen miles down after coming into the valley, the latter parts 
of the distance the soil being unfit for agricultural purposes. We returned and 
found our wagons encamped in the valley, about five and one-fourth miles from 
where they left the canyon. 

''July 2j(i. — This morning we despatched two persons to President Young, 
and the wagons which were still behind, informing them of our discoveries and 
explorations. The camp removed its position two miles to the north, where we 
encamped near the bank of a beautiful creek of pure cold water. This stream is 
sufficiently large for mill sites and other machinery. Here we called the camp to- 
gether, and it fell to my lot to offer up prayer and thanksgiving in behalf of our 
company, all of wliom had been preserved from the Missouri river to this point ; 
and, after dedicating ourselves and the land unto the Lord, and imploring His 
blessings upon our labors, we appointed various committees to attend to different 
branches of business, preparatory to putting in crops, and in about two hours 
after our arrival we began to plow, and the same afternoon built a dam to irri- 
gate the soil, which at the spot where we were plowing was exceedingly dry. 
Towards evening we were visited by a thunder shower from the west ; not quite 
enough rain to lay the dust. Our two messengers returned, bringing us word 
that the remainder of the wagons belonging to the pioneer company were only a 
few miles distant, and would arrive the next day. At 3 p. m. the thermometer 
stood at 96°." 

Returning to the main body of the Pioneers, a few simple but graphic pas- 
sages from the diary of Apostle Wilford Woodruff will illustrate their entrance 
into the valleys of Utah better than an author's imagination. 

" y^uly 20th. — We started early this morning, and stopped for breakfast 
after a five miles' drive. I carried Brother Brigham in my carriage. The fever 
was still on him, but he stood the journey well. After breakfast we travelled 
over ten miles of the worst road of the whole journey. 

''J^uiy 2ist. — We are compelled to lay over in consequence of the sick. 

^' yuly 22d. — Continued our journey. 

"■yuly 2jd. — We left East Canyon; reached the summit of the mountain, 
and descended six miles through a thick-timbered grove. We nooned at a beau- 
tiful spring in a small birch grove. Here we were met by Brothers Pack and 
Mathews from the advance camps. They brought us a dispatch. They had ex- 
plored the Great Salt Lake Valley as far as possible, and made choice of a spot to 
put in crops. 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ^j 

"■yuly 24th. — This is one of the most important days of my life, and in the 
history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

"After traveling six miles through a deep ravine ending with the canyon, 
we came in full view of the valley of the Great Salt Lake; the land of promise, 
held in reserve by God, as a resting place for his Saints. 

"We gazed in wonder and admiration upon the vast valley before us, with 
the waters of the Great Salt Lake glistening in the sun, mountains towerinc^ to 
the skies, and streams of pure water running through the beautiful valley. It was 
the grandest view we had ever seen till this moment. Pleasant thoughts ran 
through our minds at the prospect that, not many years hence, the house of God 
would be established in the mountains and exalted above the hills; while the 
valleys would be converted into orchards, vineyards, and fruitful fields, cities 
erected to the name of the Lord, and the standard of Zion unfurled for the o-ath- 
ering of the nations. 

" President Young expressed his entire satisfaction at the appearance of the 
valley as a resting place for the Saints, and lelt amply repaid for his journey. 
While lying upon his bed, in my carriage, gazing upon the scene before us, many 
things of the future, concerning the valley, were shown to him in vision. 

"After gazing awhile upon this scenery, we moved four miles across the 
table land into the valley, to the encampment of our brethren who had arrived 
two days before us. They had pitched upon the banks of two small streams of 
pure water and had commenced plowing. On our arrival they had already broken 
five acres of land, and had begun planting potatoes in the valley of the Great 
Salt Lake. 

"As soon as our encampment was formed, before taking my dinner, having 
half a bushel of potatoes, I went to the plowed field and planted them, hoping, 
with the blessing of God, to save at least the seed for another year. 

" The brethren had damned up one of the creeks and dug a trench, and by 
night nearly the whole ground, which was found very dry, was irrigated. 

"Towards evening, Brothers Kimball, Smith, Benson and myself rode sev- 
eral miles up the creek (City Creek) into the mountain, to look for timber and 
see the country. 

" There was a thunder shower, and it rained over nearly the whole valley; 
it also rained a little in the forepart of the night. We felt thankful for this, as 
it was the generally conceived opinion that it did not rain in the valley during 
the summer season." 

How well this arrival of the Pioneers into their "Land of Promise" illus- 
trates the character of the Mormon people. Empire founding on the first day ; 
planting their fields before rest or dinner. Rain on the day of Brigham Young's 
arrival — to them a miracle of promise ! Already had his vision begun to be 
fulfilled ! 



44 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIRST SABBATH IX THE VALLEY. THE PIONEERS APPLY THE PROPH- 
ECIES TO THEMSELVES AND THEIR LOCATION. ZION HAS GONE UP INTO 
THE MOUNTAINS. THEY LOCATE THE TEMPLE AND LAY OFF THE" CITY 
OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE." THE LEADERS RETURN TO WINTER QUAR- 
TERS TO GATHER THE BODY OF THE CHURCH. 

The arrival of the main body of the Pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt 
Lake was on a Saturday. The next day to them was a Sabbath indeed. 

"We shaved and cleaned up," says Apostle Woodruff, in his graphic story 
of the Pioneers, "and met in the circle of the encampment." 

In the afternoon the whole " Congregation of Israel " partook of the Sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper. 

Then the valleys rang with the exultant themes of the Hebrew Prophets, and 
the "everlasting hills" reverberated to the hosannas of the Saints. 

Orson Pratt was th'e preacher of the great subject, which, to the ardent faith 
of those Pioneers, fi'eveT lived in fulfillment till that moment. The sublime flights 
of the matchless* rsaiaTl gave' the principal theme. 

" O ZTt>D, that bririgeB't good tidings, get thee up into the high mountains ! " 

But i^aiah is not alone to the culminating inspiration. There is such a grand 
unity among the Hebrew prophets, when touching this subject of a Latter-day 
Zion- that Aindolulitedty, it >Bvas the burden of the divine epic to which the He- 
braic geiiius soared": 'Notwithstanding the mental diversity of these poet- 
prophets, in t1iiscrf)^i\ing theme they gave us, not poetic fragments, but a glori- 
ous continued cbmpo§iUoii, as from a manifold genius. 

" Thy watchmen ^hall lift up their voice ; with the voice together shall they 
sing; and they shall" gee eye to eye when they Lord shall bring again Z'on." 

This was fulfilled. t6 those Anglo-American Pioneers on that day. They felt 
they were the watchmen ! With the voice together they sang the theme, and did 
literally shout their hosannas. They saw eye to eye. " The Lord hath brought 
again Zion." 

Nor were these Mormon Apostles figurative in their applications; they ren- 
dered most literally to themselves every point. Orson Pratt declared, with an 
Apostle's assurance, that their location, in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, 
was in the view of the ancient seers. That which was before seemingly contra- 
dictory in the extreme, relative to the Latter-day Zion, especially its location and 
the rapid transformation of its founding, was now made plain and most literal. 
Apostle Pratt reconciled it all. The Pioneers saw the vision of Zion harmonized 
on that first Sabbath in the valley, as they might have seen their own faces in a 
mirror. 

God would "hide his people in the chambers of the mountains ! " Yet, in 
these "last days" he would "establish his house on the tops of the mountains, 
and exalt it above the hills ! " 



IfJS TOR Y OF SA L T LAKE CITY. ^j 

And here were these Pioneers of Mormon Israel in a valley nearly thirty 
miles in diameter, encircled by a chain of mountains ; here, in a valley nearly 
five thousand feet above the level of the sea — '-'exalted above the hills" — yet 
belted by mountains with everlasting caps of snow. It was indeed as the 
"chambers of the Lord," and the name which it popularly bore — the "Great 
Basin " — was nearly as striking to the imagination as its prophetic name. 

Latter-day Zion, too, was to be a place "sought out" — a place "not for- 
saken." They had sought it out by an exodus, and an unparalleled journey of a 
people, nearly fifteen hundred miles, over unbroken prairies, sandy deserts, and 
rocky mountains ; and they were about to found their Zion in a primeval valley, 
where no city, since the creation, had ever stood — a place "not forsaken" by 
civilized people of the ages long since dead. The " solitary places" were to be 
"made glad," the "wilderness" was to "blossom as the rose," and the "des- 
ert" suddenly to be converted into the " fruitful field." Such was the sermon of 
the first Sabbath in the Great Salt Lake Valley. The Pioneers had chosen for the 
location of their Zion and her temples, the "Great American Desert," and they 
were about to make real the strange and highly colored picture. So much like 
the change in an enchanted scene has been the transformation which has since 
come over those desert valleys and canyons of the Rocky Mountains, that for 
the last quarter of a century the Mormons have been popularly described in 
nearly every nation of the earth as that peculiar people who have made the 
"desert to blossom as the rose." Look upon the valley of the Salt Lake today 
as the Spring opens, when the gardens and orchards are in one universal rose- 
blossom, and there never was a prophetic picture more literally realized. 

Though feeble with that most languishing of diseases, the mountain fever, 
and scarcely able to stand upon his feet, Brigham Young was still the law-giver 
on that first Sabbath, If he had not the strength to preach a great sermon on 
the Latter-day Zion, like that of the Mormon Paul — Orson Pratt — he was "every 
inch " the Moses of the Mormon Exodus. 

" He told the brethren," says the historian Woodruff, "that they must not 
work on Sunday ; that they would lose five times as much as they would gain by 
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, no man should buy 
any land who came here ; that he had none to sell ; but every man should have 
his land measured 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. 

"On Monday ten men were chosen for an exploring expedition. I took 
President Young into my carriage, and, traveling two miles towards the mountain, 
made choice of a spot for our garden. 

" We then returned to camp, and went north about five miles, and we all 
went on to the top of a high peak, on the edge of the mountain, which we con- 
sidered a good place to raise an ensign. So we named it ' Ensign Peak.' 

"I was the first person to ascend this hill, which we had thus named. 
Brother Young was very weary, in climbing to the peak, from his recent fever. 

" We descended to th2 valley, and started north to the Hot Sulpher Springs, 



^6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

but we returned two miles to get a drink of cold water, and then went back four 
miles to the Springs. We returned to the camp quite weary with our day's ex- 
plorations. Brothers Mathews and Brown had crossed the valley in the narrowest 
part, opposite the camp, to the west mountain, and found it about fifteen miles. 

"Next day Amasa Lyman came into camp, and informed us that Captain 
Brown's detachment of the Mormon Battalion would be with us in about 
two days. 

" We again started on our exploring expedition. All the members of the 
quorum of the Twelve belonging to the pioneers, eight im number, were of the 
company. Six others of the brethren, including Brannan of San Francisco, were 
with us. 

" We started for the purpose of visiting the Great Salt Lake, and mountains 
on the west of the valley. We traveled two miles west from Temple Block, and 
came to the outlet of the Utah Lake; thence fourteen miles to the west mountain, 
and found that the land was not so fertile as on the east side. 

" We took our dinner at the fresh water pool, and then rode six miles to a 
large rock, on the shore of the Salt Laks, which we namad Black Rock, where 
we all halted and bathed in the salt water. No person could sink in it, but 
would roll and float on the surface like a dry log. We concluded that the Salt 
Lake was one of the wonders of the world. 

" After spending an hour here, we went west along the lake shore, and then 
returned ten miles to our place of nooning, making forty miles that day. 

"In the morning we arose refreshed by sleep in the ojjen air. Having lost 
my carriage whip the night before, I started on horseback to go after it. As I 
approached the spot where it was dropped, I saw about twenty Indians. At first 
they looked to me in the distance like a lot of bears coming towards me. As I 
was unarmed I wheeled my horse and started back on a slow trot. 

" But they called to me, and one, mounting his horse, came after me with 
all speed. When he got within twenty rods I stopped and met him. The rest 
followed. They were Utes, and wanted to trade. I told them by signs that our 
eamp was near, so he went on with me to the camp. From what we had yet 
seen of the Utes they appeared friendly, though they had a bad name from the 
mountaineers. The Indian wanted to smoke the pipe of peace with us, but we 
soon started on and he waited for his company. 

"We traveled ten miles south under the mountain. The land laid beauti- 
fully, but there was no water, and the soil was not so good as on the east. We 
saw about a hundred goats, sheep and antelope playing about the hills and val- 
leys. We returned, weary, to the pioneer encampment, making thirty miles for 
the day. 

" After our return to the camp. President Young called a council of the 
quorum of the Twelve. There were present : Brigham Young, Heber C. Kim- 
ball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Amasa 
Lyman and Ezra T. Benson. 

"We walked from the north camp to about the centre between the two 
creeks, when President Young waved his hand and said : ' Here is the forty acres 
for the Temple. The city can be laid out perfectly square, north and south, 



HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 47 

east and west.' It was then moved and carried that the Temple lot contain forty 
acres on the ground where we stood. It was also moved and carried that the city 
be laid out into lots of ten rods by twenty each, exclusive of the streets, and 
into blocks of eight lots, being ten acres in each block, and one and a quarter in 
each lot. 

" It was further moved and carried that each street be laid out eight rods 
wide, and that there be a sid^-walk on each side, twenty feet wide, and that each 
house be built in the centre of the lot twenty feet from the front, that there 
might be uniformity throughout the city. 

"It was also moved that there be four public squares of ten acres each, to be 
laid out in various parts of the city for public grounds. 

*' At eight o'clock the whole camp came together on the Temple ground and 
passed the votes unanimously, and, when the business part of the meeting was 
closed. President Young arose and addressed the assembly upon a variety of 
subjects. 

" In his remarks the President said that he was determined to have all things 
in order, and righteousness should be practiced in the land. We had come here 
according to the direction and counsel of Brother Joseph, before his death ; and, 
said the President, Joseph would still have been alive it the Twelve bad been in 
Nauvoo when he re-crossed the river from Montrose. 

" During his remarks. President Young observed that he intended to 
have every hole and corner from the Bay of San Francisco to Hudson Bay 
known to us. 

"On the 29th, President Young, with a number of brethren, mounted and 
started to meet the Battalion detachment, under the command of Captain 
Brown. 

" We met some of them about four miles from camp, and soon afterwards 
met Captains Brown and Higgins, Lieutenant Willis, and the company. There 
were 140 of the Battalion, and a company of about 100 of the Mississippi Saints, 
who came with them from Pueblo. They had with them 60 wagons, 100 horses 
and mules, and 300 head of cattle, which greatly added to our strength. 

"While we were in the canyon, a water cloud burst, which sent the water 
into the creeks from the mountains, with a rush and roar like thunder, resembling 
the opening of a flood gate. The shower spread over a good share of the valley 
where we settled. 

"We returned at the head of the companies, and marched into camp with 
music. The Battalion took up their quarters between our two camps on the 
bank of the creek. 

" While we had been exploring, the rest of the pioneers had been farming. 

"By the ist of August (Sunday) the brethren* constructed the Bowery on 
Temple block, in which Heber C. Kimball was the first to preach. Orson Pratt 
followed in a discourse upon the prophecies of Isaiah, proving that the location 
of Zion in the mountains by our people was the fulfillment. 

" On Monday we commenced laying out the city, beginning with the Tem- 
ple block. In forming this block, forty acres appeared so large, that a 
council was held to determine whether or not it would be wisdom to re- 



^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

duce it one-half. Not being decided in our views, we held council again, two 
days later, when we gave as our matured opinions that we could not do justice 
to forty acres; that ten acres would be sufficient. 

"As we were under the necessity of returning soon to Winter Quarters for 
the Saints, it was thought best to go at once to the mountains for logs to 
build ourselves cabins, as the adobe houses might not be ready for our use. 

" On the 6th of August, the Twelve were re-baptized. This we considered 
a privilege and a duty. As we had come in a glorious valley to locate and build 
up Zion, we felt like renewing our covenants before the Lord and each other. 
We soon repaired to the water, and President Young went down into the water 
and baptized all his brethren of the Twelve present. He then confirmed us, and 
sealed upon us our apostleship, and all the keys, powers and blessings belonging 
to that office. Brother Heber C Kimball baptized and confirmed President 
Brigham Young. The following were the names and order of those present : 
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, Wiltord 
Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman. Ezra T. Benson had been dis- 
patched several days before to meet the companies on the road. 

"In the afternoon of the next day, the Twelve went to the Temple Block 
to select their inheritances. 

" President Young took a block east of the Temple, and running southeast, 
to settle his friends around him ; Heber C. Kimball a block north of the Tem- 
ple; Orson Pratt, south and running south; Wilford Woodruff, a block corner- 
ing the Temple Block, the southwest corner joining Orson Pratt's ; Amasa 
Lyman took a block forty rods below Wilford Woodruff's; George A. Smith one 
joining the Temple on the west, and running due west. It was supposed that 
Willard Richards would take his on the east, near President Young's. None 
others of the Twelve were present in the camp. 

" During the same evening the Twelve went to City Creek, and Heber C. 
Kimball baptized fifty-five members of the camp, for the remission of their sins; 
and they were confirmed under the hands of President Young, Orson Pratt, Wil- 
ford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman; President Young being 
mouth. 

"On the next day (Sunday, August 8th), the whole Camp of Israel renewed 
their covenants before the Lord by baptism. There were two hundred and 
twenty-four baptized this morning, making two hundred and eighty-four re-bap- 
tized in the last three days. 

"In the afternoon we partook of the Sacrament. At the close of the meet- 
ing one hundred and ten men were called for, to go into the adobe yard, and 
seventy-six volunteered. 

"Brother Crow had a clfild drowned on the nth. 

" On the 13th the Twelve held council. Each one v/as to make choice of 
the blocks that they were to settle their friends upon. President Young took 
the tiers of blocks south through the city; Brother Kimball's runs north and 
northwest : Orson Pratt, four blocks; Wilford Woodruff eight blocks; George 
A. Smith, eight; and Amasa Lyman, twelve blocks, according to the companies 
organized with each. 



JIJS TOR Y OF SALT LA KE CI TV. ^p 

" Next day four of the messengers returned from Bear River and Cache 
Valley. 

"They brought a cheering report of Cache Valley. The brethren also re- 
turned who went to Utah Lake for fish. They found a mountain of granite. 

"The quorum of the Twelve decided in council that the name of the city 
should be the ' City of the Great Salt Lake.' 

"Sunday, August 15th, President Young preached on the death of Brother 
Crow's child; a most interesting discourse, full of principle. 

" Sunday, the 22d, we held a general conference, when the public assembly 
resolved to call the city the 'City of the Great Salt Lake.' 

" It was also voted to fence the city for farming purposes the coming year 
and to appoint a President and High Council, and all other officers necessary in 
this Stake of Zion, and that the Twelve write an epistle to leave with the Saints 
in the valley. The conference then adjourned until the 6th of October, 1848. 

"On the morning of the 26th of August, 1847, the Pioneers, with most of 
the returning members of the Mormon Battalion, harnessed their horses and bade 
farewell to the brethren who were to tarry. The soldiers were very anxious to 
meet their wives again, whom they had left by the wayside, without a moment's 
notice, for their service in the war with Mexico. These being, too, the 'Young 
Men cf Israel,' had left many newly wedded brides; and not a few of those gal- 
lant fellows were fathers of first-born babes whom they had not yet seen. 

" The brethren in the valley were placed under the presidency of the Chief 
Patriarch of the Church — Father John Smith, uncle of the Prophet. The mem- 
bers of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles Brigham took with him ; but he left 
reliable men, among whom was Albert Carrington. 

"There were a number of companies also on the road, under principal 
men and chief ' Captains of Israel,' such as Apostles Parley P. Pratt and John 
Taylor, Bishop Hunter, Daniel Spencer, and Jedediah M. Grant, who was after- 
wards one of the first presidents of the Church. 

"On the fourth day of their return journey, the Pioneers were met by their 
messengers, under Ezra T, Benson, whom President Young had sent forward 
with instructions to the outcoming companies. These messengers gladdened 
the hearts of the Pioneers, with letters from their wives and brethren, and re- 
ported the coming ' Camp of Israel ' as divided into nine companies, numbering 
600 wagons. 

On the 3d of September, they met the first division of fifty, under President 
Daniel Spencer, upon the Big Sandy; and, on the following day, on the Little 
Sandy, two more fifties, one. under the command of Captain Sessions and the 
other under Apostle Parley P. Pratt. 

" They continued daily to meet the companies. Apostle Taylor bringing up 
his hundred on the Sweetwater. In this company was Edward Hunter, afterwards 
presiding Bishop of the whole Church. These brethren prepared a great feast 
in the wilderness. They made it a sort of a surprise party, the Pioneers being 
unexpectedly introduced to the richly-laden table. The feast consisted of roast 
and boiled beef, pies, cakes, biscuit, butter, peach sauce, coffee, tea, sugar, and a 



50 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

great variety of good things. In the evening the camp had a da. ice, but the 
Twelve met in council to adjust important business. 

"Next day they met Jedediah M. Grant, with his hundred. He was direct 
from Philadelphia. He informed them that Senator Thomas Benton, the invet- 
erate enemy of the Mormons, was doing all he could against them. 

"At Fort Laramie Presidents Young, Kimball, and others of the Apostles 
dined with Commodore Stockton, from the Bay of San Francisco, with forty of 
his men, eastward bound. 

"On the 19th of October, the Pioneers were met by a troop of mounted 
police from Winter Quarters, under their captain, Hosea Stout, who had come to 
meet them, thinking they might need help." 

As they drew near Winter Quarters, the sisters, mothers and wives came out 
to meet the brave men who had found for them a second Zion. They also sent 
teams laden with the richest produce of Winter Quarters and the delicacies of the 
household table, which loving hands had prepared. 

When within about a mile of Winter Quarters a halt was called ; the com- 
pany was drawn up in order and addressed by President Young, who then dis- 
missed the Pioneer camp with his blessing. 

They drove into the city in order. The streets were lined with people to 
shake hands with them as they passed. Each of the Pioneers drove to his own 
home. This was October 31st. 

The Pioneers on their return found the Saints at Winter Quarters well and 
prosperous. They, like the leaders, had been greatly blessed- The earth, under 
their thorough habits of cultivation and industry, had brought forth abundantly. 
During the first three months of the year 1S4S, the Saints at Winter Quar- 
ters were busy preparing for the general migration of the Church to the Valley of 
the Great Salt Lake ; but they also petitioned the Legislature of Iowa for the or- 
ganization of a county in the Pottowatamie tract of land, and for a post office. 
On the 3d of February those who were in the "Battle of Nauvoo " com- 
memorated it with a feast. 

On the 6th of April the regular general conference was held, celebrating the 
organization of the Church; and on the nth messengers arrived from Great Salt 
Lake City. They were of the Battalion. 

A feast was made by President Young on the 29th for his immediate asso- 
ciates, some of whom were going on missions, others were designed to stay on 
the frontiers to conduct and bring up the emigration; while President Young 
himself was about to lead the vanguard of the people to the mountains. 

About the middle of May, all was bustle at Winter Quarters. President 
Young addressed the people Sunday, 14th, blessed those who were going with 
him to the valley, and those who were to tarry. He also blessed the Pottowat- 
omie land, and prophesied that the Saints would never be driven from the Rocky 
Mountains. 

On the 24th of May, President Young started for Elk Horn to organize his 
company. There were 600 wagons in the encampment. They formed the largest 
pioneer force which had yet set out to build up the States and Territories destined 
to spring up on the Pacific Slope. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 51 

We need not follow the Pioneers on their second journey to the Rocky 
Mountains. Suffice it to say that Brigham led the body of the Church in safecy 
to these mountain retreats, arriving in the City of the Great Salt Lake in Sep- 
tember, 1S48. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. DESTRUCTION OF THE CROPS BY CRICKETS. 
DESCRIPTION OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. 

Of the colony in its first year's growth and doings, Parley P. Pratt says: 

"Alter many toils, vexations and trials, such as breaking wagons, losing 
cattle, upsetting, etc., we arrived in the Valley of Great Salt Lake late in Sep- 
tember, 1847. Here we found a fort commenced and partly built by the Pio- 
neers, consisting of an enclosure of a block of ten acres with a wall, or in part of 
buildings of adobes or logs. We also found a city laid out and a public square 
dedicated for a temple of God. We found also much ground planted in late 
crops, which, however, did not mature, being planted late in July; although 
there were obtained for seed a {t\v small potatoes, from the size of a pea upward 
to that cf half an inch in diameter. These being sound and planted another year 
produced some very fine potatoes, and, finally, contributed mainly in seeding the 
Territory with that almost indispensable article of food. 

"After we had arrived on the ground of Great Salt Lake City* we pitched 
our tents by the side of a spring of water; and, aiter resting a little, I devoted 
my time chiefly to building temporary houses, putting in crops, and obtaining 
fuel from the mountains. 

Having repented of our sins and renewed our covenants, President John 
Taylor and myself administered the ordinances of baptism, etc., to each other 
and to our families, according to the example set by the President and Pioneers 
who had done the same on entering the valley. 

"These solemnities took place with us and most of our families, Novem- 
ber 28, 1847. 

" Sometime in December, having finished sowing wheat and rye, I started, 
in company with a Brother Higby and others, for Utah Lake with a boat and fish 
net. We travelled some thirty miles with our boat, etc., on an ox wagon, while 
some of us rode on horseback. This distance brought us to the foot of Utah 
Lake, a beautiful sheet of fresh water, some thirty-six miles long by fifteen broad. 
Here we launched our boat and tried our net, being probably the first boat and 
net ever used on this sheet of water in modern times. 



I 



52 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

•'We sailed up and down the lake shore on its western side for many miles, 
but had only poor success in fishing. We, however, caught a few samples of 
niountain trout and other fish. 

"After exploring the lake and valley for a day or two, the company returned 
home, and a Brother Summers and myself struck westward from the foot of the 
lake on horseback, on an exploring tour. On this tour we discovered and partly 
explored Cedar Valley, and there crossed over the west mountain range and dis- 
covered a valley beyond; passing through which, we crossed a range of hills 
northward, and entered Tooele Valley. Passing still northward, we camped one 
night on a bold mountain stream, and the next day we came to the southern ex- 
treme of Great Salt Lake, and passing round between it and the West Mountain 
we journeyed in an eastern course, and. crossing the Jordan, arrived in Great 
Salt Lake City — having devoted nearly one week to our fishing, hunting, and ex- 
ploring expedition. During all this time we had fine weather and warm days; 
but the night we arrived home vvas a cold one, with a severe snow storm. And 
thus closed the year 1847. 

•'January jst, 1848. — The opening of the year found us and the community 
generally in good, comfortable, temporary log or adobe cabins, which were built 
in a way to enclose the square commenced by the Pioneers, and a portion of two 
other blocks of the city plot. * * * 

"We had to struggle against great difficulties in trying to mature a first crop. 
We had not only the difficulties and inexperience incidental to an unknown and 
untried climate, but also swarms of insects equal to the locusts of Egypi, and also 
a terrible drought, while we were entirely inexperienced in the art of irrigation ; 
still we struggled on, trusting in God." 

Thus was the fair promise of the first harvest in the Valley destroyed by the 
desolating crickets. Their ravages were frightful. They came down from the 
mountains in myriads. Countless hosts attacked the fields of grain. The crops 
were threatened with utter destruction. The valleys appeared as though scorched 
by fire. Famine stared the settlers in the face. All were in danger of perishing. 
Every effort was made by the settlers to drive the crickets off by bushes, long 
rods, and other like means — whole families and neighborhoods turning out en 
fnasse until the people were almost exhausted. At this frightful moment, when 
the utter destruction of their crops stared the little colony in the face, — while 
also on their journey were the companies under President Young, who would 
need supplies until the second harvest, the manifestation of a special Provi- 
dence was sent to save the people — so these reverent colonists believed. Immense 
flocks of gulls came up from the islands of the Lake to make war upon the destroy- 
ing hosts. Like good angels, they came at the dawn ; all day they feasted upon the 
crickets. The gulls covered every field where the crickets had taken possession, 
driving them into the streams and even into the door-yards, devouring them until 
gorged, then vomiting them and devouring more. 

Even as it was, there was a season of famine in Utah ; but none perished 
from starvation. The patriarchal character of the community saved it. As one 
great family they shared the substance of the country. An inventory of provis- 
ions was taken in the Spring of 1849, ^"<^ ^^""^ people were put upon rations. 



HIST OR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj 

Still their breadstuffs were insufficient, and many went out with the Indians and 
dug small native roots, while some, in their destitution, took the hides of ani- 
mals, which covered the roofs of their houses, and cut them up and cooked them. 
But the harvest of 1849 ^^^^ abundant and the people were saved. 

A passage of Indian history should not be lost here, as given by Parley P. 
Pratt in a letter to his brother Orson, in England, bearing date, Great Salt Lake 
City, September 5th, 184S. He wrote: 

"A few weeks since, Mr. Joseph Walker, the celebrated Utah Chief, men- 
tioned in the journey of Colonel Fremont, paid a visit to this place, accompanied 
by Soweite, the king of the whole Utah nations, and with them some hundreds of 
men, women and children ; they had several hundred head of horses for sale. 

" They were good looking, brave, and intelligent beyond any we had seen on 
this side of the mountains. They were much pleased and excited with every 
thing they saw, and finally expressed a wish to become one people with us, and 
to live among us and we among them, and to learn to cultivate the earth and live 
as we do. They would like for some of us to go and commence farming with them 
in their valleys, which are situated about three hundred miles south. 

"We enjoined it on them to be at peace with one another, and with all peo- 
ple, and to cease to war." 

The following from the First General Epistle sent out from the Mormon 
Presidency, in the spring of 1S49, i^ valuable as a page of the early history. 

"On our arrival in this valley, we found the brethren had erected four forts, 
composed mostly of houses, including an area of about forty-seven acres, and 
numbering about 5,000 souls, including our camp. The brethren had succeeded 
in sowing and planting an extensive variety of seeds, at all seasons, from January 
to July, on a farm about twelve miles in length, and from one to six in width, 
including the city plot. Most of their early crops were destroyed, in the month 
of May, by crickets and frost, which continued occasionally until June; while 
the latter harvest was injured by drought and frost, which commenced its injuries 
about the loth of October, and by the out-breaking of herds of cattle. The 
brethren were not sufficientlv numerous to fight the crickets, irrigate the crops, 
and fence the farm of their extensive planting, consequently they suffered heavy 
losses; though the experiment of last year is sufficient to prove that valuable 
crops may be raised in this valley by an attentive and judicious management. 

"The winter of 1847-8 was very mild, grass abundant, flocks and herds 
thriving thereon, and the earth tillable most of the time during each month; but 
the winter of 1848-9 has been very different, more like a severe New England 
winter. Excessive cold commenced on the ist of December, and continued till 
the latter part of February. Snow storms were frequent, and though there were 
several thaws, the earth was not without snow during that period, varying from 
one to three feet in depth, both in time and places. The coldest day of the past 
winter was the 5th of February, the mercury falling 2;^° below freezing point, 
and the warmest day was Sunday, the 25 th of February, mercury rising to 21° above 
freezing point, Fahrenheit. Violent and contrary winds have been frequent. 
The snow on the surrounding mountains has been much deeper, which has made 



54 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

the wood very difficult of access; while the cattle have become so poor^ through 
fasting and scanty fare, that it has been difficult to draw the necessary fuel, and 
many have had to suffer more or less from the want thereof. The winter com- 
menced at an unusual and unexpected moment, and found many of the brethren 
without houses or fuel, and although there has been considerable suffering, there 
has been no death by the frost. Three attempts have been made by the brethren 
with pack animals or snow shoes to visit Fort Bridger, since the snow fell, but 
have failed; yet it is expected that Compton will be able to take the mail east 
soon after April conference. 

"In the former part of February, the bishops took an inventory of the 
breadstuff in the valley, when it was reported that there was little more than 
three-fourths of a pound per day for each soul, until the 5th of July ; and con- 
siderable was known to exist which was not reported. As a natural consequence 
some were nearly destitute while others had abundance. The common price of 
corn since harvest has been two dollars ; some have sold for three ; at present 
there is none in the market at any price. Wheat has ranged from four to five 
dollars, and potatoes from six to twenty dollars per bushel , and tliough not to 
be bought at present, it is expected that there will be a good supply for seed by 
another year. 

"Our public works are prosperous, consisting of a Council House, 45 feet 
square, two stories, building by tithing; also a bridge across the Western Jordan, 
at an expense of seven hundred dollars, and six or seven bridges across minor 
streams, to be paid by a one i)cr cent, property tax; also, a bath-house at the 
warm spring. 

"A field of about 8000 acres has been surveyed south of and bordering on 
the city, and plotted in five and ten acre lots, and a church farm of about 800 
acres. The five and ten acre lots were distributed to the brethren, by casting 
lots, and every man is to help build a pole, ditch, or a stone fence as shall be 
most convenient around the whole field, in proportion to the land he draws ; 
also, a canal on the east side, for the purpose of irrigation. There are three grist 
mills, and five or six saw mills in operation, and several more in contemplation. 

"The location of a tannery and foundry are contemplated as soon as the 
snows leave the mountains. 

"The forts are rapidly breaking up, by the removal of the houses on to the 
city lots; and the city is already assuming the appearance of years, for any or- 
dinary country; such is the industry and perseverance of the Saints. 

"A winter's hunt, by rival parties of one hundred men each, has destroyed 
about 700 wolves and foxes, 2 wolverines, 20 minx and pole cats, 500 hawks, 
owls, and magpies, and 1,000 ravens, in this valley and vicinity. 

"On the return of a portion of the Mormon Battalion through the northern 
part of U'cstern California^ they discovered an extensive gold mine, which enabled 
them by a few days delay to bring a sufficient of the dust to make money plenti- 
ful in this place for all ordinary purposes of public convenience ; in the exchange 
the brethren deposited the gold dust with the presidency, who issued bills or a 
paper currency." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj 

Captain Stansbury describing Salt Lake City and its environs, as viewed 
about the year [S50, wrote: 

"A city has been laid out upon a magnificent scale, being nearly four miles 
in length and three in breadth ; the streets at right angles with each other, eight 
rods or one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, with sidewalks of twenty feet ; the 
blocks forty rods square, divided into eight lots, each of which contains an acre 
and a quarter of ground. By an ordinance of the city, each house is to be 
placed twenty feet back from the front line of the lot, the intervening space 
being designed for shrubbery and trees. The site for the city is most beautiful : 
it lies at the western base of the Wasatch Mountains, in a curve formed by the 
projection westward from the .main range of a lofty spur which forms its southern 
boundary. On the west it is washed bv the waters of the Jordan, while to the 
southward for twenty-five miles extends a broad, level plain, watered by several 
little streams, which flowing down from the eastern hills, form the great element 
of fertility and wealth to the community. Through the city itself flows an un- 
failing stream of pure, sweet water, which, by an ingenious mode of irrigation, 
is made to traverse each side of every street, whence it is led into every garden- 
spot, spreading life, verdure and beauty over what was heretofore a barren waste. 
On the east and north the mountain descends to the plain by steps, which form 
broad and elevated terraces, commanding an extensive view of the whole valley 
of the Jordan, which is bounded on the west by a range of rugged mountains, 
stretching far to the southward, and enclosing within their embrace the lovely 
little Lake of Utah. 

" On the northern confines of the city, a warm spring issues from the base 
of the mountain, the water of which has been conducted by pipes into a commo- 
dious bathing house ; while, at the western point of the same spur, about three 
miles distant, another spring flows in a bold stream from beneath a perpendicular 
rock, with a temperature too high to admit the insertion of the hand, (12S 
Fahrenheit.) At the base of the hill it forms a little lake, which in the autumn 
and winter is covered with large flocks of waterfowl, attracted by the genial 
temperature of the water. 

Beyond the Jordan, on the west, the dry and otherwise barren plains sup- 
port a hardy grass, (called bunch grass,) which is peculiar to these regions, re- 
quiring but little moisture, very nutritious and in sufficient quantities to afford 
excellent pasturage to numerous herds of cattle. To the northward, in the low 
grounds bordering the river, hay in abundance can be procured, although it is 
rather coarse and of an inferior quality. 

"The facilities for beautifying this admirable site are manifold. The irri- 
gating canals, which flow before every door, furnish abundance of water for the 
nourishment of shade trees, and the open space between each building, and the 
pavement [sidewalk] before it, when planted with shrubbery and adorned with 
flowers, will make this one of the most lovely spots between the Mississippi and 
the Pacific. 

'•'The city was estimated to contain about eight thousand inhabitants, and 
was divided into numerous wards, each, at the time of our visit, enclosed by a 
substantial fence, for the protection of the young crops : as time and leisure will 



5(5 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

permit, these will be removed, and each lot enclosed by itself, as with us. The 
houses are built, principally of adobe or sun-dried brick, which, when well cov- 
ered with a tight projecting roof, make warm, comfortable dwellings, presenting a 
very neat appearance. Buildings of a better description are being introduced, 
although slowly, owing to the difficulty of procuring the necessary lumber, which 
must always be dear in a country so destitute of timber. 

'' Upon a square appropriated to the public buildings, an immense shed had 
been erected upon posts, which was capable of containing three thousand per- 
sons. It was called 'The Bowery,' and served as a temporary place of worship 
until the construction of the great Temple. * =i^ ^ A mint was 

already in operation, froni which were issued gold coins of the Federal denomi- 
nations, stamped without assay, from the dust brought from California." 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE PRIMITIVI-: GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY, PROVISIONAL STATE OF 
DESERET ORGANIZED. PASSAGE OF THE GOLD-SEEKERS THROUGH THE 
VALLEY. 

During the first four years the colony grew up under the peculiar rule of the 
Mormon community. There was the "City of the Great Salt Lake" in name, 
but no regular incorporation until after the setting up of the Territory of Utah, 
under the United States administration. At first the city was simply a "Stake 
of Zion," with no secular functions in the common sense, nor a secular adminis- 
tration in any form, until the election for officers of the Provisional Government 
of the State of Deseret, when the bishops became magistrates of their several 
wards. 

Previous to their return to Winter Quarters, the Twelve Apostles organized 
a Stake of Zion, and appointed John Smith President, Charles C. Rich and John 
Young his counselors; Taileton Lewis, Bishop, and a High Council. This or- 
ganization went into effect on the arrival of the emigrant companies, in the fall 
of 1847, when about 700 wagons, laden with families, located on the site of Great 
Salt Lake City. This, however, may be considered rather as a temporary Stake 
than the organization proper, for Great Salt Lake City was destined to be the 
permanent headquarters of the Church. With the Twelve and First Presidency 
at Winter Quarters, the Church herself was still in that place, and it was there 
that the First Presidency was re-established, with Brigham Young and his coun- 
selors, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards. This done, the Church evacu- 
ated Winter Quarters to establish herself in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, 
designing to send out therefrom her colonies, to found cities in every valley of 
these Rocky Mountains. 





^^/^6y. "(///I TiVriy^ 



^ ^ ^ ' f 



^2 y/cyj. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 57 

Immediately on the arrival of the body of the Church, under the presidency 
of Brigham Young in September, 1848, the regular social and ecclesiastical 
organizations of the community were effected, and the chief Stake of Zion 
organized in Great Salt Lake City. Commencing the re-organization at the 
general October Conference of that year, Brigham Young was acknowledged 
President of the Church in all the world, with Heber C. Kimball and Willard 
Richards as his counselors. On the ist of January, 1849, John Smith, uncle to 
the Prophet Joseph Smith, was ordained Patriarch of the Church, and on the 
1 2th of February the Presidency and Twelve proceeded to fill up the vacant 
places in the quorum of the Twelve x^postles. They next, in the words of their 
.General Epistle, "proceeded to organize a Stake of Zion at the Great Salt Lake 
City, with Daniel Spencer, president, and David Fullmer and Willard Snow,, 
counselors. They also ordained and set apart a High Council of the Stake, con- 
sisting of Isaac Morley, Phinehas Richards, Shadrach Roundy, Henry G. Sher- 
wood, Titus Billings, Eleazer Miller, John Vance, Levi Jackman, Ira Eldredge, 
Elisha H. Groves, William W, INIajor, and Edwin D. Wooley. The other quo- 
rums of the Church were also re-organized. The Presidency of the Seventies 
was composed of Joseph Young, Zera Pulsipher, Levi W. Hancock, Jedediah M. 
Grant, Henry Herriman, Benjamin L. Clapp, and Albert P. Rockwood. John 
Young was ordained president of the High Priests' quorum, with counselors 
Reynolds Cahoon and George B. Wallace; John Nebeker, president of the 
Elders' quorum, with counselers James H. Smith and Aaron Savery. This re-or- 
ganization took place at the house of George B. Wallace, in the Old Fort. 

After these branches of the "spiritual" organization were perfected, the city 
was divided into nineteen wards, over which bishops were appointed with their 
counselors. 

Under the direction of Brigham Young, who, throughout his lifetime, was 
the "all in all" in the colonization of Utah, the Apostles and Bishops com- 
menced to lay off the city, from the southeast corner, running west five wards, 
then returning, running east five wards, then west again, and so on. 

Bishop Newel K. Whitney was the presiding Bishop over the whole. The 
original Bishops of the nineteen wards were as follows: First Ward, Peter 
McCue; Second Ward, John Lowrey ; Third Ward, Christopher Williams; Fourth 
Ward, Benjamin Brown; Fifth Ward (which for quite a while was without a 
Bishop), Thomas Winters; Sixth Ward, William Hickenlooper ; Seventh Ward, 
William G. Perkins; Eighth Ward, Addison Everett; Ninth Ward, Seth Taft; 
Tenth Ward, David Pettegrew; Eleventh Ward, John Lytle; Twelfth Ward, 
Benjamin Covey; Thirteenth Ward, Edward Hunter; Fourteenth Ward, John 
Murdock, Sen. ; Fifteenth Ward, Nathaniel V. Jones ; Sixteenth Ward, Shad- 
rach Roundy; Seventeenth Ward, J. L. Heywood; Eighteenth Ward, Presiding 
Bishop Whitney; Nineteenth Ward, James Hendricks. 

Under the government of the Bishops, Utah grew up, and, until the regular 
incorporation of Great Salt Lake City in 1851, they held what is usually consid- 
ered the secular administration over the people ; Brigham Young was their 
director, for he formulated and constructed everything in those early days. 
Each of these nineteen wards developed, during the first period, before the reg- 



j<? HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

ular incorporation of the city, like so many municipal corporations, over which 
the Bishops were as chief magistrates or mayors. Under their temporal admin- 
istration all over Utah, as well as in Salt Lake, cities were built, lands divided off 
to the people, roads and bridges made, water-ditches cut, the land irrigated, and 
society governed. In fact, under them all the revenue was produced and the 
work done of founding Great Salt Lake City. 

Perhaps the most unique ecclesiastical order of government belonging to the 
Christian era is that which has sprung up in the Mormon Church in the organi- 
zations and government of its Bishops. It is altogether out of the common 
ecclesiastical order and church regime; and the duties and calling of those be- 
longing to the Mormon Bishopric have originated a form of government pecu- 
liarly its own. Indeed, this branch of the Mormon development has not only 
shaped considerable of the history of this peculiar people, but given to the world 
something of a new social problem. We may not be able to determine how much 
the influence and life-work of these Bishops will in the future affect the growth 
of the Pacific States and Territories; but, so far as the past is concerned, we 
know that under the Bishops the hundreds of cities and settlements of Utah and 
some of the adjacent Territories have been founded. 

Almost from Vhe first organization of the Church and long before the organ- 
ization of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, it was shown in the peculiar his- 
tory of the people that the Bishops were as the organic basis of the Mormon 
society, and the proper business managers of the Church ; but it was not until 
the Mormons came to the Rocky Mountains that the society-work of the Bishops 
grew rapidly into the vast proportions of their present social and church govern- 
ment. In Utah, they soon became the veritable founders of our settlements and 
cities; and, having founded them, they have also governed them and directed 
the ])eople in their social organization and material growth, while the Apostles 
and Presidents of Stakes have directed spiritual affairs. 

It may be further explained, that a Stake of Zion, the initial of which we 
have seen organized in that of the Salt Lake Stake, is analogous to a county ; 
and the High Council is a quorum of judges, in equity for the people, at the head 
of which is the President of the Stake, with his counselors. 

The community grew so rapidly that before the close of the second year it 
was deemed wise to establish a constitutional secular government, and accord- 
ingly representatives of the people met in convention in the month of March, 
1849, ^"d formed the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret. A con- 
stitution was adopted, and delegates sent to Washington asking admission into 
the Union. Here is what they said : 

"We, the people, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto 
'enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those bles- 
sings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government by the name 
of the State of Deseret, including all the Territory of the United States within 
the following boundaries, to-wit : Commencing at the 33d degree of north lat- 
itude, where it crosses the 108th degree of longitude west from Greenwich ; 
thence running south and west to the boundary of Mexico ; thence west to and 
down the main channel of the Gila River (or the northern part of Mexico), and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jp 

on the northern boundary of Lower California to the Pacific Ocean; thence 
along the coast northwesterly to the iiSth degree, 30th minute of west longi- 
tude; thence north to wh^re said line intersects the dividing ridge of the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separates the waicra 
flowing into the Columbia River from the waters running into the Great Basin on 
the south, to the summit of the Wind River chain of mountains; thence south- 
east and south by the dividing range of mountains that separates the waters flow- 
ing into the Gulf of Mexico from the waters flowing into the Gulf of California, 
to the place of beginning, as set forth in a map drawn by Charles Preuss, and 
published by order of the Senate of the United States, in 1848." 

The Twelve, in their general epistle, under date, "Great Salt Lake City, 
March 9, 1849, ^hus explains this organic movement: "We have petitioned the 
Congress of the United States for the organization of a Territorial government 
here, embracing a territory of about seven hundred miles square, bounded north 
by Oregon, latitude 42 degrees, east by the Rio Grande Del Norte, south by the 
late lines between the United States and Mexico, near the latitude 32 degrees, 
and west by the sea coast and California Mountains. Until this petition is 
granted, we are under the necessity of organizing a local government for the time 
being, to consist of a governor, chief-justice, secretary, marshal, magistrates, 
etc. elected by the people : the election to take place next Monday." 

Accordingly, on Monday, March 12th, 1849, ^^^i^ State election was held in 
Great Salt Lake City, resulting in the unanimous choice of Brigham Young as 
Governor; Willard Richards, Secretary; N. K. Whitney, Treasurer; Heber C. 
Kimball, Chief Justice; John Taylor and N. K. Whitney, Associate Justices; 
Daniel H. Wells, Attorney-General; Horace S. Eldredge, Marshal; Albert Car- 
rington, Assessor and Collector of taxes; Joseph L. Hey wood, Surveyor of 
Highways; and the Bishops ot the several wards as Magistrates. 

The first celebration in the mountains was held on the 24th of July, 1849 — 
the second anniversary of the entrance of the Pioneers. 

The following description of the celebration, by the " Chief Scribe," may 
be of interest to many: 

"The inhabitants were awakened by the firing of cannon, accompanied by 
music. The brass band, playing martial airs, was then carried through the city, 
returning to the Bowery by seven o'clock. The Bowery is a building 100 feet 
long by 60 feet wide, built on 104 posts, and covered with boards; but for the 
services of this day a canopy or awning was extended about 100 teet from each 
side of the Bowery, to accommodate the vast multitude at dinner. 

"At half-past seven the large national flag, measuring sixty-five feet in 
length, was unfurled at the top of the liberty pole, which is 104 feet high, and 
was saluted hy the firing of six guns, the ringing of the Nauvoo bell, and spirit- 
stirring airs from the band. 

"At eight o'clock the multitude were called together by music and the firing 
of guns, the Bishops of the several wards arranging themselves on the sides of the 
aisles, with the banners of their wards unfurled, each bearing some appropriate 
inscription. 



6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

" At a quarter past eight, the Presidency of the Stake, the Twelve, and the 
bands, went to prepare the escort in the following order, at the house of Presi- 
dent Brigham Young, under the direction of Lorenzo Snow, J. M. Grant, and 
F. D. Richards : 

'^(i) Horace S. Eldredge, marshal, on horseback, in military uniform; (2) 
brass band ; (3) twelve bishops bearing the banners of their wards; (4) seventy- 
four young men dressed in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and 
coronets on their heads, each carrying in his right hand a copy of the Declara- 
tion of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and each carry- 
ing a sheathed sword in his left hand ; one of them carrying a beautiful banner, 
inscribed on it, 'The Zion of the Lord ; ' (5) twenty-four young ladies, dressed 
in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and wreaths of white roses 
on their heads, each carrying a copy of the Bible and Book of Mormon, and one 
carrying a very neat banner, inscribed with 'Hail to our Captain;' (6) Brig- 
ham Young, Heber C. Kiml)all, Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt, Charles C. 
Rich, John Taylor, Daniel Spencer, D. Fullmer, Willard Snow, Erastus Snow; 
(7) twelve Bishops, carrying flags of their wards; (8) twenty-four Silver Greys, 
led by Isaac Morley, Patriarch, each having a staff, painted red at the upper part, 
and a bunch of white ribbon fastened at the top, one of them carrying the Stars 
and Stripes, bearing the inscription, ' Liberty and Truth.' 

"The procession started from the house at nine o'clock. The young men and 
young ladies sang a hymn through the streets, the cannon roared, the musketry 
rolled, the Nauvoo bell pealed forth its silvery notes, and the air was filled by the 
sweet strains of the brass band. On arriving at the Bowery the escort was re- 
ceived with shouts of 'Hosanna! to God and the I/amb!' While the Presi- 
dency, Patriarch, and presiding Bishops were passing down the aisle, the people 
cheered and shouted, 'Hail to the Governor of Deseret.' These being seated 
by the committee on the stand, the escort passed round the assembly, singing a 
hymn of praise, marched down the aisle, and were seated in double rows on 
either side. The assembly was called to order by Mr. J. M. Grant. On being 
seated, Mr. Erastus Snow offered up a prayer. 

"Richard Ballantyne, one of the twenty-four young men, came to the stand, 
and, in a neat speech, presented the Declaration of Independence and the Consti- 
tution of the United States to President Young, which was received with three 
shouts, 'May it live forever,' led by the President. 

"The Declaration of Independence was then read by Mr. Erastus Snow, the 
band following with a lively air. 

"The clerk then read 'The Mountain Standard,' composed by Parley P. 
Pratt: — 

" Lo, the Gentile chain is broken, 
"Freedom's banner waves on high.' 

"After the above had been sung by the twenty-four young men and 
young ladies, Mr. Phinehas Richards came forward in behalf of the twenty- 
four aged sires in Israel, and read their congratulatory address on the an- 
niversary of the day. At the conclusion of the reading, the assembly rose and 
shouted three times, 'Hosanna! hosanna! hosanna! to God and the Lamb, for- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 61 

ever and ever, Amen,' while the banners were waved by the Bishops. The band 
next played a lively air, and the clerk then rose and read an 'Ode on Liberty.' 

"The ode was then sung by the twenty-four Silver Greys, to the tune of 
' Bruce's Address to his Army,' 

'•The hour of intermission having arrived, the escort was reformed, the 
Bishops of each ward collected the inhabitants of their respective wards tof^ether, 
and marched with them to the dinner tables, where several thousand of the Saints 
dined sumptuously on the fruits of the earth. Several hundred emigrants also 
partook of the repast, as did also three score Indians," 

Orson Hyde, President of the Twelve Apostles, in the Frontier Guardian, 
published at Kanesville, Iowa, thus explains this first celebration, at which, it will 
have been noticed, the Declaration of American Independence was read: "Our 
people celebrated the 24th of July instead of the 4th, for two reasons — one was 
because that was the day on which Brother Young and the Pioneers first entered 
the valley; and the other was, they had little or no bread, or flour to make 
cakes, etc., that early, and not wishing to celebrate on empty stomachs, they 
postponed it until their harvest came in." 

The explanation of Apostle Hyde has historical pertinence, when it is re- 
membered that in the Spring of this year the community were put on rations; it 
was this very harvest of 1849, '^hat saved the people from a continuance of 
the famine, caused by the destruction of the crops by the grasshoppers in 1848. 

Here a passage of history seems due to the soldiers of the Mormon Bat- 
talion, relative to their connection with the early times of California, and the 
finding of gold, which largely tended to the rapid growth of Great Salt Lake City 
and started its currency. 

On being discharged from the United States service, four of the Mormon 
Battalion found employ with Mr. Thomas Mirshall, in digging Captain Sutter's 
mill race, on the Sacramento River. One day these brethren were attracted by 
the mysterious movements of their foreman, Mr. Marshall, whom they partly 
surprised in the act of washing something which his shovel had just turned up. 
That something was gold ! The discovery was at once shared by Mr. Marshall 
and his men. Of course, at first there was some secresy preserved, but such a 
discovery could not be long hid, and soon the Mormons of California, both 
those of the Battalion and those who sailed to the Bay of San Francisco with 
Mr. Samuel Brannan in the ship Brooklyn, were working in the gold diggings. 
So that notwithstanding Mr. Marshall's shovel brought the milial glitter of Cali- 
fornia gold to light, it was the shovels of Mormon Elders that spread the golden 
tidings to the world. 

No sooner was the discovery bruited than the whole civilized world seemed 
flocking to the new El Dorado. Scarcely a nation but sent its adventurous spirits 
to the paradise of gold. From the American States themselves came colony after 
colony pouriug daily towards the west. Gold was the incentive at first, but as 
that wondrous emigrational tide swelled, it became more like the migration of a 
dominant race for the purpose of founding a new empire. This did finally be- 
come the proper character of the movement. 

The best blood of America was in those emigrant companies, and they took 



62 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

with them enough resources to found a new State; but there was no "royal 
road" to the land of gold; fifteen hundred miles then intervened between the 
western frontier of the States and Great Salt Lake City. The Mormon Zion 
became the "half-way house'' of the nation. 

But the ambitious and spirited emigrants to California could not endure the 
tedious journey as the Saints had done. Before they reached the mountains they 
began to leave fragments of their richly-laden trains by the wayside. All 
along the route was strewn valuable freight, with the ruins of wagons and the 
carcasses of oxen and mules. 

By the time the gold-seekers reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake, they 
were utterly impatient and demoralized. Many had loaded their trains with 
clothing, dry goods, general merchandise, mechanics' tools and machinery, ex- 
pecting to find a market where gold was dug and a new country to be settled. 
But the merchant, alike with the adventurer, was at last subdued by the conta- 
gion of the gold fever, and provoked into a mania of impatience by the tedious 
journey. News also reached the overland emigrants that steamers, laden with 
merchandise had sailed from New York to California. The specul.itions of the 
merchants lost their last charm. That which was destined for California was 
left in Utah, In absolute disgust for their trains of merchandise and splendid 
emigrant outfits, they gave the bulk to the Mormons at their own price, and for 
the most ordinary means of barter. A horse or a mule outfit to carry the gold- 
hunter quickly to his destination, was taken as an equivalent for wagons, cattle, 
and merchandise- 
Parley P. Pratt, writing to his brother Orson under date July 8th, 1849, says: 

" The present travel through this place, or near it, will, it is thought, amount 
to some thirty or forty thousand persons. All will centre here another year, as 
much of it does this year. ' This employs blacksmiths, pack-saddlers, washing, 
board, etc., and opens a large trade in provisions, cattle, mules, horses, etc. 
Scores or hundreds of people now arrive here daily, and all stop to rest and 
re-fit." 

The Frontier Guardian, giving the news of the arrival of the gold-seekers 
in Great Salt Lake City related the story thus: "The valley has been a place of 
general deposit for property, goods, etc, by Californians. When they saw a few 
bags and kegs of gold dust brought in by our boys, it made them completely en- 
thusiastic. Pack mules and horses that were worth twenty-five dollars in ordinary 
times, would readily bring two hundred dollars 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 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 joiner's tools that would cost one hundred and fifty 
dollars in the East, were sold in Salt Lake City for twenty-five dollars. Indeed, 
almost every article, except sugar and coffee, were selling on an average fifty per 
cent, below wholesale prices in the eastern States." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 63 

In the fall, a company of Mormon Elders started from Salt Lake City, de- 
signing to work for awhile in the gold mines, after which some were to proceed 
ow missions to the Sandwich Islands. The company consisted of General 
Charles C. Rich, Major Hunt of the Mormon Battalion, Captain Flake, captain 
of the company, George Q. Cannon, Joseph Cain, Thomas Whittle, Henry E. 
Gibson and other prominent Mormons. 'This was the first company that under- 
took to go to California by the southern route. The expedition started with only 
about thirty days' provisions; yet sixty days on the road were passed before the 
first settlement was reached. The men went with pack animals. In crossing the 
desert they had often to turn back and re-take up their march in some other 
direction, which made the journey very long and severe, killing nearly all of their 
animals, so that the last three hundred and fifty miles were mostly performed on 
foot. But it was a fine company of men, and they we're enabled fo survive one 
of the hardest journeys ever made to the State of California. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN STAX3BURY. HIS INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR YOUNG 
GOVERNMENT SURVEY OF THE LaKES. COMMENCEMENT OF INDIAN 
DIFFICULTIES. 

In August of that year (1849) Captain Howard Stansbury, of the United 
States Army Topographical Engineers, with his assistants, arrived in the valley for 
the purpose of making a government survey of the lakes. He was accompanied 
by Lieutenant Gunnison who was, like Captain Stansbury, one of the earliest and 
most intelligent writers upon the Utah community. Of his arrival, Captain 
Stansbury thus reports to the chief of his department : 

" Before reaching Great Salt Lake City, I had heard from various sources 
that much uneasiness was felt by the Mormon community at my anticipated 
coming among them. I was told that they would never permit any survey of their 
country to be made; while it was darkly hinted that if I persevered in attempt- 
ing to carry it on, my life would scarce be safe. Utterly disregarding, indeed, 
giving not the least credence to these insinuations, I at once called upon Brigham 
Young, the President of the Mormon Church and the Governor of the Common- 
wealth, stated to him what I had heard, explained to him the views of the Gov- 
ernment in directing an exploration and survey of the lake, assuring him that 
these were the sole objects of the expedition. He replied, that he did not hesi- 
tate to say that both he and the people tv^hom he presided over had been very 
much disturbed and surprised that the Goverument should send out a party into 
their country so soon after they had made their settlement; that he had heard of 
the expedition from time to time, since its onset from Fort Leavenworth ;' and 



64 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 Y. 

that the whole community were extremely anxious as to what could be the design 
of the Government in such a movement. It appeared, too, that their alarm had 
been increased by the indiscreet and totally unauthorized boasting of an attache 
of General Wilson, the newly appointed Indian agent for California, whose train 
on its way thither had reached the city a fe^v days before I myself arrived. This 
person, as I understood, had declared openly that General Wilson had come 
clothed with authority from the President of the United States to expel the 
Mormons from the lands which they occupied, and that he would do so if he 
thought proper. The Mormons very naturally supposed from such a declaration 
that there must be some understanding or connection between General Wilson 
and myself ; and that the arrival of the two parties so nearly together was the 
result of a concerted and combined movement for the ulterior purpose of break- 
ing up and destroying thejr colony. The impression was that a survey was to be 
made of their country in the same manner that other public lands are surveyed, 
for the purpose of dividing into townships and sections, and of thus establishing 
and recording the claims of the Government to it, and thereby anticipating any 
claim the Mormons might set up from their previous occupation. However un- 
reasonable such a suspicion may be considered, yet it must be remembered that 
these people are exasperated and rendered almost desperate by the wrongs and 
persecutions they had previovsly suffered in Illinois and Missouri ; that they had 
left the confines of civilization and fled to these far distant wilds, that they might 
enjoy undisturbed the religious liberty which had been practically denied them: 
and that now they supposed themselves to be followed up by the General Govern- 
ment with the view of driving them out from even this solitary spot, where they 
had hoped they should al length be permitted to set up their habitation in 
peace. 

" Upon all these points I undeceived Governor Young to his entire satisfac- 
tion. I was induced to pursue this conciliatory course, not only in justice to the 
Government, but also because I knew, from the peculiar organization of this sin- 
gular community, that, unless the ' President' was fully satisfied that no evil was 
intended to his people, it would be useless for me to attempt to carry out my in- 
structions. He was not only civil Governor, but the President of the whole 
Church of Latter-day Saints upon the earth, their prophet and their priest, re- 
ceiving, as they all firmly believed, direct revelations of the Divine will, which, 
according to their creed, form the law of the Church. He is, consequently, 
profoundly revered by all, and possesses unbounded influence and almost un- 
limited power. I did not anticipate open resistance ; but I was fully aware that 
if the President continued to view the expedition with distrust, nothing could be 
more natural than that every possible obstruction should be thrown in our way 
by a 'masterly inactivity.' Provisions would not be furnished; information 
would not be afforded ; labor could not be procured ; and no means would be 
left untried, short of open opposition, to prevent the success of a measure by 
them deemed fatal to their interests and, safety. So soon, however, as the true 
object of the expedition was fully understood, the President laid the subject- 
matter before the council called for that purpose, and I was informed, as the re- 
sult of their deliberations, that the authorities were much pleased that the explora- 



HISTORY OF SAL 7 LAKE CITY. 6j 

tion was to be made; that they had themselves contemplated something of the 
kind, but did not yet feel able to incur the expense; but that any assistance they 
could render to facilitate our operations would be most cheerfully furnished to 
the extent of their ability. This pledge, thus heartily given, was as faithfully 
redeemed ; and it gives me pleasure here to acknowledge the warm interest mani- 
fested and efficient aid rendered, as well by the President as by all the leading 
men of the community, both in our personal welfare and in the successful prose- 
cution of the work. 

" Matters being thus satisfactorily adjusted, as the provisions which had been 
laid in at the beginning of the journey were nearly exhausted, I left the city on 
the 1 2th of September, with teams and pack-mules, for Fort Hall, to procure 
the supplies for the party which had been forwarded to that post by the supply 
train attached to Colonel Loring's command ; and at the same time to carry out 
that portion of my instructions which directed me to explore a route for a road 
from the head of Salt Lake to Fort Hall. The main party was left under the 
command of Lieutenant Gunnison, with instructions to commence the survey 
upon the basis already laid down." 

Returning from his exploration of a route from Great Salt Lake City to Fort 
Hall, and reconnoissance of Cache Valley, Captain Stansbury continues a narra- 
tive intimately connected with the early histoi-y of this city. He says: 

" Upon my arrival at Salt Lake City, I found that the camp, under Lieuten- 
ant Gunnison, was then about sixty miles to the southward, upon Utah Lake. I 
accordingly joined him as soon as possible. The work, during my absence, had 
been carried forward by that officer with energy, industry and judgment. 

" I had hoped, from the representations which had been made to me of the 
mildness of the two previous winters, that we should be able to keep the field the 
greater part, if not the whole of the season ; but, in the latter part of November, 
the winter set in with great and unusual severity, accompanied by deep snows, 
which rendered any farther prosecution of the work impracticable. I was therefore 
compelled to break up my camp, and to seek for winter quarters in the city. 
These were not obtained without some difficulty, as the tide of emigration had 
been so great that houses were very scarce, and not a small portion of the inhabi- 
tants, among whom was the president himself, were forced to lodge portions of 
their families in wagons. 

"Upon terminating the field-work for the season, I despatched three men, 
one of whom was my guide and interpreter, with a small invoice of goods, to 
trade for horses among the Uintah Utahs, with directions to await my orders at 
Fort Bridger. Reports afterward reached us that a bloody fight had taken place 
between the Sioux and the Yampah Utahs, which latter tribe reside in the vicinity 
of the Uintahs, and great fears were entertained that the little party had been cut off 
by one or the other of the contending tribes. Such a calamity, aside from the 
loss of life, would have been of serious consequence to the expedition, as the 
horses I expected to obtain were almost indispensable to the return of the party 
to the States, the number of our animals having been much diminished by death 
and robbery. 

"It may as well be mentioned here, that the party thus despatched subse- 



66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

quently joined me in the spring, as soon as the melting of the snows rendered 
ccmmunication with Fort Bridger practicable, bringing with them a drove of 
twenty-five horses. They had met with very rough usage from the Indians, hav- 
ing been robbed of a number of their horses, besides the whole of what remained 
of their goods and narrowly escaped with their lives. 

"From the report by Lieutenant Gunnison of his operations during my ab- 
sence, I make the following synopsis. 

''A thorough exploration was made, with the view of ascertaining the points 
for such a base line as would best develop a system of triangles embracing both 
the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. 

"A line was selected, and carefully measured by rods constructed for the 
purpose, and tripod stations erected over the termini, which were marked by 
metal points set in wooden posts sunk flush with the surface of the ground. The 
length of the base is thirty-one thousand six hundred and eighty feet. 

"Fourteen principal triangulation stations were erected, consisting of large 
pyramidal timber tripods, strongly framed, to be covered, when required for use, 
by cotton cloth of different colors, according to the background. The triangles 
extended to the south shore of Utah Lake, and embraced an area of about eighty 
by twenty-five miles. 

"A survey and sounding had been made of the Utah Lake, and also of the 
river connecting it with Salt Lake : this operation requiring a line to be run of 
one hundred and twenty-six miles, principally by the back angle, with the 
theodolite. 

" Although such a result, from less than two months' labor, would be en- 
tirely satisfactory under ordinary circumstances anywhere, and would reflect 
credit on the energy and capacity of the officer in charge of the work, yet it may 
be remarked that it would be very unfair to judge of it by a comparison with 
similar results obtained in the Eastern States. There, all the accessories to such 
a work, especially water and timber, are abundant, and generally at a convenient 
distance: here, on the contrary, both are very scarce and hard to be obtained. 
All the water, for instance, used both for cooking and drinking, that was con- 
sumed on the base line, (requiring seven days of incessant labor in its measure- 
ment,) had to be transported upon mules from the river, which lay a mile east of 
its eastern terminus; and the force employed in the erection of most of the tri- 
angulation stations had to be supplied in a like manner. But the principal diffi- 
culty was the scarcity of timber. Wood grows nowhere on the plains; all the 
wood used for cooking in camp, and all the timber, both for posts on the base 
line and for the construction of the stations, had to be hauled from the moun- 
tains in many cases fifteen or twenty miles distant, over a rough country without 
roads. Almost every stick used for this purpose cost from twenty to thirty miles 
travel of a six-mule team. This, together with the delays of getting into the 
canyons, where alone the timber can be procured, cutting down the trees, and 
hauling them down the gorges by hand to the nearest spots accessible to the 
teams, involved an amount of time and labor which must be experienced before 
it can be appreciated. All this had to be done, however, or the prosecution of 
the work would have been impracticable. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 67 

" Before leaving the Salt Like City for Fort Hall, I had engaged the services 
of Albert Carrington, Esq., a meuiber of the Mormon community, who was to 
act as an assistant on the survey. He was without experience in the use of in- 
struments; but, being a gentleman of liberal education, he soon acquired, under 
instruction, the requisite skill, and, by his zeal, industry, and practical good 
sense, materially aided us in our subsequent operations. He continued with the 
party until the termination of the survey, accompanied it to this city, [Washington] 
and has since returned to his mountain home, carrying with him the respect and 
kind wishes of all with whom he was associated. 

" The winter season in the valley was long and severe. The vicinity of so 
many high mountains rendered the weather extremely variable; snows fell con- 
stantly upon them, and frequently to the depth of ten inches in the plains. In 
many of the canyons it accumulated to the depth of fifty feet, filling up the 
passes so rapidly that, in more than one instance, emigrants who had been belated 
in starting from the States, were overtaken by the storms in the mountain gorges, 
and forced to abandon every thing, and escape on foot, leaving even their ani- 
mals to perish in the snows. All communication with the world beyond was thus 
effectually cut off; and, as the winter advanced, the gorges became more and 
more impassable, owing to the drifting of the snow into them from the project- 
ing peaks. 

'' We remained thus shut up until the 3d of April. Our quarters consisted 
of a small unfurnished house of unburnt brick or adobe, unplastered, and roofed 
with boards loosely nailed on, which, every time it stormed, admitted so much 
water as called into requisition all the pans and buckets in the establishment to 
receive the numerous little streams which came trickling down from every crack 
and knot-hole. During this season of comparative inaction, we received from 
the authorities and citizens of the community every kindness that the most warm- 
hearted hospitality could dictate : and no effort was spared to render us comfort- 
able as -their own limited means would admit. Indeed, we were much better 
lodged than many of our neighbors; for, as has been previously observed, very 
many families were obliged still to lodge wholly or in part in their wagons, which, 
being covered, served, when taken off from the wheels and set upon the ground, 
to make bedrooms, of limited dimensions it is true, but yet exceedingly comfor- 
table. Many of these were comparatively large and commodious, and, when car- 
peted and furnished wnth a little stove, formed an additional apartment or back 
building to the small cabin, with which they frequently communicated by a door. 
It certainly argued a high tone of morals and an habitual observance of good order 
and decorum, to find women and children thus securely slumbering in the midst 
of a large city, with no protection from midnight molestation other than a wagon- 
cover of linen and the aegis of the law. In the very next enclosure to that occu- 
pied by our party, a whole family of children had no other shelter than one of 
these w^agons, where they slept all the winter, literally out of doors, there being 
no communication whatever with the inside of their parents' house." 

Stansbury's report to the Government also supplies the initial pages of the 
Indian history of Utah. He says: 



68 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"The native tribes with whom we came in contact in the valley were the 
most degraded and lowest in the scale of being of any I had ever seen. They 
consisted of the ' root-diggers/ a class of Indians which seemed to be composed 
of outcasts from their respective tribes, subsisting chiefly upon roots dug from the 
ground, and the seeds of various plants indigenous to the soil, which they grind 
into a kind of flour between two flat stones. Lizards and crickets also form a 
portion of their food. At certain seasons of the year they obtain from the trib- 
utaries of both the Salt Lake and Lake Utah, a considerable quantity of fish, 
which they take in weirs or traps, constructed of willow bushes. Those that we saw 
were branches of the Shoshones or Snakes, and from the large and warlike tribe of 
Utahs, which latter inhabit a large tract of country to the southward. They are 
known among the traders by the designation of 'snake-diggers,' and ' Utes ; ' 
those of the latter tribe, which inhabit the vicinity of the lakes and streams and 
live chiefly on fish, being distinguished by the name of 'Pah Utahs,' or 'Pah 
Utes,' — the word Pah, in their language, signifying water.' 

"While engaged in the survey of the Utah Valley, we were no little annoyed 
by numbers of the latter tribe, who hung around the camp, crowding around the 
cook-fires, more like hungry dogs than human beings, eagerly watching for the least 
scrap that might be thrown away, which they devoured with avidity and without 
the least preparation. The herdsmen also complained that their cattle were fre- 
quently scattered, and that notwitlistanding their utmost vigilance, several of them 
had unaccountably disapjjcared and were lost. One morning, a fine fat ox came 
into camp with an arrow buried in his side, which perfectly accounted for the dis- 
appearance of the others. 

"After the party left Lake Utah for winter quarters in Salt Lake City, the 
Indians became more insolent, boasting of what they had done — driving off the 
stock of the inhabitants of the southern settlements, resisting all attempts to re- 
cover them, and finally firing upon the people themselves as they issued from their 
little stockade to attend to their ordinary occupations. Under these circumstances, 
the settlers in the Utah Valley applied to the supreme government, at Salt Lake 
City, for counsel as to the proper course of action. The President was at first 
extremely averse to the adoption of harsh measures; but, after several conciliatory 
overtures had been resorted to in vain, he very properly determined to put a stop, 
by force, to further aggressions, which, if not resisted, could only end in tlie 
total destruction of the colony. Before coming to this decision, the authorities 
called upon me to consult as to the policy of the measure, and to request the ex- 
pression of my opinion as to what view the Government of the United States 
might be expected to take of it. Knowing, as I did, most of the circumstances, 
and feeling convinced that some action of the kind would ultimately have to be 
resorted to, as the forbearance already shown had been only attributed to weak- 
ness and cowardice, and had served but to encorage further and bolder outrages, 
I did not hesitate to say to them that, in my judgment, the contemplated expe- 
dition against these savage marauders was a measure not only of good policy, but 
one of absolute necessity and self-preservation. I knew the leader of the Indians 
to be a crafty and blood-thirsty savage, who had been already guilty of several 
murders, and had openly threatened that he would kill every white man that he 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 69 

found alone upon the |)i-airies. In addition to this, I was convinced that the 
completion of the yet unfinished survey of the Utah Valley, the coming season, 
must otherwise be attended with serious difficulty, if not actual hazard, and 
would involve the necessity of a largely increased and armed escort for its pro- 
tection. Such being the circumstances, the course proposed could not but meet 
my entire approval. 

"A force of one hundred men was accordingly organized, and, upon the ap- 
plication of President Young, leave w^as given to Lieutenant Rowland, of the 
Mounted Rifles, then on duty with my command, to accompany the expedition as 
its adjutant: such assistance also was furnished as it was in my power to afford, 
consisting of arms, tents, camp-ecjuipage, and ammunition. 

" The expedition was completely successful. The Indians fought very bravely, 
but were finally routed, some forty of them killed, and as many more taken pris- 
oners; the latter, consisting principally of women and children, were carried to 
the city and distributed among the inhabitants, for the purpose of weaning them 
from their savage ])ursuits, and bringing them up in the habits of civilized and 
Christian life. The experiment, however, did not succeed as was anticipated, 
most of the prisoners escaping upon the very first opportunity. 

"On the 2 2d of February, about three p. m., a slight shock of an earthquake 
was felt in the southern part of the city, the vibrations being sufficient to shake 
plates from the shelves and to disturb milk in the pans." 

The historical importance of the first Indian expedition of this Territory, 
which was the beginning of the organization of the Utah militia, calls for the fol- 
lowing supplementary pages to Captain Stansbury's report. 

The organization of a militia for the protection of these colonies in an In- 
dian country was an imperative necessity, and to Daniel H. Wells, who had al- 
ready distinguihsed himself in military affairs, was given the task of creating it, 
and the rank of Lieutenant-General was conferred upon him by the Governor. 
The first company organized was under the command of Captain George D. Grant, 
who was afterwards Brigadier-General. They were called " Minute Men," a name 
which soon became famous in the Indian service throughout Utah. The company 
originated in Great Salt Lake City, and from time to time it was called out to the re- 
lief of those colonies which were sent from the parent colony to explore and populate 
the country. The first engagement of any importance was on the spot where the city 
of Provo now stands ; there had, however, occurred a slight affray at Battle Creek, 
at which Colonel John Scott commanded, but none were killed on either side. 
On the call by Governor Young for one hundred mounted men General Wells 
immediately dispatched a company of fifty under the command of Captain George 
D. Grant. Among the subordinate officers were William II. Kimball, James A. 
Little, James Ferguson and Henry Johnson, the two latter having been officers in 
the Mormon Battalion ; and among the privates were such men as Robert T. Bur- 
ton, Lot Smith, Ephraim Hanks, Jesse Martin, Orson Whitney, and others who 
afterwards figured prominently in the Utah militia. 

The second fifty was forwarded under the command of Captain Lytle, who 
was an officer in the Mormon Battalion. 



70 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The company under the command of Captain George D. Grant started from 
Great Salt Lake City on the 7th day of February. The men marched all night 
in the snow for the purpose of coming upon the Indians unawares. The weather 
was intensely cold; from ten to twelve inches of snow covered the entire Utah 
Valley. They arrived early in the morning of the Sth, having suffered severely 
on the march from the inclement weather. 

The Indians had fortified themselves on the Provo River. They were en- 
camped in a bend of the river bottom, under a low bluff, from which the ground 
receded to the river. All this bottom, at that time, was covered with willow 
brush and cottonwod timber, some of the latter having been cut down by them 
to construct their fortifications. 

These Indians were of a warlike tribe, under the command of Old Elk, and 
not of the lower class of which Stansbury speaks. There were about seventy 
warriors, possessing arms equal to those of the expedition sent out against 
them, — their arms having been obtained from the mountaineers, traders, and 
settlers. Their squaws and children were sent into the canyons, while the war- 
riors thus strongly fortified awaited the attack. They also held possession of a 
double log house. The settlers had retired to the shelter of their fort, but 
some of them joined the assailants on their arrival and did effective service 
in the defence of their city. 

Thus fortified, the Indian warriors kept the militia at bay till the evening of 
the second day, before the latter obtained any decided advantage. Meantime the 
Indians had killed one and wounded five or six. They frequently sallied out 
from their entrenchments, delivered their fire, then quickly retreated to the 
brush. At length Lieutenant Rowland, of Stansbury's command, suggested a 
moveable battery, which was forthwith constructed of plank, laid up edgewise on 
the top of runners, over which were thrown camp blankets and buffalo robes. 
This battel y was handled by the assailants effectively, and pushed towards the 
Indian line of defence. On the afternoon of the second day, a small company 
of cavalry (sixteen in number) was ordered by Captain Grant to make a charge 
upon the Indian quarters, and especially to get possession of the log house, pre- 
viously referred to, from which the Indians had greatly annoyed the men. The 
little company of cavalry made a dashing charge, but were met with such a vol- 
ley of fire, wounding two or three of their number, that the impetuosity of the 
charge was for a moment checked, but Burton and Lbt Smith, dashing on, suc- 
ceeded in riding their horses into the passage that divided the rooms of the 
double log house, of which they took possession, the Indians having deserted it 
at the onslaught. The Indians, recovering from the surprise of the charge, fired 
on the remainder of the detachment with such violence that the men had to take 
shelter under the end of the house, but seven or eight of their best horses were 
shot down in a very few minutes. Between the firing the men got into the house, 
upon which the Indians continued to fire for several hours. In this company of 
sixteen picked men were Lot Smith, Robert T. Burton, William H. Kimball, 
Jas. Ferguson, Ephraim Hanks, Henry Johnson, Isham Flyn, (who was wounded,) 
Orson Whitney, and eight others whose names we have not been able to obtain. 

This charge was complimented by Lieutenant Rowland as being as fine as 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 7/ 

regular cavalry would make. It gave the advantage of the engagement into the 
hands of the militia; for the Indians retired in the night after the charge, leaving 
their dead on the ground, carrying their wounded with them; but before their 
retreat they supplied themselves abundantly with the horse beef. 

So much bravery was exhibited by the Indians, and such a desperate defence 
made, that despatches had been sent to Great Salt Lake City, repeatedly request- 
ing General Wells to come and take personal command, which he did, but 
arrived after the second day's engagement. There was afterwards quite an engage- 
ment on the south end of Utah Lake, at which General Wells was present and 
had personal command. 

Captain Stansbury omitted to mention that Dr. Blake, of his command, was 
in this expedition, but his presence and services to the wounded have been re- 
membered and gratefully acknowleged by the commanding officers of the old 
Minute Men. And it is worthy of note that it was this very expedition which 
brought out the men who have since figured as generals of the Utah militia. In 
it Lot Smith and Robert T. Burton for the first time met, and with that charge 
together on the log house began the life long friendship of these two men who, 
next to the Lieutenant-General, Daniel H. Wells, have figured the most conspic- 
uously in the military history of Utah. 

Having completed their surveys and explorations, the topographical en- 
gineers left the City of the Great Salt Lake for home on the 28th of August, 
1850, Stansbury, closing the record of his sojourn among the founders of this 
Territory, with the following tribute to them : 

"Before taking leave of the Mormon community, whose history has been 
the subject of no little interest in the country, I cannot but avail myself of the 
opportunity again to acknowledge the constant kindness and generous hospitality 
which was ever extended to the party during the sojourn of rather more than a 
year among them. The most disinterested efforts were made to afford us, both 
personally and officially, all the aids and facilities within the power of the peo- 
ple, as well to forward our labors as to contribute to our comfort and enjoyment. 
Official invitations were sent by the authorities to the officers of the party, while 
engaged in distant duty on the lake, to participate in the celebration of their 
annual jubilee, on the 24th of July, and an honorable position assigned them in 
the procession on that occasion. Upon our final departure, we were followed 
with the kindest expressions of regard, and anxious hopes for the safety and wel- 
fare of the party upon its homeward journey." 



72 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



CHAPTER IX. 

INCORPORATION OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. IIS ORIGINAL CHARTER. THE 
FIRST CITY COUNCIL AND MUNICIPAL OFFICERS. ORGANIZATION OF THE 
TERRITORY. ARRIVAL OF THE NEWS OF GOVERNOR YOUNG'S APPOINT- 
MENT. DISSOLUTION OF THE STATE OF DESERET. GOVERNOR'S PROC- 
LAMATION. LEGALIZING THE LAWS PASSED BY THE PROVISIONAL 
GOVERNMENT. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN COLONEL KANE AND PRESI- 
DENT FILLMORE. STANSBURY'S VOUCHER FOR BRIGHAM YOUNG. 

The cities of Utah needing their due municipal orders, and having waited so 
long for the action of Congress, the Governor and the General Assembly of the 
State of Deseret, at the opening of the year 185 1, effected the incorporation of the 
cities of Great Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, Manti and Parowan. The following is 
the original charter of Great Salt Lake City, entitled 

"AN ORDINANCE JO INCORI'ORATE GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. 

"Sec. I. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret'. 
That all that district of country embraced in the following boundaries, to wit:— 
beginning at the southeast corner of the Church Pasture, about half a mile north 
of the Hot Spring; thence west to the west bank of the Jordan River; thence 
south, up the west bank thereof, to a point in said bank directly west from the 
southwest corner of the five-acre lots, south of said city; thence east to the 
aforesaid southwest corner of said five-acre lots, and along the south line thereof; 
thence east to the base of the mountains ; thence directly north to the point di- 
rectly east of the southeast corner of the Church Pasture; thence west to the 
place of beginning: — including the present survey of said city, shall be known 
and designated as Great Salt Lake City; and the inhabitants thereof are hereby 
constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name aforesaid, and shall have 
perpetual succession, and may have and use a common seal, which they may 
change and alter at pleasure. 

"Skc. 2. The inhabitants of said city, by the name and style aforesaid, 
shall have power to sue and be sued ; to plead and be impleaded ; defend and 
be defended in all courts of law and e(iuity, and in all actions whatsoever; to 
purchase, receive and hold property, real and personal, in said city ; to purchase 
receive and hold real property beyond the city, for burying grounds, or other 
public purposes, for the use of the inhabitants of said city; to sell, lease, con- 
vey, or dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of said city ; to 
improve and protect such property, and to do all other things in relation thereto, 
as natural persons. 

Sec. 3. There shall be a City Council, to consist of a Mayor, four Alder- 
men, and nine Councilors, who shall have the qualifications of electors of said 
city, and shall be chosen by the qualified voters thereof, and shall hold their 
offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jj 

The City Council shall judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of their 
own members, and a majority of them shall form a quorum to do business; but a 
smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of ab- 
sent members, under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance. 

Sec. 4. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors, before entering upon the 
duties of their offices, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, that they 
will support the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, and that they 
will well and truly perform the duties of their offices, to the best of their skill and 
abilities. 

Sec. 5. On the first Monday of April next, and every two years thereafter, 
on said day, an election shall be held for the election of one Mayor, four Alder- 
men, and nine Councilors; and at the first election under this ordinance, three 
judges shall be chosen, viva voce, by the electors present. The said judges shall 
choose two clerks, and the judges and clerks, before entering upon their duties, 
shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, such as is now required by law to 
be taken by judges and clerks of other elections ; and at all subsequent elections 
the necessary number of judges and clerks shall be appointed by the City Coun- 
cil. At the first election so held, the polls shall be opened at nine o'clock a. m., 
and closed at six o'clock p. m. At the close of the polls, the votes shall be 
counted, and a statement thereof proclaimed at the front door of the house at 
which said election shall be held; and the clerks shall leave with each person 
elected, or at his usual place of residence, within five days after the election, a 
written notice of his election ; and each person so notified, shall within ten days 
after the election, take the oath or affirmation herein before mentioned, a certifi- 
cate of which oath shall be deposited with the Recorder, whose appointment is 
hereinafter provided for, and be by him preserved. And all subsequent elections 
shall be held, conducted, and returns thereof made, as may be provided for by 
ordinance of the City Council. 

Sec. 6. All free white male inhabitants of the age of eighteen years, who 
are entitled to vote for State officers, and who shall have been actual residents of 
said city sixty days next preceeding said election, shall be entitled to vote for city 
officers. 

Sec 7. The City Council shall have authority to levy and collect taxes for 
city purposes, upon all taxable property, real and personal, within the limits of 
the city, not exceeding one-half per cent, per annum, upon the assessed value 
thereof, and may enforce the payment of the same in any manner to be provided 
by ordinance, not repugnant to the Constitusion of the United States, or of this 
State. 

Sec. 8. The City Council shall have power to appoint a Recorder. Treasurer, 
Assessor and Collector, Marshal and Supervisor of Streets. They shall also have 
the power to appoint all such other officers, by ordinance, as may be necessary, 
define the duties of all city officers, and remove them from office at pleasure. 

Sec. 9. The City Council shall have power to require of all officers ap- 
pointed in pursuance of this ordinance, bonds with penalty and security, for the 

faithful performance of their respective duties, such as may be deemed expedient, 
10 



74 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

and also to require all ofificers appointed as aforesaid, to take an oath for the 
faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices. 

Sec. io- The City Council shall have power and authority to make, or- 
dain, establish, and execute all such ordinances not repugnant to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, or of this State, as they may deem necessary for the 
peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness of said city; 
for the protection of property therein, from destruction of property by fire or 
otherwise, and for the health and happiness thereof. They shall have power to 
fill all vacancies that may happen by death, resignation, or removal, in any of 
the offices herein made elective; to fix and establish all the fees of the officers of 
said corporation, not herein established; to impose such fines, not exceeding one 
hundred dollars for each offense, as they may deem just, for refusing to accept 
any office in or under the corporation, or for misconduct therein ; to divide the 
city into wards, and specify the boundaries thereof, and create additional wards; 
10 add to the number of Aldermen and Councilors, and apportion them among 
the several wards, as may be just, and most conducive to the interest of the city. 
Sec. II. To establish, support and regulate common schools; to borrow 
money on the credit of the city, — provided that no sum or sums of money be 
borrowed on a greater interest than six per cent, per annum, — nor shall the in- 
terest on the aggregate of all the sums borrowed and outstanding ever exceed one 
half of the city revenue, arising from taxes assessed on real estate within this cor- 
poration. 

Sec. 12. To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious 
diseases into the City, to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and enforce the 
same. 

Sec. 13. To appropriate and provide for the payment of the expenses 
and debts of the city. 

Sec. 14. To establish hospitals, and make regulations for the government 
of the same; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants; 
to declare what shall be nuisances, and to prevent and remove the same. 

Sec. 15. To provide the City with water, to dig wells, lay pump logs, 
and pipes, and erect pumps in the streets for the extinguishment of fires, and 
convenience of the inhabitants. 

Sec. 16. To open, alter, widen, extend, establish, grade, pave, or other- 
wise improve and keep in repair, streets, avenues, lanes, and alleys; and to es- 
tablish, erect and keep in repair aqueducts and bridges. 

Sec. 17. To provide for lighting of the streets, and erecting lamp posts; 
and establish, support and regulate night watches; to erect market houses, estab- 
lish markets and market places, and provide for the government and regulations 
thereof. 

Sec. 18. To provide for erecting all needful buildings for the use of the 
City; and for enclosing, improving, and regulating all public grounds belonging 
to the City. 

Sec. 19. To license, tax and regulate auctioneers, merchants, and re- 
tailers, grocers and taverns, ordinaries, hawkers, peddlers, brokers, pawnbrokers, 
and money changers. 



HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIl V. y^ 

Sec. 20. To license, ta.\ and regulate hacking, carriages, wagons, carts and 
drays, and fix the rates to be charged for the carriage of persons, and for wagon- 
age, cartage and drayage of property ; as also to license and regulate porters, 
and fix the rates of ])orterage. 

Sec. 21. To license, tax and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions, 
shows and amusements. 

Sec. 22. To tax, restrain, prohibit, and suppress tippling houses, dram 
shops, gaming houses, bawdy, and other disorderly houses. 

Sec. 23. To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; to 
regulate the fixing of chimneys, and the flues thereof, and stove pipes, and to 
organize and establish fire companies. 

Sec. 24. To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, rosin, and 
other combustible materials. 

Sec. 25. To regulate and order parapet walls, and other partition fences. 

Sec. 26. To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate the 
weights and measures to be used in the city, in all other cases not provided for 
by law. 

Sec. 27. To provide for the inspection and measuring of lumber and 
and other building materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechan- 
ical work. 

Sec. 28. To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime and 
stone coal, and measuring of charcoal, firewood, and other fuel, to be sold or 
used within the City. 

Sec. 29. 'I'o provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco, and of 
beef, pork, flour, meal; also beer and whisky, brandy, and all other spirituous or 
fermented liquors. 

Sec. 30. To regulate the weight, quality, and price of bread sold and used 
in the City. 

Sec. 31. To provide for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants of the 
City. 

Sec. 32. To fix the compensation of all city officers, and regulate the fees 
of jurors, witnesses, and others, for services rendered under this or any city or- 
dinance. 

Sec. T^-i^. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city by or- 
dinance, to license, regulate, suppress, or restrain billiard tables, and from one to 
twenty pin alleys, and every other description of gaming or gambling. 

Sec. 34. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the City, by 
ordinance, to license, regulate, or restrain the keeping of ferries, and toll bridges; 
to regulate the police of the city; to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties, for 
the breach of any ordinance, and provide for the recovery of such fines and for- 
feitures, and the enforcement of such penalties, and to pass such ordinances as 
may be necessary and proper for carrying into effect and execution, the powers 
specified in this ordinance, provided such ordinances are not repugnant to the 
Constitution of the United States, or of this State. 

Sec. 35. All ordinances passed by the City Council, shall, within one month 
after they shall have been passed, be published in some newspaper, printed in said 



\ 



j6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

City, or certified copies thereof, be posted up in three of the most public places 
in the City. 

Sec. 36. All ordinances of the City may be proven by the seal af the cor- 
poration ; and when printed or published in book or pamphlet form, purporting 
to be printed or published by the authority of the corporation, the same shall be 
received in evidence in all courts, or places, without further proof. 

Sec. 37. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace 
within the limits of the city, and shall have ali the powers of justices of the 
peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases, arising under the laws of the 
State. They shall, as justices of the peace within said city, perform the same 
duties, be governed by the same laws, give the same bonds and securities, as 
other justices of the peace, and be commissioned as justices of the peace, in and 
for said city, by the Governor. 

Sec 38. The Mayor and Aldermen shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all 
cases arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such pro- 
cess as may be necessary to carry said ordinances into execution and effect. Ap- 
peals may be had from any decision or judgment of said Mayor or Aldermen, 
arising under the ordinances of said city, to the Municipal Court, under such 
regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance; which court shall be composed 
of the Mayor as chief justice, and the Aldermen as associate justices; and from 
the final judgment of the Municipal Court to the Probate Court of Great Salt 
Lake County, in the same manner as appeals are taken from the justices of the 
peace; provided that the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by jury of 
twelve men in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Muni'cipal Court shall 
have power to grant writs of habeas corpus, and try the same, in all cases arising 
under the ordinances of the City Council. 

Sec. 39. The Municipal Court may sit on the first Monday of every 
month, and the City Council, at such times and places as may be prescribed by 
city ordinance, special meetings of which may at any time be called by the 
Mayor or any two Aldermen. 

Sec. 40. All process issued by the Mayor, Aldermen, or Municipal Court 
shall be directed to the Marshal, and in the execution thereof, he shall be gov- 
erned by the same laws as are or may be prescribed for the direction and com- 
pensation of constables in similar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such 
other duties as may be required of him under the ordinances of said City^ and 
shall be the principal ministerial officer. 

Sec. 41. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to make and keep accurate 
records of all ordinances made by the City Council, and of all their proceedings 
in their corporate capacity, which record shall at all times be open to the inspec- 
tion of the electors of said City, and shall perform all other duties as may be 
required of him by the ordinances of the City Council, and shall serve as clerk 
of the Municipal Court. 

Sec. 42. When it shall be necessary to take private property for opening, 
widening, or altering any public street, lane, avenue, or alley, the corporation 
shall make a just compensation therefor ; to the person whose property is so taken ; 
and if the amount of .such compensation cannot be agreed upon, the Mayor shall 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yy 

cause the same to be ascertained by a jury of six disinterested men, who shall be 
inhabitants of the City. 

Sec. 43. All jurors empannelled to enquire into the amount of benefits or 
damages, that shall happen to the owners of property so proposed to be taken, 
shall first be sworn to that effect, and shall return to the Mayor their inquest in 
writing, signed by each juror. 

Sec. 44. In case the Mayor shall, at any time, be guilty of a palpable 
omission of duty, or shall wilfully or corruptly be guilty of oppression, malcon- 
duct, or partiality, in the discharge of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to 
mdictment in the Probate Court of Great Salt Lake County, and on conviction he 
shall be liable to fine and imprisonment ; and the court shall have power on the 
recommend of the jury, to add to the judgment of the court, that he be removed 
from office. 

Sec. 45. The City Council shall have power to provide for the punish- 
ment of offenders and vagrants, by imprisonment in the county or city jail, or by 
compelling them to labor upon the streets, or other public works, until the same 
shall be fully paid ; in all cases where such offenders or vagrants shall fail or refuse 
to pay the fine and forfeitures which may be recovered against them. 

Sec. 46. The inhabitants of Great Salt Lake City shall, from and after the 
next ensuing two years, from the first Monday of April next, be exempt from 
working on any road or roads, beyond the limits of said City. But all taxes de- 
voted to road purposes, shall, from and after said term of two years, be collected 
and expended by, and under the direction of, the supervisor of streets, within the 
limits of said City. 

Sec. 47. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors of said City shall, in the 
first instance, be appointed by the Governor and Legislature of said State of 
Deseret ; and shall hold their office until superseded by the first election. 

Approved January 9th, 1851. 

The first municipal Council of Great Salt Lake City was composed of Jede- 
diah M. Grant, Mayor; Nathaniel H. Felt, William Snow, Jesse P. Harmon and 
Nathaniel V. Jones, Aldermen; Vincent Shurtliff, Benjamin L. Clapp, Zera Pul- 
sipher, William G. Perkins, Harrison Burgess, Jeter Clinton, John L. Dunyon 
and Samuel W. Richards, Councilors. 

The City Council met pursuant to notice from the clerk of Great Salt Lake 
County. The members having been severally sworn in by the county clerk "to 
observe the Constitution of the United States and of this State," organized in 
due form. 

The ordinance incorporating Great Salt Lake City was then read by the 
clerk of the county, when the Mayor informed the Council that it would be 
necessary to appoint a Recorder, Treasurer and Marshal of the city : whereupon 
Robert Campbell was appointed Recorder, and Elam Luddington Marshal and 
Assessor and Collector of Great Salt Lake City. Afterwards Leonard W. Hardy 
was appointed Captain of the City police. 

At the afternoon's session committees were appointed to formulate govern- 
mental methods for the City. Enquiry was made relative to the disposition of 



78 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

taxes^ when it was stated that the State taxes would be applied as formerly for 
State purposes, and that a city tax of one half of one per cent, should be levied 
for city purposes. 

The Mayor brought forward the subject of dividing the City into municipal 
wards. 

The county clerk then submitted a city plot to the council, and the following 
municipal wards were laid out from the map, and their proper boundaries 
designated : 

First Ward: bounded on the north by Third South Street; west, by East 
Temple Street; south, by southern limits; east, by eastern limits: Alderman, 
Jesse P. Harmon. Second Ward: east, by East Temple Street; south, by 
southern limits; west, by Jordan River; north, by South Temple Street: Alder- 
man, N. V. Jones. Third Ward: east, by East Temple Street; south, by South 
Temple Street ; west, by Jordan River; north, by northern limits: Alderman, 
Nathaniel H. Felt. Fourth Ward: east, by eastern limits; south, by Third 
South Street ; west, by East Temple Street ; north, by northern limits: Alder- 
man, William Snow. 

The Mayor instructed the Marshal and Collector to proceed to assessing 
property and levying taxes. The Council then adjourned. 

In April the first municipal election for Great Salt Lake City was held, as 
provided for by the charter, and the following members were returned : 

Mayor; Jedediah M. Grant; Aldermen: Nathaniel Felt, William Snow, J. 
P. Harmon, N. V. Jones; Councilors: Lewis Robinson, Robert Pierce, Zera Pul- 
sipher, Wm. G. Perkins, Jeter Clinton, Enoch Reese, Harrison Burges, Samuel 
W. Richards, Vincent Shurtliff. 

Li the meantime Congress had passed an act, approved on the 9th of Sep- 
tember, 1850, organizing the Territory of Utah within the following limits: 
" Bounded on the west by the State of California; on the north by the Terri- 
tory of Oregon; on the east by the summits of the Rocky Mountains; and on 
the south by the 37th parallel of north latitude: with the proviso that Congress 
should be at liberty, when it might be deemed "convenient and proper" to cut 
it up into two or more Territories, or to attach any portion of it to any other 
State or Territory. On the 2Sth of the same month. President Fillmore, "with 
the advice and consent of the Senate," appointed Brigham Young Governor of 
Utah; B. D.Harris, of Vermont, Secretary; Joseph Buffington, of Pennsylvania, 
Chief Justice ; Perry E. Brocchus, of Alabama, and Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio, 
Associate Justices; Seth M. Blair, of Utah, United States Attorney ; and Joseph 
L. Heywood, of Utah, United States Marshal; but Mr. Buffington declining the 
office of Chief Justice, Lemuel G. Brandebury was appointed in his stead. 

The postal communication between Washinton and Great Salt Lake City at 
this period being scarcely opened, an interval of six months passed before the 
news officially reached Utah. It came first unofficially by way of California, 
brought by a portion of that same company which explored the southern route to 
California in the fall of 1849. The returning company consisted of Major Hunt, 
of the Mormon Battalion, Mr. Henry E. Gibson and five others. To bear the im- 
portant news, they started on Christmas day, and travelled with pack animals from 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yg 

Los Angelos to Great Salt Lake City. Major Hunt stopped at his home on the 
way; but Mr. Gibson posted on to Great Salt Lake City, where he arrived on the 
27th of January, and presented to Governor Young published reports, in Eastern 
papers, of the passage of the Organic Act that created Utah a Territory. The 
news being certain and so many months having pas.sed since the passage of the act 
and his own appointment, Governor Young at once took the oath of office, on'the 
3d of February, 185 1 ; and on the 26th of March he issued the following special 
message to the General Assembly of the State of Deseret : 

Gentlemen : — Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an Act. Sep- 
tember 9th, 1S50, and received the approval of the President to " establish a Ter- 
ritorial Government for Utah," and made appropriations for erecting public build- 
ings for said Territory, etc.; the appointments under said law also having been 
made, official announcement of which has not as yet been received, but is shortly 
expected; sufficient intelligence, however, has been received to justify us in prepar- 
ing for the adoption and organization of the new Government under said Act. 

I have therefore thought proper to suggest to you, previous to your final ad- 
journment, the propriety of making such arrangements, as in wisdom you may 
consider necessary, in view of the aforesaid Act of Congress, that as little incon- 
venience as possible may arise in the change of governmental affairs, and in relation 
to the organization of the Territorial Government for erecting public buildings 
for said territory, etc. 

And now, upon the dissolving of this Legislature, permit me to add, the in- 
dustry and unanimity which have ever characterized your efforts, and contributed 
so much to the pre-eminent success of this government, will, in all future time, be 
a source of gratification to all ; and whatever may be the career and destiny of 
this young, but growing republic, we can ever carry with us the proud satisfaction 
of having erected, established, and maintained a peaceful, quiet, yet energetic gov- 
ernment, under the benign auspices of which, unparalleled prosperity has showered 
her blessings upon every interest. 

With sentiments of the highest esteem and gratitude to the Giver of all good 

for His kind blessings, I remain. 

Respectfully yours. 

Brig HAM Young, Governor. 
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 
March 26th, 1851. 

The Legislature of Deseret, in joint session, March 28th, 1851, unanimously 
passed the following Preamble and Resolutions, pertaining to the organization of 
a Territorial Government for Utah : — 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas, in the .winter and spring of the year of our Lord, 1849, the people 
of this territory did form and establish a Provisional State Government, until the 
United States Congress should otherwise provide by law for the government of 
this territory ; and 

Whereas, it was under this authority and by virtue thereof, that this body have 



So HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

acted and legislated, for and in behalf of the people of said State, now Utah Terri- 
tory; and 

Whereas the United States Congress has finally legislated in behalf of this 
territory, by passing an act for the organization of the Territory of Utah ; making 
appropriations for public buildings, and extending the Constitution of the United 
States over said territory ; and 

Whereas, previous to the first election under said law, the census has to be 
taken, and apportionments made, which will necessarily consume much time ; and 

Whereas the public buildings for said territory are very much needed, and 
rhe United States Congress having made an appropriation of twenty thousand 
dollars towards defraying the expense thereof; — and in order to facilitate the 
speedy erection of said public buildings for the use of the territory, and further 
promote the mutual and easy organization of said territorial government ; — 

Therefore, be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret : 

1. That we cheerfully and cordially accept of the legislation of Congress in 
the Act to establish a Territorial Government for Utah. 

2. That we welcome the Constitution of the United iStates — the legacy of our 
fathers — over this territory. 

3. That all officers under the Provisional State Government of Deseret, are 
hereby requested to furnish unto their successors in office every facility in their 
power, by returning and delivering unto them public documents, laws, ordinances, 
and dockets, that may or can be of any use or benefit to their said successors in 
office. 

4. That Union Square, in Great Salt Lake City, be devoted for the use of 
public buildings of said Territory. 

5. That Governor B. Young be our agent to make drafts upon the treas- 
ury of the United States for the amount appropriated for said buildings, and to 
take such other measures as he shall deem proper for their immediate erection. 

6. That we appoint an architect to draft designs, and a committee of one, 
to superintend the erection of said buildings. 

7. That Truman O. Angel, of said city, be said architect, and Daniel H. 
Wells, of said city, the committee ; and that they proceed immediately to the 
designing and erection of said buildings. 

8. That, whereas, the State House in Great Salt Lake City having been 
originally designed for a "Council House," and erected by and at the expense 
of the " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," for the purpose, as well as 
to acco.Tfimodate the Provisional Government; that we now do relinquish unto 
said Church the aforesaid building, tendering unto them our thanks for the free 
use thereof during the past session. 

9. That we fix upon Saturday, the 5th day of April next, for the adjust- 
ment and final dissolving of the General Assembly of the State of Deseret. 

H. C. Kimball, President of the Council. 
J. M. Grant, Speaker of the House. 
" T, Bullock, C/erh." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8i 

Governor Young issued a proclamation on July ist, 1851, calling the elec- 
tion for the first Monday in the following August, when it was accordingly held, 
August 4th, and the Territorial Legislature of Utah duly created by the people. 

The first session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, was 
convened in pursuance of the proclamation of the Governor, on the 2 2d day of 
September, A. D. 1S51 ; and continued by adjournments to the i8th day of Feb- 
ruary, A. D. 1852. This was succeeded by a special session, called by proclama- 
tion of the Governor, and convened the day following, continuing until the 6th 
day of March, A. D. 1852. 

Brigham Young, Governor. 

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL: 

Great Salt Lake County. — Willard Richards (President), Heber C. Kimball, 
Daniel H. Wells, Orson Spencer, Ezra T. Benson (resigned September 24th, 
1851), Orson Pratt (elected November 15th, 1851), Jedediah M. Grant (re- 
signed September 23d, 185 1), Edward Hunter (elected November 15th, 185 1). 

Davis County. — John S. Fullmer. 

Weber County. — Lorin Farr, Charles R. Dana. 

Utah County. — Alexander Williams, Aaron Jonhson. 

San Pete County. — Isaac Morley. 

Iron County. — George A. Smith. 

MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 

Great Salt Lake County. — William W. Phelps (Speaker), Daniel Spencer, 
Albert P. Rockwood, Nathaniel H. Felt, David Fullmer, Edwin D. Woolley, 
Phinehas Richards, Joseph Young, Henry G. Sherwood, Wilford Woodruff, Ben- 
jamin F. Johnson, Hosea Stout, Willard Snow (resigned September 24th, 1851), 
John Brown (elected November 15, 185 1). 

Davis County. — Andrew J, Lamereaux, John Stoker, Gideon Brownell. 

Weber County. — David B. Dille, James Brown, James G. Browning. 

Utah County. — David Evans, William Miller, Levi W. Hancock. 

San Pete C(?«;/A'.— Charles Shumway. 

Iron County. — Elisha H. Groves, George Brimhall (elected November 

IS. iSsO- 

Tooele County, — John Rowberry. 

The first printed volume of laws of Utah Territory, had the following 
title page : 

"Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, passed by the First Annual, and Special 
Sessions, of the Legislative Assembly, of the Territory of Utah, begun and held 
at Great Salt Lake City, on the 2 2d day of September, A. D. 1851. Also the 
Constitution of the United States, and the Act organizing the Territory of Utah. 
Published by Authority of the Legislative Assembly. G. S. L. City, U. T. 
1852. Brigham H. Young, Printer." 

To this was appended a certificate of authenticity, signed by "Willard Rich- 
ards, Secretary //-t? tern., appointed by the Governor." 
11 



82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

At its opening session the members passed the foUowina; 

''Joint Resolution Legalizing the Laws of the Provisional Government of the 
State of Deseret : 

''Resolved, by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah: That 
the laws heretofore passed by the Provisional Government of the State of Des- 
eret, and which do not conflict with the Organic Act of said Territory be, and 
the same are hereby declared to be legal, and in full force and virtue, and shall 
so remain until superseded by the action of the Legislative Assembly of the Ter- 
ritory of Utah. 

"Approved October 4, 1851." 

This Resolution preserved the original charter of Great Salt Lake City. 

The second Resolution, passed on the same day, transferred the political 
capital from Great Salt Lake City to ''Pauvan Valley," where the City of 
Fillmore was afterwards founded, and Millard County organized and named in 
honor of the President of the United States, who had so cordially recognized the 
right of the people of Utah to local self-government and the choice of their own 
ofificers. 

Severe strictures, however, were passed upon President Fillmore by a por- 
tion of the American press, for appointing Brigham Young Governor of Utah, 
which called forth the following correspondence between the President and Col- 
onel Thomas L. Kane: 

" Washington, July 4, 1851. 
" My Dear Sir: — I have just cut the enclosed slip from the Buffalo Courier. 
It brings serious charges against Brigham Young, Governor of Utah, and falsely 
charges that I knew them to be true! You will recollect that I relied much upon 
you for the moral character and standing of Mr. Young. You knew him, and 
had known him in Utah. You are a den:ocrat, but I doubt not will truly state 
whether these charges against the moral character of Ciovernor Young are true. 
" Please return the article with your letter. 

"Not recollecting your given name, I shall address this letter to you as the 
son of Judge Kane. 

"I am, in great haste, truly yours, 

Millard Fillmore. 
"Mr. Kane, Philadelphia.'' 

"Philadelphia, July nth, 1851. 

''My Dear Sir: — I have do wish to evade the responsibility of having 
vouched for the character of Mr. Brigham Young of Utah, and his fitness for the 
station he now occupies. I reiterate without reserve, the statement of his excel- 
lent capacity, energy and integrity, which I made you prior to his appointment. 
I am willing to say I volunteered to communicate to you the facts by which I was 
convinced of his patriotism, and devotion to the interests of the Union. I made 
no qualification when I assured you of his irreproachable moral character, because 
I was able to speak of this from my own intimate personal knowledge. 

•'If any show or shadow of evidence can be adduced in support of the 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. S3 

charges of your anonymous assailant, the next mail from Utah shall bring you 
their complete and circumstantial refutation. Meanwhile I am ready to offer this 
assurance for publication in any form you care to indicate, and challenge contra- 
diction from any respectable authority. 

" I am. Sir, with high respect and esteem, your most obedient servant, 

"Thomas L. Kane. 
' ' The President. 

Captain Stansbury, in his official report to the government, giving his views 
and testimony relative to Brigham Young, both as the leader of the Mormon 
people and the Governor of Utah, said: 

" Upon the personal character of the leader of this singular people, it may 
not, perhaps, be proper for me to comment in a communication like the present. 
I may, nevertheless, be pardoned for saying, that to me, President Young ap- 
peared to be a man of clear, sound sense, fully alive to the responsibilities of the 
station he occupies, sincerely devoted to the good name of the people over whom 
he presides, sensitively jealous of the least attempt to under-value or misrepresent 
them, and indefatigable in devising ways and means for their moral, mental, and 
physical elevation. He appeared to possess the unlimited personal and official 
confidence of his people; while both he and his councilors, forming the Presi- 
dency of the Church, seem to have but one object in view, the prosperity and 
peace of the society over which they preside. 

"Upon the action of the Executive in the appointmnt of the officers within 
the newly- created Territory, it does not become me to offer other than a very 
diffident opinion, Yet the opportunities of information to which allusion has 
already been made, may perhaps justify me in presenting the result of my own 
observations upon this subject. With all due deference, then, I feel constrained 
to say, that in my opinion the appointment of the President of the Mormon 
Church, and the head of the Mormon community, in preference to any other 
person, to the high office of Governor of the Territory, independent of its politi- 
cal bearings, with which I have nothing to do, was a measure dictated alike by 
justice and by sound policy. Intimately connected with them from their exodus 
from Illinois, this man has indeed been their Moses, leading them through the 
wilderness to a remote and unknown land, where they have since set up their 
tabernacle, and where they are now building their temple. Resolute in danger, 
firm and sagacious in council, prompt and energetic in emergency, and enthusi- 
astically devoted to the honor of his people, he had w^on their unlimited confi- 
dence, esteem and veneration, and held an unrivaled place in their hearts. Upon 
the establishment of the provisional government, he had been unanimously 
chosen as their highest civil magistrate, and even before his appointment by the 
President, he combined in his own person the triple character of confidential ad- 
viser, temporal ruler, and prophet of God. Intimately acquainted w'ith their 
character, capacities, wants, and weaknesses; identified now with their prosper- 
ity, as he had formerly shared to the full in their adversities and sorrows; 
honored, trusted, — the whole wealth of the community placed in his hands, for 
the advancement both of the spiritual and temporal interest of the infant settle- 



84 HlSlORy 01' SALT LAKE CITY. 

ment, he wasj surely, of all others, the man best fitted to preside, under the aus- 
pices of the general government, over a colony of which he may justly be said to 
have been the founder. No other man could have so entirely secured the confi- 
dence of the people ; and the selection by the Executive of the man of their 
choice, besides being highly gratifying to them, is recognized as an assurance that 
they shall hereafter receive at the hands of the general government that justice 
and consideration to which they are entitled. Their confident hope now is that, 
no longer fugitives and outlaws, but dwelling beneath the broad shadow of the 
national a;gis, they will be subject no more to the violence and outrage which 
drove them to seek a secure habitation in this far distant wilderness. 

"As to the imputations that have been made against the personal character 
of the Governor, I feel confident they are without foundation. Whatever opinion 
may be entertained of his pretensions to the character of an inspired prophet, or 
of his views and practice of polygamy, his personal reputation I believe to be 
above reproach. Certain it is that the most entire confidence is felt in his in- 
tegrity, personal, official, and pecuniary, on the part of those to whom a long 
and intimate association, and in the most trying emergencies, have afforded every 
possible opportunity of formimg a just and accurate judgment of his true 
character. 

" From all I saw and heard, I am firmly of the opinion that the appointment 
of any other man to the office of governor would have been regarded by the 
whole people, not only as a sanction, but as in some sort a renewal, on the part 
of the General Government, of that series of persecutions to which they have 
already been subjected, and would have operated to create distrust and suspicion 
in minds prepared to hail with joy the admission of the new Territory to the 
protection of the supreme government." 

Very pertinent to the closing paragraph of this testimony of Captain Stans- 
bury is the following passage of an epistle of the Presidency of the Mormon 
Church announcing to "the Saints abroad" the event of the organization of the 
Territory of Utah : 

"We anticipate no convulsive revolutionary feeling or movement, by the 
citizens of Deseret in the anticipated change of governmental affairs; but an easy 
and quiet transition from State to Territory, like weary travellers descending a hill 
near by their way side home. 

" As a people, we know how to appieciate, most sensibly, the hand of friend- 
ship which has been extended towards our infant State, by the General Govern- 
ment. Coming to this place as did the citizens of Deseret, without the means of 
subsistence, except the labor of their hands, in a wilderness country, surrounded 
by savages, whose inroads have given occasion for many tedious and expensive 
expeditions; the relief afforded by our mother land, through the medium of the 
approaching territorial organization, will be duly estimated ; and from henceforth, 
we would fondly hope the most friendly feelings may be warmly cherished between 
the various States and Territories of this great nation, whose constitutional charter 
is not to be excelled." 



HIS7 OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CIT\. 8^ 



CHAPTER X. 

ARRIVAL OF THE FEDERAL JUDGES. FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE UNITED 
STATES OFFICIALS BEFORE THE CITIZENS AT A SPECIAL CONFERENCE. 
JUDGE BROCCHUS ASSAULTS THE COMMUNITY. PUBLIC INDIGNATION. 
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JUDGE BROCCHUS AND GOVERNOR YOUNG. 
THE "RUNAWAY" JUDGES AND SECRETARY. DANIEL WEBSTER, SECRE- 
TARY OF STATE, SUSTAINS GOVERNOR YOUNG AND REMOVES THE OF- 
FENDING OFFICIALS, FIRST UNITED STATES COURT. THE NEW FEDEREL 
OFFICERS. ARRIVAL OF COLONEL STEPTOE. RE-APPOINTMENT OF 

OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. JUDGE SHAVER FOUND DEAD. JUDGES DRUM- 
MOND AND STILES. 

In July, 1 85 1, four of the Federal officers arrived in Great Salt Lake City, 
and waited upon his Excellency Governor Young. They were Lemuel G. Brande- 
bury, Chief Justice, and Perry E. Brocchus and Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court of the Territory, and B. D. Harris, the Secretary. 
Governor Brigham Young, United States Attorney Seth M. Blair, and United 
States Marshal Joseph L. Heywood were all residents of Great Salt Lake City. 

At this time there had not been any session of the Legislative Assembly of 
the Territory under the Organic Law. The newly arrived Federal officers en- 
quired the reason why the legislature had not been organized, upon which they 
were informed that there were no mails from the States during the winter season, and 
that the official news of the passage of the Act did not reach this city till March, 
of that year. Soon after their arrival Governor Young issued a proclamation, as 
provided in Section 16 of the Organic Law, defining the judicial districts of the 
Territory, and assigning the judges to their respective districts. His other proc- 
lamation, calling for an election in August, brought the Legislature into existence, 
and the two branches of the Territorial Government were thus duly established. 
Early in the following September, a special conference of the Mormon Church 
was held in Great Salt Lake City, one of the purposes of which was to send a 
block of Utah marble or granite as the Territorial contribution to the Washington 
Monument at the Capital. It was the first time that the Federal officers had 
found the opportunity to appear in a body before the assembled citizens, as the 
representatives of the United States, since the organization of the Territory. An 
excellent occasion surely was this, in the design of the leaders of the community, 
who called that special conference, and there can be no doubt that harmony and 
good will were sought to be encouraged between the Federal officers and the people. 
Chief Justice Brandebury, Secretary Harris and Associate Justice Brocchus were 
honored with an invitation to sit on the platform with the leaders of the commu- 
nity. This association of Mormon and Gentile on the stand was very fitting on 
such an occasion, considering that Governor Brigham Young, Associate Justice 
Zerubbabel Snow, United States Attorney Seth M. Blair, and United States Mar- 



86 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITy. 

shall Joseph L. Heywood, though Mormons, were also their Federal colleagues. 
But it seems that one of their number — Associate Justice Brocchus — had chosen 
this as a fitting time to correct and rebuke the community relative to their pecu- 
liar religious and social institutions. The following correspondence, which subse- 
quently took place between Governor Young and Judge Brocchus is most impor- 
tant and relevant to the entire history of this city and territory, as it is the com- 
mencement of that long controversy which has existed between the people of Utah 
and the Federal Judges, and in which, in the latter period. Congress and the 
Governors of the Territory have also taken an active part : 

B. YOUNG TO p. E. BROCCHUS. 

" Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 19, 185 1. 

Dear Sir. — Ever wishing to promote the peace, love and harmony of the 
people, and to cultivate the spirit cf charity and benevolence to all, and especially 
towards strangers, I propose, and respectfully invite your honor, to meet our 
public assembly at the Bowery, on Sundiy morning next, at 10 a.m., and ad- 
dress the same people that you addressed on the 8th inst., at our General Con- 
ference; and if your honor shall then and there explain, satisfy, or apologize to 
the satisfaction of the ladies who heard your address on the 8th, so that those 
feelings of kindness that you so dearly prized in your address can be reciprocated 
by them, I shall esteem it a duty and a pleasure to make every apology and satis- 
faction for my observations which you as a gentleman can claim or desire at my 
hands. 

"Should your honor please to accept of this kind and benevolent invitation, 
please answer by the bearer, that public notice may be given, and widely ex- 
tended, that the house may be full. And believe me, sir, most sincerely and 
respectfully, your friend and servant, 

Brigham Young. 

^^ LLon. P. E. Brocchus, Asste. Justice.'' 

" P. S. — Be assured that no gentleman will be permitted to make any reply 
to your address on that occasion. B. Y." 

P. E. BROCCHUS TO GOVERNOR YOUNG. 

" Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 19, 185 1. 

Dear Sir: — Your note of this date is before me. While I fully concur in, 
and cordially reciprocate, the sentiments expressed in the preface of your letter, 
I must be excused from the acceptance of your respectful invitation, to address a 
public assembly at the Bowery to-morrow morning. 

''If, at the proper time, the privilege of explaining had been allowed me, I 
should, promptly and gladly, have relieved myself from any erroneous impressions 
that my auditors might have derived from the substance or tone of my remarks. 
But, as that privilege was denied me, at the peril of having my hair pulled, or 
my throat cut, I must be permitted to decline appearing again in public on the 
subject. 

"I will take occasion here to say, that my speech, in all its parts, was the 
result of deliberation and care — not proceeding from a heated imagination, or a 



HIS TOR V OT SALT LAKE CITY. 87 

maddened impuls?, as seems to have been a general impression. I intenxied to 
say what I did say; but, in so doing, I did not design to offer indignity and in- 
sult to my audience. 

" My sole design, in the branch of my remarks which seems to be the source 
01 offence, was to vindicate the Government of the United States from those 
feelings of' prejudice and that spirit of defection which seemed to pervade the 
public sentiment. That duty I attempted to perform in a manner faithful to the 
government of which I am a citizen, and to which I owe a patriotic allegiance, 
without unjustly causing a chord to vibrate painfully in the bosom of my hearers. 
Such a duty, I trust, I shall ever be ready to discharge with the fidelity that be- 
longs to a true American citizen — with firmness, with boldness, with dignity — 
always observing a due respect towards other parties, whether assailants or 
neutrals. 

"It was not my indention to insult, or offer disrespect to my audience; and 
farthest possible was it from my design, to excite a painful or unpleasant emotion 
in the hearts of the ladies who honored me with their presence and their respect- 
ful attention on the occasion. 

"In conclusion, I will remark that, at the time of the delivery of my speech, 
I did not conceive that it contained anything deserving the censure of a just- 
minded person. My subsequent reflections have fully confirmed me in that im- 
pression. 

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 

Perry E. Brocchus. 

" To His Excellency Brigham Yoii/ig." 

BRIGHAM YOUNG TO P. E. BROCCHUS. 

"Great Salt Lake City^ Sept. 20, 185 t. 

Dear Sir: — The perusal of your note of the 19th inst. has been the source 
of some sober reflections in my mind, which I beg leave to communicate in the 
same freedom with which my soul has been inspired in the contemplation. 

With a war of words on party politics, factions, religious schisms, current 
controversy of creeds, policy of clans, or State clipper cliques, I have nothing to 
do; but when the eternal principles of truth are falsified, and light is turned into 
darkness by mystification of language or a false delineation of facts, so that the 
just indignation of the true, virtuous, upright citizens of the commonwealth is 
aroused into vigilance for the dear-bought liberties of themselves and fathers, 
and that spirit of intolerance and persecution, which has driven this people time 
and time again from their peaceful homes, manifests itself in the flippancy of 
rhetoric for female insult and desecration, it is time that I forbear to hold ray 
peace, lest the thundering anathemas of nations born and unborn should rest 
upon my head when the marrow of my bones shall be illy prepared to sustain the 
threatened blow. 

"It has been said that a wise man foreseeth evil, and hideth himself. The 
evil of your course I foresee, and I shall hide myself— not by attempting to 
screen my conduct, or the conduct of this people from the gaze of an assembled 
universe, but by exposing some of your movements, designs^ plans, and purposes, 



ii 



88 HISTORy OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

so that the injury which you have designed for this people may fall upon your 
own head, unless you shall. choose to accept the proffered boon — the friendship 
which I •extended to you yesterday — by inviting you to make satisfaction to the 
ladies ot this valley, who felt themselves insulted and abused by your address on 
the 8th inst., and which you have declined to do in your note, to which this is a 
reply. 

"In your note, you remark — 'If, at the proper time, the privilege of ex- 
plaining had been allowed me, I should promptly and gladly have relieved my- 
self from any erroneous impressions that my auditors might have derived from 
the substance and tone of my remarks ; but, as that privilege was denied me, at 
the peril of having my hair pulled, or my throat cu I must be permitted to de- 
cline appearing again in public on the subject.' 

"Sir, when was the 'proper time' to which you refer? Was it when you 
had exhausted the patience of your audience on the 8th, after having given a 
personal challenge to any who would accept ? Was it a proper time to challenge 
for single combat, before a general assembly of the people, convened especially 
for religious worship? 

" How could you then have 'promptly and gladly relieved yourself from any 
erroneous impression your auditors might have derived from the substance and 
tone of your remarks' when you knew not from what source your auditors derived 
those impressions? And was it your boasted privilege, your proper time to fire 
and 'fight your battles o'er again,' as quick as you had given a challenge, with- 
out waiting to see if any one accepted it? If so, who would you have been 
likely to hit — ladies or gentlemen ? 

"It was true, sir, what I said, at the close of your speech, and I repeat it 
here, that my expressions may not be mistaken — I said in reference to your 
speech, 'Judge Brocchus is either profoundly ignorant — or wilfully wicked — one of 
the two. There are several gentlemen who would be very glad to prove the state- 
ments that have been made about Judge Brocchus, and which he has attempted 
to repel; but I will hear nothing more on either side at this Conference.' 

And why did I say it? To quell the excitement which your remarks had 
caused in that audience; not to give or accept a challenge, but to prevent any one 
(of which there were many present wishing the opportunity,) and every one from 
accepting your challenge, and thereby bringing down upon your head the indig- 
nation of an outraged people, in the midst of a Conference convened for relig- 
ious instruction and business, and which, had your remarks continued, must have 
continued the excitement, until there would have been danger "of pulling of hair 
and cutting of throats," perhaps, on both sides, if parties had proved equal — for 
there are points in human actions and events, beyond which men and women can- 
not be controlled. Starvation will revolutionize any people, and lead them to acts 
of atrocity that human power cannot control; and will not a mother's feelings, in 
view of her murdered offspring, her bleeding husband, and her dying sire, by 
hands of mobocratic violence, and especially when tantalized to the highest pitch 
by those who stand, or ought to stand, or sit, with dignity on the judgment seat, 
and impart justice alike to all? 

" Sir, what confidence can this persecuted, murdered, outcast people have in 



BIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI7 V. Sg 

your decisions from the Bench, after you have tantalized their feelings from the 
stand, by informing them there is yet hope in their case, if they will apply to 
Missouri and Illinois. I ask you, sir, if you did not know, when you were thus 
making your plea, that this people have plead with the authorities of those States, 
which are doomed to irretrievable ruin by their own acts, from their lowest magis- 
trate to their highest judge, and from their halls of legislature to their governors, 
times, and times, and times again, until they, with force of arms, have driven us 
from their midst, and utterly refused the possibility of the cries of murdered inno- 
cence from reaching their polluted ears? I ask, sir, did you know this? If not, 
you were profoundly ignorant ; you were possessed of ignorance not to be toler- 
ated in children of ten years, in these United States. But, on the other hand, if 
you were in possession of the facts, you were wilfully wicked in presuming to tan- 
talize, and rouse in anger dire, those feelings of frail humanity on one hand, and 
offended justice on the other, which it is our object to bury in forgetfulness, and 
leave the issue to the decision of a just God. 

"Your motive, action, or design, you wholly concealed, or you could never 
have gained a hearing on such an occasion. 

"As presiding officer in said Conference, did I permit any man to accept your 
challenge? No, sir, you know I did not ; and could you, as a gentleman, ask the 
privilege to defend your challenge before it was accepted? Don Quixote should 
not be named in such a farce. No, sir, out of mercy to you I prohibited any man 
from accepting your challenge. And until the challenge was accepted you had 
nothing to reply to. When, then, was the proper time you refer to, when you 
would have replied, and the privilege was denied you? No such time as you sup- 
posed, existed. 

''And now, sir, as it appears from the whole face of the subject, that to- 
morrow might have been the first ^proper time' that might have given you the 
'privilege of explaining,' and as this courtesy you have utterly refused, and 
thereby manifest a choice to leave an incensed public incensed still, against your 
(as they now view it) dishonorable course, I shall take the liberty of doing my 
duty, by adverting still further to your reply of yesterday. Charity would have 
induced me hope, at least, that your speech, in part, was prompted by the impulse 
of the moment ; but I am forbid this pleasing reflection by your note, wherein 
you state that ' my speech, in all its parts, was the result of deliberation and care, 
proceeding from a heated imagination or a maddened impulse.' ' I intended to 
say what I did say.' Now, if you did actually ' intend to say what you did say,' 
it is pretty strong presumptive testimony that you were not ignorant, for if you 
had been ignorant, from whence arose your intentions ? And if you were not 
ignorant you must have been willfully wicked; and I cannot conceive of a more 
charitable construction to put upon your conduct on that occasion than to believe 
you designedly and deliberately planned a speech to excite the indignation of 
your hearers to an extent that would cause them to break the bonds of propriety 
by pulling your hair or cutting your throat, wilbng, no doubt, in the utmost of 
your benevolence to die a martyr's death, if you could only get occasion to raise 
the hue and cry, and re-murder a virtuous people, as Missouri and Illinois have 
so often done before you. Glorious philanthropy this; and corresponds most 
12 



go HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

fully with the declaration which, it is reported, on pretty good authority, that 
Judge Brocchus made while on his journey to the valley, substantially as follows : 
"If the citizens of Utah do not send me as their delegate to Washington, by 
God, I'll use all my influence against them, and will crush them. I have the 
influence and the power to do it, and I will accomplish it if they do not make 
me their delegate.' 

"Now, sir, I will not stop to argue the point whether your honor made 
those observations that rumor says you did ; but I will leave it to an intelligent 
world, or so much of that world as are acquainted with the facts in the case, 
to decide whether your conduct has not fully proved that you harbored these ma- 
licious feelings in your heart, when you deliberately planned a speech calculated 
in its nature to rouse this community to violence, and that, too, on a day conse- 
crated to religious duties, your declaration to the contrary notwithstanding, that 
you 'did not design to offer indignity or insult.' When a man's words are set in 
direct opposition to his acts, which will men believe ? His acts all the time. 
Where, then, is the force of your denial ? 

"One item more from your note reads thus: 'My sole design in the 
branch of my remarks which seems to be the source of offence, was to vindicate 
the government of the United States from those feelings of prejudice, and that 
spirit of defection which seemed to pervade the i)ublic sentiment, &c." Let me 
inquire what 'public sentiment' you referred to? Was it the sentiments of the 
States at large? If so, your honor missed his aim, most widely, when he left the 
city of Washington to become the author of such remarks. You left home when 
you left Washington. If such 'prejudice and defection' as you represent, there 
existed, there you should have thundered your anathemas, and made the people 
feel your 'patriotic allegiance;' but, if ever you believed for a moment — if ever 
an idea entered your soul that the citizens of Utah, the people generally whom 
you addressed on the 8th, were possessed of a spirit of defection towards the gen- 
eral government, or that they harboured prejudices against it unjustly, so far you 
proved yourself ' profoundly ignorant' of the subject in which you were engaged, 
and of the views and feelings of the people whom you addressed ; and this ignor- 
ance alone might have been sufficient to lead you into all the errors and fooleries 
you were guilty of on that occasion. But had you known your hearers, you would 
have known, and understood, and felt that you were addressing the most enlight- 
ened and patriotic assembly, and the one furthest removed from ' prejudice and 
defection" to the general government that you had ever seen, that you had ever 
addressed, or that would be possible for you or any other being to find on the face 
of the whole earth. Then, sir, how would it have been possible for you to have 
offered your hearers on that occasion a greater insult than you did? The most re- 
fined and delicate ladies were justly incensed to wrath against you for intimating 
that their husbands were ever capable of being guilty of such baseness as you rep- 
resented, "prejudice and defection" towards a constitution wh-'ch they firmly 
believe emanated from the heavens, and was given by a revelation, to lay the 
foundation of religious and political freedom in this age — a constitution and union 
which this people love as they do the gospel of salvation. And when you, sir, 
shall attempt to fasten the false and odious appellation of treason to this commu- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. gi 

nity, even ignorantly, as we had supposed you did it, you will find plenty, even 
among the ladies, to hurl the falsehood back to its dark origin, in tones of thunder; 
but if, as you say, you know, (or else how could the whole have been 'the result 
of deliberation and care,') the plea of ignorance ceases again to shield you, and 
you stand before the people in all the naked deformity of ' wilful wickedness,' 
who can plead your excuse? Who, under such circumstances, can make an apol- 
ogy? I wonder not that you should excuse yourself from the attempt, 'or de- 
cline appearing again in public on the subject.' 

'' Permit me sir, to subscribe myself, as ever. 

Most respectfully, your servant, 

Brigham Young. 

"lion. p. E. Brocchus, Asste. Justice.'" 

The speech of Judge Brocchus is not extant, nor is there to be found any 
report of that exciting conference, for it was before the existence of the Deseret 
Nezos; but the subject and offence appear well defined in the correspondence 
itself, which is strikingly illustrated in the following paragraph from Governor 
Young's third letter : 

"Another important item in the course of your remarks, on the 8th instant, 
in connection with the expose of your own exalted virtue — you expressed a hope 
that the ladies you were addressing weuld 'become virtuous.' Let me ask you, 
most seriously, my dear sir, how could you hope thus? How could you hope that 
those dear creatures, some of whose acts of benevolence to the stranger drew tears 
Irom your eyes while you were yet speaking — how could you hope — what possible 
chance was there for you to hope — they would become virtuous? Had you ever 
proved them unvirtuous? If so, you could have but a faint hope of their reform- 
ation. But, if you had not proved them unvirtuous, what testimony had you of 
their lack of virtue? And if they were unvirtuous, how could they ' become virtu- 
ous'? Sir, your hope was of the most damning dye, and your very expression 
tended to convey the assertion tha those ladies you then and there ad- 
dressed were prostitutes — unvirtuous — to that extent you could only hope, but the 
probabilty was they were so far gone in wickedness you dare not believe they ever 
could become virtuous. And now, sir, let your own good sense, if you have a 
spark left, answer — could you, had you mustered all the force that hell could 
lend you — could you have committed a greater indignity and outrage on the feel- 
ings of the most virtuous and sensible assemblage of ladies that your eyes ever 
beheld? If you could, tell me how. If you could not, you are at liberty to re- 
main silent. Shall such insults remain unrequited, unatoned for?" 

Judge Brocchus made no written reply to the review of his conduct, but in 
person acknowledged that it was unanswerable, and authorized the Governor to 
apologise for him to the community. 

This very singular and suggestive correspondence, which itself is quite a 
chapter of the history of Great Salt Lake City, was published in the New York 
Herald, and was the commencement of a great sensation over Utah affairs. 

Having rendered themselves unpopular, and being neither able to arraign a 



g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

whole community for their religious institutions, nor strong enough to set aside 
Governor Young and his three Federal colleagues, who stood with the people, 
Chief Justice Brandebury, Associate Justice Brocchus, and Secretary Harris re- 
solved to leave the Territory. But previous to their leaving, they called a 
Supreme Court, which was held in Great Salt Lake City, though no law had been 
passed fixing the time and place for holding it. At this court, as an original suit, 
an injunction was granted. Associate Justice Snow dissented. He said, the bill, 
he thought, was a good case for the injunction, yet he opposed it on two grounds: 

" ist. — There was not any law fixing the time and place of holding the 
Supreme Court. 

"2d. — The Supreme Court had not original jurisdiction, and the District 
Court had, which was provided for in the Governor's proclamation." 

Chief Justice Brandebury and Associate Justice Brocchus left Great Salt Lake 
City together. Soon afterwards Secretary Harris followed their example, carry- 
ing away with him the $24,000 which had been appropriated by Congress for the 
per diem and mileage of the Legislature. 

It would seem that these three Federal officers expected to be applauded by 
the public, and sustained by the Government, their assault being against polyg- 
amy, but they indiscreetly stated, in their communication to the Government, 
that " polygamy monopolized all the wom^n, which made it very inconvenient 
for the Federal officers to reside there." 

"Loose as people might suppose frontier life to be," observes Mr. Stenhouse 
in his ^^<r^n' Mountain Sain/s, " no one anticipated that representatives of the 
Federal Government would thus express themselves. That one sentence annihil- 
ated them. Over the signature of Jedediah M. Grant [the Mayor of Great Salt 
•Lake City] a series of letters was addressed to the New York Herald, under the 
title, 'Truth for the Mormons,' in which the Federal officers were turned into 
redicule and fiercely handled. The Herald gzve the public only one letter; but 
Grant, nothing daunted, published the whole series in pamphlet form, and scat- 
tered them broadcast. The Grant letters, from their forcible and pungent style, 
attracted the attention of literary men as gems of wit and vigorous English. 

* * * In his moments of calm reflection. Judge Brocchus may 
have .concluded that his zeal against polygamy had outstripped his prudence. 
The Government took that view of it, and quietly dropped the 'runaway judges 
and secretary.' " 

This view presented in the felicious vein of the New York HeralV s special 
corespondent on Utah affairs, well describes the scandalized sense of the Ameri- 
can public over the conduct of the " runaway judges and secretary; " but it does 
not sufficiently express the offended judgment of the United States Government 
over their conduct. Congress had only just created the new Territory. In do- 
ing this both the legislative and executive departments had a very clear pre- 
knowledge that the United States was extending its rule over a religious com- 
munity, whose institutions, though peculiar, were founded on the strict examples 
of the Bible. The President and his advisers, among whom was that gigantic 



H1S20RY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



93 



statesman, Daniel Webster, had with an intelligent intent appointed Brigham 
Young Governor, with three other of his co-religionists, to represent the Federal 
authority to their people ; while to the minority of the Federal officers was given 
the controling power of the judiciary, and the secretaryship, with the custody of 
the appropriations; all of this had been done to bring the Mormon colony har- 
moniously into the Union under its supremacy; yet ere they had held a single 
United States District Court in the new Territory, or its Legislature had assem- 
bled, or the Territorial government itself was fully set up, the Chief Justice, his 
Associate, and the Secretary deserted their posts. The General Government was 
reasonably incensed over such a case ; Congress was scarcely less offended ; and 
Daniel Webster, who was Secretary of State, peremptorily ordered the judges and 
secretary back to their deserted positions or to resign. 

After the departure of these Federal officers from Great Salt Lake City, 
Governor Young appointed Willard Richards Secretary of the Territory /;-<? tern. 
This appointment, and several other informal acts, which had become necessary 
in the absence of the regular officials in a newly organized Territory, was duly 
reported to the Department of State. Daniel Webster sustained them, and the 
bills of Willard Richards, which were signed "Secretary pro tern, appointed by 
the Governor," were allowed by the Department, and paid. 

The Utah Legislature also, finding the United States Judiciary in the Terri- 
tory inoperative, passed the following act authorizing Associate Justice Zerub- 
babel Snow to hold the Courts in all the districts: 

"an act concerning the judiciary, and for judicial purposes. 

Sec. I . '^' Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Ter- 
ritory of Utah, That the first Judicial District for said Territory, shall consist of, 
and embrace the following counties and districts of country, to wit: — Great Salt 
Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele, and Utah Counties, and all districts of country 
lying east, north, and west of said counties in said Territory. The Second 
Judicial District shall consist of Millard and San Pete Counties, and all districts 
of country lying south of the south line of latitude of Utah County, and north 
of the south line of latitude of Millard County, within said Territory. And the 
Third Judicial District shall consist of Iron County, and all districts of country 
lying south of the south line of latitude of Millard County, in said Territory. 

" Sec. 2. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall reside within the 
First Judicial District, and hold Courts in the following order, viz : on the first 
Monday in January and July at Great Salt Lake City; on the first Monday of 
April at Ogden City, in Weber County; and on the first Monday of October at 
Provo City, in Utah County, in each year: Provided, the said Zerubbabel Snow, 
Associate Justice, shall hold his first Court on the first Monday of October in the 
year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, at Great Salt Lake City, and omit said 
Court during said year at Provo, in Utah County. 

"Sec. 3. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow is hereby authorized and re- 
quired to hold two Courts in the Second Judicial District in each year, to-wit : 



g4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTl. 

on the first Monday of November at Manti, in San Pete County; and on the 
first Monday in May at Fillmore, in Millard County. 

" Sec. 4. The Honorable Zerubbabel 8no\v is further authorized and re- 
quired to hold one Court for the Third Judicial District, viz: on the first Mon- 
day m June of each year, at Parowan City, in Iron County ; and each session of 
said Court in its several districts shall be kept open at least one week, and may 
adjourn to any other place in each of said districts respectively: Provided, the 
business of said Court shall so require. 

"Sec. 5. The foregoing acts are, and shall be in force until a full Bench of 
the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall be sup- 
plied by the President and Senate of the United States, after which the said 
Zerubbabel Snow shall serve only in the First Judicial District. 

"Approved October 4, 1851." 

This officer afterwards, in a letter upon the first United States Courts held in 
Utah, thus states : 

" The Legislative Assembly met and, as the other Judges had returned to 
the States, a law was passed authorizing me to hold the courts in all the districts. 
At my first court I examined the proceedings of the Governor in calling the 
Legislative Assembly, and held them legal, though somewhat informal. This 
was reported to the Department of State, the Honorable Daniel Webster being 
Secretary, who sustained Governor Young and myself. This was the commence- 
ment of my judicial services." 

That first United States District Court was held in Great Salt Lake City. 

At the first term Judge Snow made use of the United States Attorney and 
the United States Marshal, for Territorial business, there having been at that 
time no Territorial fee bill passed, which led to a correspondence between the 
Judge and the Honorable Elisha Whittlesey, Comptroller of the Treasury, the 
former asking a number of questions relative to the practice of the United States 
in defraying the expenses of the Territorial courts, which was answered by the 
latter that the United States simply defrayed the expenses of its own business in 
the courts. The answers closed thus : 

"Lastly, I will observe that if the clerk, marshal, or attorney render any 
service in suits to which the Territory is a party the officer must obtain his pay 
from the Territory or from the county in which such suit may be prosecuted. It 
should appear affirmatively on the face of every account that every item of it is a 
legal and just claim against the United States; and the details and dates should 
be stated, as required by my circular of December 5th, otherwise the marshal 
should not pay it." 

This led to the passage of a Territorial fee bill. 

In 1852 the law was passed giving jurisdiction to the Probate courts in civil 
and criminal cases, and creating the offices of Attorney-General and Marshal for 
the Territory, 

An historical note may here be made that the proceedings of the first United 
States District Court, held in Great Salt Lake City, were published in the Deseret 



I 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 



95 



News, No. I, Vol. I, November 15th, 1851, Willard Richards, editor and pro- 
prietor. 

Under the censure of the great statesman, Daniel Webster, and with ex- 
Vice-President Dallis and Colonel Kane using their potent influence against 
them, and also Stephen A Douglass, (to whom Kane in his letter to Fillmore per- 
sonally refers as surety for Governor Young), Brandebury, Brocchus and Harris 
were forced to retire. They were succeeded by Chief Justice Reed, Associate 
Justice Shaver, and Secretary Ferris on August 31st, 1852. 

On their arrival in Great Salt Lake City the new appointees received a cor- 
dial welcome from the Governor and citizens, which was reciprocated by the 
Chief Justice and his Associate, but Secretary Ferris approved the course of his 
predecessor and condemned the Mormons and their institutions. The new 
judges, however, turned the tide of public feeling for awhile in favor of this 
community, by the speeches which they delivered, and the very friendly letters 
which they wrote on Utah affairs. Shortly after his arrival in Great Salt Lake 
City, Chief Justice Reed wrote as follows: 

•'I waited on his Excellency, Governor Young, exhibited to him my com- 
mission, and by him was duly sworn and installed as Chief Justice of Utah, I 
was received by Governor Young with marked courtesy and respect. He has 
taken pains to make my residence here agreeable. The Governor, in manners 
and conversation, is a polished gentleman, very neat and tasty in dress, easy and 
pleasant in conversation, and I think, a man of decided talent and strong intel- 
lectual qualities. * * * j h^yg heard him address the people once 
on the subject of man's free agency. He is a very excellent speaker. His ges- 
ture uncommonly graceful, articulation distinct, and speech pleasant. * 

* * The Governor is a first rate business man. As civil Governor of 
the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, we would naturally suppose 
he had as much to do as one man could well attend to ; but in addition to those 
employments, he is also President of the Church — a station which is no sinecure 
by any means. His private business is extensive; he owns several grist and saw 
mills, is extensively engaged in farming operations, all of which he superintends 
personally. I have made up my mind that no man has been more grossly mis- 
represented than Governor Young, and that he is a man who will reciprocate 
kindness and good intentions as heartily and as freely as any one, but if abused, 
or crowded hard, I think he may be found exceedingly hard to handle." 

But Secretary Ferris soon after published a book expressing sentiments and 
views, concerning Brigham Young and the Mormon community, the very an- 
tipodes of those uttered by his Federal associates. After a short residence in 
Great Salt Lake City Secretary Ferris retired and went to California; Chief Jus- 
tice Reed returned to New York and died : he was succeeded by Chief Justice 
John F. Kinney, August 24th, 1853. Associate Justice Zerubbabel Snow occupied 
his full term and was succeeded by Associate Justice George P. Stiles, August ist, 
1854. Almon W. Bg,bbitt succeeded Ferris as Secretary, and District Attorney 
HoUman succeeded Seth M. Blair. John M. Bernhisel was Delegate to Congress. 

In 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Steptoe, with his command, arrived in 



g6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Great Salt Lake City, and the term of Governor Young's appointment expiring 
about this time, President Pierce tendered the office to Colonel Steptoe; but he 
was a gentleman, and a true republican, and he had too much wisdom withal to 
accept the honor, for he knew that Brigham was the choice of the people. The 
following document, expressive of the movement which he inspired, will be of 
interest at this point: 

''To Llis Excellency, Franklin Pierce, President of the United States: 

"Your petitioners would respectfully represent that, whereas Governor 
Brigham Young possesses the entire confidence of the people of this Territory, 
without distinction of party or sect; and from personal acquaintance and social 
intercourse we find him to be a firm supporter of the constitution and laws of the 
United States, and a tried pillar of Republican institutions; and having repeat- 
edly listened to his remarks, in private as well as in public assemblies, do know 
he is the warm friend and able supporter of constitutional liberty, the rumors 
published in the States notwithstanding; and having canvassed to our satisfaction 
his doings ds Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs, and also the dispo- 
sition of the appropriation for public buildings for the Territory; we do most 
cordially and cheerfully represent that the same has been expended to the best 
interest of the nation; and whereas his re-appointment would subserve the Terri- 
torial interest better than the appointment of any other nnan, and would meet 
with the gratitude of the entire inhabitants of the Territory, and his removal 
would cause the deepest feeling of sorrow and regret ; and it being our unquali- 
fied opinion, based ui)on the personal acquaintance which we have formed with 
Governor Young, and from our observation of the results of his influence and 
administration in this Territory, that he possesses in an eminent degree every 
qualification necessary for the discharge of his official duties, and unquestioned 
integrity and ability, and he is decidedly the most suitable person that can be 
selected for that office. 

"We therefore take pleasure in recommending him to your favorable consider- 
ation, and do earnestly request his re-appointment as Governor, and Superinten- 
dent of Indian affairs. for this Territory." 

This document was signed by Colonel Steptoe and every other United States 
Army officer in the Territory, as well as by all of the Federal civil officials, and 
by every merchant and prominent citizen of Great Salt Lake City on the Gen- 
tile side. The petition was headed by Chief Justice Kinney, followed by 
Colonel Steptoe. Associate Justice Shaver's name was also to the document. 

Not long after the signing of this document, which obtained from President 
Pierce the re-appointment of Governor Young, Judge Shaver, on the morning of 
the 29th of June, 1855, ^^'^ found dead in his bed, in Great Salt Lake City. 
The judge the previous night was apparently in good health, but he had long 
suffered terribly from a wound, the pain of which he relieved by the constant ad- 
ministratioir of opiates, and occasionally by stimulants; so that, though unexpected, 
the cause of his death required but little explanation. The citizens sincerely 
mourned the loss of Judge Shaver. He was buried by them with professional honors; 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. gj 

his funeral sermon was preached by Jedediah M. Grant, the then Mayor of Greai 
Salt Lake City, and his memory is embalmed in the history of the Mormon 
(Church, as an upright judge and a friend of the community. Yet notwithstand- 
ing the friendly relations which had existed between the deceased judge and the 
citizens, his sudden death gave an opportunity for the circulation of a malicious 
story of his being poisoned, on account of some supposed difficulty with Governor 
Young. 

W. \V. Drummond succeeded the lamented Judge Shaver, September 12th, 
1854; and Drummond and Associate Justice George P. Stiles were principally 
instrumental in working up the Buchanan Expedition, or the "Utah war" as it 
was popularly termed : but we must leave the Federal thread for awhile and re- 
view events connected with the conmiunity, the growth and peopling of Great 
Salt Lake City, and the colonization of Utah in general, from about the time of 
the setting up of the Territorial government. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOCIOLOGICAL EXPOSITION. SOURCES OF OUR POPUL.\TION. EMIGR.-VTIOX. 
POLYG.WIY. 

For the completeness of the history a sociological exposition of the peopling 
of Utah should be here presented, with its ethnological elements and methods 
out of which society first grew in the isolation of these Rocky Mountains; nor 
should the causes be ignored which have brought so many tens of thousands of 
souls from Europe to this country, for the very purpose of organizing a new 
society and creating a State of the American nation. 

In the history of Great Salt Lake City, the Mormon emigrations from Eu- 
rope may be considered as the most relevant to its population; for, especially at 
the onset, this city grew out of those emigrations. The American pioneers did 
no more, in the matter of population, than plant the germs of society in these 
valleys, nor could they possibly do more with so small a community as that which 
left Nauvoo in the exodus. A decade must have passed before there could have 
been any perceptible increase to the population by offspring, had not the emigra- 
tions from abroad yearly poured into these valleys, vitalizing a community almost 
exhausted by repeated exterminations. Thus replenished, by a new fusion from 
the dominant parent races, from which the pioneers had themselves descended, 
population was increased ten-fold within the first decade. Great Britain and 
Scandinavia gave the bulk of this population, by their tens of thousands of emi- 
grants, and next bv their prolific increase of offspring'; but the American i)io- 
13 



g8 H1S70R\ 01^ SALT LAKE CITY. 

neers were the originators of that emigrational movement of the Mormon people 
from Europe to this country. 

The following general epistle from the Twelve, dated at Winter Quarters, 
Omaha Nation, December 23d, 1847, '^^ill be of interest in this connection: 

"To the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and adjacent islands 
and countries, we say, emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity, looking to 
and following the counsel of the Presidency at Liverpool : shipping to New Or- 
leans, and from thence direct to Council Bluffs, which will save much expense. 
Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that 
means if they remain where they are, therefore it is wisdom that they remove 
without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better 
their condition for their further journey. And to all Saints in any country bor- 
dering upon the Atlantic, we would say. pursue the same course, come immedi- 
ately and prepare to go west, — bringing will; you all kinds of choice seeds, of 
grain, vegetables, fruit, shrubbery, trees, and vines — everything that will please 
the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul of man, that grows upon the face of 
the whole earth ; also the best stock of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind ; also 
the best tools of every description, and machinery for spinning, or weaving, and 
dressing cotton, wool, flax, and silk, etc., etc., or models and descriptions of the 
the same, by which they can construct them ; and the same in relation to all 
kinds of farming utensils and husbandry, such as corn shellers, grain threshers 
and cleaners, smut machines, mills, and every implement and article within their 
knowledge that shall tend to promote the comfort, health, happiness, or prosper- 
ity of any people. So far as it can be consistently done, bring models and 
drafts, and let the machinery be built where it is used, which will save great ex- 
pense in transportation, particulary in heavy machinery, and tools and imple- 
ments generally." 

And here must be noticed the covenant of the emigration. Previous to leaving 
Nauvoo President Young prompted the Mormons to enter into a solemn covenant 
in the temple, that they would not cease their exertions until every individual of 
them who desired and was unable to gather to the valley by his own means was 
brought to that place. No sooner were they located in the Rocky Mountains, than 
the Church prepared to fulfill this covenant, extending its application to the Saints 
in all the world. The subject was introduced at the October Conference, in 1849, 
by President Heber C. Kimball, and a unainmous vote was there and then taken 
to raise a fund for the fulfillment of the promisQ. A committee was appointed to 
raise money, and Bishop Edward Hunter sent to the frontiers to purchase wagons 
and cattle, to bring the poor Saints from Pottowatomie lands. About §5,000 
were raised that season. The fund was designated "The Perpetual Emigration 
Fund," and the method of its application is well set forth in the following from a 
letter to Apostle Orson Hyde, who was at the time presiding at Winter Quarters: 

Great Salt Lake City, October i6th, 1849. 
President Orson Hyde: — Beloved brother, we write to you more particularly 
at this time, concerning the gathering, and the mission of our general agent for 



HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY. , gg 

the Perpetual Emigration Fund for the coming year, Bishop Hunter, who will 
soon be with you, bearing the funds already raised in this place. 

In the first place, this fund has been raised by voluntary donations, and is to 
be continued by the same process, and by so managing as to preserve the same 
and cause it to multiply. 

* * * As early in the Spring as it will possibly do, on account of 
feed for cattle. Brother Hunter will gather all his company, organize them in the 
usual order, and preside over the camp, travelling with the same to this place, 
having previously procured the best teamsters possible, such as are accustomed to 
driving, and will be kind and attentive to their teams. 

When the Saints thus helped arrive here, they will give their obligations to 
the Church to refund to the amount of what they have received, as soon as cir- 
cumstances will permit ; and labor will be furnished, to such as wish, on the public 
works, and good pay; and as fast as they can procure the necessaries of life, and 
a surplus, that surplus will be applied to liquidating their debt, and thereby in- 
crease the perpetual fund. 

By this it will readily be discovered that the funds are to be appropriated in 
the form of a loan rather than a gift; and this will make tha honest in heart re- 
joice, for they have to labor and not live on the charity of their friends, while the 
lazy idlers, if any such there be, will find fault and want every luxury furnished 
them for the journey, and in the end pay nothing. ;>< * ^ 

'' Brother Hunter will return all the funds to this place next season, when 
the most judicious course will be pursued to convert all the cattle and means 
into cash, that the same may be sent abroad as speedily as possible on another 
mission, together with all that we can raise besides to add to it; and we antici- 
pate that the Saints at Pottowatomie and in the States will increase the fund by 
all possible means the coming winter, so that our agent may return with a large 
company. 

" The {qw thousands we send out by our agent at this tune is like a grain of 
mustard seed in the earth; we send it forth into the world, and among the Saints 
— a good soil — and we expect it will grow and flourish, and spread abroad in a 
tew M'eeks: that it will cover England, cast its shadow on Europe, and in process 
of time compass the whole earth; that is to say, these funds are destined to in- 
crease until Israel is gathered from all nations, and the poor can sit mider their 
own vine, and inhabit their own house, and worship God in Zion. 

"We remain your brethren in the gospel, 

Brigham Young, 
Heeer C. Kimball, 
WiLLARD Richards." 

A similar epistle was written to Orson Pratt, President of the British Mis- 
sion, saying at the close: 

"Your office in Liverpool is the place of deposit for all funds received either 
for this or the tithing funds for all Europe, and you will not pay out only upon 
our order, and to such persons as we shall direct." 

These instructions and general epistles are the more important in the emi- 



lOo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

grational history, as they are substantially the basis upon which all the emigra- 
tions and business thereof have been conducted from that time to the present. 

Donations in England were made straightway. The first received was 2s. 6d. 
from Mark and Charlotte Shelley, of Woolwich, on the 19th of April, 1850. 
The next was £1, from George P. Waugh, of Edinburgh, on the 19th of June; 
but in time the various emigration funds of the British Mission alone became 
immense. 

The mode of conducting the emigrations from Europe was as patriarchal as 
the Church itself. As the emigration season came round, from every branch and 
conference the Saints would be gathered and taken to Liverpool by their elders, 
who saw them on shipboard in vessels chartered for their use. Not a moment 
were they left to the mercy of "runners" and shipping agents. When on 
board, the companies, which in some cases have amounted to more than a thou- 
sand souls per ship, were divided into wards, each ward being under its president 
or bishop, and his two councilors, and each company under its president and 
councilors; and besides these were the doctor, steward, and cook, with their 
assistants. During the passage, regular service was daily observed, — morning 
and evening prayers, preaching meetings and councils. Besides these were 
numerous entertainments, concerts, dances, etc., so that the trips across the 
Atlantic were like merry makings, enjoyed by the captains and their officers as 
much as by the Saints. Reaching America a similar system was pursued up the 
rivers, on the railroads, and across the plains until the Saints arrived in the val- 
leys, when they were received, in the old time, by Brigham and " the authorities 
in Zion," and sent by Bishop Hunter to the various settlements where they were 
most needed to people the fast-growing cities of Utah. 

It may be here suggestively noted that, at the date of this emigrational cir- 
cular, there were not in all Utah more than eight thousand souls ; while, at about 
the same date, in the British mission there were thirty thousand members of the 
Mormon Church. The resources of population the community possessed abroad ; 
at home the. resources were not sufficient to people Great Salt Lake City. The 
colonizing genius of this "peculiar people" was now greatly in demand ; and it 
soon began to manifest itself in gigantic efforts to populate these valleys, and to 
found the hundreds of cities and settlements which Utah possesses to-day, and 
which the Mormon leaders designed to people when they laid off the City of the 
Great Salt Lake in 1847. This genius of colonization the community had mani- 
fested from the beginning, as was observed in the opening chapter, but it had 
hitherto operated chiefly abroad, in creating a population for the "building up 
of a Zion " on the American continent. True there had sailed a few ship loads 
of Mormons from the shores of Great Britain for Nauvoo; but only a few thou- 
sand of the British people were mixed in the actual society problem of the Mor- 
mons in America, until after the settlement in the valleys of the Rocky 
Mountains. Indeed, it had not been possible for the Mormon leaders to have 
emigrated a large European population to any of the eastern States, for the form- 
ation of a community. As it was, the American Mormon population was too 
large for both Missouri and Illinois. But in Utah, with a Territory given them 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



lOI 



by the United States, that they might people with their fruitful resources of pop- 
plation from foreign missions, the Mormons for the first time found full aim and 
scope for their colonizing genius and religion. From that moment Mormonism 
meant the peopling of Utah and the building of cities and settlements, and that 
too, chiefly at the onset, by yearly emigrations of converts from Europe ; Great 
Salt Lake City being the initial society work. 

Accordingly at the October Conference of 1849, '""^Id in this city, after 
establishing the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret, and the organ- 
ization of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, "for the gathering of 
Israel from the nations," as set forth in the circular, the Presidency and Twelve 
Apostles set apart John Taylor, for France, to open a mission in that country ; 
Lorenzo Snow for a similar purpose to Switzerland and Italy; Franklin D. Rich- 
ards for England, to start the operations of the Perpetual Emigration Fund 
Company in Europe; while Apostle Erastus Snow was sent to open the "new 
dispensation" to the Scandinavian races. 

In 1S49, tlit^re was not a branch of the Mormon Church in all Scandinavia; 
to-day (18S3) nearly one-third of" the Mormon population of Utah, including 
their offspring, is Scandinavian. In 1849, ^^'^^ emigrations from Great Britain, 
direct for Utah commenced ; from that date to their suspension for awhile, in 
consequence of the Buchanan expedition, with which we shall presently deal, the 
Mormon emigrations to America embraced about thirty, thousand souls, the 
majority of whom became compounded in the population of Utah ; and still on, 
down to the present time, the British mission, though greatly depleted by her 
supplies has continued emigrations to this Territory. During this time a large 
accession to the population also poured in from every State of the Union, sus- 
taining the native American element. 

In connection with this subject of population, it is proper that polygamy 
should be considered, as a social factor of this Territory. Polygamy as a system 
of family relations was published in 1851. With it as a religious institution the 
historian has nothing to do, nor is it his province either to question or 
approve of the special legislation passed against it; but sociologically and 
ethnologically history has much to do with it in the peopling of Utah. The 
population \ii this Territory, in fact, has grown largely out of Mormon polygamy; 
and instead of deteriorating the race it has, in this case, replenished and im- 
proved it. Emigrations from Europe pouring in yearly, bringing a surplus 
of females from the robust snd fruitful races of Scandinavia and Great 
Britain, their marriage with a dominant pioneer element of the American stock 
has given stamina to families and population to the country. Indeed, Mormon 
polygamy has done nearly as much for the population of Utah as emigration 
itself; and with it, further than the statement of its facts, the writer has nought 
to do in a sociological exposition. Thus it will be seen that, having planted the 
germs of society in these valleys, the American portion of the population united 
in marriage with the emigrants — and the whole became one people in the coloniza- 
tion of Utah — one people very much in race as they were already in faith. The 
exposition will further show that though the population a quarter of a century 



102 • HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

ago was largely foreign, to-day it must naturally be chiefly native American, for 
while the emigrant parents have by thousands passed away by death, their 
children born in these valleys have grown up to manhood and womanhood, and 
are themselves parents today. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PICTURES OF MORMON SOCIEIY IN THE FOUNF3ING OF UTAH. LIFE AMONG 
THE SAINTS. THEIR SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS PECULIARITIES AND CUS- 
. TOMS. ECSIACY OF THE GOLD-HUNTERS WHEN THEY CAME UPON 
"ZION." VIEWS BY STANSBURY, GUNNISON. AND NOTED ENGLISH TRAV- 
ELERS, OF THE MORMONS AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS. PETITION FOR A 
RAILROAD. GENERAL EVENTS. 

It is thought that a few pictures of the early days of Utah, and of Mormon 
society in its primeval forms, may have a special interest to visitors of to-day, 
who go up to the New Jerusalem of the West in luxurious palace cars. They 
shall be the pictures "vhich struck the fancy, or the judgment, of the intelligent 
"Gentile" who first came upon the peculiar people, just settled in the valleys of 
Utah, yet they described them in wonderment, much as they would have done had 
they come upon the strange habitation and inhabitants of another world. There 
is a graphic life-touch in some of those sketches — mere letters though they were 
— that the imagination of the best artist could not equal. They are realistic 
pictures of what was; romances of social life, so to speak, that were not dreams. 

Here is a graphic sketch from the artistic pen of a gold digger, a correspon- 
dent of the New York Tribune, under date of July 8th, 1849: 

"The company of gold diggers which I ha\e the honor to command, 
arrived here on the 3d instant, and judge our feelings when, after some twelve 
hundred miles travel through an uncultivated desert, and the last one hundred 
miles of ihe distance through and among lofty mountains, and narrow and diffi- 
cult ravines, we found ourselves suddenly, and almost unexpectedly, in a compar- 
ative paradise. * * * At first sight of all these signs of cultivation 
in the wilderness, we were transported with wonder and pleasure. Some wept, 
some gave three cheers, some laughed, and some ran and fairly danced for joy, 
while all felt inexpressibly happy to find themselves once more amid scenes which 
mark the progress of advancing civilization. We passed on amid scenes like 
these, expecting every moment to come to some commercial centre, some business 
point in this great metropolis of the mountains, but we were disappointed. No 
hotel, sign post, cake and beer shop, barber pole, market house, grocery, pro- 
vision, dry goods, or hardware store distinguished one part of the town from 
another; not even a bakery or a mechanic's sign was anywhere discernible. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 103 

" Here, then, was something new : an entire people reduced to a level, and 
all living by their labor — all cultivating the earth, or following some brancli 01 
physical industry. At first I thought it was an experiment, an order of things 
established purposely to carry out the principles of 'socialism' or ' Mormonism.' 
In short, I thought it very much like Owenism personified. However, on in- 
quiry, I found that a combination of seemingly unavoidable circumstances had 
produced this singular state of affairs. There were no hotels because there had 
been no travel ; no barber shops, because every one chose to shave himself, and 
no one had time to shave his neighbor; no stores, because they had no goods to 
sell, nor time to traffic; no centre of business, because all were too busy to make 
a centre. 

"There was abundance of mechanic's shops, of dressmakers, milliners and 
tailors, etc.; but they needed no sign, nor had they time to paint or erect one, 
for they were crowded with business. Beside their several trades, all must culti- 
vate the land or die, for the country was new, and no cultivation but their own 
within a thousand miles. Every one had his own lot, and built on it; every one 
cultivated it, and perhaps a small farm in the distance. 

"And the strangest of all was, that this great city, extending over several 
square miles, had been erected, and every house and fence made, within nine or 
ten months of the time of our arrival; while at the same time, good bridges were 
erected over the principal streams, and the country settlements extended nearly 
one hundred miles up and down the valley. 

" This Territory, State, or, as some term it, 'Mormon empire,' may justly 
be considered one of the greatest j^rodigies of our time, and, in comparison with 
its age, the most gigantic of all Republics in existence — being only in its second 
year since the first seed of cultivation was planted, or the first civilized habita- 
tion commenced. If these people were such thieves and robbers as their enemies 
represented them to be in the States, I must think they have greatly reformed in 
point ot industry since coming to the mountains. 

"I this day attended worship with them in the open air. Some thousands 
of well dressed, intelligent-looking people assembled ; a number of them on foot, 
some in carriages, and some on horses. Many were neatly and even fashionably 
clad. The beauty and neatness of the ladies reminded me of some of our best 
congregations of New York. They had a choir of both sexes, who performed 
exceedingly well, accompanied by a band, playing well on almost every musical 
instrument of modern invention. Peals of the most sweet, sacred and solemn 
music filled the air; after which, a solemn prayer was offered by Mr. Grant (a 
Latter-day Saint), of Philadelphia. Then followed various business advertise- 
ments, read by the^clerk. * * * After this, came a lengthy dis- 
course by Mr. Brigham Young, President of the Society, partaking somewhat 
of politics, much of religion and philosophy, and a little on the subject of gold ; 
showing the wealth, strength and glory of England, growing out of her coal 
mines, iron and industry, and the weakness, corruption and degradation of Span- 
ish America, Spain, etc., growing out of their gold and silver, and idle habits. 

" He further observed that the people here would petition to be organized 
into a Territory under the American Government, notwithstanding its abuses. 



104 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\. 

and that, if granted, they would stand by the the constitution and laws of the 
United States; while, at the same time, he denounced their corruption and 
abuses. 

" ' But,' said the speaker, 'we ask no odds of them, whether they grant our 
petition or not ! We will never ask any odds of a nation that has driven us from 
our homes. If they grant us our rights, well ; if not, well; they can do no more 
than they have done. They, and ourselves, and all men, are in the hands of the 
great God, who will govern all things for good; and all will be right, and work 
together for good to them that serve God.' 

"Such, in part, was the discourse to which we listened in the strongholds of 
the mountains. The Mormons are not dead, nor is their spirit broken. And, if 
I mistake not, there is a noble, daring, stern and democratic spirit swelling in 
their bosoms, which will people these mountains with a race of independent men, 
and influence the destiny of our country and the world for a hundred generations. 
In their religion they seem charitable, devoted and sincere; in their politics, 
bold, daring and determined ; in their domestic circle, quiet, affectionate and 
happy, while in-industry, skill and intelligence they have few equals, and no 
superiors on earth. 

"I had many strange feelings while contemplating this new civilization, 
growing up so suddenly in the wilderness. I almost wished I could awake from 
my golden dream, and find it but a dream ; while 1 pursued my domestic duties 
as quietly, as haj)pily, and contentedly as this strange people." 

"These Mormons,'' says Gunnison, "are certainly the most earnest religion- 
ists I have ever been among. It seems to be a constant self-sacrifice with 
them, which makes me believe that the masses of the people are honest and 
sincere. 

"While professing a complete divorce of Church and State, their political 
career and administration is made subsqrvient to the theocratical or religious ele- 
ment. They delight to call their system of government a ' thco-democracy,' and 
that, in a civil capacity, they stand as the Israelites of old under Moses. For 
the rule of those not fully imbued with the spirit of obedience, and sojourners 
not of the faith, as well as for things purely temporal, tribunals of justice and 
law-making assemblies are at present rendered necessary. 

"The influence of their nomenclature of 'brethren and sisters' is apparent 
in their actions, and creates the bond of affection among those who are more fre- 
quently thrown together. It is impressed on infantile minds by the constant 
repetition, and induces the feeling of family relationship. A little boy was 
asked the usual question, ' whose son are you? ' and he verv naively replied, ' I 
am Brother Pack's son;' a small circumstance, truly, but OTie that stamps the 
true mark of Mormon society. The welfare of the oider becomes, therefore, 
paramount to individual interest; and the union of hearts causes the hands 
to unite in all that pertains to the glory of the State ; and hence we see growing 
up and prospering the most enterprising people of the age — combining the ad- 
vantages of communism, placed on the basis of religious dti y and obedience to 
what they call the law of the gospel — transcending the notion of socialistic 



HIS7 OR V OF SAL T LAKE CrT\. 105 

philosophers, that human regulations can improve and perfect society, irrespective 
of the revealed word of God. 

"Right or wrong, in the development of the principle, and in its applica- 
tion, they have seized upon the most permanent element of the human mind in 
its social relations — not yielding fully to the doctrines of earnestness and univer- 
sal intention, and making man his own regenerator, as the fountain head of truth, 
and passing thence into mysticism, pantheism and atheism, neither endeavoring 
to cure the ills of society by political notions of trade and commerce, nor by 
educating in the sentiment of honor, and by political inculcation of high 
thoughts and noble images, independent of being ' born of the water and of the 
spirit.' 

"Nor must we look upon all as ignorant and blindfolded, guided along the 
the ditch of enthusiasm by self-deluded leaders. Indeed, almost every man is a 
priest, or eligible to the office, and ready armed for the controversial warfare. 
His creed is his ido'l. And while among the best proselytes we class many that 
are least versed in literary attainments, still among them we find liberally edu- 
cated men, and those who have been ministers in other denominations — in fact 
there seems to be as fair a sample of intelligence, moral probity, and good citi- 
zenship, as can be found in any nominal Christian community. 

"Sincerity and simplicity of purpose mark the masses, which virtues have 
been amply proved by the sacrifices and suffering endured. And among the peo- 
ple, so submissive to counsel, are those who watch with eagle eye that first prin- 
ciples are adhered to, and stand ready to proclaim apostacy in chief or laymen, 
and scrutinizing all revelations to discover whether they are from the Lord, or 
given, through his permission, by Satan, to test the fidelity and watchfulness of 
the disciples of truth. Litigation is much discouraged, and it is specially thought 
improper for brother to go to law with brother, and that before unbelievers; so 
each bishop is a sort of county court judge between man and man, with an appeal 
to the whole 'bench,' and a final resort to Brigham, who does good practical jus- 
tice without any embarrassment from statute or common law. 

" This people are jealous of their rights^ and feel themselves entitled to en- 
force order by their own laws, and severely punish contempt of them. The ad- 
ministration of justice is of the most simple kind, and based on the equity and 
the merits of the question, without reference to precedents and technicalities." 

Another correspondent writing to a New York paper said : 

"It is now three years since the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake Valley, and 
their energy in laying out a city, building, fencing farms, raising crops, etc., is 
truly wonderful to behold, and is but another striking demonstration of the inde- 
fatigable enterprise, industry, and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

"The Mormons, take them as a body, I truly believe are a most industrious 
people, and, I confess, as intelligent as any I have met with when in the East or 
West. It is true they are a little fanatical about their religious views, which is 
not at all strange when compared with the majority of religious denominations 
in the East. But let no man be deceived in his estimation of the people who 
have settled here. Any people who have the courage to travel over plains, rivers 



io6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

and mountains, for twelve hundred miles, such, probably, as cannot be traveled 
over in any other part of the world, to settle in a region which scarcely ever re- 
ceived the tread o\ any but the wild savages and beasts who roam the wilderness, 
must be possessed of an indomitable energy that is but rarely met with." 

W. Kelly, in his "Excursions in California in the Early Days," says: 

"The houses are small, principally of adobies, built up only as temporary 
abodes, until the more urgent and important matter of inclosure is attended to; 
but I never saw anything to surpass the ingenuity of arrangement with which they 
are fitted up, and the scrupulous cleanliness with which they are kept. There 
were tradesmen and artizans of all descriptions, but no regular stores or work- 
shops, except forges. Still, from the shoeing of an ox to the mending of a 
watch, there was no difficulty experienced in getting it done as cheap and as well 
put out of hand as in any other city in America. Notwithsta-iding the oppress- 
ing temperature, they were all hard at work at their trades, and abroad in the 
fields, weeding, moulding, and irrigating ; and it certainly speaks volumes for 
their energy and industry, to see the quantity of land they have fenced in, and 
the breadth under cultivation, considering the very short time since they founded 
the settlement in 1847. 

"After bathing, we dressed in our best attire, and prepared to attend the 
Mormon service, held for the the present in the large space adjoining the in- 
tended Temple, which is only just above the foundations, but will be a structure 
of stupendous proportions, and, if finished according to the plan, of surpassing 
elegance. I went early, and found a rostrum in front of which there were rows 
of stools and chairs for the townfolks; those from the country, who arrived in 
great numbers, in light wagons, sitting on chairs, took up their stations in their 
vehicles in the background, after unharnessing the horses. There was a very 
large and most respectable congregation ; the ladies attired in rich and becoming 
costumes, each with parasol ; and I hope I may say, without any imputation of 
profanity, a more bewitching assemblage of the sex it has rarely been my lot to 
look upon." 

A still more important authority on Mormon society, in the early days ot 
Utah, was Captain Stansbury. He says in his official report ; 

"The founding, within the space of three years, of a large and flourishing 
community npon a spot so remote from the abodes of men, so completely shut 
out by natural barriers from the rest of the world, so entirely unconnected by 
water-courses with either of the oceans that wash the shores of this continent — a 
country offering no advantages of inland navigation or of foreign commerce, but, 
on the contrary, isolated by vast uninhabited deserts, and only to be reached by 
long, painful, and often hazardous journeys by land — presents an anomaly so very 
peculiar, that it deserves more than a passing notice. In this young and pros- 
perous country of ours, where cities grow up in a day, and States spring up in a 
year, the successful planting of a colony, where the natural advantages have been 
such as to hold out the promise of adequate reward to the projectovs, would have 
excited no surprise ; but the success of an enterprise under circumstances so much 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 107 

at variance with all our preconceived ideas of its probability, may well be con- 
sidered one of the most remarkable incidents of the present age. 

Their admirable system of combining labor, while each has his own prop- 
erty, in lands and tenements, and the proceeds of his industry, the skill in divid- 
ing off the lands, and conducting the irrigating canals to supply the want of rain, 
which rarely falls between April and October; the cheerful manner in which 
every one applies himself industriously, but not laboriously ; the complete reign 
of good neighborhood and quiet house and fields, form themes for admiration to 
the stranger coming from the dark and sterile recesses of the mountain gorges 
into this flourishing valley; and he is struck with wonder at the immense results, 
produced in so short a time, by a handful of individuals. 

"This is the result of the guidance of all those hands by one master mind; 
and we see a comfortable people residing where, it is not too much to say, the 
ordinary mode of subduing and settling our wild lands could never have been 
applied. 

"Nothing can exceed the appearance of prosperity, peaceful harmony, and 
cheerful contentment that pervaded the whole community. Ever since the first 
year of privation, provisions have been abundant, and want of the necessaries 
and even comforts of life are unknown. A design was at one time entertained 
(more, I believe, as a prospective measure than anything else) to set apart a fund 
for the purpose of erecting a poor-house; but, after strict inquiry it was found 
that there were in the whole population but two persons who could be considered 
objects of public charity, and the plan was consequently abandoned. 

This happy external state of universally diffused prosperity, is commented 
on by themselves as an evidence of the smiles of heaven, and of the special favor 
of the Deity; but I think it may be most clearly accounted for in the admirable 
discipline and ready obedience of a large body of industrious and intelligent 
men, and in the wise counsels of prudent and sagacious leaders, producing a 
oneness and concentration of action, the result of which has astonished even 
those by whom it has been effected. The happy consequences of this system of 
united and well directed action, under one leading and controlling mind, is most 
prominently appirent in the erection of public buildings, opening of roads, the 
construction of bridges, and the preparation of the country for the speedy occu- 
pation of a large and rapidly growing population, shortly to be still further aug- 
mented by an immigration even now on its way, from almost every country in 
Europe. 

" In their dealings with the crowds of immigrants that passed through their 
city, the Mormons were ever fair and upright, taking no advantage of the neces- 
sitous condition of many, if not most of them. They sold them such provisions 
as they could spare, at moderate prices, and such as they themselves paid m their 
dealings with each other. In the whole of our intercourse with them, which 
lasted rather more than a year, I cannot refer to a single instance of fraud or ex- 
tortion to which any of the party was subjected ; and I strongly incline to the 
opinion that the charges that have been preferred against them in this respect, 
arose from interested misrepresentation or erroneous information, I certainly 
never experienced anything like it in my own case, nor did I witness or hear 



io8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

of any instance of it in the case of others, while I resided among them. Too 
many that passed through their settlements were disposed to disregard their claim 
to the land they occupied, to ridicule the municipal regulations ot their city, and 
to trespass wantonly upon their rights. Such offenders were promptly arrested 
'by the authorities, made to pay a severe fine, and in some instances were impris- 
oned or made to labor on the public works; a punishment richly merited, and 
which would have been inflicted upon them in any civilized community. In 
short, these people presented the appearance of a quiet, orderly, industrious, and 
well-organized society, as much so as one would meet with in any city of the 
Union, having the rights of personal property as perfectly defined and as relig- 
iously respected as with ourselves; nothing being farther from their faith or prac- 
tice than the spirit of communism, which has been most erroneously supposed to 
prevail among them. The main peculiarity of the people consists in their relig- 
ious tenets, the form and extent of their church government, (which is a theoc- 
racy), and in the nature especially of their domestic relations." 
Another early writer says : 

"The masses are sincere in their belief: if they are credulous, and have 
been deceived by their leaders, the sin, if any, rests on them. I firmly believe 
the people to be honest, and imbued with true religious feelings; and when we 
take into consideration their general character previously, we cannot but believe 
in their sincerity. Nine-tenths of this vast population are the peasantry of Scot- 
land, England and Wales, originally brought up with religious teachings at 
Protestant parish churches. They place implicit faith in their leaders, who, in a 
pecuniary point of view have fulfilled their promise ; each and all of them are 
comfortably provided with land and tenements. At first they, of course, suffer pri- 
vation, until they build their houses, and reap their crops, yet all their neces- 
sities in the meantime are provided for by the Church, and in a social point of 
view they are much happier than they could ever hope to have been at their 
native homes. From -being tenants at the will of an imperious and exacting 
landlord, they suddenly became landholders in their own right, free men, living 
on free soil, under a free and enlightened government. 

"Considering, again, how all efforts for the improvement of these advantages 
must necessarily be self-dependent in such a place, one cannot say they have been 
tardily developed. Indeed, to me, the manufactures, few as they were, and the 
products and settlements sprung up so extensively in so short a time, spoke not of 
a sensual but of a thrifty and industrious population, who, whatever may be their 
delusions in matters of belief, or the corrupting influence of their customs, at 
least determined to put their hands to the plow, and, looking forward, to work, 
out of hardship and adversity, a comfortable, if not an enviable, prosperity. 
Observe Salt Lake City — not a San Francisco, certainly — but remember that 
eight years ago not a house stood here, nor a stick, nor a stone to build one of. 

"The cheerful happy faces, the self-sacrificed countenances, the cordial saluta- 
tion of brother or sister on all occasions of address, the lively strains of music 
pouring forth from merry hearts in every domicile, as women and children sing 
their "Songs of Zion," while plying the domestic tasks, give an expression of a 
happy society in the vales of Deseret. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, log 

"They have determined to keep themselves distinct from the vices of civiliza- 
tion. During a residence of ten weeks in Great Salt Lake CitVj and my observa- 
tions in all their various settlements, it is worthy of record that I never heard 
any obscene or improper language, never saw a man drunk, never had my atten- 
tion called to to the exhibition of vice of any sort. There are no gambling 
houses, grog shops, or houses of ill- fame in all their settlements. They preach 
morality in their churches and from their stands, and, what is as strange as it is 
true, their people practice it, and religiously believe their salvation depends upon 
fulfilling the behests of the religion which they have adopted. 

" A liquor law, enforced pretty strictly, compels sobriety, which virtue is, 
therefore, no subject for praise. Swearing, at least blasphemous swearing, in the 
public streets, is prohibited under pain of a five-dollar fine for each offense; the 
fine is scarcely ever imposed, but violation of the law is uncommon, and very 
rarely in public or private do you hear an oath. Theft, even in petty things, 
such as vegetables and fuel, is prevented, not by prosecution, but by the known 
rule, that if a man steals two or three times he is ordered to become honest or 
leave the country for good. Not that Mormons ever pretend that there are no 
bad men among them ; nay, agreeable to their principles, they will tell you that 
a Mormon, if bad, will be worse than other men, because he sins against greater 
light and knowledge, and after receiving the Spirit of God. Confirmatory of 
this, I have met at Salt Lake with two or three very proper scoundrels; but, 
taking the people all around, I consider them as moral, industrious, fair-dealing 
and hospitable a set as one is apt to fall in with. 

''In social parties and lively meetings the Mormons are pre-eminent, and 
their hospitality would be more readily extended to strangers had they suitable 
dwellings to invite them into. In their social gatherings and evening parties, 
patronized by the presence of the prophets and apostles, it is not unusual to 
open the ball with prayer, asking the blessing of God on their amusements, as 
well as upon any other engagement ; and then will follow the most sprightly 
dancing, in which all join with hearty good will, from the highest dignitary to 
the humblest individual; and this exercise is to become part of the temple-wor- 
ship, to 'praise God in song and dances.' 

" These private balls and soirees are frequently extended beyond the time of 
cock-crowing by the younger members, and the remains of the evening repast 
furnish the breakfast for the jovial guests. 

" Toward the end of April, in 1854, about ten days previous to the depart- 
uie of Governor Brigham Young, on his annual visit to the southern settlements 
of Utah, tickets of invitation to a grand ball were issued in his name. I had the 
honor to receive one of them. 

"At the appointed hour I made my appearance, chaperoned by Governor 
Young, who gave me a general introduction. A larger collection of fairer and 
more beautiful women I never saw in one room. All of them were dressed in 
white muslin, some with pink and others with blue sashes. Flowers were the 
only ornaments in the hair. The utmost order and the strictest decorum pre- 
vailed. Polkas and waltzes were not danced ; country dances, cotillions, 
quadrilles, etc., were permitted. At the invitation of Governor Young 1 opened 



no HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

the ball with one of his wives. The Governor, with a beautiful partner, stood 
vis-a-vis. An old-fashioned cotillion was danced with much grace by the ladies, 
and the Governor acquitted himself wery vvell on the ' light fantastic toe.' After 
several rounds of dancing, a march was played by the band, and a procession was 
formed; I conduct :id my first partner to the supper room, where I partook of a 
fine entertainment at the Governor's table. There must have been at least two 
hundred ladies present, and about one hundred gentlemen. I returned to my 
quarters at twelve o'clock, most favorably impressed with the exibition of public 
society among the Mormons." 

In 1852 the people had a grand celebration of the Fourth of July. This was 
the first notable celebration of our national birthday by the Mormons since their 
arrival in the valley, though it was kept by the Pioneers on the way, both at 
Winter Quarters and as they approached the haven of their search. They had 
afterwards, in a manner, blended the idea and spirit of the Fourth with the 
Twenty-Fourth, which they esteem as the natal day of Utah. On the first cele- 
bration of the Twenty-Fourth, the Constitution of the United States w-as, as we 
have seen, presented to the Governor of the State of Deseret, 'and the Declara- 
tion of Independence read, but the honor of the year fn 1852, was given to the 
Fourth of July. 

At the first session of the Territorial Legislature, held in 185 1-2, in Salt 
Lake City, memorials to Congress were adopted, praying for the construction of 
a national central railroad, and also a telegraph line from the Missouri River, via 
Salt Lake City to the Pacific. The following memorial was signed and approved 
by Governor Young, March 3d, 1852: 

"7^ the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, 

in Congress assembled : 

"Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Terri- 
tory of Utah, respectfully pray your honorable body to provide for the establish- 
ment of a national central railroad from some eligible point on the Mississippi 
or Missouri River, to San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, or Astoria, or such 
other point on or near the Pacific Coast as the wisdom of your honorable body 
may dictate. 

"Your memorialists respectfully state that the immense emigration to and from 
the Pacific requires the immediate attention, guardian care, and fostering assistance 
of the greatest and most liberal government on the earth. Your memorialists are 
of the opinion that not less than five thousand American citizens have perished 
on the different routes within the last three years, for the want of proper 
means of transportation. That an eligible route can be obtained, your 
memorialists have no doubt, being extensively acquainted with the country. We 
know that no obstruction exists between this point and San Diego, and that iron, 
coal, timber, stone, and other materials exist in various places on the route ; and 
that the settlements of this Territory are so situated as to amply supply the 
builders of said road with material and provisions for a considerable portion of the 
route, and to carry on an extensive trade after the road is completed. 

"Your memorialists are of opinion that the mineral resources of California 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. m 

and these mountains can never be fully developed to the benefit of the United 
States, without the construction of such a road ; and upon its completion, the 
entire trade to China and the East Indies will pass through the heart of the 
Union, thereby giving to our citizens the almost entire control of the Asiatic and 
Pacific trade; pouring into the lap of the American States the millions that are 
now diverted through other commercial channels; and last, though not least, the 
road herein proposed would be a perpetual chain or iron band, which would ef- 
feclually liold together our glorious Union with an imperishable identity of 
mutual interest; thereby consolidating our relations with foreign powers in times 
of peace, and our defense from foreign invasion, by the speedy transmission of 
troops and supplies in times of war. 

" The earnest attention of Congress to this important subject is solicited by 
your memoralists, who, in duty bound, will ever pray." 

On the 31st of January, 1854, there was another movement of the people 
for a Pacific Railroad. The citizens of Salt Lake and surrounding country, men 
and women, gathered en masse to make a grand demonstration in its favor. 

As the Salt Lake Temple, when completed, will be one of the finest and most 
unique architectural piles in America, it will be proper for us to give a synopsis 
of the laying of the corner stones. We cull the following from the Dcserct 
New>: 

"Wednesday, April 6th, 1853, could not have dawned a more lovely day, 
or have been more satisfactory to Saints or Angels. The distant valleys sent 
forth their inhabitants, this valley swarmed forth its thousands, and a more glori- 
ous sight has not been seen for generations than at Great Salt Lake City this day. 

"The Deseret national flag was unfurled to the breeze. The Nauvoo Brass 
Band, Captain Ballo's Band, and the Military Band enlivened the air with their 
sweetest strains. The Silver Greys made a venerable appearance, and the minute 
men, true to their duty, were at their posts at an early hour. The police, under 
the efficient management of Captain Hardy, were at their posts at the time ap- 
pointed; and the countenances of the Saints were as glad and cheerful as though 
each had been favored with the visitation of an angel. * * * 'Plig 
procession then formed at the vestry door in the following order: 

" ist. Martial music. Colors. 2d, Nauvoo Brass Band. Colors. 3d, Ballo's 
Band. Colors. 4th, Captain Pettegrew with relief guards. Colors. 5th, Singers. 
6th, First President and Counselors, and aged Patriarch. 7th, The Twelve 
Apostles, first Presidency of the Seventies, and President and Counselors of the 
Elders' Quorum. 8th, President of the High Priests' Quorum, and Counselors, 
in connection with the President of the Stake, and the High Council. 9th, Pre- 
siding Bishop, with his Council, and the Presidents of the lesser Priesthood, and 
their Council. loth, Archi'ects and workmen selected for the day, with banner, 
representing ' Zion's Workmen,' nth, Captain Merrill, with relief guard, in 
uniform. 

"The procession then marched through the line of guards to the southeast 
corner of the Temple ground, the singers taking their position in the centre, the 
Nauvoo Brass Band on the east bank, Captain Ballo's Band on the west bank, and 



112 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

the Marshal Band on the mound southwest. Captains Pettigrew, Hardy, and 
Merrill, with their commands, occupying the front of the bank (which was six- 
teen feet deep,) and moving from corner to corner with the laying of the several 
stones, prevented an undue rush of the people, which might, by an excavation, 
have endangered the lives of many, when Presidents Young, Kimball, and Rich- 
ards, with Patriarch John Smith, proceeded to lay the southeast corner stone, and 
ascended the top thereof, when the choir sang; President Young delivered 
the chief oration, and Heber C. Kimball offered the consecration prayer. 

"The procession again formed, and proceeded to the southwest corner, 
when the Presiding Bishop, Edward Hunter, his counsel, and the various Presi- 
dencies of the lesser Priesthood, with their associates, laid the southwest corner 
stone, when, from its top, Bishop Hunter delivered the oration, and Bishop 
Alfred Cordon offered the consecration prayer. 

The procession again formed, and moved to the northwest corner stone, 
accompanied with martial music, when John Young, President of the High 
Priests' Quorum, with his Council, and the President of the Stake, with the High 
Council, proceeded to lay the stone. That being done they ascended the stone, 
and President John Young delivered the oration, and George B. Wallace offered 
the consecration prayer. 

The i)rocession again formed, and proceeded to the northeast corner stone, 
which was laid by the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency of the Seventies, 
and the Presidency of the Elders' Quorum. The Apostles then ascended the 
stone, and Elder P. P. Pratt delivered the oration, and Orson Hyde offered the 
consecration prayer. 

On the 3Tst of October, 1853, Governor Young received an express giving 
an account of the massacre on the i6th of that month, by Indians, of Captain 
John W. Gunnison and seven of his party, near the swamps of the Sevier River. 
Captain Gunnison and twelve of his party had departed from the rest, and while 
at breakfast, a band of Indians, intending to destroy a Mormon village near at 
hand, came upon them and fired with rifles, and then used bows and arrows. 
Shots were returned by the Gunnison party, but they were overpowered, and only 
four escaped. Gunnison had twenty arrows shot into his body, and, when found, 
had one of his arms off. The notes of the survey, which had been nearly com- 
pleted, instruments, and the animals, were taken by the Indians. Governor 
Young immediately sent aid to Captain Morris, to release him from his critical 
position in the midst of the Indians, and endeavor to obtain the lost property. 

In his message to the Legislature that year, the Governor said : 

" In the military department of the Territory there is but little change from 
last year's report, except an increase of about seven hundred names to the mus- 
ter rolls. In the southern settlements a great portion of the troops have been 
kept in almost constant service in order to preserve the inhabitants and their 
property from Indian aggressions. * * * 

" During the late troubles, twelve of our citizens have been killed at differ- 
ent times, and many wounded ; and seven of the exploring party, including the 
lamented Captain Gunnison, have been killed on the Sevier." 



niS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CLTY. u -. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CARSON COLONY. THE GREAT FAMINE IN UTAH. THE HAND-CART COM- 
PANIES. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. DEATH OF J. M. GRANT. 
MAYOR OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

In 1S54-5, the Mormon colonists pushed forward to the western frontier of 
the Territory, and settled a large portion of the country now known as Nevada. 
This mission was given to about seventy families, who were directed to go to 
Carson Valley under the supervision of Orson Hyde, President of the Apostles. 
Soon afterwards the Legislature of Utah organized the whole of that district un- 
der the name of Carson County, appointing at the same time Orson Hyde as 
probate judge. Hon. Enoch Reese was its representative. Governor Young, in 
his message to the Legislature, in the winter of 1855-6, said: "In accordance 
with a law passed by the Assembly in 1S54-5, the Hon. Orson Hyde repaired to 
Carson County, accompanied by the Hon. Judge Stiles and Marshal Heywood, 
and, in connection with authorized persons from California, approximately es- 
tablished the boundary line between this Territory and that State in the region of 
Carson Valley, and fullv organized the county." 

The first house in Genoa was built by Col. John Reese> of Great Salt Lake 
City, in 1S50. It was called Reese's Station. A few persons — ^^namely, Orson 
Hyde, Chester Loveland, Christopher Merkley, Seth Dustin, George Hancock, 
Reuben Perkins, Jesse Perkins, and William Hutchings — colonized that country 
in 1855, but in the spring of 1856, an organized colony of about seventy families 
went, among were Christopher Layton, William Jennings, William Nixon, Joseph 
R. Walker (in the employ of Nixon), Peregrine Sessions (the founder of Sessions' 
settlement), Albert Dewey, farmer Cherry from Bountiful, William Kay (founder 
of Kaysward), George Nebeker, and a number of others who would rank as first 
class men in the formation of a new colony. 

In the winter of 1855-6, the Legislature was removed from Great Salt Lake 
to Fillmore, which had been designated as the capital in former sessions. 

There was a famine in Utah in 1856. The crops of the two previous years 
had failed, and in some of the settlements the winters had been very severe, and 
the cattle ranging in the valleys died in great numbers. The best provided families 
throughout the winter of 1855-6 had to ration themselves to the smallest amount 
of breadstuffs per day in order to subsist until the following harvest. The con- 
dition of the poor was appalling; and nothing but the semi-patriarchal character 
of the community preserved thousands from perishing. 

The following letter from Heber C. Kimball to his son in England, gives a 
graphic picture of the famine of 1856: 

"Great Salt Lake City, 

February 29, 1856. 

To my dear son William, and to all whom it may concern. — My family, 
1 



114 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

with yours, are all in good health and spirits. I have been under the necessity 
of rationing my family, 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. This I am under the necessity of doing. Brother Brigham told me to-day 
that he had put his family on half-a-pound each, for there is scarcely any grain 
in the country, and there are thousands that have none at all scarcely. 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 sup- 
pose that I feed about as many as one hundred besides. My mill has not brought 
me ill, for the last seven months, over one bushel of toll per day, in consequence 
of the dry weather, and the water being frozen up — which would not pay my 
miller. When this drouth came on, I had about seven hundred bushels of wheat, 
and it is now reduced to about one hundred and twenty-five bushels, and I have 
only about twenty-five bushels of corn, which will not provide for my own family 
until harvest. Heber has been to the mill to-day, and has brought down some 
unbolted flour, and we shall be under the necessity of eating the bran along with 
the flour, and shall think ourselves doing well with half-a-pound a day at that. 
Martin Wood stated to him that he had ground thirty bushels yesterday, but last 
night was a very cold night, which will check the water again, as the weather has 
not modified a great deal. Although the sun shines pleasantly through the day, 
the nights are still quite cold. You must remember that I did not raise one 
spoonful of wheat last year, and I have not received any from any other source 
than the mill. Brother James planted some late corn from which we obtained 
about forty bushels, and rather poor at that. We have some meat and, perhaps 
about seventy bushels of potatoes, also a very few beets and carrots ; so you 
can judge whether or not we can get through until harvest without digging roots ; 
still we are altogether better off than the most of the people in these valleys of 
the mountains. There are several wards in this city who have not over two 
weeks' provisions on hand. 

"I went into the tithmg office with Brother Hill, and examined it from top 
to bottom, and, taking all the wheat, corn, buckwheat and oats, there were not 
to exceed five hundred bushels, which is all the Public Works have or expect to 
have, and the works are pretty much abandoned, the men having been all turned 
off, except about fifteen who are at work on Brother Brigham's house, and mak- 
ing seed drills for grain, as we shall be obliged to put in our grain by drilling, 
on account of the scarcity, which probably will not take over one-third of the 
grain it would to sow broadcast. 

"We shall not probably do anything on the Public Works until another har- 
vest. The mechanics ot every class have all been counseled t'o abandon their 
pursuits and go to raising grain. This we are literally compelled to do, out of 
necessity. Moreover, there is not a settlement in the Territory, but is in the 
same fix that we are. Some settlements can go two months, some three, some 
can, probably, at the rate of half-a-poimd per day, till harvest. Hon. A. W. 
Babbitt, even, went to Brother Hyde's provision store the other day, and begged 
to get twenty or twenty-five pounds of flour, but could not. This I was told by 
William Price, who is the salesman of the store. Money will not buy flour or 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CI2 V, //j 

meal, only at a few places, and but very little at that. I can assure you that I am 
harassed constantly; I sell none for money, but let it go where people are truly 
destitute. Dollars and cents do not count now, in these times, for they are the 
tightest that I have ever seen in the Territory of Utah. You and your brethren 
can judge a little by this. As one of the old ^prophets said, anciently, ' As with 
the people, so with the priest,' we all take it together." 

This second famine was likened to the famine of Egypt. For months some 
families knew not the taste of bread. Settlements usually noted for good crops 
were so destitute that they sent teams several hundred miles to other settlements 
to get bran and shorts, and even that supply was considered a great luxury. The 
community had also to feed the thousands of emigrants who arrived that year in 
a starved condition in the handcart companies. The famine was the great sub- 
ject of the discourses of the Tabernacle; and, much to the credit of Governor 
Young and other leading men of substance, it is to be observed that they urged 
all the community to share with each other, and faithfully set the example them- 
selves. So much were the people appalled with the prospect of famine at some 
future period, by the experience of this year, that for nearly twenty years there- 
after they every season stored surplus wheat to be prepared when famine should 
come again. It took the railroad to dissipate this terror of famine from the peo- 
ple's mind. 

It was also the year of the handcart emigration, in which several hundred 
perished in the snows and for lack of food. The story of the terrible sufferings 
of the poor emigrants and of the victims whose graves daily marked the journey 
can never be fully told, and it is too harrowing to the feelings of the people, 
even to-day, to render the effort desirable for the historian's pen. It is a page of 
history in the peopling of Utah which the people would fain have forgotten; but 
it is due to Brigham Young and the noble conduct of the entire community to 
record something of the rescue of those companies. The following passages are 
culled from Mr. John Chislett's very graphic chapters on the handcart emi- 
gration : 

" We traveled on in misery and sorrow day after day. Sometimes we made 
a pretty good distance, but at other times we were only able to make a few miles' 
progress. Finally we were overtaken by a snow-storm which the shrill wind blew 
furiously about us. The snow fell several inches deep as we traveled along, but 
we dared not stop, for we had a sixteen-mile journey to make, and short of it we 
could not get wood and water. 

" As we were resting for a short time at noon a light wagon was driven into- 
our camp from the west. Its occupants were Joseph A. Young and Stephen 
Taylor. They informed us that a train of supplies was on the way, and we 
might expect to meet it in a day or two. More welcome messengers never came 
from the courts of glory than these two young men were to us. They lost no 
time after encouraging us all they could to press forward, but sped on further 
east to convey their glad news to Edward Martin and the fifth hand-cart company 
who left Florence about two weeks after us, and who it was feared were even 
worse off than we were. As they went from our view, many a hearty ' God 
bless you ' followed them." 



ii6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"Joseph A.," as the Prophet's eldest son is familiarly termed, was the last 
of the returning missionaries to leave the emigrant camp on the banks of the 
Platte River. Though ignorant of the apprehension that he felt for their welfare, 
and the presentiments he had of the inevitable suffering that awaited them, many 
of the emigrants clung to him with more than ordinary affection, and detained 
him till the warning of approaching night urged him to follow his companions. 
When he bade them good-by, he could scarcely say more than " You shall see me 
again soon." All speed was made by him and his companions, and imme- 
diately on arrival in Salt Lake City he reported to his father how far the emi- 
grants were yet behind. 

Brigham comprehended their situation in a moment. Though his son had 
been absent two years from his home, he ordered him instantly to make ready to 
return to the assistance of the emigrants and gave him authority to take all the 
provisions, clothing, and vehicles that he could find on the way and press them 
forward to the rescue. Brigham Young on that occasion earned the good opinions 
of foes as well as friends. Mr. Chislett continues : 

"The storm which we encountered, our brethren from the Valley also met 
and, not knowing that we were so utterly destitute, they encamped to await 
fine weather. But when Captain Willie found them and explained our real con- 
dition, they at once hitched up their teams and made all speed to come to 
our rescue. On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure, 
just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence 
immediately west of our camp several covered wagons, each drawn by four horses, 
were seen coming towards us. The news ran through the camp like wild-fire, 
and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them. A 
few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly 
in advance of the train. Shouts of joy rent the air ; strong men wept till tears 
ran freely down their furrowed and sun-burnt cheeks, and little children partook 
of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with 
gladness. Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing, and as the brethren en- 
tered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses. The 
brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in 
choking silence repressed all demonstration of those emotions that evidently mas- 
tered them. Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated, and such a shaking 
of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have 
seldom been witnessed. 

" I was installed as regular commissary to the camp. The brethren turned 
over to me flour, potatoes, onions, and a limited supply of warm clothing for 
both sexes, besides quilts, blankets, buffalo robes, woollen socks, etc. I first dis" 
tributed the necessary provisions, and after supper divided the clothing, bedding, 
etc., where it was most needed. That evening, for the first time in quite a period, 
the songs of Zion were to be heard in the camp, and peals of laughter issued from 
the little knots of people as they chatted around the fires. The change seemed 
almost miraculous, so sudden was it from grave to gay, from sorrow to gladness, 
from mourning to rejoicing. With the cravings of hunger satisfied, and with 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. uy 

hearts filled with gratitude to God and our good brethren, we all united in prayer, 
and then retired to rest. 

" xVmong the brethren who came to our succor were Elders W. H. Kimball 
and G. D. Grant. They had remained but a few days in the Valley before start- 
ing back to meet us. May God ever bless them for their generous, unselfish 
kindness and their manly fortitude ! They felt that they had, in a great measure, 
contributed to our sad position ; but how nobly, how faithfully, how bravely they 
worked to bring us safely {o the Valley — to the Zion of our hopes ! 

"After getting over the Pass we soon experienced the influence of a 
warmer climate, and for a few days we made good progress. We constantly met 
teams from the Valley, with all necessary provisions. Most of these went on to 
Martin's company, but enough remained with us for our actual wants. At Fort 
Bridger we found a great many teams that had come to our help. The noble fel- 
lows who came to our assistance invariably received us joyfully, and did all in 
their power to alleviate our suff'erings. May they never need similar relief ! 

"After arriving in the Valley, I found that President Young, on learning 
from the brethren who passed us on the road of the lateness of our leaving the 
frontier, set to work at once to send us relief. It was the October Conference 
when they arrived with the news. Brigham at once suspended all conference 
business, and declared that nothing further should be done until every available 
team was started out to meet us. He set the example by sending several of his 
best mule teams, laden with provisions. Heber Kimball did the same, and 
hundreds of others followed their noble example. People who had come from 
distant parts of the Territory to attend conference, volunteered to go out to meet 
us, and went at once. The people who had no teams gave freely of provisions, 
bedding, etc. — all doing their best to help us. 

"We arrived in .Salt Lake City on the 9th of November, but Martin's com- 
pany did not arrive until about the ist of December. They numbered near six 
hundred on starting, and lost over 07ie-fourth of their number by death. The storm 
which overtook us while making the sixteen-mile drive on Sweetwater, reached 
them at North Platte. There they settled down to await help or die, being unable 
to go any farther. Their camp-ground became indeed a veritable grave-yard 
before they left it, and their dead lie even now scattered along from that point to 
Salt Lake. They were longer without food than we were, and being more exposed 
to the severe weather, their morcality was, of course, greater in proportion. 

"Our tale is their tale partly told ; the same causes operated in both cases, 
and the same effects followed. 

" Immediately that the condition of the suffering emigrants was known in 
fealt Lake City, the most fervent prayers for their deliverance were offered up. 
There, and throughout the Territory, the same was done as soon as the news 
reached the people. Prayers in the Tabernacle, in the school-house, in the family 
circle, and in the private prayer circles of the priesthood, were constantly offered 
up to the Almighty, begging Him to avert the storm from us. Such intercessions 
were invariably made on behalf of Martin's company, at all the meetings which I 
attended after my arrival. 

" But it was the stout hearts and strong hands of the noble fellows who came 



I 



ii8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

tj our relief, the good teams, the flour, beef, potatoes, the warm clothing and 
bedding, and not prayers nor prophecies, that saved us from death." 

In March, 1856, a constitutional convention was held at Great Salt Lake 
City, and a constitution drafted, the preamble of which stated that the last cen- 
sus showed a sufficient population to justity the people to petition Congress for a 
State government. The State was named Deseret. 

At the close of the year 1856, Great Salt Lake City met a sad bereavement 
in the death of its first mayor, to whose distinguished memory is dedicated the 
following brief biographical sketch : 

Jedediah Morgan Grant , first mayor of Great Salt Lake City, was the son of 
Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born in Windsor, Broome County, New York, 
February 21, 1816. We have been unable to procure definite intelligence of his 
childhood and education, but the foundation for mental pursuits and the love of 
books and study was evidently laid at that early period of life, before he appeared 
as a candidate for baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
He was baptized by Elder John F. Boynton, afterwards one of the Apostles, on 
the 2ist of March, 1833. In the spring of the following year, when he was 
eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march 
to Missouri, " and in the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors en- 
dured by that handful of valiant men, exhibited a goodly portion, for one so 
young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constancy in behalf of 
the cause of truth, that invariably characterized his life." The experience the 
young men of this expedition obtained, on this memorable journey, was such as 
few ever passed through in life. 

He was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the 
river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the 
tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace 
in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West. 

He went east from Winter Quarters in the winter of 1846-7, on a short mis- 
sion, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which for several 
years floated over " the land of the free and the homes of the blest " in this city, 
and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important 
business in the interests of the exodus, he returned in June, 1847, to the Missouri 
River, and was appointed Captain of the Third Hundred of the emigrating 
Saints, which he successfully led to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the follow- 
ing October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went 
out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard 
Richards and accompany and assist them in. 

May 26, 1849, h^ ^^^s elected Brigadier General of the first brigade of the 
Nauvoo Legion, and October 23d, 1852, was promoted to the Major Generalship 
of the First Division, which military office he held unto his death. He was an 
efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians 
he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of 
the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites. 

In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business, together with 
about forty missionaries, who elected him captain of the company. Among the 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ug 

number were President John Taylor, Apostles Erastus Snow, Lorenzo Snow, F. D. 
Richards, Bishop Hunter, Colonel Reese, Curtis E. Bolton, and several other 
prominent elders. 

Great Salt Lake City was incorporated on the 19th of January, 1S51, and 
at the first election held under the charter, on the first Monday of the next 
April, Jedediah M. Grant was elected mayor, which office he magnified in an 
eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people, 
until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for 
the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted, forming 
the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and pros- 
pered to the present time. 

The following introduction to his famous series of letters, published in the 
New York Herald, w^ion the "runaway judges," will fitly represent Mayor 
Grant's bold, independent style, and thoroughly honest character: 

"Sir: I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this 
letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is 
great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all 
the evil that can be spoken of them. Announce you that I am a Mormon Elder, 
just arrived from Utah — mayor, in fact, of Salt Lake City, where my wife and 
family are still living — a preacher, brigadier of horse, and president of the 
quorum of Seventies, and the like; and not one subscriber that waded overshoe- 
tops through the slime of details you gave of the play-actor's divorce trial lately, 
will not be greedy to read all I have to say about the filthier accusations that have 
been brought against me and my friends and brethren. This is what I have to 
count upon, thank falsehood. And if you publish my letter entire, 1 will ask for 
no editorial help from you. I am no writer; but, with the help of the Power of 
Light, I am not afraid of what you can say against us. So long as I walk by the 
rule of my Master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies. 

"I must say I have had my doubts about writing out upon these mat- 
ters ; my doing so not being approved by our Delegate in Congress, Dr. Bern- 
hisel. The Doctor is one of our gentlemen at home, a real gentleman, and 
would not say a rough word or do a rough thing to hurt the feelings or knock off 
the spectacles of any man for the world. But I am no gentleman, in his sense at 
least; and have had slights enough put upon me, personally, since I came east- 
ward, to entitle me to any amount of stand-up self-defence. Dr. Bernhisel's 
official course in this rriatter, I suppose I am bound to accept ; for I have under- 
stood that he had the advice of experienced men, who said to him : 'Take up 
the report of the three officers criminating your constituents, when it comes from 
the State Department into the House ; ask for a special committee with power to 
send for persons and papers, and put the false witnesses on oath; but don't stoop 
to wrangle upon your religion, morals and political opinions with Mr. Webster 
or the Congressmen at large, whom the country considers to have enough to do 
to take care of their own.' 

"This is all very well, and very high and mighty and dignified, certainly; 
but while the grass grows, the cow starves ; while Congress is taking its months to 



I20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cn\. 

do the work of a day, the verdict of the public goes against us, as the law-word 
IS, by default, and we stand substantially convicted of anything and everything 
that any and every kind of blackguard can make up a lie about. And now I 
hear that the charges are not to be pushed ; two of the officers want to come 
back to us as friends — they are to be virtually abandoned after doing us all the 
harm they can. What Mr. Webster thinks, we care a little; what is the opinion 
of most members of Congress, you can hardly believe, in your part of the 
world, how very little, but Public Opinion, that power we respect as well as 
recognize; and, therefore, I am now determined, on my own responsibility, to 
write myself, and blurt out all the truth I can. I may not be discreet, but I will 
be honest." 

J. M. Grant was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Leg- 
islative Assembly of the Territory in 1852, and at three subsequent sessions, 
filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the mem- 
bers over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and talented, and 
brought to the law-making department a high practical sense of justice and right, 
which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome 
laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community. 

On December ist, 1856, Mayor Grant breathed his last, and his spirit went 
jovfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren that had gone 
before. He was forty years of age when he died, but had spent those years to 
such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow-men that he was mourned 
bv thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as 
a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the Deserct News in 
closing his obituary, says: 

"Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language 
could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the 
side of truth, of high-toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved in 
the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father, 
and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether 
military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady 
and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died as he lived and coun ' 
seled, with his 'armor on and burnished.' Though all Saints deeply feel his 
departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our ' infinite 
gain.' " 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 121 



CHAPTER XV. 

EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE UTAH WAR, GEN- 
ERAL SCOTT'S CIRCULAR AND INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ARMY. MAGRAW'S 
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. DRUMMOND'S CHARGES. THE REPUBLI- 
CAN PARTY ASSOCIATES UTAH WITH THE SOUTH. THE " IRREPRESSIBLE 
CONFLICr." FREMONT AND DOUGLAS. 

The subject of the Utah Expedition occupies nearly the entire history of 
Salt Lake City, and of Utah in general, from the year 1857 to 186 1, when Camp 
Floyd was evacuated. On the part of the U. S. Government the extraordinary 
record commenced wath the issuing of the following 

CIRCULAR. 

To the Adjutant General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, Surgeon 
General, Paymaster General, and Chief of Ordnance. 

Headquarters of the Army, 

May 28, iSjy. 

Orders having been dispatched in haste for the assemblage of a body of 
troops at Fort Leavenworth, to march thence to Utah as soon as assembled, the 
general-in-chief, in concert with the War Department, issues the following in- 
structions, to be executed by the chiefs of the respective staff departments, in 
connection with his general orders of this date : 

1. The force — 2d dragoons, 5th infantry, loth infantry and Phelps' battery 
of the 4th artillery — to be provided with transportation and supplies, will be esti- 
mated at not less than 2,500 men. 

2. The Adjutant General will, in concert with the chiefs of the respective 
departments, issue the necessary orders for assigning to this force a full comple- 
ment of disbursing and medical officers, an officer of ordnance and an Assistant 
Adjutant General, if the latter be required. 

He will relieve Captains Phelps' 4th artillery and Hawes' 2d dragoons from 
special duty, and order them to join their companies. He will also give the 
necessary orders for the movement of any available officers, whose services may 
be desired by the Quartermaster General or Commissary General in making 
purchases. Lieutenant Col. Taylor and Brevet Major Waggaman will be ordered 
to exchange stations. 

All available recruits are to be assigned to the above named regiments up to 
the time of departure. 

3. About 2,000 head of beef cattle must be procured and driven to Utah. 
Six months' supply of bacon (for two days in a week) must be sent — des- 



122 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 

iccated vegetables in sufficient quantity to guard the health of the troops for the 
coming winter. 

4. Arrangements will be made for the concentration and temporary halt 
of the 5th infantry at Jefferson Barracks, 

The squadron of dragoons at Fort Randall taking their horse equipments 
with them will leave their horses at that post, and a remount must be provided 
for them at Fort Leavenworth. Also, horses must be sent out to the squadron at 
Fort Kearney, and the whole regiment, as also Phelps' battery, brought to the 
highest point of efficiency. 

Besides the necessary trains and supplies, the quartermaster's department 
will procure for the expedition 250 tents of Sibley's pattern, to provide for the 
case that the troops shall not be able to hut themselves the ensuing winter. 
Storage tents are needed for the like reason. Stoves enough to provide, at least, 
for the sick, must accompany the tents. 

5. The Surgeon General will cause the necessary medical supplies to be pro- 
vided, and requisition made for the means of transporting them with the ex- 
pedition. 

6. The chief of ordnance will take measures immediately to put in position 
for the use of this force, three travelling forges and a full supply of ammunition, 
and will make requisition for the necessary transportation of the same. 

WINFIELD SCOTT. 

The command of the Expedition was at first given to Brigadier General W. 
S. Harney, but was afterwards transfered to Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. It is 
due to the Government to accompany this circular with the letter of instructions 
to General Harney, explanatory of its views and designs concerning Utah and 
her people : 

Headquarters of the Army, 

New York, June 29, 1857. 

Sir: The letter which I addressed to you in the name of the general-in- 
chief, on the 28th ultimo, his circular to the chiefs of staff departments same date ; 
his general order No. 8, current series, and another now in press, have indicated 
your assignment to the command of an expedition to Utah Territory, and the 
preparatory measures to be taken. 

The general-in-chief desires me to add in his name the following instruc- 
tions, prepared in concert with the War Department, and sanctioned by its au- 
thority, whenever required. 

The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in 
a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States 
A new civil governor is about to be designated, and to be charged with the estab- 
lishment and maintenance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with 
that of the troops to be placed under your command, is relied upon to insure the 
success of his mission. 

The principles by which you should be guided have been already indicated 
in a somewhat similar case, and are here substantially repeated. 

If the governor of the Territory, finding the ordi'^ary course of judicial pro- 



HIS! OR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 123 

ceedings of the power vested in the United States' Marshals and other proper 
officers inadequate for the preservation of the public peace and the due execution 
of the laws, should make requisition upon you for a military force to aid him as 
posse comitatiis in the performance of that official duty, you are hereby directed 
to employ for that purpose the whole or such part of your command as may be 
required; or should the governor, the judges, or marshals of the Territory find 
it necessary directly to summon a part of your troops, to aid either in the per- 
formance of his duties, you will take care that the summons be promptly obeyed. 
And in no case will you, your officers or men, attack any body of citizens what- 
ever, except on such requisition or summons, or in sheer self-defence. 

In executing this delicate function of the military power of the United 
States the civil responsibility will be upon the governor, the judges and mar- 
shals of the Territory. While you are not to be, and cannot be subjected to 
the orders, strictly speaking, of the governor, you will be responsible for a jeal- 
ous; harmonious and thorough co-operation with him, or frequent and full con- 
sultation, and will conform your action to his requests and views in all cases 
where your military judgment and prudence do not forbid, nor compel you to 
modify, in execution, the movements he may suggest. No doubt is entertained 
that your conduct will fully meet the moral and professional responsibilities of 
your trust; and justify the high confidence already reposed in you by the govern- 
ment. 

The lateness of the season, the dispersed condition of the troops and the 
smallness of the numbers available, have seemed to present elements of difficulty, 
if not hazard in this expedition. But it is believed that these may be compen- 
sated by unusual care in its outfit, and great prudence in its conduct. All dis- 
posable recruits have been reserved for it. 

So well is the nature of this service appreciated, and so deeply are the honor 
and the interest of the United States involved in its success, that I am authorized 
to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to complete the 
efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to it, as far as at- 
tainable. Hence, in addition to liberal orders for its supply heretofore given 
— and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of success, have 
been dictated by chiefs of staff departments here— a large discretion will be made 
over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment of spies, 
guides, interpretors or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent you may 
think desirable 

The prudence expected of you requires that you should anticipate resistance, 
general, organized and formidable, at the threshold, and shape your movements 
as if they were certain, keeping the troops well massed and in hand when ap- 
proaching expected resistance. Your army will be equipped, for a time, at least, 
as a self sustaining machine. Detachments will, therefore, not be lightly 
hazarded, and you are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over 
confidence. 

A small but sufficient force must however, move separately from the main 
column, guarding the beef cattle and such other supplies as you may thmk 
would too much encumber the march of the main body. The cattle may require 



124. ' HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

to be marched more slowly than the troops, so as to arrive in Salt Lake Valley in 
good condition, or they may not survive the inclemency and scanty sustenance of 
the winter. This detachment, though afterwards to become the rear guard, may, 
it is hoped, be put in route before the main body, to gain as much time as possi- 
ble before the latter passes it. 

The general-in-chief suggests that feeble animals, of draught and cavalry, 
should be left ten or twelve days behind the main column, at Fort Laramie, to 
recruit and follow. 

It should be a primary object on arriving in the valley, if the condition of 
things permit, to procure not only fuel, but materials for hutting the troops. 
Should It be too late for the latter purpose, or should such employment of the 
troops be unsafe or impracticable, the tents (of Sibley's pattern) furnished will, 
it is hoped, afford a sufficient shelter. 

It is not doubted that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants 
of the resident population, will be found in the valley of Utah; and that the 
inhabitants," if assured by energy and justice, will be ready to sell them to the 
troops. Hence no instructions are given you for the extreme event of the troops 
being in absolute need of such supplies and their being withheld by the inhabi- 
tants. The necessities of such an occasion would furnish the law for your 
guidance. 

Besides the stated reports required by regulations, special reports will be ex- 
pected from you, at the headquarters of the army, as opportunity may offer. 

The general-in-chief desires to express his best wishes, official and .personal, 
for your complete success and added reputation. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

GEORGE W. LAY, 

Lieutenant Colonel Aid- de- Camp. 
Brevet Brigadier General W. S. Harney, 

Commanding a^c, Fort Leavenworth, K. T. 

P. S. — The general-in-chief (in my letter of the 26th instant) has already 
conveyed to you a suggestion — not an order, nor even a recommendation — that 
it might be well to send forward in advance a part of your horse to Fort Laramie, 
there to halt and be recruited in strength, by rest and grain, before the main 
body comes up. 

Respectfully, 

G. W. L., Lt. CoL, Aid-de-Camp. 

Though the foregoing document shows no desire on the part of the Govern- 
ment to destroy those colonies of Mormons which were fast spreading over this 
western country, yet upon its face it bears remarkable evidence that the Bu- 
chanan expedition was projected without a sufficient knowledge of the real con- 
dition of Utah at that precise period, or of the feelings of her people towards 
the parent Government, whether loyal or disloyal. Take for instance the passage 
of instructions from the general-in-chief relative to supplies: " It is not doubted 
that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants of the resident popu- 
lation will be found in the Valley of Utah," etc. 



HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. j2j 

The great military capacity and experience of General Scott, to say noth- 
ing of his humane character, would be sufficient evidence in the history that, 
when these instructions were given, he knew absolutely nothing of the real con- 
dition of the people of Utah during the year preceding; for that was the very 
year of the great famine in Utah, described in the foregoing chapter, which was 
likened to the famine in Egypt. There were thousands of people in Utah who 
had been hungry an entire year when those instructions were penned, and multi- 
tudes of little children in her valleys who had so often cried themselves to sleep, 
and forgotten the gnawings of hunger, till, sleeping or waking, hunger became 
as second nature to them ; nor were there sufficient supplies in all the valleys of 
Utah to satisfy that hunger till the harvest f)f 1857, three months later than the 
date of General Scott's circular. Yet that general was about to quarter an 
army in or near Salt Lake City, with the full assurance that there were, at the 
time of the issuance of his orders, abundant supplies in the ''Valley of Utah" " be- 
yond the wants of the resident population" to feed his army. In view of this 
famine how suggestive of the ignorance of the Government concerning the con- 
dition of Utah, and the loyalty or disloyalty of her people, is the addendum of 
the commander-in-chief to General Harney: "Hence no instructions are given 
you for the extreme event of the troops being in absolute need of such supplies 
and their being withheld by the inh3,bitants. The necessities of such an occa- 
sion would furnish the law for your guidance." Had an army been ordered to 
Utah before the harvest of 1857, for the very purpose to literally devour the 
country and destroy the Mormon community root and branch by famine, rather 
than by the sword, the order, though inhuman, would not have been so incon- 
sistant as General Scott's instructions with his undoubted humane intentions. 

The only justification indeed of the Buchanan administration for sending 
the expedition, which all America soon confessed was the most humiliating blun- 
der to be found in the whole history of the nation, was just in the fact that the 
Government knew scarcely anything of Utah affairs; and the simple explanation 
of this ignorance is that for six months preceding the inception of the expedi. 
tion there had been no postal communication between Utah and the Eastern 
States. The mails had failed ; Utah had been shut out from the rest of the 
world by an early and extraordinaryly severe winter; the handcart companies of 
Mormon emigrants came nearly perishing on the plains, buried in the snows ; 
the entire Territory had risen to the rescue; the leaders had been absorbed in 
saving the community from perishing in the valleys in consequence of the 
famine, and their companies on the plains from a disaster which, but for the res- 
cue, would have been as frightful to those emigrants as the retreat of Napoleon's 
army from Moscow, and withal the devoted people, whose homes were even then 
threatened with invasion, and their social and religions organization with utter 
dissolution were oblivious of the war cloud gathering over their heads. Mean- 
time, a few Government officials, principal among whom were Judge Drummond 
and the very mail contractor who had failed to carry the mails, had betrayed the 
Government into the commission of a series of blunders, which soon provoked a 
general public condemnation and the investigation of Congress. The New York 
Herald, at the time, stated : 



126 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

" Some of our cotemporaries have been publishing long letters dated from 
Utah, and containing heart-rending accounts of the sufferings inflicted on poor 
helpless women, by the brutality of the Mormon leaders. It is perhaps as well 
that the public should know that these letters are made up on this side of the 
Mississippi, and we have no doubt do more credit to the imagination than to the 
memory of their writers. No journal has a correspondent in Utah at the present 
time. It reflects some credit on the ingenuity of our cotemporaries to have be- 
thought themselves of getting up an excitement about Utah just as Kansas 
died out. 

" Of the facts of the case in Utah, it is very difficult to form a reliable judg- 
ment, simply because our most reliable authorities, such as Judge Drummond, 
now in Washington, are tainted with a suspicion of interested motives. * * 

"There is no authority in the Constitution to justify an interference by 
Congress or the Federal Government with such an institution as polygamy in a 
Territory. It is as clearly without the pale of Congressional or executive regu- 
lation as slavery ; if Congress may not pass a law to govern the one, it may not 
pass a law to govern the other; if the President cannot interfere to drive slavery 
out of Kansas; neither can he assume to drive polygamy out of Utah. Marriage, 
a civil contract, is essentially subject to the control of local, municipal, or civil 
laws; the Federal Government has nothing to do with it, and Congress can make 
no laws defining its nature, altering its effect, or prescribing penalties for 
breaches of its obligations committed by people residing within a Territory of 
the United States. 

"Those, therefore, who assumed that Mr. Buchanan was going to carry fire 
and sword among the Mormons because they were polygamists, and to put down 
polygamy by force of arms, gave the President very little credit for judgment or 
knowledge of the instrument under which he holds his powers." 

The passage of the general-in-chief's instructions relative to "a surplus of 
provisions and forage," in a land of famine, isnot more remarkable in the history 
than the information given to General Harney, as the reason and justification for 
the invading expedition which he was to command: "The community and, in 
part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in a state of substantial rebellion 
against the laws and authority of the United States. A new civil governor is 
about to be designated, and to be charged with the establishment and mainten- 
ance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with that of the troops to 
be placed under your command, is relied to issue the success of his mission." 

Read a century hence, issolated from the well connected history of Utah, 
whose every fact and circumstance now can be verified, the circular and letter of 
instructions, representing the views of the Administration, would be received as 
an established record that the people of Utah had made public demonstrations of 
rebellion ; that Brigham Young was in actual usurpation, and that defiant word 
had been sent by the citizens that they would not receive any Governor other 
than of their own choice ; nor would even this view be sufficient coupled 
with the following passage indicating that Utah was in actual attitude of war at 
that moment against the United States : "The prudence expected of you requires 
that you should anticipate resistance, general, organized and formidable, at the 



HISTORY OF SALT/LAKE CITY. 127 

threshold, and shape your movements as if they were certain, keeping the troops 
well massed and in hand when approaching expected resistance. ^ * :^ 
You are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over confidence." 

Nothing, however, up to this date, had occurred to warrant the conclusion 
that the people of Utah were "in a state of substantial rebellion." No mass 
meetings had been held during 1856 to utter any protest, not even of the mildest 
form permitted by the Constitution, much less had they made any public demon- 
stration that could reasonably be construed either into an act or intent of rebellion 
against the United States government. But in the reverse of this, as noted in 
the preceding chapter, a constitutional convention was held that very year ; a 
republican constitution adopted, with the declaration of rights already exhibited, 
and delegates were sent to Congress to ask for the admission of Utah into the 
Union. For historical suggestiveness, lay by the side of the documents proceed- 
ing from General Scott the following extract from the Deseret News : 

"The delegates of the convention, from the various counties, except Green 
River, met in the Council House on the 17th inst. (March). The event was an- 
nounced by the firing of cannon and music from Captain Ballo's band. 
Throughout the day flags floated from the cupolas of the Governor's mansion 
and Council House, also from the tall flag poles on the Temple Block and in 
front of the Deseret, and Livingston, Kinkead & Co.'s stores, from flag staffs 
on the roof of Gilbert & Gerrish's store, and from those on the roofs of many 
other public buildings. 

" At an early hour a large concourse of citizens had assembled, anxiously 
awaiting the commencement of those deliberations and acts, which have for their 
object the addition of another star to the brilliant and thickly spangled constel- 
lation styled, £ Pluribus Unum. 

"The convention organized by unanimously electing the Hon. J. M. Grant, 
president; Mr. T. Bullock, secretary; Mr. J. Grimshaw, assistant secretary; 
Mr. R. T. Burton, sergeant-at-arms; Mr. W. C.Staines, messenger; Mr. T- 
Hall, doorkeeper ; and Messrs. G. D. Watt and J. V. Long, reporters. At 12:30, 
adjourned until 2 p.m. if -^ % * 

" In the afternoon the freedom of the convention was unanimously tendered 
to His Excellency the Governor, the United States officers of the Territory, 
President H. C. Kimball, the members of the Legislative Assembly, Hons. E. 
Snow, A. Lyman and E. Hunter, Hon. Elias Smith, Probate Judge of G. S. L. 
County, and the Aldermen of G. S. L. City. 

"After a remarkably short, efficient, and harmonious session, the conven- 
tion dissolved on Thursday, March 27. 

" Hon. George A. Smith, and Hon. John Taylor, editor of the Mormon, 
were unanimously elected delegates to proceed to Washington, and lay before 
Congress Utah's request for admission into the Union. 

"The Constitution of the State of Deseret was signed by every member of 
the convention, though they were from various climes and of diverse creeds, 
government oflficials, merchants, etc., etc., thus indicating, beyond controversy, 
the represented feelings of all classes of our Territorial population. If our 
memory correctly serves us, so general and fair a representation of the views and 



128 HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CIT\ . 

feelings of the various districts of Territory, and so frank and hearty a blending 
of party interests, have never been excelled, if even equalled, in the initiatory 
action required for the admission of a new state. * * * 

" Is Utah loyal? Aye, most loyal, beyond successful challenge or contra- 
diction, as is and always had been proved by all her sayings and doings. But 
does she love corruption and oppression? Verily no, for her sons and daughters, 
with few exceptions, have been reared in the cradle of liberty, in common with 
the citizens of the States, and the pure mountain breezes keep that love fanned 
to a bright and unquenchable flame. And the few exceptions just named, those 
who were not born citizens of our Republic, are congenial descendents of that 
stock from which sprang our "Revolutionary Sires." They have left their 
fatherlands, as did our forefathers, to escape the oppressor's rod and find a loved 
asylum " in the home of the free." Then can Congress refuse to extend the 
broad folds of equal rights and constitutional liberty over that portion of the 
public domain, whose inhabitants will stand by the Union while a vestige thereof 
exists and blood flows in their veins? It is not to be presumed that any Congress 
could wish so to do, but if it might, by any possibility, be imagined that an op- 
posite feeling could be indulged, who would like to face the mingled whirlwind 
of scorn and indignation that would then arise in the breast of every lover of 
truth and justice throughout the world? 

"Utah is isolated, is full of rugged mountains, desert plains, and barren 
valleys, and peculiarly uncomely in the eyes of lovers of rich, well timbered soil, 
broad rivers, extended seaboards, and commercial marts. Let her present popu- 
lation leave her borders, and the few oases, now gladdened with the busy hum of 
civilized life, would soon revert to the occupancy of the rude savage, and crumb- 
ling desolation would mark the site of stately edifices. 

"Utah, with but little aid from the parent, has grown rapidly amid all her 
disadvantages, and, amid the jealousy and hostility of numerous Indian tribes, to 
high position in wealth and numbers. And are not the intelligence and energy 
which have so rapidly produced such laudable results, where none others would 
thrust in their sickles, sufficient guarantee that Utah is most emphatically deserv- 
ing of a state organization? 

"She has wealth, a numerous, intelligent, and highly patriotic population, 
is accustomed to make her own public buildings, roads, and bridges, has success- 
fully conducted the Indian wars waged within her boundaries, has nearly ex- 
pelled litigation through a wise system of legislation and policy, furnishes few 
abominable and illegal acts to swell the record of earth's corruptions, not even 
enough to make her news spicy and interesting to the corrupt taste of a perverse 
generatio.i; then is there any good, fair, valid reason why Utah should not be 
speedily admitted into the Union as a free, sovereign, and independent State 
named Deseret? Not one. Hence it is but fair to infer that Senators and Rep. 
resentatives in Congress will grant the prayer of Utah for admission as unani- 
mously as she presents it, independent of sectional prejudices, strife and debate 
of every name and description, for only two questions are to be asked, viz: is 
her constitution republican? Is she willing and able to maintain a state govern- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i2g 

ment? Every one knows that those questions, and every legitimate question that 
can be asked, admit of only affirmative answers." 

The people of Utah waited hopefully for the favorable action of Congress 
until December, when Governor Young, in his annual message to the Legislature, 
thus reported upon the matter: 

"In accordance with Acts of the Legislative Assembly, a Constitution was 
formed and adopted, the census taken, and delegates chosen to present our ap- 
plication to Congress for admission into the Union as a sovereign and indepen- 
dent State. Recent advices from our delegates show that our application has not 
been presented, owing to the intolerance evinced by the predominant party in 
the House of Representatives. 

" The enumeration of the inhabitants showed a population of near 77,000 in 
this Territory, and it is presumed that the addition to our numbers, since that 
was taken, would amount to about twenty thousand. This gives an aggregate 
equal to or exceeding the ratio of representation for Congressmen, removing 
every objection, if any were made, to our admission, on the score of insufficient 
population." 

Simply a bare notice is here seen of opposition in Congress to the admission 
of Utah ; but no indignant protest, much less anything to indicate a condition of 
rebellion ; yet a few months later the United States ordered a military expedition 
to Utah to put down rebellion, restore its rule which had not been broken, while 
the President appointed a new Governor for the Territory, Hon. Alfred Cum- 
ming, of Georgia who when he did come was recieved by them with a loyal good 
will. 

The Buchanan administration, however, had not acted without some infor- 
mation and prompting, which were considered by it sufficient at the time, but 
very insufficient soon afterwards ; and it is with that information and prompting, 
or rather conspiracy, that this historital exposition has now to deal. 

When in less than a year from the issuing of General Scott's circular, the 
House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting President Buchanan "to 
communicate to the House of Representatives the information which gave rise 
to the military expedition ordered to Utah" Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, re- 
ported that "the only document on record or on file in this department, touching 
the subject of the resolution, is the letter of Mr. W. F. Magraw to the President, 
of the 3rd of October last, a copy of which is hereto annexed : " 

MR. MAGRAW TO THE PRESIDENT. 

Independence, Missouri, October 3d, 1856. 

"Mr. President: I feel it incumbent upon me as a personal and political 
friend, to lay before you some information relative to the present political and 
social condition of the Territory of Utah, which may be of importance. 

"There is no disguising the fact, that there is left no vestage of law and 
order, no protection for life or property; the civil laws of the Territory are over- 
shadowed and neutralized by a so-styled ecclesiastical organization, as despotic, 
dangerous and damnable, as has ever been known to exist in any country, and 



I JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

which is ruining not only those who do not subscribe to their religious code, but 
is driving the moderate and more orderly of the Mormon community to despera- 
tion. Formerly, violence committed upon the rights of persons and property 
were attempted to be justified by some pretext manufactured ior the occasion, 
under color of law as it exists in that country. The victims were usually of that 
class whose obscurity and want of information necessary to insure proper investi- 
gation and redress of their wrongs were sufficient to guarantee to the perpetrators 
freedom from punishment. Emboldened by the success which attended their 
first attempts at lawlessness, no pretext or apology seems now to be deemed re- 
quisite, nor is any class exempt from outrage; all alike are set upon by the self- 
constituted theocracy, whose laws, or rather whose conspiracies, are framed in 
dark corners, promulgated from the stand of tabernacle or church, and executed 
at midnight, or upon the highways, by an organized band of bravos and assassins, 
whose masters compel an outraged community to tolerate in their midst. The 
result is that a considerable and highly respectable portion of the community, 
known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, whose enterprise is stimulated by a laud- 
able desire to improve their fortunes by honorable exertions, are lelt helpless vic- 
tims to outrage and oppression, liable at any moment to be stripped of their 
property or deprived of life, without the ability to put themselves under the pro- 
tection of law, since all the courts that exist there at present are converted into 
engines and instruments of injustice. 

"For want of time I am compelled thus to generalize, but particular caser, 
with all the attendant circumstances, names of parties and localities are not 
wanting to swell the calendar of crime and outrage to limits that will, when pub- 
lished, startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor which 
will not be readily quelled ; and I have no doubt that the time is near at hand, 
and the elements rapidly combining to bring about a state of affairs which will 
result in indiscriminate bloodshed, robbery and rapine, and which in a brief 
space of time will reduce that country to the condition of a howling wilderness. 

" There"are hundreds of good men in the country^ who have for years en- 
dured every privation from the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life, to 
confront every description of danger for the purpose of improving their fortunes. 
These men have suffered repeated wrong and injustice, which they have en- 
deavored to repair by renewed exertions, patiently awaiting the correction of 
outrage by that government which it is their pride to claim citizenship under, 
and whose protection they have a right to expect; but they now see theiHselves 
liable, at any moment, to be stripped of their hard earned means, the lives of 
themselves and their colleagues threatened and taken ; ignominy and abuse, 
heaped upon them day after day, if resented, is followed by murder. 

"Many of the inhabitants of the Territory possess passions and elements of 
character calculated to drive them to extremes, and have the ability to conceive 
and have the courage to carry out the boldest measures for redress, and I know 
that they will be at no loss for a leader. When such as these are driven by their 
wrongs to vindicate, not only their rights as citizens, but their pride of man- 
hood, the question of disparity in numerical force is not considered among their 
difficulties, and. I am satisfied that a recital of their grievances would form an 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jji 

apology, if not sufficient justification, for the violation on their part of the usages 
of civilized communities. 

"In addressing you, I have endeavored to discard all feelings arising from 
my personal annoyances in the Mormon country, but have desired to lay before 
you the actual condition of affair;, and to prevent, if possible, scenes of lawless- 
ness which, I fear, will be inevitable unless speedy and powerful preventives are 
applied. I have felt free to thus address you, from the fact that some slight re- 
quests made of me when I last left Washington, on the subject of the affairs of 
Kansas, justified me in believing that you had confidence in my integrity, and 
that what influence I could exert would not be wanting to terminate the unfortu- 
nate difficulties in that Territory; I have the pleasure of assuring you that my 
efforts were not spared. 

"With regard to the affairs and proceedings of the probate court, the only 
existing tribunal in the Territory of Utah, there being but one of the three 
federal judges now in the Territory, I will refer you to its records, and to the 
evidence of gentlemen whose assertions cannot be questioned; as to the treat- 
ment of myself, I will leave that to the representation of others ; at all events, 
the object I have in view, the end I wish to accomplish for the general good, 
will preclude my wearying you with a recital of them at present. 

"I have the honor to be very truly yours, etc. 

W. M. F. MAGRAW." 

John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, was only able to furnish to the House the 
correspondence of the expedition itself, commencing with the foregoing circular, 
and including the proclamation of Governor Young and the correspondence be- 
tween him and Col. Alexander; the Department of the Interior furnished several 
letters from David H. Burr, Surveyor General of Utah , the office of Indian 
affairs made up a budget from the Indian Agents of the Territory, and the 
Attorney General's office supplied the following: 

" Attorney General's Office, February 24, 1858. 

"Sir: In reply to so much of the resolution of the House of Representa- 
tives, of the 27th ult., referred by you to this offce, calling for 'information 
which gave rise to the military expeditions to Utah Territory,' etc., I have the 
honor to transmit herewith : 

"i. The letter of resignation of W. W. Drummond, Associate Justice of 
Supreme Court of Utah Territory. 

"2. The letter of Curtis Bolton, deputy clerk of the Supreme Court of 
Utah Territory, in reply to allegations contained in W. W. Drummond's letter of 
resignation; the above being all the correspondence on the files of this office re- 
lating to the subject. 

"I am, very respectfully, 

J. S. BLACK. 

The President^ 

"New Orleans, La, April 2, 1857. 
"Dear Sir: When I started for my home in Illinois, I designed reaching 



7-J2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Washington before the executive session adjourned, but could not accomplish the 
long and tedious journey in time; thence I concluded to come this way, and go 
up the Mississippi river to Chicago. 

'^ You,will see that I have made bold charges against the Mormons, which I 
think I can prove without doubt. You will see by the contents of the enclosed 
paper, wherein is inserted my resignation, some of the reasons that induced me 
to resign. I now refer you to Hon. D. W. Burr, surveyor general of Utah Ter- 
ritory, Hon. Garland Hurt, Indian agent; also C. L. Craig, Esq., D. L. Thomp- 
son, Esq., John M. Hockaday, Esq., John Kerr, Esq., Gentiles of Great Salt Lake 
City, for proof of the manner in which they have been insulted and abused by 
the leading Mormons for two years past. I shall see you soon on the subject. 

In haste, yours truly, 

W. W. DRUMMOND. 

Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Attorney General, etc."" 

resignation of judge drummond. 

" March 30, 1857. 

"Mv Dear Sir: As I have concluded to resign the office of Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah, which position I accepted in A. D., 
1854, under the administration of President Pierce, I deem it due to the public 
to give some of the reasons why I do so. In the first place, Brigham Young, the 
Governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the 'Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints,' commonly called ' Mormons;' and, as such head, 
the Mormons look to him, and to him alone, for the law by which they are to be 
governed: therefore no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any 
manner. 

"Secondly. I know that there is a secret oath-bound organization among 
all the male members of the Church to resist the laws of the country, and to ac- 
knowledge no law save the law of the 'Holy Priesthood,' which comes to the 
people through Brigham Young direct from God ; he. Young, being the vice- 
gerent of God and Prophet, viz: successor of Joseph Smith, who was the founder 
of this blind and treasonable organization. 

"Thirdly. I am fully aware that there is a set of men, set apart by special 
order of the Church, to take both the lives and property of persons who may 
question the authority of the Church; the names of whom I will promptly make 
known at a future time. 

"Fourthly. That the records, papers, etc., of the Supreme Court have been 
destroyed by order of the Church, with the direct knowledge and approbation of 
Governor B. Young, and the Federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to 
raise a single question about the treasonable act. 

"Fifthly. That the Federal officers of the Territory are constantly in- 
sulted, harrassed, and annoyed by the Mormons, and for these insults there is no 
redress. 

" Sixthly. That the Federal officers are daily compelled to hear the form of 
the American government traduced, the chief executives of the nation, both liv- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jjj 

jng and dead, slandered and abused from the masses, as well as from all the lead- 
ing members of the Church, in the most vulgar, loathsome, and wicked manner 
that the evil passions of men can possibly conceive. 

"Again: That after Moroni Green had been convicted in the District Court 
before my colleague. Judge Kinney, of an assault with intent to commit murder, 
and afterwards, on appeal to the Supreme Court, the judgment being affirmed and 
the said Green being sentenced to the penitentiary, Brigham Young gave a full 
pardon to the said Green before he reached the penitentiary ; also, that the said 
Governor Young pardoned a man by the name of Baker, who had been tried and 
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, for the murder of a 
dumb boy by the name of White House, the proof showing one of the most 
aggravated cases of murder that I ever knew being tried ; and to insult the Court 
and Government officers, this man Young took this pardoned criminal with him, 
in proper person, to church on the next Sabbath after his conviction ; Baker, in 
the meantime, having received a full pardon from Governor Brigham Young. 
These two men were Mormons. On the other hand, I charge the Mormons, and 
Governor Young in particular, with imprisoning five or six young men from Mis- 
souri and Iowa, who are now in the penitentiary of Utah, without those men 
having violated any criminal law in America. But they were anti-Mormons — 
poor, uneducated young men en route for California ; but because they emigrated 
from Illinois, Iowa, or Missouri, and passed by Great Salt Lake City, they were 
indicted by a probate court, and most brutally and inhumanly dealt with, in 
addition to being summarily incarcerated in the saintly prison of the Territory 
of Utah. I also charge Governor Young with constantly interfering with the 
federal courts, directing the grand jury whom to indict and whom not ; and after 
the judges charge the grand juries as to their duties, that this man Young invar- 
ably has some member of the grand jury advised in advance as to his will in re- 
lation to their labors, and that his charge thus given is the only charge known, 
obeyed, or received by all the gra?id juries of the federal courts of Utah Ter- 
ritory. 

"Again, sir, after a careful and mature investigation, I liave been compelled 
to come to the conclusion, heart-rending and sickening as it may be, that Cap- 
tain John W. Gunnison, and his party of eight others, were murdered by the 
Indians in 1853, under the orders, advice, and direction of the Mormons; that 
my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Hon. Leonidas Shaver, came to his 
death by drinking poisoned liquors, given to him under the order of the leading 
men of the Mormon Church in Great Salt Lake City; that the late secretary of 
the Territory, A. W. Babbitt, was murdered on the plains by a band of Mormon 
marauders, under the particular and special order of Brigham Young, Heber C. 
Kimball, and J. M. Grant, and not by the Indians, as reported by the Mormons 
themselves, and that they were sent from Salt Lake City for that purpose, and 
that only ; and as members of the Danite Band they were bound to do the will 
of Brigham Young as the head of the church, or forfeit their own lives. These 
reasons, with many others that I might give, which would be too heart-rending 
to insert in this communication, have induced me to resign the office of justice 
of the Territory of Utah, and again return to my adopted State of Illinois. 



134 HIS TOR y OF SALT LA KE CITY. 

My reason^ sir, for making this communication thus public i?, that the dem- 
ocratic party, with which I have always strictly acted, is the party now in power, 
and, therefore, is the party that should now be held responsible for the treason- 
able and disgraceful state of affairs that now exists in Utah Territory. I could, sir, 
if necessary, refer to a cloud of witnesses to attest the reasons I have given, and 
the charges, bold as they are, against those despots, who rule with an iron hand 
their hundred thousand souls in Utah, and their two hundred thousand souls out 
of that notable Territory; but I shall not do so, for the reason that the lives of 
such gentlemen as I should designate in Utah and in California, would not be 
safe for a single day. 

In conclusion, sir^ I have to say that, in my career as justice of the supreme 
court of Utah Territory, I have the consolation of knowing that I did my duty, 
that neither threats nor intimidations drove me from that path. Upon the other 
hand, I am pained to say that I accomplished little good while there, and that 
the judiciary is only treated as a farce. The only rule of law by which the in- 
fatuated followers of this curious people will be governed, is the law of the 
church, and that emanates from Governor Brigham Young, and him alone. 

I do believe that, if there was a man put in office as governor of that Ter- 
ritory, who is not a member of the church, (Mormon), and he supported with a suffi- 
cient xmXxidJvy aid, much good would result from such a course ; but as the Territory 
is now governed, and as it has been since the administration of Mr. Fillmore, at 
which time Young received his appointment as governor, it is noonday madness 
and folly to attempt to administer the law in that Territory. The officers are in- 
sulted, harassed, and murdered for doing their duty, and not recognizing Brig- 
ham Young as the only law-giver and law-maker on earth. Of this every man 
can bear incontestable evidence who has been willing to accept an appointment 
in Utah ; and I assure you sir, that no man would be willing to risk his life and 
property in that Territory after once trying the sad experiment. 

With an earnest desire that the present administration will give due and 
timely aid to the officers that may be so unfortunate as to accept situations in that 
Territory, and that the withering curse which now rests upon this nation by virtue 
of the peculiar and heart-rending institutions of the Territory of Utah, may be 
speedily removed, to the honor and credit of our happy country, I now remain 
your obedient servant, 

W. W. DRUMMOND, 

yusiice Utah Territory. 

Hon. yeremiah S. Black, Attorney General of the United States, Washington 
City, D. C 

"Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. 

"Sir : My attention having been drawn to the letter of Justice W. W. Drum- 
mond, under the date of March 30, 1857, addressed to yourself, tendering his 
resignation as associate justice for Utah, wherein my office is called in question, 
T feel it incumbent upon me to make to you the following report : 

"Justice W. W. Drummond, in his ' fourth ' paragraph, says: 'The re- 



HJS lORY OF SA L T LAKE CITY. ij^ 

cords, papers, &c., of the supreme court have been destroyed by order of Gover- 
nor B. Young, and the federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise 
a single question about the treasonable act.' 

" I do solemnly declare this assertion is without the slightest foundation in 
truth. The records, papers, &c., of the supreme court in this Territory, to- 
gether with all decisions and documents of every kind belonging thereto, from 
Monday, September 22, 185 1, at which time said court was first organized, up to 
this present moment, are all safe and complete in my custody, and not one of 
them missing, nor have they ever been disturbed by any person. 

"Again, in the decision of the supreme court in the case of Moroni Green, 
the which decision was written by Judge Drummond himself, I find the following 
words: 'That as the case, for which Green was convicted, seems to have been 
an aggravated one, this court does remit the costs of the prosecution, both in 
this court and in the court below.' Green was provoked to draw a pistol in self- 
defence, but did not point it at any one. He was a lad of 18 years old. Much 
feeling was excited in his favor, and he was finally pardoned by the governor, 
upon a petition signed by the judges, and officers of the United States, courts, 
the honorable secretary of state, and many of the influential citizens of Great 
Salt Lake City. 

"Again: in relation to the ' incarceretion of five or six young men from 
Missouri and Iowa, who are now (March 30, 1857,) in the penitentiary of Utah, 
without those men having violated any criminal law in America/ &c. This state- 
ment is also utterly false. 

" I presume he alludes to the incarceration, on the 22d January, 1856, of 
three men, and on the 29th of January, 1856, of one more; if so these are the 
circumstances : 

"There were quite a number of persons came here as teamsters in Gilbert 
and Gerrish's train of goods, arriving here in December, 1855, after winter had 
set in. They arrived here very destitute; and at that season of the year there is 
nothing a laboring man can get to do. Some of these men entered the store of 
S. M. Blair & Co., at various times in the night, and stole provisions, groceries, 
&c. Some six or eight were indicted for burglary, and larceny. Three plead 
guilty, and a fourth was proven guilty; and the four were sentenced to the pen- 
itentiary for the shortest time the statute allowed for the crime; and just as soon 
as the spring of 1856 opened, and a company was preparing to start for Cali- 
fornia, upon a petition setting forth mitigating circumstances, the governor 
pardoned them, and they went on their way to California. It was a matter, well 
understood here at the time, that these men were incarcerated more particularly to 
keep them from commiting further crime during the winter. 

" Since that time there have been but four persons sentenced to the peniten- 
tiary, one for forgery and three for petty larceny, for terms of sixty and thirty 
days, to wit: One on the 19th November, 1856, for larceny, thirty days ; two on 
the 24th November, 1856, for aggravated larceny, sixty days and one on the 26th 
January, 1857, for forgery, thirty days. So that on the 30th March, 1857, (the 
date of W. W. Drummond's letter,) there was not a white prisoner in the Utah 



ij6 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

penitentiary; nor had there been tor several days previous, nor is there at this 
present writing. 

"I could, were it my province in this affidavit, go on and refute all that 
Judge W. W. Drummond has stated in his aforesaid letter of resignation, by re- 
cords, dates, and facts; but believing the foregoing is sufficient to show you 
what reliance is to be placed upon the assertions or word of W. W. Drummond, 
I shall leave this subject. 

"In witness of the truth of the foregoing affidavit, I have hereunto sub- 
scribed my name and affixed the seal of the United States supreme court 
[l. s.] for Utah Territory, at Great Salt Lake City, this twenty-sixth day of 
June, A. D. 1857. 

CURTIS E. BOLTON, 
Deputy Clerk of said U. S. Supreme Court for Utah, 

in absence of W. J. Appleby, Clerk. 
Hon. Jere7niah S. Black, 

Attorney General of the United States, Washington, D. C." 

But these documents furnished to the House alone give no sufficient expo- 
sition of causes, though there is seen much relation between the letters quoted 
and the action of the Government. For a thorough exposition commensurate 
with the aims and purposes of a true and impartial history, we must go to a 
general review of Utah affairs, not only as regards the Mormon community in their 
own conduct, but also the conduct of the people of the United States towards 
them, whether friendly or hostile, which exposition will show that the Utah 
question has long been intensely a national question. 

Strange as the assertion may appear, the real beginning of the train of causes 
and circumstances which led to the "Utah War," and its many complications^ 
was the continuation of Brigham Young by President Pierce in the governor- 
ship, in 1855. That is to say, the United States gave the chief cause of offence 
against itself, and afterwards, by construction, made the potent and thorough 
administration of Governor Young, and the submission of the community to 
Federal rule under him, to signify a condition of actual rebellion. That which 
in the Governor and people of any other Territory or State would have been 
esteemed by the nation as legitimate and admirable was, in Brigham Young and 
the Mormons, a present treason and a direct intent to overturn and supplant the 
national rule with a Mormon Theocracy. The case had entirely changed since 
Stansbury had said in his report to the Government, " I feel constrained to say, 
that in ray opinion the appointment of the President of the Mormon Church, and 
the head of the Mormon community, in preference to any other person to the 
high office of Governor of the Territory, independent of its politicial bearings, 
with which I have nothing to do, was a measure dictated alike by justice and 
sound policy. This man has been their Moses. *>>;:!; He had 
been unanimously chosen as their highest civil magistrate, and even before his 
appointment by the President, he combined in his own person the triple char- 
acter of confidential adviser, temporal ruler, and prophet of God." 

So far as Governor Young and the Mormons were concerned, this was also 



HlSl OR V OF SAL T LAKE CLTY, ijy 

all true when he was re-appointed by President Pierce, and therein was the in- 
harmony which developed between Utah and the nation, resulting in the expe- 
dition. That which at first so eminently fitted Brigham Young for Governor of 
the colony which he led to these valleys, and multiplied substantially into a 
little State of rhe Union, now unfitted him in the eyes of the nation. To be the 
President of the Mormon Church and Governor of Utah Territory was made to 
signify the existence of a politicial Mormon Theocracy. The Mormon Moses, 
clothed with the mantle of Federal authority at the head of his people, appeared 
to the "Gentile" as an Israelitish rebeldom in the heart of the American re- 
public. Thus the wording of a Stansbury, a Gunnison and a Thomas L. Kane 
was substituted by the wording a Drummond and a Magraw, without any real 
change of subject, or substitution of some new and reversed cause. In his mas- 
terly treatise of the Mormons and their institutions Gunnison had said: "For 
those who desire facts in the history of humanity, on which to indulge in reflec- 
tion, is this offered. It were far easier to give a romantic sketch in lofty meta- 
phors, of the genesis and exodus of the empire-founding Saints — the subject is 
its own epic of heroism, whose embellishment is left to imaginative genius, and 
its philosophy to be deduced by the candid philanthropist." This treatise of 
Gunnison is the loftiest exposition of the Israelitish theocracy of the Mormons 
ever written by Gentile pen. As his wording shows, he has treated his historical 
subject as an "Israelitish epic" wrought in modern times. In view of this epic 
monument of their history which the hand of Gunnison essayed to rear for the 
Mormons, it is both astonishing and monstrous that Judge Drummond, in his 
resignation, should charge Brigham Young with the instigation of his murder by 
the Indians. Such an act is not within our comprehension of human atrocities 
and ingratitude, especially when applied to a leader of Brigham Young's cast and 
sagacity, whose every act marked his deliberate anticipation of a sufficient com- 
pensation to himself or his people. The cruel and cowardly murder of Gun- 
nison, by the order of Brigham Young, could not possibly have brought to him 
or his community such compensation ; for, next to Colonel Thomas L. Kane, 
Captain Stansbury and Lieutenant Gunnison had done Governor Young and the 
Mormon community more service than any other men in America. 

And it is scarcely less astonishing and monstrous that Drummond in his resig- 
nation should charge Governor Young and the Mormons with the poisoning of 
Associate Justice Shaver, and the tomahawking on the plains of Secretary Babbitt, 
seeing that Judge Shaver, was mourned by Salt Lake City, and his funeral sermon 
preached by its Mayor, just as the untimely fate of Gunnison was mourned in the 
message of Governor Young to the Legislature, and his memory thus honorably 
preserved on the official tablet of Utah's early history; while Secretary Babbitt 
was himself a Mormon, the chief politician of the community, the man whom 
the citizens chose and sent to Congress as their Delegate, when they set up the 
Provisional State of Deseret. Monstrous, however, as these charges of the mur- 
der of Government officials at the order of Governor Young must appear m any 
just exposition of the times of 1856-7, they were sent to the House of Repre- 
sentatives as among the chief causes of the Utah Expedition ; yet it is worthy of 
note that J;here is an air of protest to the Drummond document in the presenta- 



L 



ij8 HIS TORY OF SALT LA KB CI TV. 

tion of the Attorney General. It is probable that, had the Hon. Jeremiah S. 
Black been the Executive, as well as the Judicial head of the Administration at 
this juncture, he would have viewed Utah and her affairs very much as Daniel 
Webster had done before, when Brocchus, Brandebury, Harris, Day and Ferris 
deserted three departments of the newly created Territory, and sought the inva- 
sion which was accomplished in 1857. Indeed, the sequel does actually show 
that the Attorney General, after the Proclamation of Pardon, by his constitu- 
tional decision prevented the re-opening of difficulties, and perhaps an actual 
war between General Johnson and his troops on the one side, and Governor Gum- 
ming and the Utah militia on the other, which decision restored the Territory to 
the exact place where it stood, under Governor Brigham Young. 

The true historical exposition, then, is that Utah was not in rebellion when the 
expedition was projected ; and that the cause of all the offence on the Mormon 
side was simply that which, the community has given from the beginning — in 
Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois, in Utah. They were seeking to buildup the 
Kingdom of God upon the earth ; and Brigham Young, their Prophet and Pres- 
ident of their Church, was also now, for the second time. Governor of Utah, in 
virtue of his being the great colonizer and founder of the Territory. "The 
strange and interesting people" were just as admirable when Drummond and 
Magraw wrote their communications to the Government, making the community 
hideous and instigating a war crusade against them, as they were when Stansbury 
reported them to the nation as the most wonderful colony of modern times, wor- 
.thy of acceptance into the Union as a model state. But, as observed, a change 
had come over the vision ; and the presence of the Mormon community, in 1857, 
had become as intolerable to the majority of the people of the United States as 
they had been to Missouri and Illinois. The spirit and temper which had pos- 
sessed those States which had driven the Mormons from their borders, now pos- 
sessed the whole of the United States. That little colony of religious exiles which 
had planted itself in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847, and, lifting rev- 
erently the Stars and Stripes on tbreign soil, claimed it for the nation in that na- 
tion's own august name, had grown by their wonderful emigrations into a hun- 
dred colonies; but for this very reason, of their marvelous growth and organism, 
the people of the States east and west desired to rid themselves of the Mormons 
altogether; and, if needs be, to drive them with guns and bayonets from Ameri- 
ican soil. Senators and Representatives saw clearly that if the Mormons were 
allowed to remain within the American domains, they must inevitably become a 
State of the Union, and in the end play, perhaps, a controling part in party pol- 
itics and the national destiny. This had been illustrated in Illinois, where they 
had held the balance of power between the Democrats and the Whigs. Their 
colonies were now fast spreading over this western country ; they would settle 
territory which would come within the political boundaries of half a dozen States, 
in which they would cast their potent united vote; they would, by continued im- 
igrations and rapid increase of offspring by their polygamy, which had offspring 
for its aim, multiply into a million of United States citizens within the century, 
whose united political power would be really formidable. Such were the antici- 
pations and talk about Mormon Utah in those times in the newspapers of the 



II/STORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY. 



139 



country, as may be seen by consulting their files of 1855-6-7. • The New York 
Herald in one of its leaders declared seriously, and with some admiration withal, 
that the Mormons held "the whip handle'" over the United States, Fillmore and 
Pierce had given it into the hands of Brigham Young. With Brigham, Governor, 
Utah was always right, and the United States always wrong. Such was the in- 
ference, and the reason clearly because such men as Brocchus, Ferris and Drum- 
mond were the representatives of the United States^ as versus Brigham Young 
the Governor of Utah and President of the Mormon Church. And the New 
York J7,?r<7A/ was verily right. It was just the difference in the officials who 
represented the United States versus Mormondom, and the governor who repre- 
sented the United States to the glory and political destiny of the Utah which he 
had founded. Let alone for another decade, and what would this man, Brigham 
Young, and his Utah amount to in our national affairs? — he as Governor, exercis- 
ing almost absolute authority in the name of the United States, in consequence 
of the potency of his own character, in consequence of the impotency of those 
sent against him to overbalance him, and in consequence of the constitutional 
rights of the people of Utah, as citizens of the United States, who earnestly and 
loyally supported his lawful and potent administration of Federal authority over 
the Territory; and, furthermore, in consequence of the fact that nearly all the 
other Federal officials, except the Mormon branch- first measured arms with the 
great Mormon Governor, and then deserted their posts, leaving the sole govern- 
ment of the Territory almost entirely in his hands. Invariably it was the anti- 
Mormon branch of the admmistration that conmienced hostilities. They con- 
stituted themselves as missionaries delegated to put down Mormon rule in Utah, 
and this they did even when not a score of Gentiles were in the Territory, thus 
tantalizing the entire community and opposing the legitimate administration of 
the Governor. The opposing Judges were the most conspicuous, as also very 
potent, they usually forming a majority of the judicial branch of the Territorial 
administration antagonistic not only to Mormon rule, but to Mormon citizenship,* 
as subsequent issues have shown. The Indian agents, on their part, though sub- 
ordinate to Governor Young as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, aimed to frus- 
trate his Indian policy, sought to stir up the Indians under his superintendeiicy 
against him and the Mormons, spied upon his actions, and like spies made in- 
sidious and hostile reports against him as their chief, not only impeaching him, 
but recommending to the Government not to pay his accounts for expenditure in 
the Indian wars of the Territory, 

Every time this " irrepressible conflict " between Governor Young and the 
anti-Mormon branch was manifested to the Government and the nation, result- 
ing as it always did in the discomfiture and generally in the resignation of the 
antagonists of the Governor, the administration at Washington was both perplexed 
and provoked, and the country thrown into a state of excitement, and exasperated 
anger over Utah, and the Mormons. It was evident to the nation that this conflict 
and anomalous condition in the affairs of one of the Territories could not be per- 
mitted to continue another decade, and the demand for the removal of Brigham 
Young from the Governorship, and the appointment of a Gentile Governor in his 
place was very generally made by the country as the only solution to the Utah 



140 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 

difficulty. This President Franklin Pierce had sought to accomplish in the ap- 
pointment of Colonel Steptoe, at the expiration of Governor Young's first term ; 
but the declining and the petition which Steptoe and his officers headed, recom- 
mending the re- appointment of Governor Young forced the action of the Presi- 
dent and Brigham into a second term of office. The re-appointment was prob- 
ably quite in accord with President Pierce's own mind, but he soon found that 
the sentiment of the country was decidedly against it, and that a Gentile Gov" 
ernor was in popular demand, and that too for the very purpose of putting down 
Mormondom. Indeed the expressive epithet " Mormondom" was coined to fit 
the case, used first in the New York Herald and made to signify, in this connec- 
tion, that the Mormon Church should be tolerated with all other Churches, but 
that the " Mormon theocracy '' must be invaded and overthrown. This was first 
proposed to be accomplished by a Gentile Governor, supported by a new corps 
of Federal officers in accord with him, but later on as the irrepressible conflict 
grew, and the rage for an anti-Mormon crusade became general, the overthrow 
of politicial Mormondom was given to a United States army, sent to depose Brig- 
ham Young as a rebel Governor and to set another in his place. 

President Pierce was charged with a political mistake in the continuation 
of Brigham Young, from the exception taken to his act both by political 
friends and politicial enemies, but the administration of Pierce was drawing to a 
close and it did not choose to inaugurate any new measures, which seeming indif- 
ference on the part of the Government only stirred up the opponents of 
Brigham Young to greater exertions, and every measure was adopted to secure 
some decided action. President Pierce, in disgust over this dissatisfaction of 
political friends and political foes, declared that he would make no more appoint- 
ments for the Governorship of Utah as long as he held office, and thus Governor 
Young remained a colossus on his pedestal, on which anti-Mormon rage spent 
itself in vain, so far as disturbing the condition of affairs in Utah, but an action 
was worked up in the States against Utah and the Mormons scarcely less virulent 
in its animus than that which prevailed in the Republican party against slavery 
and the South. 

The rise of the Republican party into power lifted Utah into a political sit- 
uation, which while it gave her no political advantages, such as her admission as a 
State, exposed her to danger and left her open to the assault of her enemies. In 
the framing of its first platform the Republican party raised her to a kindred as- 
sociation with the South and, in every campaign where John C. Fremont was the 
standard bearer of the party, there could be read 

'■'■The abolishment of slavery and poly gainy; the twin relics of barbarism^ 

Undoubtedly General Fremont had much to do with the sharpening of this 
politicial directness that associated Utah and the South in the " irrepressible 
conflict," which the Republican party was inspiring in the country for the over- 
throw of the Democratic party, and which struck Utah with a military expedition 
before it struck the South. And though it would fall short of Fremont's dignity 
and national reputation to class him with Drummond, or to charge him with 
malice towards Utah, yet it should not be forgotten that there had existed a re- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i^i 

lation between him and the Mormons for many years, in which there was nascent 
much of the "irrepressible conflict" which he sought to infuse into the political 
contest of the nation against Mormon Utah. He was the son-in-law of Senator 
Thomas H. Benton, whom the Mormons at that time looked upon as the greatest 
political enemy they ever had, and there had been something of a rivalry between 
the Mormons and Fremont, relative to the possession of California. This had 
dated as far back as the lifetime of Joseph Smith, who, at the very moment 
when Fremont was designing the conquest of California with a volunteer army, 
had petitioned the President of the United States and Congress to allow him to 
occupy that Mexican province with a colony of a hundred thousand Mormons. 
Senator Douglass favored '^General" Smith's project versus General Fremont's; 
and accompanied with Fremont's report on California, which had just been 
printed by the Senate, but not yet made public, the Senator from Illinois dis- 
patched his urgent advice to '^ General " Smith to at once start for the possession 
of the Pacific coast with his Mormon colony. It was undoubtedly a knowledge of 
the Mormon Prophet's design to possess California by liis colony, as preferred by 
Douglass to the somewhat filibustering character of his son-in-law's proposed ex- 
pedition, that so strongly set Benton against this Mormon colonization in the 
west, the wonderful success of which the simple relation of the historical fact is 
proving to be the real cause, not only of the Utah Expedition, but also of all the 
special legislation in Congress to this day against " Mormon Utah." This at the 
last effort was very strikingly illustrated by General Cullom in his affirmation to 
the Senate, substantially to the effect that, if the successful Mormon colonization 
of the west was not stopped by some radical measure of Congress, the Mormons 
would control half a dozen States in the west, and thus give the balance of power 
in the national politics against the Republican party, which at its birth made 
proclamation of war against Mormondom. Now it is just in this political vein 
that the historian finds the real cause and animus of the Utah Expedition, and 
of all the action and special legislation against Mormon Utah to this day, and not 
in the charges of Magraw and Drummond, nor even polygamy, though the 
former furnished excuse for the Expedition, as the other does protest for special 
legislation. 

In Missouri and Illinois, this political vein of the Mormon question was only 
locally defined. It was Senator Benton who first gave it a national significance, 
and now, upon the political banners of his son-in-law, it was proclaimed with 
mottoes classing Utah and polygamy with slavery and the South. This develop- 
ment of the history, gives interest and significance to a brief review of the case 
of Fremont and the Mormons, in the occupation of the Pacific Slope. 

Destiny led the Mormon pioneers to the valleys of Utah. Destiny went 
with the Mormon battalion to California in the expedition of General S. W. 
Kearney, whose instructions from the Secretary of War were to "conquer" Cali- 
fornia, and set up a provisonal military government there in the name of the 
United States. California, however, was won by Fremont and his volunteers, 
and the United States flag was hoisted in the Bay of San Francisco by Commo- 
dore Stockton before the arrival of General Kearney. A battle or two, by the 
regular troops, under Kearney, completed the conquest. Had not the General 



142 HJS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CL TY. 

been forestalled by Fremont, the Mormons would have been among his most re- 
liable soldiers in the conquest of that country. As it was, Kearney found the 
situation claimed by several rival governors. Fremont was the hero. Fremont 
was his great rival. The hero was in rebellion. He refused at first to resign to 
the military chief the government of the conquered Province. He might have 
even won the position from the rightful Governor on the strength of his claims 
as conqueror, supported by his popularity; but at this crisis of affairs, Col. Phillip 
St. George Cooke arrived in California with his command — the Mormon bat- 
tallion. Their coming gave to Kearney the victory over his rival. He consulted 
with Colonel Cooke, who assured him that he could rely on his Mormon soldiers 
to a man. This decided the General. He resolved to force the issue and arrest 
his rival. This was consummated, and Fremont was carried to Washington for 
trial, under a Mormon guard. The famous case of Kearney and Fremont, forms 
quite a chapter of American history, but it is not so well known how conspicuous 
a part the Mormon soldiers played in the case. 

The political banners of Fremont as a candidate for the Presidential chair, 
with their motto. "The abolishment of slavery and polygamy; the twin relics of 
barbarism," are scarcely more significant than the foregoing review, touching the 
personal case of himself and the Mormons. 

After the rise of the Republican party, this political vein of the Mormon 
question grew so broad and rapidly in the political mind of the great parties, at 
this time struggling for the supremacy, that even Senator Douglass was over- 
whelmed with the necessity of taking up the conflict against the Mormons, whose 
united vote had sent him to the Senate, and towards whom, up to the present 
time, he had manifested not merely political gratitude, but even personal 
friendship. 

In politics. Senator Douglas and the Mormons were in perfect accord. His 
"squatter-sovereignty" was their political creed, and while they sought his in- 
fluence at the seat of Government, he found in them the living exponents of the 
sovereignty doctrine to which he devoted his life. Just here, his advice to the 
Mormon Prophet, as reported by Orson Hyde may be repeated with much his- 
torical pertinence : 

" We have this day [April 26] had a long conversation with Judge Douglass. 
He is ripe for Oregon and California. He said he would resign his seat in Con- 
gress, if he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, and would be on the 
march to that country in a month. ' In five years,' he said, ' a noble State might 
be formed, and then if they would not receive us into the Union, we would have 
a government of our own.' " 

The Mormons had not gone to the extent of Senator Douglass' counsel. 
They had, indeed, built up what they considered a " noble State " of the Union 
and had repeatedly offered it to Congress for acceptance, which had been re- 
jected ; but they had not in consequence of this rejection "set up an indepen- 
dent government of their own," which fidelity to the nation doubtless Douglass 
approved seeing that the treaty had ceded this then Mexican Territory to the 
United States. There had been then no political change between Douglass and 



HJS TOR Y OF SALT LA KE CLTY. j^j 

the Mormons. The case was simply that Douglass was at that time an aspirant for 
the Presidency of the United States, and this position he could only reach as 
the candidate of the State which had expelled the Mormons. 

In the spring of 1S56 Senator Douglass delivered a great speech at Spring- 
field, Illinois. It was the announcement of his platform before the assembling 
of the conventions that were to nominate the successor of President Pierce. In 
that speech the senator characterized Mormonism as "the loathsome ulcer of the 
body politic " and recommended the free use of the scalpel as the only remedy 
in the hands of the nation. But there were those in the States, such as Thomas 
L. Kane, who had given Douglass' name to President Filmore as surety for Gov- 
ernor Young, and Mr. Fred. Hudson, tlie great manager at the time of the New 
York Herald, who viewed the speech of the Senator from Illinois in its true 
light. Hudson's confidant, an assistant, on Utah affairs, noticing this passage in 
American politics of himself^ wrote : "My first impulse was to notice the speech, 
but a careful examination of it rendered the expediency of such a course very 
doubtful. There were so many 'ifs,' and so often ^should it be,' that it was at 
last concluded to leave it alone, for the senator might, after all, have said what 
he did from the necessity of sailing with the popular tide against the Mormons, 
while, at the same time, he might in the Senate demand evidence of the crimi- 
inality of the Mormons before any action was taken against them." 

But the Mormon leaders were so incensed at the action of Douglass that it be- 
came impossible for him to prompt the Senate to an investigation of Utah affairs 
by a commission. An irreconcilable breach was made. The Dcseret Nezvs (un- 
doubtedly speaking with Governor Young's voice) replied to the speech, and the 
Illinois statesman was reminded of the time when he was " but a county judge," 
and when the Prophet Joseph told him that he would some day be an aspirant for 
the chair of Washington; that, if he continued the friend of the Mormons, he 
should live to be President of the United States; but if he ever lifted his finger 
or his voice against them, his plans should be frustrated and his hopes utterly dis- 
appointed. All this, the successor of the Mormon Prophet circumstantially re- 
lated to the senator in reply to his Springfield speech and closed in the name of 
the Lord, with the prediction that Douglass should fail, and never attain the goal 
of his ambition. 

The prediction of the Mormon Prophet in his conversation with Douglass is 
singularly authentic and was published years before the Illinois Senator recom- 
mended the Government to "cut the loathsome ulcer out," which recommenda- 
tion makes the story pertinent here as referring to Utah and the causes of the 
Buchanan expedition. 

The Democratic convention meet in Cincinnati soon after the speech, and 
Senator Douglas was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States : Bu- 
chanan was nominated and Douglass defeated. _ 

But neither the defeat of Douglass nor the triumph of Buchanan changed the 
"manifest destiny" that so singularly made Utah the political scapegoat of the 
times. She was declared to be the sister of the South, with a common fate, but 
the South had not yet chosen to recognize her. During that campaign, in the 
fall of 1856, Republicans carried the banner. hostile to polygamy, and Democrats 



144 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LA KE CLTY. 

made speeches against the same institution. The only difference was, that the 
Republicans saw more clearly, or sensed more instinctively than the Democrats, 
that the Mormons and the Democrats had a common cause and a common fate. 
In fine the political action in the country in the fall of 1856 left the Mormons no 
friends in any of the States and it was this very fact and not their right doings 
nor their wrong doings, in Utah that determined the Government to send the 
expedition. 

On the 4th of March, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President of the 
United States, and he and his cabinet, like Douglas, was soon overwhelmed with 
the popular wave that rose at that time, to lash to fury in vain upon the Rocky 
Mountain Zion ; but which, astonishingly to be told, immediately thereafter 
swept over the South and baptized the United States in the blood of civil war. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RKVIEVV OF JUDGE DRUMMONDS COURSE IN UIWH. HE ASSAULTS THE PRO- 
BATE COURTS AND DENOUNCES THE UTAH LEGISLATURE AT THE CAPI- 
TOL. JUDGE SNOWS REVIEIW OF THE COURTS OF THE TERRITORY. HIS 
LETTER TO THE COMPIROLLER OF THE TREASURY. JUDGE DRUMMOND 
LEAVF:S UTAH AND CO.MMENCES HIS CRUSADE. THE CONSPIRACY TO 
WORK UP THE 'UTAH WAR." THE CONTRACTORS. CHARGES OF INDIAN 
.\GENT TWTSS. POSTAL SERVICE. CONTRACT AWARDED TO MR. HYRUM 
KIMBALL. GOVERNOR YOUNG ORGANIZES AN EXPRESS AND CARRYING 
COMPANY. NEW POSTAL SERVICE. WAR AGAINST UTAH. POSIOFFICE 
DEPARTMENT REPUDI.\TES ITS CONTRACT. "TROOPS ARE ON THE WAY 
TO INVADE ZION! • 

Thus it appears in reviewing the political history of 1S56, that the compli- 
cations of the nation herself, tending towards the great war conflict between the 
North and the South, drew Utah into the vortex, almost without any action of 
her own, whether good or bad; but no military expedition could be sent against 
her without circumstantial causes. The charges of Drummond and Magraw were 
considered to be sufficient, which fact makes a review of themselves and their 
action in Utah affairs necessary to the development of the history of a crusade 
that cost the nation fifty millions of money, and, for awhile, threatened these 
valleys with desolation. 

The following passage from a letter of a member of the Utah Legislature, 
Samuel W. Richards, to his brother in England, dated Fillmore City, December 
7th, 1855, gives a very suggestive opening to Judge Drummond's administration 
in this Territory: 



HI^TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIT Y. 143 

" You have, no doubt, heard of the appointment and arrival of Judge Drum- 
mond in this Territory. He has lately been holding court in this place, which 
has given him an opportunity to show himself. ^< * * Hq h^g drass 

to declare, in open court, that the Utah laws are founded in ignorance, and has 
attempted to set some of the most important ones aside. This being the highest 
compliment he has to pay to Utah legislators, we shall all endeavor to appreciate 
it, and he, no doubt from his great ability to judge the merits of law, will be 
able to appreciate the merits of a return compliment some day. His course and 
policy so far seem to be to raise a row if possible, and make himself notorious. 

" In speaking of Judge Drummond, I might have named the fact that he 
compliments a Mormon jury by taking his wife on to the judgment-seat with him, 
which she occupies almost constantly. There was one case, however, of such a 
character that she did not appear." 

In a letter of a later date (January 5th, 1856,) the same correspondent 
wrote. 

" Some little excitement prevails in town to-day. An affair took place be- 
tween Judge Drummond and a Jew trader here, which was rather amusing at the 
time, but may be something more tha.n /un for the Judge before he gets through-' 
with it. A grand jury is meeting this evening, which will bring in an indictment 
against the Judge and his negro, Cato, for assault and battery with intent to mur- 
der; and he will be arrested and brought before the' probata court on Monday 
morning next, a 9 o'ctock, just at the time he should answer to his name in the 
supreme court, which sits at that hour. * * * 

"He has virtually ruled our probate courts out of power in his decisions, 
but we will now know whether probate courts can act or not, especially in his 
case. ij; * * 

"Judges Kinney and Stiles, Babbitt, Blair, and nearly all the lawyers ih the 
Territory, United States' Marshal, etc., are expected in here to-morrow, as the 
supreme court opens on Monday. There is only one case that I am aware of to 
come up before that court, and that of not much account. * * 

Evening. 

"The party alluded to just above have arrived. A. W. Babbitt comes in a 
prisoner. He has been arrested by order of Judge Drummond, on the suppo- 
sition that he was concerned in the escape of Carlos Murray, who was brought 
here a prisoner some time since, but is not here now. There is quite an excite- 
ment in town about matters and things. I wish this letter was to go one week 
later, so as to give you the result of the present commotion, which will probably 
decide the jurisdiction of our probate courts." 

The case of the "wife" was a greater outrage both to the government and 
the community than this indignant member of the Legislature knew at the time. 
Associate Justice Drummond had brought with him to the Territory a " lady 
companion," while his wife and family were left in Illinois. After the notice of 
his arrival had been published in the Deseret News, some of the relatives of Mrs. 



146 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T L AKE CI^Y. 

Drummond paid a visit to the judge's "companion," and, unfortunately for the 
honor of the bench, the "lady" from St. Louis did not answer to the descrip- 
tion of the wife in Oquawkee. The discovery was noised abroad, yet so shame- 
less was the conduct of this judge and his paramour that she traveled with him 
wherever he held court, and on some occasions sat beside him on the bench. 

"Plurality of wives," comments Stenhouse, "was to the Mormons a part of 
their religion openly acknowledged to all the world. Drummond's plurality was 
the outrage of a respectable wife of excellent reputation for the indulgence of a 
common prostitute, and the whole of his conduct was a gross insult to the Gov- 
ernment which he represented, and the people among whom he was sent to admin- 
ister law. For any contempt the Mormons exhibited towards such a man, there 
is no need of apology." 

Here is exhibited the very onset of the conflict, relative to the jurisdiction of 
the probate courts in this Territory, and the existence and business of a Terri- 
torial marshal, a conflict that continued to the days of Chief Justice McXean ; 
but it is clear from the record that, whether the Utah Legislature made its laws in 
ignorance or not, it had shown no intent to subvert the federal rule, or to set aside 
United States Courts to give the jurisdiction to the probate courts; yet this is 
the very charge made against Governor Young and the Utah Legislature — namely, 
that they did both with intent and treason so set aside federal rule, substituting, 
an ecclesiastical rule under the guise of probate courts. "With regard to the 
affairs and proceeding of the probate court, (wrote Magraw to the President) the 
only existing tribunal in the Territory of Utah, there being but one of the three 
federal judges now in the Territory, I will refer you to its records, and to the 
evidence of gentlemen whose assertions cannot be questioned," while the asso- 
ciate justice wrote, "The judiciary is only treated as a farce. * * It 
is noonday madness and folly to attempt to administer the law in that Territory. 
The officers are insulted, harrassed and murdered for doing their duty, and not 
recognizing Brigham Young as the only lawgiver and lawmaker upon earth." 

In the reverse of this the foregoing notes, from one of the legislators to his 
brother, show us a judge, who was sent to execute the laws of the Territory, 
rudely assaulting the lawmaking department and ruling out of power the probate 
courts, which it had endowed with a jurisdiction necessary to the commonwealth 
under peculiar circumstances. This conflict thus begun by Judge Drummond, in 
1855-6, against the Territorial commonwealth, falsely interpreted to Buchanan's 
administration, is rendered in General Scott's instructions as "state of substan- 
tial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States." 

The burden of the subject resting then, at this point with the jurisdiction of 
our probate courts, and the Territorial business generally^ it is needful that we 
enlarge the review of previous chapters relative to the reasons of the superior 
jurisdiction given to those courts, and the creation of the offices of Territorial 
Marshal, Attorney General and District Attorney. The reason in fine was the 
desertion of the Chief Justice and one of his associates, accompanied by the Sec- 
retary of the Territory and Indian Agent, carrying away all the government 
funds. It is not necessary to again review their conduct, or to reaffirm the jus- 
tification of Governor Young and the Mormon community, but simply to repeat 



HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CTl K 147 

the connecting cause of the powers which the legislature conferred upon the pro- 
bate courts and the creation of the Territorial officers. Associate Justice Snow 
was not set aside by the Legislature, but an enabling act was passed authorizing 
him to hold United States Courts in all the districts; at the same time jurisdic- 
tion was given to the probate courts in. civil and criminal affairs in the interest of 
the comaionwealth, lest it should be left altogether unable to administer in the 
departments of justice, which would have been the case at that moment had 
Associate Justice Snow died or left the Territory. Mr. Migraw himself uninten- 
tionally illustrated this point, when he told the President that the probate court was 
the only existing tribunal in Utah, "there being but one of the three federal 
judges now in the Territory." This was the exact case at the onset when the 
probate court was created. 

Already extracts have been made from the correspondence between Judge 
Snow and the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, who drew a strong line of demarcation 
between United States and Territorial business, making it absolutely necessary 
for the Territory !to assume the responsibility and cost of its own business. 
This, however, the legislature did against its own judgment, holding that the 
Territorial District Courts were really United States Courts. Judge Snow, con- 
tinuing the correspondence, discussing the subject with the comptroller of the 
treasury in behalf of his court and the legislature, said in his letter of February 
«, 1853: 

" To enable you to fully understand the present situation of things, before 
proceeding further, I will inform you that the Legislative Assembly passed an act, 
approved October 4th, 185 1, authorizing and requiring me, for a limited time, to 
hold all the courts in the Territory, but said nothing about jurisdiction, appellate 
or original. (See Utah Laws, p. 37.) 

" February 4, 1852, another act was approved, giving jurisdiction to the dis- 
trict courts in all cases, civil and criminal, also in chancery. (See ib., p. 38, sec. 
2.) The same law gave jurisdiction to the probate courts, civil and criminal, also 
in chancery. (See ib., p. 43, sec. 36.) An act was approved March 3d, 1852, 
providing for the appointment of a Territorial Marshal, Attorney General and 
District Attorneys, to attend to legal business in the district courts when the Ter- 
ritory should be interested. (See ib., pp. 56, 57.) 

" I do not intend to be understood as expressing any opinion in relation to 
the legality of these several enactments, but I only mention them to enable you to 
understand the present views of the Legislative Assembly, as expressed in a report 
to which I shall soon refer. This report was called out by reason of the non-pay- 
ment of these costs. I having referred the claimants to the Legislative Assembly, 
they procured my certificate of their correctness and petitioned for payment. The 
petition was referred to a committee on claims, and, to enable that committee to 
understand the subject, the Council passed a resolution, requesting me to inform 
them of the amount of costs of holding the courts for the past year, distinguish- 
ing those which in my opinion should be paid by the general government from 
those payable by the Territory. 

"With this request I complied, and gave the reasons of my opinion, acting 



148 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

on the principle that the reasons of an opinion are often of far more value than 
the opinion itself. In so doing I laid before them my correspondence with you, 
and referred to such of the laws of the United States as in my opinion had a bear- 
ing on the subject, and to the enactments. I also went minutely into the usual 
officers of the courts and expenses attendant upon them, and showed how these 
officers and courts are usually paid, in both civil and criminal cases, together with 
the payment of the incidental expenses, making my answer quite lengthy, too 
much so for insertion in this communication. 

" This committee reported adversely to payment by the Territory, but upon 
what principle I have not been informed. The subject was then referred to a ju" 
diciary committee, composed of some of the best members of the council. This 
committee reported adversely to payment by the Territory, and gave their reasons. 
This report was adopted, therefore I proceed to notice the positions taken by them. 

''They commence with what they call the equity of the principle involved in 
the question presented, saymg that nearly all the costs of courts here have accrued 
by reason of emigration passing through here to California and Oregon, and that 
justice requires the United States to pay such expenses. 

" My experience in the courts thus far justifies the firm belief that the facts 
here assumed are correctly stated. See my concluding remark in my letter of July 
to. But with this equitable consideration, I am unable to see what I have to do, 
though I can see its bearing when addressed to the political branches of the gov- 
ernment by whom and to whom that matter was then addressed. 

"They further take the position that the United States and the Territory of 
Utah respectively must sustain and bear the expenses, direct and incidental, of 
the officers and offices of its own creation, that the supreme and district courts 
were created, not by a law of Utah, but by a law of the United States; and as 
such, by the Organic Act, they have jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in all cases 
not arising out of the constitution and laws of the United States, unless such jur- 
isdiction should be limited by a law of the Territory; that congress, by extend- 
ing the constitution and laws of the United States over the Territory, and 
creating courts and appointing officers to execute these laws, had done what was 
her right and duty to do, but', as she had seen fit to go further and give jurisdic- 
tion to her courts and require her officers to execute the laws of the Territory, it 
had become her duty to sustain these courts and officers, and bear their expenses; 
that the Territorial Legislature, by giving jurisdiction to these courts and divid- 
ing the Territory into districts, had done nothing but discharge a duty which 
Congress had required at their hands, but this did not require them to bear any 
part of the expenses; that these courts took jurisdiction in all cases, not by 
virtue of the Territorial laws, but by a law of Congress; that the Territories, by 
their Organic Acts, are not independent governments within the meaning of the 
term that all just powers emanate from the government, but are subordinate, de- 
dependent branches of government ; that Congress did not intend to give any 
court jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases at common law and in chancery, but 
the supreme and district courts, and, as she had reserved the right to nullify any 
act of the Legislative Assembly, she could enforce obedience to her mandates ; 
that, with such a state of things, it is contrary to every principle of justice and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI2Y. j^g 

sound legislation to require so dependent a branch of government to bear any 
part of the expenses of enforcing the laws; that the officers, having charge of 
that branch of public service, ought not to so construe the acts of Congress as to 
produce such results, so long as the long as the laws will admit of a construction 
consistent with justice and sound legislation; that, in their opinion, the acts of 
Congress did not require such a construction, but on the contrary they strongly 
indicated, if they did not require, the construction contended for by them ; and 
that the same principle which would require such dependencies to pay a pari (of 
the expenses) would require them to pay the whole, and with that construction 
Congress might, at the expense of the Territories, impose upon them any embod- 
iment of officers she, in her discretion, might see fit to send, which never 
could have been intended by the framers of the constitution. 

" This report concludes by recommending that these costs be referred to me, 
with the opinion of the council that they are payable out or the annual appro,- 
priations made by Congress for defraying the expenses of the circuit and district 
courts of the United States, and by recommending that the laws o-f Utah be so 
amended as to take away the jurisdiction of the probate courts, at common law,, 
civil and criminal, and in chancery, and abolish the offices of territorial marshal, 
attorney-general, and district attorneys, so that the United States, by her judges, 
attorneys and marshals may execute the laws of the Territory. But, as this re- 
port was not made until a late day in the session, the law^s were not so amended. 
Should the next Legislative Assembly in these matters concur with this, the laws 
above referred to will either be repealed or modified." 

It will be seen by this report of the committee that the Utah Legislature, as 
early as 1852-3, desired to do what, after twenty years of conflict, was accom. 
plished, — namely, to limit the jurisdiction of the probate court and to abolish 
those Territorial officers which had been created from necessity, '-'so that the 
United States, by her judges, attorneys and marshals may execute the laws of 
the Territory." 

It appears, then, from this review made by Associate Justice Snow, long 
before the date of the Utah Expedition that the conflict which arose in the courts 
of Judges Drummond and Stiles, furnishing the most direct cause of said expedi- 
tion, was not in consequence of the Legislature desiring to limit the legitimate 
rule of the federal officers, much less to put the Territory in the attitude of re- 
bellion, but rather that Drmmond and others sought the conflict with the very 
design so soon afterwards expressed in the Utah war. Such, at least, was the 
opinion of the Mormon people. 

In the Spring of 1857, Associate Justice Drummond went to Carson Valley 
ostensibly to hold court, instead of which he immediately left Carson for Cali- 
fornia to commence his crusade. As soon as he reached the Pacific Coast he 
made a fierce attack upon the Mormons in the papers of San Francisco. He 
next from New Orleans April 2, 1857, dispatched his resignation to the Govern- 
ment that it might reach Washington before the executive session adjourned. 
His exposure — much of it false and much of it exaggerated — added to the affidavit 
of Judge Stiles who was then in Washington, arroused Congress to demand im- 
mediate action. 



r50 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



Meantime, while this war crusade was being worked up against Utah, she 
was making extraordinary efforts to bring herself into closer relations with the 
Eastern States, and a broader intercourse with the world generally. As already 
seen, early in the year 1856, she had made a grand demonstration for admission 
into the Union, and now the close of the year saw her undertaking a great en- 
terprise to aid the Government in its postal service, enlarge her own commerce, 
and establish a line of settlements between Great Salt Lake City and the Eastern 
frontiers. One of the citizens of Utah, Mr. Hiram Kimball, had obtained the 
contract from the Post Office Department for the transportation of the United 
States mails across the plains between Independence, Missouri, and this city. 
Hitherto the postal service with Utah had been very unsatisfactory, the contracts 
being exceedingly low, which gave the contractors, who were only commercially 
interested in Utah, nothing of the citizen's impulse and ambition to perfect the 
mail service. Feramorz Little, indeed, as a sub-contractor, had on former occa- 
sions made exceedingly short time, but up to the letting of the contract to Mr. 
Hiram Kimball, the enterprising men of Salt Lake City, whose commercial 
facilities would be greatly enhanced by the organization of a grand carrying com- 
pany, had found no opportunity for such a design. The contract of Mr. Hiram 
Kimball amounted to only $23,600 for the mail service, but Governor Young saw 
in it the foundation of a gigantic express company, such as only he could possibly 
organize, having at his back an entire community who was so vitally concerned 
in the enterprise. 

Locked out by deep snows on the mountains from nearly all intercourse with 
the Eastern States during the terrible winter of 1856, and almost as destitute of 
news from the Pacific, the Mormons had little idea of the stir which Utah had 
created everywhere throughout the Union since the former contractor, Magraw, 
had written his letter to the President of the United States, dated Independence, 
Missouri, October 3, 1856, since which time, they had received no mail; much 
less did they know of the inception of the "contractors' war," as in the sequel 
the Utah Expedition was very generally considered to be. 

Taking up the mail contract of the Government in good faith, and with 
that executive promptness and confidence in his recources which were so charac- 
teristic of the man. Governor Young bent all his energies to organize the "B. Y. 
Express." He gathered around him the most intrepid men of the mountains, 
urged the brethren who had stock to join in the enterprise, and suceeded in con- 
trolling all that was necessary to make such a gigantic company as that which he 
designed successful. There were many companies organized with outfitting 
teams, tools, farming utensils, etc., to form settlements over the entire line, 
though at that date there were only a few mountaineers living between Salt Lake 
City and the terminal point. 

The winter snows of 1856-7 had tarried long on the mountains and the 
plains, and this rendered the stocking of the road and the building of stations 
over the long distance of 1,200 miles a very severe task. But there was every 
incentive to more than ordinary diligence. The Government had never exhib- 
ited much favor to any Mormon citizen. The acting postmaster at that time, 
Judge Elias Smith, was only a deputy of the gentile postmaster, Mr. William 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. j^i 

Bell. Any delay now in commencing the new mail contract might be seized as 
a pretext' for repudiating the new contractor, which really turned out to be the 
case when the expedition made it convenient for the Government to find such a 
pretext. With this fully impressed upon their minds, the most daring and hardy 
of the mountaineers were called by Governor Young to assist, and in an incredi- 
bly short space of time, and in the midst of very severe weather, stations were 
built and relays of horses and mules were strung all the way along the traveled 
route, from the mountains to the Missouri river. There was a fair prospect that 
the " B. Y. Express Carrying Company" would soon grow into the vast enter- 
prise as designed, conveying all the merchandise and mails from the East and 
placing Utah, by means of express messengers, in daily intercourse with the rest 
of the world, a decade before that desired end was accomplished by the railroad. 
But this very enterprise, undertaken in the service of the Government, having 
for its aim also the general good and commercial advancement of this western 
country, and for the safety of the emigrations, which were fast peopling these 
young States and Territories, was construed against the Mormons as one of the 
causes which gave rise to the Utah Expedition. This will be exemplified in 
document. No. 2,Z^ furnished to the House from the Indian Department. 

" Indian Agency of the Upper Platte, 

On Raw Hide Creek, July 15, 1857. 

"Sir: In a communication addressed to the Indian Office, dated April 
last, I called the attention of the department to the settlements being made 
within the boundaries of this agency by the ' Mormon Church,' clearly in viola- 
tion of law, although the pretext or pretence under which these settlements are 
made is under the cover of a contract of the Mormon Church to carry the mail'- 
from Independence, Missouri, to Great Salt Lake City. 

•'On the 25th May, a large Mormon colony took possession of the valley of 
Deer Creek, one hundred miles west of Fort Laramie, and drove away a band of 
Sioux Indians whom I had settled there in April, and had induced them to 
plant corn. 

"I left that Indian band on the 23d May, to attend to matters connected 
with the Cheyenne band, in the lower part of the agency, 

"I have information from a reliable source that these Mormons are about 
three hundred in number, have plowed and planted two hundred acres of prairie, 
and are building houses sufficient for the accommodation of five hundred persons, 
and have a large herd of cattle, horses and mules. 

"I am persuaded that the Mormon Church intend, by this plan thus partially 
developed, to monopolize all of the trade with the Indians and whites within, or 
passing through, the Indian country. 

" I respectfully and earnestly call the attention of the department to this in- 
vasion, and enter my protest against this occupation of the Indian country, in 
force, and the forcible ejection of the Indians from the place where I had settled 
them. 

"I am powerless to control this matter, for the Mormons obey no laws en- 
acted by Congress. I would respectfully request that the President will be 



1^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

pleased to issue such order as, in his wisdom and judgment, may seem best in 
order to correct the evil complained of. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

THOS. S. TVVISS, 

Indian Agent, Upper Platte. 
^^Hon.J. IV. Denver, 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs. ' ' 

The date of the communication referred to, (of April, 1857), is prior to 
the circular of General Scott, and coteniporary with the letter of Judge Drum- 
mond to the Attorney General, which was dated April 2d, 1857, enclosing his 
resignation dated March 30th, 1857. These three letters quoted — from the con- 
tractor, Magraw, Associate Justice Drummond, and Indian Agent Twiss — are the 
very documents which, both in subject and date, bore most directly upon the 
" information which gave rise to the military expedition ordered to Utah Terri- 
tory, * * * throwing light upon the question as to how far said 
Brigham Young and his followers are in a state of rebellion or resistance to the 
government of the United States." Moreover, in most of the documents fur- 
nished to the House, excepting those from the War Department, of date subse- 
quent to the determination of the Expedition, there is seen not only a marked, 
and almost serial connection with the three documents in example, but the 
evidence of a decided conspiracy; that is to say, those documents were con- 
cocted both with malice and intent to bring on the "Utah War," by leading the 
Government astray with false information that " Brigham Young and his follow- 
ers" were "in a state of rebellion or resistance to the government of the United 
States." It will be noticeable, that two of the six " Gentiles of Great Salt Lake 
City," to whom Judge DrummOnd refers the Attorney General " for proof of the 
manner in which ihey have been insulted and abused by leading Mormons for 
two years past," are Garland Hurt, Indian Agent, and John M. Hockaday, mer- 
chant and mail contractor. There was no call for proof from the Chief Justice, 
John F. Kinney, then in the east, nor from such Gentile merchants as Livingston 
and Bell, the latter of whom was also the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City, 
nor from William H. Hooper, who in that i)eriod must be considered as a Gen- 
tile merchant rather than as a Mormon. 

Now, the pertinency of this mail business in the historical exposition of 
causes which led to the Utah war will apjjear at the very naming of the fact that 
Hockaday and Magraw were the former contractors to carry the mail between 
Independence, Missouri, and Great Salt Lake City. 

Notice at this point a remarkable connection of causes suggestive of con- 
spiracy, when laid side by side with subsequent events, and the acts of the prin- 
cipal factors who gave to the Government the information that led to the sending 
af the Expedition to put down a rebellion, which had no existence in fact or 
intent, so far as the citizens of Utah were concerned. 

In the fall of 1856, Hockaday and Magraw lost the mail contract, which, as 
noticed, was awarded to Mr. Hiram Kimball, a citizen of Utah. This award 
was not as any favor from the department, which, there is every reason to believe. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. /jj 

preferred the former contractors, but in compliance with the rule, requiring the 
lowest responsible bid. The mail service for Utah was now in the hands of the 
community so vitally concerned in its success, rather than in the mere emolu- 
ments of the contract ; and Governor Young, in the interest of the commerce 
of the Territory, and of their emigrations, as well as for the quick and reliable 
postal intercourse with the Eastern States, had already designed the gigantic " B. 
Y. Express Carrying Company." Doubtless the former contractor, one of whom, 
Mr. Hockaday, was a resident merchant of Salt Lake City, knew of the concep- 
tion of such a design of Governor Young, some time before the new contract 
was awarded, seeing the contract was sought for that very purpose. The gieat 
Mormon colonizer and city founder, had already proclaimed his intention of 
establishing a line of settlements from Great Salt Lake City to Carson Valley, 
and a line of intercourse east to the Missouri River; and it was quite certain 
that, on this eastern line, a chain of settlements would spring up out of the Mor- 
mon emigrations, as soon as permitted by the Government in its treaties for In- 
dian lands. This example was given by the Mormons in their exodus, when they 
established ''stakes of Zion " on the route to the Mountains — laid the founda- 
tions indeed of what have since become our great frontier cities. No sooner did 
the Indian agent, Thomas S. Twiss, see the establishment of the mail stations, by 
the " Y. X. Company," than he predicted to the Government, the Mormon con- 
trol of the trade of the plains, and urged hostilities to prevent this colonization 
of the eastern line, exaggerating a mail station into a settlement of five hundred, 
and charging the Mormons with driving off the Indians and unlawfully settling 
on their lands. 

The contractor, W. M. F. Magraw, on the side of his personal interest, 
seems to have been in full understanding and perfect accord with Indian Agent 
Twiss; and immediately upon the award of the contract to Mr. Hiram Kimball, 
upon which was to be based the operation of the " B. Y. Express and Carrying 
Company," he wrote to the President of the United States, addressing him ''as 
a personal and political friend," to lay before him " some information relative to 
the present political and social condition of the Territory of Utah, ' ' in which ' 'there 
is left no protection for life or property," but a condition of things, which, (to 
follow the contractor's words) "will, when published, startle the conservative 
people of the States, and create a clamor which will not be readily quelled ; and 
I have no doubt that the time is near at hand, and the elements rapidly combin- 
ing to bring about a state of affairs which will result in indiscriminate bloodshed, 
robbery and rapine, and which, in a brief space of time will reduce that country 
to a condition of a howling wilderness." 

Very suggestive is this prediction of the contractor Magraw, in view of the 
fact that it was afterwards nearly fulfilled. It was the prospect of the ensuing 
two years — a prospect, moreover, which was known in the States, and even in 
Europe, quite six months before it was known to the people of Utah — which 
reasonably suggests that it was an anticipation not of prescient sagacity, but of 
a direct conspiracy to accomplish that foreshadowed in Magraw' s letter, presented 
by Secretary Cass as the first link of the imformation which gave rise to the Utah 
Expedition. And the prediction is the more striking the closer it is viewed, and 



154 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

the nearer the altar is approached upon which the sacrifice to be offered up was 
laid. The Mormon community is the sacrifice seen upon the altar, just as it had 
been in Missouri and Illinois, — a sacrifice which, when it was revealed in the 
actual offering to the gaze of the good wife of Governor Cummings, caused that 
lady to weep, and in anguish to implore her noble-hearted husband to use his in- 
fluence with the Government to save the devoted people. It was the " country" 
which the Mormons had changed from " the desert to the fruitful field," and 
made it "blossom as the rose," that in "a brief space of time" was to be re- 
duced " to a condition of a howling wilderness," which, when General Johnston 
and his army were brought face to face with the prospect, as they rode through 
the deserted city of the Great Salt Lake, appalled even those familiar with the 
desolations of war. 

The prediction of this mail contractor, then, has a deep significance in the 
history, especially when coupled with his statement to the President, to the effect 
that there was about to be" published" charges against the Mormon community 
which would "startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor 
which will not be readily quelled." This was fulfilled to the letter, when a few 
months later Judge Drummond fulminated his monstrous charges, both in Cali- 
fornia and the Eastern States, and aroused a fury in the nation to "wipe " the 
Mormon community out. 

But there is another part of the narrative to be yet told, relative to the mail 
service and the contracts in question, that ramifies itself in every branch of the 
history, from the date of Mr. Magraw's letter to the President, to the time of the 
repudiation of the Kimball contract by the General Post Office Department, and 
the arrival of the news in Utah that an army was on the way. The major thread 
of this subject shall be left to the hereafter review, in the next message of the 
Governor Young to the Legislature, so ponderous and important is the matter ; 
but a few minor threads is here necessary for the completeness of the historic 
story. 

The failure of the contractor Magraw to bring the last mails, which kept 
Utah and "the world" so long without news of each other, made it necessary 
for the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City, to make a special contract to carry 
the mail east to the terminal point. Independence, Missouri. Feramorz Little 
was entrusted with the contract, and he and Ephraim K. Hanks left Great Salt Lake 
City with the mail, December ii, 1856. Beyond the Devil's Gate on the way 
they met the former contractor's outfit — Mr. Magraw and company. They were 
bringing their last mail through and picking up their stock. Having tarried so 
long, however, this contractor and his company failed to come through, in con- 
sequence of the deep snows in the mountains^ and they returned to the Platte 
River Bridge and wintered. The important item will by and by appear in Gov- 
ernor Young's message, that the official letter of the award of the new contract 
to Mr. Hiram Kimball wintered with them, in the pocket of one of the con- 
tractor's agents, which circumstance had a sequel not greatly to the honor of the 
post office department, in its repudiation of Mr. Kimball's contract, on the pre- 
text of the service not being commenced by him in the stipulated time. 

Mr. Little with the special mail arrived at Independence, Missouri on the 



HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI7 Y, rjs 

27th of February, 1857, after a very severe trip. He forthwith proceeded to 
Washington to collect his money for taking the mail down, which havino- accom- 
plished, he went to New York. The charges of Judge Drummond were just at 
that moment published in the Eastern papers, creating a great excitement. The 
following letter to the public from Mr. Little was called forth in answer: 

"Merchant's Hotel, N. Y., April 15, 1857. 

''Editor Herald. 

''Sir: As myself and Mr. E. K. Hanks are the last persons who 
have come to the States from Great Salt Lake City, I deem it my duty to bear 
testimony against the lying scribblers who seem to be doing their utmost to stir 
up a bad feeling against the Utonians. We left our homes on the nth of De- 
cember, brought the last mail to the States, and certainly should know of the 
state of things there. The charges of Judge Drummond are as false as he is cor- 
rupt. Before I left for the States, I was five days every week in Great Salt Lake 
City, and I witness to all the world thit I never heard one word of the burning 
of nine hundred volumes of law, records, etc., nor anything of that character, 
nor do I know, or ever heard of anything of the dumb boy story he talks of. 

"There is only one house between my house and the Penitentiary, said to 
contain "five or six young men from Missouri and Iowa," and I do know that 
up to the day I left, there were only in that place of confinement three Indians, 
who were convicted at the time of Colonel Steptoe's sojourn there, for having 
taken part in the missacre of Captain Gunnison and party, which Drummond 
now charges upon the Mormons, even though Colonel Steptoe and the United 
States' officers then in Utah investigated the affair thoroughly and secured the 
conviction of the three Indians alluded to. This is an unblushing falsehood, 
that none but a man like Drummond couid pen. 

"The treasonable acts alleged against the Mormons in Utah are false from 
beginning to end. At Fort Kearney we learned all about the murder of Colonel 
Babbitt, and do know that that charge against the Mormons is but another of 
Drummond's creations. 

"I have but a short time at my disposal for writing, but must say, that I am 
astonished to find in the States, rumors againt Utah. We left our homes in 
peace, di^aming of no evil, and we come here and learn that we are the most 
corrupt of men, and are preparing for war. 

"Yours, etc., 

FERAMORZ LITTLE." 

At New York, Mr. Little learned from Mr. James Monroe Livingston, one of 
the firm of Livingston and Kinkead, of Great Salt Lake City, that the " Y. X." 
company for carrying the mails had been started, and that he, Mr. Little, was 
expected to take charge of the returning mails. He immediately hastened to 
Independence, Missouri, where he found the agents who had come down from 
the mountains with the Utah mails. There was at Independence a large accum- 
ulation of mail matter, amounting to several tons. The men in charge fitted up 
two or three wagons, and Mr. John R. Murdock, with the latest mail selected, 
started home on the ist of May, while Mr. Little remained to get up the June 



156 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

mail, and on the ist of June, he started himself with three wagon loads of postal 
matter. 

While at Independence, gathering up the mails, Mr. Little had much inter- 
course with the numerous contractors at that point, who were waiting the con- 
tracts for the Utah Expedition, with which, though not yet announced officially 
from the War Department, they were well posted in the design. The Mormon 
mail agent at first could not believe it possible that the Government was about to 
send an army against Utah for being in a state of rebellion which, he assured 
them was not the case, while they in turn assured him that such an expedition 
was projected and certain. What a suggestion of '•'the Contractor' s war'" ! 

A short distance from Fort Laramie, Mr. Little met Abraham O. Smoot, 
Esq., the then Mayor of Great Salt Lake City, in charge of the June mail going 
east. Of his trip Mayor Smoot furnishes us the following : 

" On the 2d of June, 1857, I left Salt Lake City in company with a young 
man from the Thirteenth Ward, by the name of Ensign, (whose father still re- 
sides in that ward), in charge of the last mail going east by the Y. Express. 

"We met between Fort Laramie and Kearney, some two or three hundred 
United States troops, who said they were reconnoitering the country in search of 
hostile Indians, who at that time were very troublesome on the plains. The offi- 
cer in command (whose name hsfe gone from me) treated us very kindly, and 
proposed to furnish us an escort as far east as Fort Kearney, I thanked him for 
his kind consideration in offering the escort, but told him I feared his escort 
would not be able to keep up with me, as I proposed to drive about sixty miles a 
day, until I reached Fort Kearney, and at that speed I thought there would be 
little, if any, danger of the Indians overtaking us. 

"About one hundred miles west of Independence we began to meet heavy 
freight teams. The captains and teamsters all seemed to be very reticient in re- 
lation to giving their destination, and all I was able to learn from them was that 
they had Government freight, and were bound for some western post, and the 
trains belonged to William H. Russell. 

" In less than two days from that time I reached Kansas City, twelve miles 
west of Independence, where I met Nicholas Groesbeck who had charge of the 
Y. X. Company at that end of the route. In company with him we immediately 
proceeded to the office of William H. Russsell, and there learned that the desti- 
nation of his freight trains was Salt Lake City, with supplies for Government 
troops who would soon follow, I also learned from William H. Russell of the 
appointment of Governor Gumming and other Federal officers that came out 
with the United States troops that year. 

"The next morning Mr. Groesbeck sent the mail into Independence and I 
remained in Kansas City to learn more of the movements of the Government, if 
possible. 

"The mail we took down was received by the postmaster and he informed 
the carrier that he had received instructions from the Government to deliver no 
more mail for Salt Lake City at present. 

That denial implied that we had no more use for our stock and mail stations 
on the route ; so, in consultation with Bro. N. Groesbeck and others, we con- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j^y 

eluded to move our stock and station outfits homeward. Myself and Tudson 
Stoddard were given the responsibility, and two or three other young men (Bro. 
Ensign being one) were detailed to assist us. 

" We moved slowly gathering everything as we went, until we reached South 
Platte about 120 miles east of Fort Laramie where we met Porter Rockwell with 
the July mail from Salt Lake City, he proceeded no further east but returned with 
us to Fort Laramie, 513 miles east of Salt Lake, arriving there on the 17th of 
July. 

"On the i8th Bro. O. P. Rockwell and myself, believing that we had passed 
all danger of Indian troubles, concluded to leave the stock in the care of Bro. J. 
Stoddard and others to bring in at their leisure and we would make our way 
home by the 24th of July, the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneers 
in Salt Lake Valley. This arrangement did not meet with the approval of Bro. 
Stoddard against which he strongly protested but without effect, so he finally 
accepted the alternative of leaving his stock (some eight or ten which were his 
personal property) with his trusty hired men and accompany us to the Salt Lake 
Valley. 

" We hitched up two span of our best animals to a small spring wagon and 
left Fort Laramie on the evening of the i8th of July, and reached Salt Lake City 
on the evening of the 23rd of July, making the 5 J3 miles in five days and three 
hours. 

Yours respectfully, 

A. O. SMOOT. 

Provo City, Utah, February 14th, 1884.'' 



CHAPTER XVIL 

THE PIONEER JUBILEE. CELEBRATION OF THEIR TENTH ANNIVERSARY. 
ARRIVAL OF MESSENGERS WITH THE NEWS OF THE COMING OF AN 
INVADING ARMY. THE DAY OF JUBILEE CHANGED TO A DAY OF INDE- 
PENDENCE. CAPTAIN VAN VLIET AND THE MORMON PEOPLE. 

The people were celebrating the twenty-fourth of July — the anniversary of 
the pioneers — in Big Cottonwood Canyon, when the news reached them of the 
coming of the troops to invade their homes. 

They had conquered the desert. Cities were fast springing up in the soli- 
tary places, where cities had never been planted before, and in valleys that had 
once been the bed of the great sea ; civilization was spreading. 

A plentiful harvest was promised that year, and every circumstance of their 
situation seemed favorable, except the lack of postal communication with the 



1^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

East. Their isolation, in this particular, had kept them in ignorance, up to that 
time, of the movements of the Government concerning them. 

On the 22d of July, 1857, numerous teams were seen wending their wa}^, by 
different routes, to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where they halted for 
the night. Next morning Governor Young led the van of the long line of car- 
riages and wagons, and before noon the cavalcade reached the camp ground 
at the Cottonwood Lake, which nestles in the bosom of the mountain, 8,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. Early in the afternoon, the company, numbering 
2,687 persons, encamped, and soon all were busy with the arrangements for the 
morrow. It will be seen, at a glance, that this vvas intended to be a pioneer's 
jubilee indeed; not in a city, but in primitive surroundings, suggestive of their 
entrance into these valleys ten years before. 

There were in attendance: Captain Ballo's band, the Nauvoo brass band, 
the Ogden City brass band, and the Great Salt Lake City and Ogden martial 
bands; also, of the military, the ist company of light artillery, under Adjutant- 
General James Ferguson ; a detachment of four platoons of life guards and one 
platoon of the lancers, under Colonel Burton ; and one company of light in- 
fantry cadets, under Captain John W, Young. Colonel J. C. Little was marshal 
of the day. 

Early on the following morning the people assembled, and the choir sang : 

" On the mountnin tops appearing." 

Then, after prayers the Star; and Stripes were unfurled on the two highest 
peaks, in sight of the camp, on two of the tallest trees. At twenty minutes past 
nine a. m., three rounds from the artillery saluted the First Presidency, and at a 
quarter past ten. three rounds weie given for the " Hope of Israel," Captain 
John VV. Young, with his company of light infantry, answered to this last salute, 
and went through their military evolutions to the admiration of the beholders. 
This company numbered fifty boys, at about the age of twelve, who had been uni- 
formed by Governor Young. 

At noon. Mayor A. O. Smoot, Elder Judson Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith, 
and O. P. Rockwell, rode into camp, the two former from the "States" (Mis- 
souri River), in twenty days. They brought news of the coming of the troops. 
It was the first tidings of war. Any other people in the world would have been 
stricken with a terrible fear; but not so these Mormon Saints. The well-known 
war cry of Cromwell, when he entered into battle, " The Lord of Hosts is with 
us!" was the undaunted explanation of every heart, and soon it was the burden 
of every speech. 

In a moment the festive song was changed to the theme of war ; the jubilee 
of a people swelled into a sublime declaration of independence. Never before did 
such a spirit of heroism so suddenly and completely possess an entire community. 
Men and women shared it alike. The purest and most graphic passage of Sten- 
house's "Rocky Mountain Saints" is the description of this eventful day. It it 
worthy of quotation. He says : 

"On the 24th of July, 1857, there were probably gathered at the lake about 
two thousand persons — men women, and children — in the fullest enjoyment of 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



'59 



social freedom. Some were fishing in the lake, others strolling among the trees,, 
climbing the high peaks, ])itching quoits, playing cricket, engaging in gymnastic 
exercises, pic-nicking, and gliding through the boweries that were prepared for the 
mazy dance. It was a day of feasting, joy, and amusement for the silver-haired 
veteran and the tottering child. The welkin rang with the triumphant songs of 
Zion, and these, accompanied by the sweet melody of many-toned instruments- 
of music, thrilled every bosom with enthusiastic joy. Their exuberance was the- 
pure outgushing of their souls' emotion, and owned no earthly inspiration, for- 
their only beverage was the sparkling nectar of Eden, while their sympathies were- 
united by a sacred and fraternal bond of affectionate love, which for the time ren« 
dered them oblivious of the artifi,cial distinctions of social life. The highest and' 
the lowest rejoiced together, rank and authority were set aside; it was a day in* 
which the dreary past ould be favorably contrasted with the joyous present, and' 
hearts were mide glad in the simple faith that the God of their fathers was their 
protector, and that they were his peculiar people. 

"But before the sun had crimsoned the snowy peaks that surrounded the 
worshiping, rejoicing Saints, Brigham was in pDssession of the news, and the 
people were listening with breathless attention to the most stirring, important ad- 
dress that ever their leader had uttered, for upon his decision depended peace or 
war. 

"Brigham was undaunted. With the inspiration of such surroundings — the- 
grandeur of the Wasatch range of the Rocky Mountains everywhere encircling 
him, the stately trees whose foliage of a century's growth towered proudly to the 
heavens, the multitude of people before him who had listened to his counsels as 
if hearkening to the voice of the Most High — men and women who had followed 
him from the abodes of civilization to seek shelter in the wilderness from mobs, 
prattling innocents and youths who knew nothing of the world but Utah, and 
who looked to him as a father for protection — what could he not say?" 

To say that the Mormons were taken with astonishment would be to misstate 
the case. They had long looked for this issue. They had seen mobs marshaled, 
against them from the beginnimg, but they had also been told by their Prophet 
Joseph Smith, early in his career, that "Some day they would see the United States- 
come against them in war, and that the Lord should deliver them and bring glory 
to His name," Nothing more unlikely could have been uttered by this prophet of 
a i^'^ hundred disciples ; as likely was it that the stars of heaven should make 
war upon the earth in impotent wrath. They were not even in a location at that 
time where this was possible. The very prophecy foreshadowed their removal 
to the mountains, as though to invite the nation to the issue; and its fulfillment 
bespoke a destiny in them superior to the destiny even of the United States. 
The nation was now coming against them, to verify the prophecy in the most 
literal manner. Hence, doubtless,^ the extraordinary trust and fortitude of the 
people, and the self-possession of their leaders. They had' no doubt as to the 
issue, though l\ow God would work out their deliverance they saw not fully- 

Everything the Mormons did at that time was done- in/ the most deliberate- 
earnestness. Two messengers were immediately dispatched to England, to call 
home the American Elders in Europe, and ten thousand British Saints would 



i6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

have gathered that year, had it been possible, to share the fate of their brethren 
and sisters in the mountains; but all emigration was, of course now cut off. 
Never was there so much enthusiasm in the foreign missions as then. One could 
judge of the sublime enthusiasm at home by that which animated the Saints 
abroad. Yet they saw a mighty nation moving against the handful in the moun- 
tains, and moving with a settled resolve to annihilate the Mormon power at once 
and forever, leaving no seed on American territory from which that power might 
re-germinate. The papers of America and Europe teemed with these anticipations. 
It was broadly suggested that volunteers from every State should pour into Utah, 
make short work of the Saints, possess their cities, fill their Territory with a 
gentile population, and take their wives and daughters as spoil, thus breaking up 
the polygamic institution. For a time there was a prospect of this. Tens of 
thousands were eager for this thorough work of regeneration for Utah ; and, had the 
Government dared to encourage it, the attempt would have been made. For such 
a crusade, however, a civilized judgement could have found no excuse, not even 
on the plea of rebellion. At least. President Buchanan was made to see this 
much, and to appreciate that he could only use United States regular troops, and 
these only in the guise of di posse comitatus to the new Governor. 

The sentiments that actuated the Mormon community at that time were of no 
doubtful tenor, as may be judged by the following extracts from Brigham's dis- 
courses to his people immediately after the receipt of the news. 

"Liars have reported that this people have committed treason, and upon 
their misrepresentations the President has ordered out troops to aid in officering 
this Territory. If those officers are like many who have previously been sent 
here — and we have reason to believe that they are, or they would not come where 
they know they are not wanted — they are poor, broken down political hacks, not 
fit for the civilized society whence they came, and so they are dragooned upon us 
for officers. I feel that I won't bear such treatment (and that is enough to say,) 
for we are just as free as the mountain air. * * * This people are free; 
they are not in bondage to any Government on God's footstool. We have trans- 
gressed no law, neither do we intend so to do; but as for any nation coming 
to destroy this people, God Almighty being my helper, it shall not be ! * * 
* We have borne enough of their oppression and abuse, and we will not bear 
any more of it, for there is no just law requiring further forbearance on our part. 
And I 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. The Lord does 
not want us to be driven, for He has said, ' If you will assert your rights, and 
keep my commandments, you shall never again be brought into bondage by your 
enemies' * * * They say that the coming of their army is legal; 
and I say that it is not ; they who say it are morally rotten. Come on with your 
thousands of illegally-ordered troops, and I promise you in the name of Israel's 
God, that they shall melt away as the snow before a July sun. * * * 
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 * * * 
I have told you that if this people will live their religion all will be well; and I 
have told you that if there is any man or woman who is not willing to destroy 



HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CL7 V, i6t 

everything of their property that would be of use to an enemy if left, I would ad- 
vise 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 'judgement will be laid to the line 
and righteousness to the plummet.' ->^ -^c- % Now the faint-hearted 
can go in peace; but should that time come, they must not interfere. Before I 
will again suffer as I have in times gone by there shall not one building, nor one 
foot of lumber, nor a fence, nor a tree, nor a particle ot grass or hay, that will 
burn, be left in reach of our enemies. I am sworn, if driven to extremity, to ut- 
terly lay waste this land in the name of Israel's God, and our enemies shall find 
it as barren as when we came here." 

It was at such a moment, as the picture suggests, that Capt. Van Vliet ar- 
rived in the city of the Saints. The Governor, the Lieut. General, Daniel H. 
Wells, Adjt. General Furguson, and the Apostles, received him with marked cor- 
diality, but with an open programme. They took him into their gardens. The 
sisters showed him the paradise that their woman hands would destroy if that invad- 
ing army came. He was awed by the prospect — his ordinary judgment con- 
founded by such extraordinary examples. To the wife of Albert Carrington, in 
whose garden he was walking, in conversation with the Governor and his party 
he exclaimed : 

"What, madam ! would you consent to see this beautiful home in ashes 
and this fruitful orchard destroyed? " 

^*Yes!" answered Sister Carrington, with heroic resolution, "I would not 
only consent to it, but I would set fire to my home with my own hands, and cut 
down every tree and root up every plant ! " 

The following extracts from conversations between Governor Young and 
Captain Van Vliet, on the 12th and 13th of September, 1857, will be of interest, 
insomuch as they were had previous to the receipt, in Salt Lake City, of the 
news of the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Their accuracy may be relied on, as 
they are transcribed from Apostle WoodrufTs private journal, and were originally 
recorded within a few hours of their occurrence, and are amply verified by many 
persons then present : 

^^President Youn^. We do not want to fight the United States, but if they 
drive us to it, we shall do the best we can ; and I will tell you, as the Lord lives, 
we shall come off conquerers, for we trust in Him. * * * Godi has 

set up his kingdom on the earth, and it will never fall. ^ * * -We shall 
do all we can to avert a collision, but if they drive us to it, God will overthrow 
them. If they would let us alone and say to the mobs: 'Now you may go and 
^kill the Mormons if you can, but we will have nothing to do with it,' that would 
'be all we would ask of them; but for the Government to array the army against 
us, is too despicable and damnable a thing for any honorable nation to do, and 
God will hold them in derision who do it. * * ^ "Y\\q United 

States are sending their armies here to simply hold us still until a mob can come 
[and butcher us, as has been done before. * '^- '^ We are the sup- 
' porters of the constitution of the United States, and we love that constitution 



i62 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 

and respect the laws of the United States ; but it is by the corrupt administra- 
tion of those laws that we are made to suffer. If the law had been vindicated in 
Missouri, it would have sent Governor Boggs to the gallows, along with those 
who murdered Joseph and Hyrum, and those other fiends who accomplised our 
expulsion from the States. * >;< * Most of the Government officers 
who have been sent here have taken no interest in us, but, on the contrary, have 
tried many times to destroy us, 

^'Capl. Van Vliet This is the case with most men sent to the Territories. 
They receive their offices as a political reward, or as a stepping-stone to the Sena- 
torship; but they have no interest in common with the people. % ^ -^ 
This people has been lied about the worst of any people I ever saw. * * 
The greatest hold that the Government now has upon you is in the accusation 
that you have burned the United States records. 

"President Young. I deny that any books of the United States have been 
burned! All I ask of any man is, that he tell the truth about us, pay his debts 
and not steal, and then he will be welcome to come or go as he likes. * * 
If the Government has arrived at that state that it will try to kill this people be- 
cause of their religion, no honorable man thoald be afraid of it * * * 
We would like to ward off this blow if we can j but the United States seem deter- 
mined to drive us into a fight. They will kill us if they can. A mob killed 
Joseph and Hyrum in jail, notwithstanding the faith of the State was pledged to 
protect them. * ^ * I have broken no law, and under the present 
state of affairs I will not suffer myself to be taken by any United States ofificer> 
to be killed as they killed Joseph. 

"Capt. Van Vliet: I do not think it is the intention of the Government to 
arrest you, but to install a new governor in the Territory. 

''President Young: I believe you tell the truth — that you believe this — but 
you do not know their intentions as well as I do. When you get away from here 
you will think of a great many things that you have seen and heard : for instance, 
people have accused us of colleaguing with the Indians against the Government : 
they were much afraid that Joseph Smith would go among the Indians, and they 
wanted to keep him away from them ; but now they have driven us into their 
midst. I want you to note the signs of the times; you will see that God will 
chastise this nation for trying to destroy both the Indians and the Mormons. 
* * * If the Government persists in sending an army to destroy us, 

in the name of the Lord we shall conquer them. If they dare to force the issue, 
I shall not hold the Indians by the wrist any longer, for white men to shoot at 
them; they shall go ahead and do as they please. If the issue comes, you may 
tell the Government to stop all emigration across this continent, for the Indians 
will kill all who attempt it. And if an army succeeds in penetrating this valley, 
tell the Government to see that it has forage and provisions in store, for they 
will find here only a charred and barren waste. 

''Capt. Van Vliet: * * * If our Government pushes this matter 

to the extent of making war upon you, I will withdraw from the army, for I will 
not have a hand in shedding the blood of American citizens- 

''President Young: We shall trust in God. * * * Congress 



HIS 7 OR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 163 

has promptly sent investigating committees to Kansas and other places, as occa- 
sion has required; but upon the merest rumor it has sent 2,000 armed soldiers to 
destroy the people of Utah, without investigating the subject at all. 

" Capt. Van Vliet. The Government may yet send an investigating com- 
mittee to Utah, and consider it good policy, before they get through. 

''President Young. I believe God has sent you here, and that good will grow 
out of it. I was glad when I heart you were coming. 

''Capt. Van Vliet. I am anxious to get back to Washington as soon as I can. 
I have heard officially that General Harney has been recalled to Kansas to offi- 
ciate as Governor. I shall stop the train on Ham's Fork on my own respon- 
sibility. 

"President Young. If we can keep the peace for this Winter I do think 
there will something turn up that may save the shedding of blood. " 

The reader cannot fail to perceive that the terrible butchery at the Mountain 
Meadow — was farthest from Brigham Young's policy at that time, to say nothing 
of humanitarian considerations. 

But, though Governor Young was aiming for some such consummation as 
that which came, he neither allowed himself nor his people to retreat a step from 
their chosen position. Indeed, in their stern fidelity to their cause was their 
only safety and successful outcome. 

Captain Van Vliet thus reported to the commanding general of the army : 

Ham's Fork, September 16, 1857. 

"Captain :' I have the honor to report, for the information of the command- 
ing general, the result of my trip to the Territory of Utah. 

''In obedience to special instructions, dated headquarters army for Utah, 
Fort Leavenworth, July 28, 1S57, I left Fort Leavenworth, July 30, and reached 
Fort Kearny in nine travelling days, Fort Laramie in ten, and Great Salt Lake 
City in thirty-three and a half. At Fort Kearny I was detained one day by the 
changes I had to make and by sickness, and at Fort Laramie three days, as all 
the animals were forty miles from the post, and when brought in all had to be 
shod before they could take the road. I traveled as rapidly as it is possible to do 
with six mule wagons. Several of my teams broke down, and at least half of my 
animals are unserviceable and will remain so until they recruit. During my 
progress towards Utah I met many people from that Territory, and also several 
mountain men at Green river, and all informed me that I would not be allowed 
to enter Utah, and if I did I would run great risk of losing my life. I treated 
all this, however, as idle talk, but it induced me to leave my wagons and es- 
cort at Ham's Fork, 143 miles this side of the city, and proceed alone. I 
reached Great Salt Lake City without molestation, and immediately upon my 
arrival I informed Governor Brigham Young that I desired an interview, which 
he appointed for the next day. On the evening of the day of my arrival Gov. 
ernor Young, with many of the leading men of the city, called upon me at my 
quarters. The governor received me most cordially and treated me during my 
stay, which continued some six days, with the greatest hospitality and kindness. 



i64 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

In this interview the governor made known to me his views with regard to the 
approach of the United States troops, in plain and unmistakeable language. 

" He stated that the Mormons had ben persecuted, murdered, and robbed in 
Missouri and Illinois both by the mob and State authorities, and that now the 
United States were about to pursue the same course, and that, therefore, he and 
the people of Utah had determined to resist all persecution at the commencement, 
and that the troops now on the march for Utah should not enter the Great Salt 
Lake valley. As he uttered these words all those present concurred most heartily 
in what he said. 

" The next day, as agreed upon, I called upon the governor and delivered 
in person the letter with which I had been entrusted. In that interview, and in 
several subsequent ones, the same determination to resist to the death the en- 
trance of the troops into the valley was expressed by Governor Young and those 
about him. 

''The governor informed me that there was abundance of everything I re- 
quired for the troops, such as lumber, forage, etc., but that none would be sold 
to us. In the course of my conversations with the governor and the influential 
men in the Territory, I told them plainly and frankly what I conceived would be 
the result of their present course. I told them that they might prevent the small 
military force now approaching Utah from getting through the narrow^ defiles and 
rugged passes of the mountains this year, but that next season the United 
States government would send troops sufficient to overcome all opposition. The 
answer to this was invariably the same: "We are aware that such will be the 
case ; but when those troops arrive they will find Utah a desert. Every house 
will be burned to the ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid waste. 
We have three years' provisions on hand, which we will 'cache,' and then take 
to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers of the government." I at- 
tended their service on Sunday, and, in course of a sermon delivered by 
Elder Taylor, he referred to the approach of the troops and declared they should 
not enter the Territory. He then referred to the probability of an overpowering 
force being sent against them, and desired all present, who would apply the 
torch to their own buildings, cut down their trees, and lay waste their fields, to 
hold up their hands. Every hand, in an audience numbering over 4,000 persons, 
was raised at the same moment. During my stay in the city I visited several 
families, and all with whom I was thrown looked upon the present movement of 
the troops towards their Territory as the commencement of another religious 
persecution, and expressed a fixed determination to sustain Governor Young in 
any measures he might adopt. From all these facts I am forced to the conclu- 
sion that Governor Young and the people of Utah will prevent, if possible, the 
army for Utah from entering their Territory this season. This, in my opinion, 
will not be a difficult task, owing to the lateness of the season, the smallness of 
our force, and the defences that nature has thrown around the valley of the Great 
Salt Lake. 

"There is but one road running into the valley on the side which our troops 
are approaching, and for over fifty miles it passes through narrow canyons and 
over rugged mountains, which a small force could hold against great odds. I am 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI'IY. 165 

inclined however, to believe that the Mormons will not resort to actual hostilities 
until the last moment. Their plan of operations will be, burn the grass, cut up 
the roads, and stampede the animals, so as to delay the troops until the snow com- 
mences to fall, which will render the road impassable. Snow falls early in this re- 
gion, in fact last night it commenced falling at Fort Bridger, and this morning 
the surrounding mountains are clothed in white. Were it one month earlier in the 
season I believe the troops could force their way in, and they may be able to do so 
even now; but the attempt will be fraught with considerable danger, arising from 
the filling up of the canyons and passes with snow. I do not wish it to be consid- 
ered that I am advocating either the one course or the other. I simply wish to lay 
the facts before the general, leaving it to his better judgment to decide upon the 
proper movements. Notwithstanding my inability to make the purchases I was or- 
dered to, and all that Governor Young said in regard'to opposing the entrance of 
the troops into the valley I examined the country in the vicinity of the city, with 
the view of selecting a proper military site. I visited the military reserve, Rush 
Valley, but found it, in my opinion, entirely unsuitable for a military station. It 
contains but little grass, and is very much exposed to the cold winds of win- 
ter; its only advantage being the close proximity of fine wood. It is too far from 
the city, being between thirty-five and forly miles, and will require teams four 
days to go there and return. 

I examined another point on the road to Rush Valley, and only about thirty 
miles from the city, which I consider a much more eligible position. It is in 
Tuelle Valley three miles to the north of Tuelle city, and possesses wood, water, 
and grass; but it is occupied by the Mormons, w^ho have some sixty acres under 
cultivation, with houses and barns on their land. These persons would have to 
be dispossessed or bought out. In fact there is no place within forty, fifty or sixty 
miles of the city suitable for a military position, that is not occupied by the in- 
habitants and under cultivation. On my return I examined the vicinity of Fort 
Bridger, and found it a very suitable position for wintering the troops and grazing 
the animals, should it be necessary to stop at that point. The Mormons occupy 
the fort at present, and also have a settlement about ten miles further up Black's 
Fork, called Fort Supply. These tw^o places contain buildings sufficient to cover 
nearly half the troops now en route for Utah ; but I was informed that they would 
all be laid in ashes as the army advances. I have thus stated fully the result of 
ray visit to Utah, and trusting that my conduct will meet the approval of the 
commanding general, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

STEWART VAN VLIET, 

Captain A. Q. M. 

' ' Captain Pleasanion, 

A. A. Adft Gen. Army for Utah, Fort Leavenworth. 

"P. S. — I shall start on ray return to-morrow, with an escort of ten men." 



i66 HIS TOR y OF SAL T LAKE CI TV. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

GOVERNOR YOUN'G PLACES THE TERRITORY UNDER MARTIAL LAW. THE 
MILITIA ORDERED OUT. THE SEAT OF WAR. CORRESPONDENCE BE- 
TWEEN GOVERNOR YOUNG AND COLONEL ALEXANDER. BURNING THE 
GOVERNMENT TRAINS. LOT SMITH'S STORY. CONGRESS DECLARES 
UTAH IN A STATE OF REBELLION. 

The next day after the departure of Van Vliet, the Governor issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation, placing the Territory under martial law : 

" Citizens of Utah: — We are invaded by a hostile force, who are evidently 
assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction. 

' 'For the last twenty-five years we have trusted officials of the 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 wilderness, and that protection 
among hostile savages which were denied them in the boasted abodes of Christi- 
anity and civilization. 

"The constitution of our common country guarantees to us all that we do 
now, or have ever, claimed. 

"If the consdtutional rights which pertain to us as American citizens were 
extended to Utah according to the spirit and meaning thereof, and fairly and im- 
partially administered, it is all that we could ask — all that we ever asked. 

" Our opponents have availed themselves of prejudices existing against us 
because of our religious faith, to send out a formidable host to accomplish our de- 
struction. We have had no privilege, no opportunity of defending ourselves 
from the false, foul and unjust aspersions against us, before the nation. 

"The Government has not condescended to cause an investigating commit- 
tee or other persons to be sent to enquire into and ascertain the truth, as is cus- 
tomary in such cases. 

"We know those aspersions to be false, but that avails us nothing. We are 
condemned unheard, and forced to an issue wath an armed mercenary mob, 
which has been sent against us at the instigation of anonymous letter-writers, 
ashamed to father the base, slanderous falsehoods which 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. 

"The issue which has been thus forced upon us compels us to resort to the 
great first law of self-preservation, and stand in our own defence, a right guar- 
anteed to us by the genius and institutions of our country, and upon which the 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 167 

government is based. Our duty to ourselves, to our families, requires us not to 
tamely submit to be driven and slain, without an attempt to preserve ourselves; 
our duty to our country, our iioly religion, our God, to freedom and liberty, re- 
quires that we should not quietly standstill, and see those fetters forging around 
us which are calculated to enslave, and bring us in subjection to an unlawful mil- 
itary despotism, such as can only emanate in a country of constitutional law, 
from usurpation, tyranny and oppression. 

"Therefore, I, Brigham Young, governor and superintendent of Indian affairs 
for the Territory of Utah, in the name of the people of the United States, in the 
Territory of Utah, forbid : 

"First. All armed forces of every description from coming into this Terri- 
tory, under any pretence whatever. 

" Second. That all the forces in said Territory hold themselves in readiness 
to march at a moment's notice to repel any and all such invasion. 

" Third. Martial law is hereby declared to exist in this Territory from and 
after the publication of this proclamation, and no person shall be allowed to pass 
or repass into or through or from this Territory without a permit from the proper 
officer. 

" Given under my hand and seal, at Great Salt City, Territory of Utah, this 
fifteenth day of September, A. D. eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and of the 
independence of the United States of America the eighty-second. 

BRIGHAM YOUNG." 

While Captain Van Vliet was listening to the discourses of the Mormon 
leaders and witnessing the heroic demonstrations of the people of Great Salt 
Lake City the militia of the Territory was everywhere preparing for active ser- 
vice. Six weeks before the proclamation of martial law the following evtraordi- 
nary despatch was issued to the district commanding officers: 

Headquarters Nauvoo Legion, 

Adjt. General's Office, G. S. L. City, Aug. i, 1857. 

"Sir: Reports, tolerably well authenticated, have reached this office that an 
army from the Eastern States is now en route to invade this Territory. 

" The people of this Territory have lived in strict obedience to the laws of 
the parent and home governments, and are ever zealous for the supremacy of the 
Constitution and the rights guaranteed thereby. In such time, when anarchy 
takes the place of orderly government and mobocratic tyranny usurps the power 
of rulers, they have left the inalienable right to defend themselves against all 
aggression upon their constitutional privileges. It is enough that for successive 
years they have witnessed the desolation of their homes ; the barbarous wrath of 
mobs poured upon th.eir unoffending brethren and sisters; their leaders arrested, 
incarcerated and slain, and themselves driven to cull life from the hospitality of 
the desert and the savage. They are not willing to endure longer these unceas- 
ing outrages; but if an exterminating war be purposed against them and blood 
alone can cleanse pollution from the Nation's bulwarks, to the God of our fathers 
let the appeal be made. 



1 68 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"You are instructed to hold your command in readiness to march at the 
shortest possible notice to any part of the Territory. See that the law is strictly 
enforced in regard to arms and amunition, and as far as practicable that each 
Ten be provided with a good wagon and four horses or mules, as well as the 
necessary clothing, etc., for a winter campaign. Particularly let your influence 
be used for the preservation of the grain. Avoid all excitement, but be ready. 

"DANIEL H. WELLS. 

Lieutenant General Commanding. 
'■'■ By James Ferguson, Adjutant General. " 

Copies of this letter were sent to the following: Colonel W. H. Dame, 
Parowan ; Major L. W. McCullough, Fillmore; Major C. W. Bradley, Nephi ; 
Major Warren S. Snow, Sanpete; General Aaron Johnson, Peteetneet ; Colonel 
William B. Pace, Provo; Major Samuel Smith, Box Elder; Colonel C. W. West, 
Weber; Colonel P. C. Merrill, Davis; Major David Evans, Lehi; Major Allen 
Weeks, Cedar; Major John Rowberry, Tooele. 

Within a few days these instructions reached the various districts and were 
quietly acted upon. There was a universal cleaning of arms, filling up of car- 
tridge boxes, and attention given to the equipment of horses, teams and camping 
outfits. 

The Nauvoo Ltgion (the territorial militia), consisted at this time of all able 
bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and was organized into 
military districts. The general officers of the Legion detailed for the campaign 
were: Daniel H. Wells, Lieut. General, commanding; Generals Geo. D. Grant, 
Wm. H. Kimball, James Ferguson, H. B. Clawson ; Colonels R. T. Burton, N, 
V. Jones, James Cummings, C. W. West, Thos. Callister, John Sharp, W. B. 
Pace, Lot Smith, Warren Snow, Jos. A. Young, A. P. Rockwood ; J. L. Dun- 
yon, Surgeon ; Majors H. W. Lawrence, J. M. Barlow, Israel Ivins, R. J. Gold- 
ing, J. R. Winder, J. D. T. McAllister. Besides these officers, scouts and rangers 
were detailed to perform special duties. Among these were O. P. Rockwell, 
Ephraim Hanks and many others. The nature of the campaign was^uch that in- 
dividuals were selected for certain service without regard to their official station • 
thus officers of the highest rank were found performing the duties of company 
captains, or sharing the labors of men of the line. 

On the thirteenth of August orders was issued for the first movement of 
the forces. It was directed to Col. Robert T. Burton, instructing him to take 
the field with one hundred and sixty men from the first regiment. He, however, 
started on the fifteenth with but seventy men from the Life Guards. Among the 
officers accompanying this expedition were Col. James Cummings, of the general 
staff, Maj. J. M. Barlow, quartermaster and commissary, Maj. H. W. Lawrence, 
Capt. H. P. Kimball, Lieuts. J. Q. Knowlton and C. F. Decker. They were af- 
terwards joined by a company from Provo, commanded by Capt. Joshua Clark. 
The instructions given Col. Burton were to march to the east on the main trav- 
eled road, affording aid and protection to the incoming trains of immigrants, and 
to act as a corps of observation to learn the strength and equipments of forces 
reported on the way to Utah, and report to headquarters; but not to interfere 



I 



HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CI 7Y. i6g 

with life or property of any one they might encounter on the road. Speaking of 
this trip, Gen. Burton says: 

"We arrived at Fort Bridger August 21st, and met the first company of im- 
migrants at Pacific Springs on the 26th. On the following day we met Moody's 
company from Texas, also several large supply trains, entirely unprotected by 
any escort. On the 29th I left my wagons and half of the men and animals on 
the Sweetwater, proceeding with pack animals. On the 30th I arrived at Devil's 
Gate, with Kimball, Cummings and Decker's command coming up the next day; 
here on the 31st we met Jones, Stringham, and others, on their way from Deer 
Creek to Salt Lake City, and on the day after Captain John R. Murdock from 
the States. The latter brought word of the intense bitterness expressed all over 
the Union against the Mormons, and of the expectations that many entertained 
that the people of Utah were about to be annihilated by the strong arm of the 
military power." 

These companies proceeded immediately on their way to the city, while Col. 
Burton and command were engaged cacheing provisions for future use. On Sep- 
tember 8th, he sent an express to the Platte; which returned on the 12th. From 
this time the expedition returned slowly towards the city, thoroughly examining 
the country and posting themselves upon all points likely to be of advantage later 
in the campaign. They also kept a good lookout on the scouting and other mili- 
tary movements, forwarding by express all information of interest to General 
Wells and Governor Young. On the 17th they received an express from Salt 
Lake, by J. M. Simmons and O. Spencer, and from this date men were kept in 
the saddle night and day between the front and headquarters. September i6th, 
N. V. Jones and Stephen Taylor brought an express from the city, and on the 
2ist Colonel Burton took three men, H. W. Lawrence, H. P. Kimball, and John 
Smith, and again moved east to the vicinity of Devil's Gate, and camped. Sep- 
tember 22d. within half a mile of Colonel E. B. Alexander's command. Here 
they first met the advance of the Utah army, and from that time were its imme- 
diate neighbors until it arrived at Ham's Fork. 

On September 29th, Lieut. Gen. D. H. Wells left Salt Lake City and pro- 
ceeded to establish headqnarters in the narrows of Echo Canyon. He was ac- 
companied by Adjt. Gen. James Ferguson, Col. N. V. Jones, Maj. Lot Smith, 
and other staff officers Companies of militia from the several military districts, 
aggregating about 1,250 men were ordered to report at Echo, with provisions for 
thirty days. 

At Echo, Gen. Wells divided his staff, leaving Col. N. V. Jones and J. D. 
T. McAllister in command of the force there. These engaged in digging 
trenches across the canyon, throwing up breast works, loosening stones on the 
heights, and in every way preparing to resist the progress of any body of men 
that might attempt to pass through the canyon. 

The day after reaching Echo, Gen. Wells, with a small escort, proceeded to 
Fort Bridger, where he met Col. Burton and Gen. Robison, and was informed 
of all movements that had been made by the troops, of the location of their sup- 
ply trains, their strength, probability of reinforcements, etc. 

From this information it was ascertained that for several days previously the 
8 



ijo HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

army had been making very rapid forced marches, to overtake and protect their 
supplies on Ham's Fork, which had been forwarded several weeks before. It was 
apprehended, as they had been successful in securing these advance supply trains 
so near the mountain passes, that the troops would shoulder rations for three days 
an attempt to force their way on to the city. 

In view of this a Mormon writer on the "Echo Canyon War" thus explains 
the situation: 

"The activity of the enemy required the utmost vigilance and some decisive 
action on the part or our forces to delay any such movement. It was the policy 
to 'fight this war without bloodshed.' How to do it successfully was the ques- 
tion. It was a difficult one to solve while the weather remained fair, the advan- 
cing troops well supplied with food and ammunition, and eager to try their 
strength with their Mormon foes. Yet it was extremely necessary that the ad- 
vance should be checked and the power of the people of Utah to defend them- 
selves felt." 

Just at this point the extraordinary correspondence commences between 
Governor Young and the commanding officers of the U. S. Expedition, as pre- 
sented to Congress by President Buchanan, opening with the following to Col. 
Alexander : 

Fort Bridger, 

September 30, 1857. 

"Sir: I have the honor to forward you the accompaning letter from His 
Excellency Governor Young, together with two copies of his proclamation and a 
copy of the laws of Utah, i856-'57, containing the organic act of the Ter- 
ritory. 

"It may be proper to add that I am here to aid in carrying out the instruc- 
tions of Governor Young. 

"General Robison will deliver these papers to you, and receive such com- 
munication as you may wish to make. 

" Trusting that your answer and actions will be dedicated by a proper re- 
spect for the rights and liberties of American citizens. 

"I remain, very respectfully, etc., 

"DANIEL H. WELLS, 
^'^ Lieutenant General Commanding, Nativoo Legion.''^ 

Governor's Office, Utah Territory, 

Great Salt Lake City, September 29, 1857. 

"Sir: By reference to the act of Congress passed September 9, 1850, or- 
ganizing the Territory of Utah, published in the Laws of Utah, herewith for- 
warded, pp. 146-7, you will find the following: 

" ' Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive power and authority 
in and over said Territory of Utah shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold 
his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, 
unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The governor 
shal! reside within said Territory, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia 
thereof,' etc., etc. 



HIS TORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. iji 

" I am still the governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for this Terri- 
tory, no successor having been appointed and qualified, as provided by law; nor 
have I been removed by the President of the United States. 

"By virtue of the authority thus vested in me, I have issued, and forwarded 
you a copy of, my proclamation forbidding the entrance of armed forces into 
this Territory. This you have disregarded. I now further direct that you retire 
forthwith from the Territory, by the same route you entered. Should you deem 
this impracticable, and prefer to remain until spring in the vicinity of your 
present encampment. Black's Fork, or Green River, you can do so in peace and 
unmolested, on condition that you deposit your arms and amunition with Lewas 
Robison, quartermaster general of the Territory, and leave in the spring, as soon 
as the condition of the roads will permit you to march; and should you fall 
short of provisions, they can be furnished you, upon making the proper applica- 
toins therefor. General D. H. Wells will forward this, and receive any communica- 
tion you may have to make. 

"Very respectfully, 

BRIGHAM YOUNG 
" Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory. 

" The Officer Commanding the forces now invading Utah Territory''' 

Headquarters ioth Regiment of Infantry, 

Camp Winfield, on Ham's Fork, October 2, 1857. 
"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication 
of September 29, 1857; with two copies of Proclamation and one of "Laws of 
Utah," and have given it an attentive consideration. 

" I am at present the senior and commanding officer of the troops of the 
United States at tthis point, and I will submit your letter to the general com- 
manding as soon as he arrives here. 

"In the meantime I have only to say that these troops are hereby the orders 
of the President of the United States, and their future movements will depend 
entirely upon the orders issued by competent military authority. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, etc., 

"E. B. ALEXANDER, 

" Col. lOth U. S. Infantry, commanding. 
*^ Brigham Young, Esq., 

" Governor of Utah Territory..''' 

Headquarters ioth Infantry, October 2, 1857. 
"Official. 

HENRY E. MAYNADIER, 

Adjutant ioth Infantry.'' 

General Robison and Major Lot Smith were despatched with these docu- 
ments, instructed to deliver them personally or send them by a Mexican if it 
should be dangerous to enter Col. Alexander's camp; the latter course was 
adopted. On the return of Major Lot Smith with the answer of Col. Alexander 
to Governor Young, General Wells resolved on the immediate execution of his 
programme of the campaign. 



1^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The plan of the campaign had been thoroughly digested by Brigham Young, 
as commander-in-chief of the Utah militia, and his Lieutenant General, before 
the latter left Great Salt Lake City for ''the seat of war;" and with General 
Wells, Apostles John Taylor and George A. Smith had gone out to Echo Canyon, 
undoubtedly to give their voice in the councils of war. Therefore, there was no 
need for General Wells to seek further consultation with his chief previous to 
the excution of the plan, which was substantially that embodied in the order, 
found upon the ])erson of major Joseph Taylor when he was captured : 

Headquarters Eastern Expedition, 

Camp near Cache Cave, Oct. 4, 1857. 

"You will proceed, with all possible despatch, without injuring your ani- 
mals, to the Oregon road, near the bend of Bear river, north by east of this 
place. Take close and correct observations of the country on your route. 
When you approach the road, send scouts ahead, to ascertain if the invading 
troops have passed that way. Should they have passed, take a concealed route, 
and get ahead of them. Express to Colonel Burton, who is now on that road 
and in the vicinity of the troops, and effect a junction with him, so as to operate 
in concert. On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once 
to annoy them in every posssble way. Use every exertion to stanpede ther ani- 
mals and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them, and on 
their flanks. Keep them from sleeping by night surprises; blockade the road by 
felling trees or destroying the river fords where you can. Watch for oppor- 
tunities to set fire to the grass on their windward, so as if possible to envelope 
their trains. Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men 
concealed as much as possible, and guard against surprise. Keep scouts out at 
all times, and communications open with Colonel Burton, Major McAllister and 
O. P. Rockwell, who are operating in the same way. Keep me advised daily of 
your movements, and every step the troops take, and in which direction. 

"God bless you, and give you success. 

" Your brother in Christ. 

DANIEL H. WELLS. 

"P. S. — If the troops have not passed, or have turned in this direction, fol- 
low in their rear, and continue to annoy them, burning any trains they may 
leave. Take no life, but destroy their trains, and stampede or drive away their 
animals, at every opportunity. 

D. H. WELLS. 

' ' Major Joseph Taylor. 

"Headquarters Army of Utah, 

Black's Fork, 16 miles from Fort Bridger, 
En route to Salt Lake City, November 7, 1857. 
" A true copy of instructions in the possession of Major Joseph Taylor, 
when captured. 

"F. J. PORTER, 

Assistant Adjutant General.''^ 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. //j 

After delivering the des[)atch of Col. Alexander, Major Lot Smith was in- 
vited to take dinner with his commanding-general and his aides. Among all the 
warriors of the Mormon Israel there was, perhaps not one so fitted to open 
this very peculiar campaign as Lot Smith. His lion-like courage and absolute 
fearlessness of personal danger, when most in its presence, marked him out as the 
man of men to execute an exploit of such daring as that designed — to astonish 
the American nation into a realization of the Mormon earnestness, yet at the 
same time to do it without the shedding of a drop of "the enemy's" blood. 

"During the meal," says Maj. Lot Smith, in his piquent narrative of one of 
the most daring guerilla exploits on record, "General Wells, looking at me as 
straight as possible, asked if I could take a few men and turn back the trains that 
were on the road or burn them? I replied that I thought that I could do just what 
he told me to. The answer appeared to please him, and he accepted it, tell- 
ing me he could furnish only a few men, but they would be sufficient, for they 
would appear many more to our enemies." 

At 4 o'clock in the evening of October 3d, Major Lot Smith's troop, num- 
bering forty-four men rank and file, started on their expedition. They rode all 
night and early the next morning came in sight of an ox train headed westward. 
On calling for the captain, Maj. Smith ordered him to turn his train and go the 
other way till he reached the States. The Captain "swore pretty strongly," 
faced about and started to go east, but as soon as out of sight he would 
turn again towards the mountains. The troops met him that day and took out 
his lading, leaving the wagons and teams standing. Lot Smith camped near 
these troops on that night on the banks of the Green River. His story con- 
tinues : 

"Losing the opportunity to make much impression on Rankin's train, I 
thought something must be done speedily to carry out the instructions received, 
so I sent Captain Haight with twenty men to see if he could get the mules of the 
Tenth Regiment on any terms. With the remaining twenty-three men I started 
for Sandy Fork to intercept trains that might be approaching in that direction. 
On the road, seeing a large cloud of dust at a distance up the river, on the old 
Mormon road, I sent scouts to see what caused it. They returned, overtaking 
me at Sandy, and reported a train of twenty-six large freight wagons. We took 
supper and started at dark. After traveling fourteen miles, we came up to the 
train, but discovered that the teamsters were drunk, and knowing that drunken 
men were easily excited and always ready to fight, and remembering my positive 
orders not to hurt anyone except in self-defence, we remained in ambush until 
after mid-night. I then sent scouts to thoroughly examine the appearance of 
their camp, to note the number of wagons and men and report all they dis- 
covered. When they returned and reported twenty-six wagons in two lines a 
short distance apart, I concluded that counting one teamster to each wagon and 
throwing in eight or ten extra men would make their force about forty. I thought 
we would be a match for them, and so ordered an advance to their camp. 

"On nearing the wagons, I found I had misunderstood the scouts, for in- 
stead of one train of twenty-six wagons there were two, doubling the number of 



174 HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CI TV. 

men, and putting quite another phase on our relative strength and situation. 
There was a large camp-fire burning, and a number of men were standing around it 
smoking. It was expected by my men that on finding out the real number of 
wagons and men, I would not go farther than to make some inquiries and passing 
our sortie upon the trains as a joke would go on until some more favorable time- 
But it seemed to me that it was no time for joking. I arranged my men, and we 
advanced until our horses' heads came into the light of the fire; then I discovered 
that we had the advantage, for looking back into the darkness, I could not see 
where my line of troops ended, and could imagine my twenty followers stringing 
out to a hundred or more as well as not. I inquired for the captain of the train. 
Mr. Dawson stepped out and said he was the man. I told him that I had a little 
business with him. He inquired the nature of it, and I replied by requesting 
him to get all of his men and their private property as quickly as possible out of 
the wagons for I meant to put a little fire into them. He exclaimed : ' For God's 
sake, don't burn the trains.' I said it was for His sake that I was going to burn 
them, and pointed out a place for his men to stack their arms, and another where 
they were to stand in a group, placing a guard over both. I then sent a scou 
down towards Little Mountaineer Fork, failing to put one out towards Ham's 
Fork on the army. While I was busy with the train a messenger from the latter 
surprised us by coming into camp. I asked him if he had dispatches and to hand 
them to me. He said he had but they were verbal. I told him if he lied to me 
his life was not worth a straw. He became terrified, in fact I never saw a man 
more frightened. He said afterwards that he expected every moment to be 
killed. His orders to the train men were from the commander at Camp Winfield, 
and were to the effect that the Mormons were in the field and that they must not 
go to sleep but keep night guard on their trains, and that four companies of cav- 
alry and two pieces of artillery would come over in the morning to escort them 
to camp." 

After thus dealing with the first train, the other was treated in like manner. 
The closing of Lot Smith's story gives a striking dramatic denouement. 

"When all was ready, I made a torch, instructing my Gentile follower, 
known as Big James, to do the same, as I thought it was proper for the ' Gentiles 
to spoil the Gentiles.' At this stage of our proceedings an Indian came from the 
Mountaineer Fork and seeing how the thing was going asked for some presents. 
He wanted two wagon covers for a lodge, some flour and soap. I filled his order 
and he went away much elated. Out of respect to the candor poor Dawson had 
showed, I released him from going with me when we fired the trains, taking Big 
James instead, he not being afraid of saltpetre or sulphur either. 

"While riding from wagon to wagon, with torch in hand and the wind blow- 
ing, the covers seemed to me to catch very slowly. I so stated it to James. He 
replied, swinging his long torch over his head : 'By St. Patrick, ain't it beautiful ! I 
never saw anything go better in all my life.' About this time I had Dawson 
send in his men to the wagons, not yet fired, to get us some provisions^ enough 
to thoroughly furnish us, telling him to get plenty of sugar and coffee, for though 
I never used the latter myself, some of my men below, intimating that I had a 
force down there, were fond of it. On completing this task I told him that we 



HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI2 V. ly^ 

were going just a little way off, and that if he or hi3 men molested the 
trains or undertook to put the fire out, they would be instantly killed. We rode 
away leaving the wagons all ablaze." 

The burning of the Government trains accomplished the very purpose de- 
signed. The nation was thrown into a fearful state of excitement over the dar- 
ing deed, and at the issue of Governor Young's Proclamation. Congress passed a 
resolution declaring Utah in a state of rebellion, and referred a motion to the 
committee on Territories to expel the Utah Delegate. Burning the supplies of 
an army of the United States, sent by the Government to put down an incipient 
rebellion, was declared to be an extraordinary overt act of actual war, while the 
proclamation of Governor Young was considered as a veritable declaration of 
war as from an independent power. A terrible wrath was aroused against Mor- 
mon Utah. At that moment, had the season been favorable, and the Govern, 
ment made the call, a hundred thousand volunteers would have quickly mustered 
into service to annihilate the whole Mormon community. Yet, be it repeated, 
the very purpose had been accomplished which Brigham Young designed. It 
was a most dramatic illustration of his words to Captain Van Vliet, " We are 
aware that such will be the case; but when those troops arrive they will find 
Utah a desert. Every house will be burned to the ground, every tree cut down 
and every field left waste. We have three years' provisions on hand, which we 
will 'cache,' and then take to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers 
of the government.'' The nation could now believe that this was not mere bra- 
vado or bombast of Brigham Young, nor the insane rage of fanatics, but the ex- 
traordinary resolve of a Puritanic people, such as those who fought "in the name 
of the Lord" for the commonwealth of England and founded the American 
nation. And though Colonel C. F. Smith of the Expedition wrote to head- 
quarters : " As the threats of their leaders to Captain Van Vliet, coupled with 
the burning of our supply trains — in itself an act of war — is evidence of their 
treason, I shall regard them as enemies, andy^ri? upon the scoundrels if they give 
me the least opportunity; " yet from that moment President Buchanan saw cause 
for pause. Brigham Young would keep his word! Strange as it may seem his 
Proclamation, and the order of Lieutenant General Wells, followed so quickly 
by the burning of the supply trains, ultimately brought the Peace Commission, 
and the Proclamation of pardon to the entire Mormon people. 



i-j6 HIS TOR y OF SAL T LAKE CI TV. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GOVERNOR YOUNG AND COLONEL ALEXANDER. 
UNFLINCHING ATTITUDE OF BOTH SIDES. EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES. 
THE GOVERNOR INVITES A PEACEFUL VISIT OF THE OFFICERS TO THE 
CITY. A REMARKABLE LETTER FROM APOSTLE JOHN TAYLOR TO 

CAPTAIN MARCY. 

"Great Salt Lake City, U. T , October 14, 1857. 

"Colonel: In consideration of our relative positions — you acting in your 
capacity as commander of the United States forces, and in obedience, as you 
have stated, to orders from the President of the United States, and I as governor 
of this Territory, impelled by every sense of justice, honor, integrity and 
patriotism to resist what I consider to be a direct infringement of the rights of 
the citizens of Utah, and an act of usurpation and tyranny unprecedented in the 
history of the United States — permit me to address you frankly as a citizen of 
the United States, untrammelled by the usages of official dignity or military 
etiquette. 

"As citizens of the United States, we both, it is presumable, feel strongly 
attached to the Constitution and institu tions of our common country ; and, as 
gentlemen, should probably agree in sustaining the dear bought liberties be- 
queathed by our fathers — the position in which we are individually placed being 
the only apparent cause of our present antagonism; you, as colonel command- 
ing, feeling that you have a rigid duty to perform in obedience to orders, and I, 
a still more important duty to the people of this Territory, 

" I need not here reiterate what I have already mentioned in my official 
proclamation, and what I and the people of this Territory universally believe 
firmly to be the object of the administration in the present expedition against 
Utah, viz: the destruction, if not the entire annihilation of the Mormon com- 
munity, solely upon religious grounds, and without any pretext whatever ; for 
the administration do know, from the most reliable sources, that the base reports 
circulated by Drummond, and others of their mean officials, are barefaced calum- 
nies. They do, moreover, know that the people of Utah have been more peace- 
able and law abiding than those of any other Territory of the United States, and 
have never resisted even the wish of the President of the United States, nor 
treated with indignity a single individual coming to the Territory under his au. 
thority although the conduct and deportment of many of them have merited, and 
in any other State or Territory would have met with summary punishment. But 
when the President of the United States so far degrades his high position, and 
prostitutes the highest git't of the people as to make use of the military power 
(only intended for the protection of the people's rights) to crush the people's 
liberties, and compel them to receive officials so lost to self respect as n accept 



HIST OR Y OF SALT LAKE CI2 V, 777 

appointments against the known and expressed wish of the people, and so craven 
and degraded as to need an army to protect them in their position, we feel that 
we should be recreant to every principle of self-respect, honor, integrity, and 
patriotism, to bow tamely to such high-handed tyranny, a parallel for which is 
only found in the attempts of the British government, in its most corrupt stages, 
against the rights, liberties and lives of our forefathers. 

" Now% Colonel, I do not charge you, nor those serving under you, with the 
instigation of these enormities. I consider that you are only the agent made use 
of by the administration, probably unwillingly so, to further their infamous 
designs. What high-minded gentleman can feel comfortable in being the mere 
catspaw of political jugglers and hucksters, penny-a-liners, hungry speculators and 
disgraced officials? Yet it is from the statements of such characters only that the 
adminstration has acted, attaching the official seal to your movements. Now, I 
feel that, when such treason is perpetrated, unblushingly, in open daylight, again st 
the liberties and most sacred rights of the citizens of this Territory, it is my duty, 
and the duty of every lover of his country and her sacred institutions, to resist 
it, and maintain inviolate the constitution of our common country. 

"Perhaps, colonel, you may feel otherwise; education and associations have 
their influences; but I have yet to learn that United States officers are implicitly 
bound to obey the dictum of a despotic President, in violating the most sacred 
constitutional rights of American citizens. 

"We have sought diligently for peace. We have sacrificed millions of dol- 
lars worth of property to obtain it, and wandered a thousand miles from the con- 
fines of civilization, severing ourselves from home, the society of friends, and 
everything that makes life worth enjoyment. If we have war, it is not of our 
seeking; we have never gone nor sought to interfere with the rights of others, 
but they have come and sent to interfere with us. We had hoped that, in this 
barren and desolate country, we could have remained unmolested ; but it would 
seem that our implacable, blood-thirsty foes envy us even these barren deserts. 
Now, if our real enemies, the mobocrats, priests, editors and politicians, at whose 
instigation the present storm has been gathered, had come against us, instead of 
you and your command, I should never have addressed them thus. They never 
would have been allowed to reach the South Pass. In you we recognize only the 
agents and instruments of the administration, and with you, personally, have 
no quarrel. I believe it would have been more consonant with your feelings to 
have made war upon the enemies of your country than upon American citizens. 
But to us the end to be accomplished is the same, and while I appreciate the un- 
pleasantness of your position, you must be aware that circumstances compel the 
people of Utah to look upon you, in your present belligerent attitude, as their 
enemies and the enemies of our common country, and notwithstanding my 
most sincere desires to promote amicable relations with you, I shall feel it my 
duty, as do the people of the Territory universally, to resist to the utmost every 
attempt to encroach further upon their rights. 

"It, therefore, becomes a matter for your serious consideration, whether it 
would not be more in accordance with the spirit and institutions of our country 
to return with your present force rather than force an issue so unpleasant to all, 



iy8 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI TY. 

and which must result in great misery and, perhaps, bloodshed and, if 
persisted in, the total destruction of your army. And, furthermore, does 
it not become a question whether it is more patriotic for officers of the United 
States army to ward off, by all honorable means, a collision with American citi- 
zens or to further the precipitate move of an indiscreet and rash administration, 
in plunging a whole Territory into a horrible, fratricidal and sanguinary war. 

"Trusting that the foregoing considerations may be duly weighed by you, and 
that the difficulties now impending may be brought to an amicable adjustment, 
with sentiments of esteem, 

I have the honor to remain most respectfully etc., 

BRIGHAM YOUNG." 



" Headquarters Army for Utah. 

Camp on Ham's Fork, October 12, 1857. 

"Sir: Yesterday two young men, named Hickman, were arrested by the 
rear guard of the army, and are now held in confinement. They brought a let- 
ter from W. A. Hickman to Mr. Perry, a sutler of one of the regiments, but 
came under none of the privileges of bearers, of despatches, and are, perhaps, 
liable to be considered and treated as spies. But I am convmced, from conver- 
sation with them, that their conduct does not merit the serious punishment 
awarded to persons of that character, and I have accordingly resolved to release 
the younger one, especially in consideration of his having a wife and three chil- 
dren, dependent upon him, and to make him the bearer of this letter. The elder 
I shall keep until I know how this communication is received, and until I receive 
an answer to it, reserving, even then, the right to hold him a prisoner, if, in my 
judgment, circumstances require it. I need hardly assure you that his life will 
be protracted, and that he will receive every comfort and indulgence proper to 
be afforded him. 

"I desire now, sir, to set before you the following facts: the forces under my 
command are ordered by the President of the United States, to establish a mili- 
tary post at or near Salt Lake City. They set out on their long and arduous 
march, anticipating a reception similar to that which they would receive in any 
other State or Territory in the Union. They were met at the boundary of the 
Territory of which you are the Governor, and in which capacity alone I have any 
business with you, by a proclamation issued by yourself, forbidding them to come 
upon soil belongmg to the United States, and calling upon the inhabitants to re- 
sist them with arms. You have ordered them to return, and have called upon 
them to give up their arms in default of obeying your mandate. You have resorted 
to open hostilities, and of a kind, permit me to say, far beneath the usages of civi- 
lized warfare, and only resorted to by those who are conscious of inability to re- 
sist by more honorable means, by authorizing persons under your control, some of 
the very citizens, doubtless, whom you have called to arms, to burn the grass ap- 
parently with the intention of starving a few beasts, and hoping that men would 
starve after them. Citizens of Utah, acting, I am bound to believe, under 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. lyg 

your authority, have destroyed trains containing public stores, with a similar 
humane purpose of starving the army. I infer also from your communications 
received day before yesterday, referring to " a dearth of news from the east and 
from home," that you have caused public and private letters to be diverted from 
their proper destination, and this, too, when carried by a public messenger on 
a public highway. It is unnecessary for me to adduce further instances to show 
that you have placed yourself, in your capacity of governor, and so many of the 
citizens of the Territory of Utah as have obeyed your decree, in a position of re- 
bellion and hostility to the general government of the United States. It becomes 
you to look to the consequences, for you must be aware that so unequal a contest 
can never be successfully sustained by the people you govern. 

"It is my duty to inform you that I shall use the force under my control, 
and all honorable means in my power, to obey literally and strictly the orders 
under which I am acting. If you, or any acting under your orders, oppose me, 
I will use force, and I warn you that the blood that is shed in this contest will be 
upon your head. My means I consider ample to overcome any obstacle; and I 
assure you that any idea you may have formed of forcing these troops back, or 
of preventing them from carrying out the views of the government, will result in 
unnecessary violence and utter failure. Should you reply to this in a spirit which 
our relative positions give me a right to demand, I will be prepared to propose 
an arrangement with you. I have also the honor to inform you that all persons 
found lurking around or in any of our camps, will be put under guard and held 
prisoners as long as circumstances may require. 

" I remain sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
E. B. ALEXANDER, 

Colonel loth Infantry, Commanding. 

^'Uis Excellency Brigham. Young, 

Governor of Utah Territory^ 



"Governor's Office, 
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, October i6, 1857. 

"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
12th instant, at 8:30 this morning, and embrace the earliest opportunity to reply, 
out of courtesy to your position, at this late season of the year. 

" As you officially allege it, I acknowledge that you and the forces have been 
sent to the Territory by the President of the United States, but we shall treat 
you as though you were open enemies, because I have so many times seen armies 
in our country, under color of law, drive this people, commonly styled Mormons, 
from their homes, while mobs have followed and plundered at their pleasure, 
which is now most obviously the design of the general government, as all candid, 
thinking men know full well. Were not such the fact, why did not the 
government send an army here to protect us against the savages when we first 
settled here, and were poor and few in number? So contrary to this was their 
course, that they sent an informal requisition for five hundred of our most effi- 



i8o HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

cient men, (while we were in an Indian country and striving to leave the borders 
of the United States, from which its civilization (?) had expelled us,) with a pre- 
concerted view to cripple and destroy us. And do you fancy for a moment that 
we do not fully understand the tender (?) mercies and designs of our government 
against us? Again, if an army was ordered here for peaceful purposes, to pro- 
tect and preserve the rights and lives of the innocent, why did government send 
here troops that were withdrawn from Minnesota, where the Indians were 
slaughtering men, women, and children, and were banding in large numbers, 
threatening to lay waste the country? 

" You mention that it is alone in my gubernatorial capacity that you have any 
business with me, though your commanding officer, Brevet-Brigadier General 
Harney, addressed his letter by Captain Van Vliet to ' President Brigham Young, 
of the society of Mormons.' 

"You acknowledge the receipt of my official proclamation, forbidding your 
entrance into the Territory of Utah, and upon that point I have only to again 
inform you that the matter set forth in that document is true, and the orders 
therein contained will be most strictly carried out. 

"If you came here for peaceful purposes, you have no use for weapons of 
war. We wish, and ever have wished for peace, and have ever sued for it all the 
day long, as our bitterest enemies know full well ; and though the wicked, with the 
administration now at their head, have determined that we shall have no peace, 
except it be to lie down in death, in the name of Israel's God we will have peace, 
even though we be compelled by our enemies to fight for it. 

" We have as yet studiously avoided the shedding of blood, though we have 
resorted to measures to resist our enemies, and through the operations of those 
mild measures, you can easily perceive that you and your troops are now at the 
mercy of the elements, and that we live in the mountains, and our men are all 
mountaineers. This the government should know, and also give us our rights and 
then let us alone. 

"As to the style of those measures, past, present, or future, persons acting in 
self-defence have of right a wide scope for choice, and that, too, without being 
very careful as to what name their enemies may see fit to term that choice ; for 
both we and the Kingdom of God will be free from all hellish oppressors, the 
Lord being our helper. Threatenings to waste and exterminate this people have 
been sounded in our ears for more than a score of years, and we yet live. The 
Zion of the Lord is here, and wicked men and devils cannot destroy it. 

"If you persist in your attempt to permanently locate an army in this Ter- 
ritory, contrary to the wishes and constitutional rights of the people therein, and 
with a view to aid the administration in their unhallowed efforts to palm their 
corrupt officials upon us, and to protect them and blacklegs, black-hearted scoun- 
drels, whore masters, and murderers, as was the sole intention in sending you 
and your troops here, you will have to meet a mode of warfare against which 
your tactics furnish you no information. 

"As to your inference concerning 'public and private letters,' it contains an 
ungentlemanly and false insinuation ; for, so far as I have any knowledge, the 
only stopping or detaining of the character you mention has alone been done by 



I 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i8i 

the Post Office Department in Washington; they having, as you must have 
known, stopped our mail from Independence, Missouri, by which it was but fair 
to presume that you, as well as we, were measurably curtailed in mail facilities. 

"In regard to myself and certain others, having placed ourselves 'in a posi- 
tion of rebellion and hostility to the general government of the United States,' 
I am perfectly aware that we understand our true and most loyal position far bet- 
ter than our enemies can inform us. We, of all people, are endeavoring to 
preserve and perpetuate the genius of the Constitution and constitutional laws, 
while the administration and the troops they have ordered to Utah are, in fact, 
themselves the rebels, and in hostility to the general government. And if 
George Washington were now living, and at the helm of our government, he 
would hang the administration as high as he did Andre, and that, too, with a far 
better grace and to a much greater subserving the best interests of our country, 

"You write: ' It becomes you to look to the consequences, for you must be 
aware that so unequal a contest can never be successfully sustained by the people 
you govern.' We have counted the cost it may be to us; we look for the 
United States to endeavor to swallow us up, and we are prepared for the contest, 
if they wish to forego the Constitution in their insane efforts to crush out all hu- 
man rights. But the cost of so suicidal a course to our enemies we have not 
wasted our time considering, rightly deeming it more particularly their business 
to figure out and arrive at the amount of so immense a sum. It is now the king- 
dom of God and the kingdom of the devil. If God is for us we will prosper, 
but if He is for you and against us, you will prosper, and we will say amen; let 
the Lord be God, and Him alone we will serve. 

"As to your obeying ' orders,' my official counsel to you would be for you 
to stop and reflect until you know wherein are the just and right, and then, 
David Crocket like, go ahead. But if you undertake to come in here and build 
forts, rest assured that you will be opposed, and that you will need all the force 
now under your command, and much more. And, in regard to your warning, I 
have to inform you that my head has been sought during many years past,, not 
for any crime on my part, or for so much as even the wish to commit a crime, 
but solely for my religious belief, and that, too, m a land of professed constitu- 
tional religious liberty. 

" Inasmuch as you consider your force amply sufficient to enable you to 
come to this city, why have you so unwisely dallied so long on Ham's Fork at 
this late season of the year ? 

" Carrying out the views of the government, as those views are now devel- 
oping themselves, can but result in the utter overthrow of that Union which we, 
in common with all American patriots, have striven to sustain; and as to our 
failure in our present efforts to uphold rights justly guaranteed to all citizens of 
the United States, that can be better told hereafter. 

"I presume that the 'spirit' and tenor of my reply to your letter will be 
unsatisfactory to you, for doubtless you are not aware ot the nature and object of 
the service in which you are now engaged. For your better information, permit 
me to inform you that we have a number of times been compelled to receive and 
submit to the most fiendish proposals, made to us by armies virtually belonging to 



j82 history of salt lake city. 

the United States, our only alternative being to comply therewith. At the last 
treaty forced upon us by our enemies, in which we were required to leave the 
United States, and with which we, as hitherto, complied, two United States Sena- 
tors were present, and pledged themselves, so far as their influence might reach, 
that we should be no more pursued by her citizens. That pledge has been broken 
by our enemies, as they have ever done when this people were a party, and we 
have thus always proven that it is vain for us to seek or expect protection from 
the officials or administrators of our government. It is obvious that war upon 
the Saints is all the time determined, and now we, for the first time, possess the 
power to have a voice in the treatment that we will receive, and we intend to use 
that power, so lar as the Constitution and justice may warrant, which is all we 
ask. True, in struggling to sustain the Constitution and constitutional rights 
belonging to every citizen of our republic, we have no arm or power to trust in 
but that of Jehovah and the strength and ability that He gives us. 

"By virtue of my office as governor of the Territory of Utah, I command 
you to marshal your troops and leave this Territory, for it can be of no possible 
benefit to you to wickedly waste treasures and blood in prosecuting your course 
upon the side of a rebellion against the general government by its administrators. 
You have had and still have plenty of time to retire within reach of supplies at 
the east, or to go to Fort Hall. Should you conclude to comply with so just a 
command, and need any assistance to go east, such assistance will be promptly 
and cheerfully extended. We do not \vish to destroy the life of any human 
being, but, on the contrary, we ardently desire to preserve the lives and liberties 
of all, so far as it may be in our power. Neither do we wish for the property of 
the United States, notwithstanding they justly owe us millions. 

" Colonel, should you, or any of the officers with you, wish to visit this city, 
unaccompanied by troops, as did Captain Van Vliet, with a view to personally 
learn the condition and feelings of this people, you are at liberty to do so, under 
my cheerfully proff"ered assurance that you will be safely escorted from our out- 
posts to this city and back, and that during your stay in our midst you will receive 
all that courtesy and attention your rank demands. Doubtless you have supposed 
that many of the people here would flee to you for protection upon your arrival, 
and if there are any such persons they shall be at once conveyed to your camp in 
perfect safety, so soon as such fact can be known. 

*' Were you and your fellow-officers as well acquainted with your soldiers as 
I am with mine, and did they understand the work they are now engaged in as 
well as you may understand it, you must know that many of them would immedi- 
ately revolt from all connection with so ungodly, illegal, unconstitutional and 
hellish a crusade against an innocent people, and if their blood is shed it shall 
rest upon the heads of their commanders. With us it is the kingdom of God or 
nothing. I have the honor to be. 

Your obedient servant, 

BRIGHAM YOUNG, 
Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, U. 7." 

^^E. B. Alexander, Colonel lOth Infantry, U- S. A'' 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CILY. 



183 



" Headquarters Army for Utah, 

Camp on Ham's Fork, October 19, 1857. 

"Sir: I have received by the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Beatie your 
letter of the i6th instant. It is not necessary for me to argue the points ad- 
vanced by you, and I have only to repeat my assurance that no harm would have 
happened to any citizen of Utah through the instrumentality of the army of the 
United States, in the performance of its legitimate duties without molestation. 
My disposition of the troops depends upon grave considerations not necessary to 
enumerate, and considering your order to leave the Territory illegal and beyond 
your authority to issue, or power to enforce, I shall not obey it. 
"I am, sir, with respect, your obedient servant, 

E. B. ALEXANDER, 
Colonel Comtnanding, lotk Lnfantry U. S. A. 
" His Excellency Brigham Young, 

Governor of Utah Territory. ' ' 



"Governor's Office, 
Great Salt Lake City, October 28, 1857. 

"Sir: Having learned that Mrs. Mago, with her infant child, wishes to join 
her husband in your camp, also that Mr. Jesse Jones, who has been in this city a 
few weeks, was anxious to see Mr. Roup, it has afforded me pleasure to cause the 
necessary arrangements to be made for their comfortable and safe conveyance to 
your care, under the conduct and protection of Messrs. John Harvey, Joseph 
Sharp, Adam Sharp, and Thomas J. Hickman, the bearers of this communica- 
tion. 

" Mrs. Mago and her infant are conveyed to your camp in accordance with 
my previously often expressed readiness to forward to you such as might wish to 
go, and is the only resident of that description in Utah, as far as I am informed. 
Her husband made his first appearance here in the capacity of a teamster for 
Captain VV. H. Hooper. He was then in very destitute circumstances ; and has 
since been in the employ of the late United States surveyor general of Utah, 
and I am not aware that he has any property or tie of any description in this 
Territory, except the wife and child now conveyed to him in your camp. Should 
Colonel Conby and lady wish to partake of the hospitalities proffered by Mr. 
Heywood and family, and should Captain R. B. Marcy desire to favor me with a 
visit, as I infer from his letter of introduction forwarded and in my possession, 
or should you or any other officers in your command wish to indulge in a trip to 
this city, you will be kindly welcomed and hospitably entertained, and the 
vehicle and escort now sent to your camp are tendered for conveyance of such as 
may receive your permission to avail themselves of this cordial invitation. 

" It is also presumed that your humane feelings will prompt you, in case 
there are any persons who wish to peacefully leave your camp for this city, to 
permit them to avail themselves of the protection and guidance of the escort 
now sent. 



i84 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"Trusting that this communication will meet your entire approval and 
hearty co-operation, I have the honor, sir, to be your obedient servant, 

BRIG HAM YOUNG, 
Governor and Supermtendent of Indian Affairs, U. T. 
" Colonel E. B. Alexander, 

Tenth Infantry, U. S. A., Camp Ham's Fork.'"'' 



"Great Salt Lake City, October 21, 1857. 

" My Dear Sir: I embrace this the earliest opportunity of answering your 
communication to me, embracing a letter from Mr. Fuller, of New York, to you, 
an introductory letter to me, and also one from W. I. Appleby to Governor 
Young ; the latter, immediately on its receipt, I forwarded to His Excellency; 
and here let me state, sir, that I sincerely regret that circumstances now existing 
have hitherto prevented a personal interview. 

" I can readily believe your statement, that it is very far from your feelings, 
and most of the command that are with you, to interfere with our social habits or 
religious views. One must naturally suppose that among gentlemen educated for 
the army alone, who have been occupied by the study of the art of war, whose 
pulses have throbbed with pleasure at the contemplation of the deeds of our 
venerated fathers, whose minds have been elated by the recital of the heroic 
deeds of other nations, and who have listened almost exclusively to the declama- 
tions of patriots and heroes, that there is not much time, and less inclination, to 
listen to the low party bickerings of political demagogues, the interested twaddle 
of sectional declaimers, or the throes and contortions of contracted religious 
bigots. You are supposed to stand on elevated ground, representing the power 
and securing the interests of the whole of a great and mighty nation. That 
many of you are thus honorable, I am proud, as an American citizen, to acknowl- 
edge; but you must excuse me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that 
all your officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane and gentlemanly, as a 
knowledge of some of their antecedents expressly demonstrates. However, it is 
not with the personal character, the amiable qualities, high-toned feelings, or 
gentlemanly deportment of the officers in your expedition, that we at present 
have to do. The question that concerns us is one that is independent of your 
personal, generous, friendly and humane feelings or any individual predilection 
of yours; it is one that involves the dearest rights of American citizens, strikes 
at the root of our social and political existence, if it does not threaten our entire 
annihilation from the earth. Excuse me, sir, when I say that you are merely the 
servants of a lamentably corrupt administration ; that your primary law is obedi- 
ence to orders, and that you came here with armed foreigners with cannon, rifles, 
bayonets, and broadswords, expressly, and for the openly avowed purpose of 
'cutting out the loathsome ulcer from the body politic' I am aware what our 
friend Fuller says in relation to this matter, and I entertain no doubt of his 
generous and humane feelings, nor do I of yours, sir; but I do know that he is 
mistaken in relation to the rabid tone and false, furious attacks of a venal and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 185 

corrupt press. I do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, the 
barking dogs of a corrupt administration, i do know that Mr. Buchanan was 
well apprised of the nature of the testimony adduced against us by ex-Judge 
Drummond and others; for he was informed of it, to my knowledge, by a mem- 
ber of own cabinet, and I further know, from personal intercourse with members 
of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, that there have 
been various plans concerted at headquarters for some time past, for the over- 
throw of this people. Captain, Mr. Fuller informs me that you are a politician ; 
if so, you must know that in the last presidential campaign the republican party 
had opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the principal planks in their 
platform. You may know, sir, that Utah was picked out, and the only Territory 
excluded from a participation in pre-emption rights to land. You may also be 
aware that bills were introduced into Congress for the persecution of the Mor- 
mons ; but other business was too pressing at that time for them to receive atten- 
tion. You may be aware that measures were also set on foot, and bills prepared 
to divide up Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and New 
Mexico (giving a slice to California), for the purpose of bringing us into collision 
with the people of those Territories, not to say anything about thousands of 
our letters detained at the postoffice at Independence. I might enumerate 
injuries by the score, and if these things are not so, why is it that Utah is so 
'knotty a question?' If people were no more ready to interfere with us and our 
institutions than we are with them and theirs, these difficulties would vanish into 
thin air. Why, again I ask, could Drummond and a host of others, mean 
scribblers, palm their barefaced lies with such impunity, and have their infamous 
slanders swallowed with so much gusco? Was it not that the administration and 
their satellites, having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at anything 
to render specious their contemplated acts of blood ? Or, in plain terms, the 
democrats advocated strongly popular sovereignty. The republicans tell them 
that, if they join in maintaining inviolable the domestic institutions of the South, 
they must also swallow polygamy. The democrats thought this would not do, as 
it would interfere with the religious scruples of many of their supporters, and 
they looked about for some means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan, 
with Douglass, Cass, Thompson and others of his advisers, after failing to devise 
legal measures, hit upon the expedient of an armed force against Utah ; and thus 
thought, by the sacrifice of the Mormons, to untie the knotty question ; do a 
thousand times worse than the republicans ever meant \ fairly out-Herod Herod, 
and by religiously extirpating, destroying, or killing a hundred thousand innocent 
American citizens, satisfy a pious, humane, patriotic feeling of their constituents; 
take the wind out of the sails of the republicans, and gain to themselves immortal 
laurels. Captain, I have heard of a pious Presbyterian doctrine that would incul- 
cate thankfulness to the alLwise Creator for the privilege of being damned. 
Now, as we are not Presbyterians, nor believe in this kind of self-abnegation, you 
will, I am sure, excuse us for finding fiult at being thus summarily dealt with, no 
matter how agreeable the excision or expatriation might be to our political, patri- 
otic or very pious friends. We have lived long enough in the world to know that 
we are a portion of the body politic, have some rights as well as other people, 
10 



j86 history of salt lake cit\. 

and that if others do not respect us, we, at least, have manhood enough to respect 
ourselves. 

" Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our friend Mr. Fuller, to 
you, viz : ' That he had rendered me certain services in the city of New York, 
and that he had no doubt that when you had seen us and known us as he had, 
that you would report as favorably as he had unflinchingly done.' Now, those 
favors to which Mr. Fuller refers were simply telling a few plain matters of fact 
that had come under his own observation during a short sojourn at Salt Lake. 
This, of course, I could duly appreciate, for I always admired a man who dare 
tell the truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliating to manhood 
Snd to the pride of all honorable American citizens, when among the thousands 
that have passed through and sojourned among us, and knew as well as Mr. 
Fuller did our true social and moral position, that perhaps one in ten thousand 
dare state their honest convictions; and further, that Mr. Fuller, with his knowl- 
edge of human nature, should look upon you as a rara avis, possessing the 
moral courage and integrity to declare the truth in opposition to the floods of 
falsehood that have deluged our nation. Surely, we have fallen on unlucky 
times, when honesty is avowed to be at so great a prtmhim. 

"In regard to our religion, it is perhaps unnecessary to say much; yet, what- 
ever others' feelings may be about it, with us it is honestly a matter of conscience. 
This is a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution of our country ; yet it is on 
this ground, and this alone, that we have suffered a continued series o'" persecu- 
tions, and that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In regard to this 
people, I have traveled extensively in the United States, and through Europe, 
\et have never found so moral, chaste, and virtuous a people, nor do I expect to 
find them. And, if let alone, they are the most patriotic, and appreciate more 
fully the blessings of religious, civil, and political freedom than any other por- 
tion of the United States. They have, however, discovered the difference be- 
tween a blind submission to the caprices of political demagogues and obedience 
to the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the United States; nor can they, in 
the present instance, be hoodwinked by the cry of 'treason.' If it be treason to 
stand up for our constitutional rights; if it be treason to resist the unconstitu 
tional acts of a vitiated and corrupt administration, who, by a mercenary armed 
force, would seek to rob us of the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve 
their party, and seek to force upon us its corrupt tools, and violently invade the 
rights of American citizens ; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our homes, 
our firesides, our wives, and our honor from the corrupting and withering blight 
of a debauched soldiery; if it be treason to keep inviolate the Constitution and 
institutions of the United States, when nearly all the States are seeking to trample 
them under their feet, then, indeed, we are guilty of treason. We have care- 
fully considered all these matters and are prepared to meet the ' terrible ven- 
geance ' we have been very politely informed will be the result of our acts. It is 
in vain to hide it from you that this people have suffered so much from every 
kind of official that they will endure it no longer. It is not with them an idle 
phantom, but a stern reality. It is not, as some suppose, the voice of Brigham 
only, but the universal, deep-settled feeling of the whole community. Their cry 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i^j 

is, ' Give us our Constitutional rights; give us liberty or death ! ' A strange cry 
in our boasted model republic, but a truth deeply and indelibly graven on the 
hearts of 100,000 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years' unmiti- 
gated and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs. Having told you of this, you 
will not be surprised that when fifty have been called to assist in repelling our ag- 
gressors, a hundred have volunteered, and, when a hundred have been called, the 
number has been more than doubled; the only feeling is 'don't let us be over- 
looked or forgotten.' And here let me inform you thit I have seen thousands 
of hands raised simultaneously, voting to burn our property rather than let it fall 
into the hands of our enemies. They have been so frequently robbed and de- 
spoiled without redress, that they have solemnly decreed that, if they cannot 
enjoy their own property, nobody else shall. You will see by this that it would 
be literally madness for your small force to attempt to come into the settlements. 
It would only be courting destruction. But, say you, have you counted the cost ? 
have you considered the wealth and power of the United States and the fearful 
odds against you ? Yes; and here let me inform you that, if necessitated, we 
would as soon meet 100,000 as 1,000, and, if driven to the necessity, will burn 
every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of grass and stack of straw and hay, 
and flee to the mountains. You will then obtain a barren, desolate wilderness, 
but will not have conquered the people, and the same principle in regard to other 
property will be carried out. If this people have to burn their property to save 
it from the hands of legalized mobs, they will see to it that their enemies shall 
be without fuel; they will haunt them by day and by night. Such is, in part, 
our plan. The three hundred thousand dollars' worth of our property destroyed 
already in Green River County is only a faint sample of what will be done 
throughout the Territory. We have been twice driven, by tamely submitting to 
the authority of corrupt officials, and left our houses and homes for others to in- 
habit, but are now determined that, if we are again robbed of our possessions, our 
enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to be houseless at least for once, and be 
permitted, as they have sought to do to us, ' to dig their own dark graves, creep 
into them, and die.' 

"You see we are not backward in showing our hands. Is it not strange to 
what lengths the human family may be goaded by a continued series of oppnes- 
sions? The "administration may yet find leisure to pause over the consequences 
of their acts, and it may yet become a question for them to solve whether they 
have blood and treasure enougn to crush out the sacred principles of liberty from 
the bosoms of 100,000 freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to the 
mendacious acts of a perjured, degraded tyrant. You may have learned already 
that it is anything but pleasant for eve 1 a small army to contend with the chilling 
blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large army would fare without re- 
sources you can picture to yourself We have weighed those matters; it is for 
the administration to post their own accounts. It may not be amiss, however, 
here to state that, if they continue to prosecute this inhuman fratricidal war, and 
our Nero would light the fires and, sitting in his chair of state, laugh at burning 
Rome, there is a day of reckoning even for Neros. There are generally two 
sides to a question. As I before said, we wish for peace, but that we are deter- 



j88 history of salt lake city. 

mined on having it if we have to fight for it. We will not have officers 'forced 
upon us who are so degraded as to submit to be sustained by the bayonet's point. 
We cannot be dragooned into servile obedience to any man, 

"These things settled, Captain, and all the like preliminaries of. etiquette are 
easily arranged ; and permit me here to state, that no man will be more courteous 
and civil than Governor Young, and nowhere could you find in your capacity of 
an officer of the United States a more generous and hearty welcome than at the 
hands of his excellency. But when, instead of battling with the enemies of our 
country, you come (though probably reluctantly) to make war upon my family 
and friends, our civilities are naturally cooled, and we instinctively grasp the 
sword; Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres, and cannon may display very good 
workmanship and great artistic skill, but we very much object to having their 
temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire the capabilities, gentle- 
manly deportment, heroism and patriotism of United States officers; but in an 
official capacity of enemies, we would rather see their backs than their faces. 
The guillotine may be a very pretty instrument, and show great artistic skill, but 
I don't like to try my neck in it. 

"Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be very happy to see you if 
circumstances should so transpire as to make it convenient for you to come, and 
to extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am sure you are not our personal 
enemy. I shall be happy to render you any information in my power in regard to 
your contemplated explorations. 

"I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant at the present time, and I 
cannot but realize the awkwardness of your position, and that of your com- 
patriots, and let me here say that anything that lays in my power compatible with 
the conduct of a gentleman you can command. If you have leisure, I should be 
most happy to hear from you. You will, I am sure, excuse me, if I disclaim the 
prefix of reverend to my name ; address John Taylor, Great Salt Lake City. 

"I need not here assure you that personally there can be no feelings of 
enmity between us and your officers. We regard you as the agents of the 
administration in the discharge of a probably unpleasant duty, and very likely 
ignorant of the ultimate designs of the administration. As I left the East this 
summer, you will excuse me when I say I am probably better posted in some of 
these matters than you are, having been one of a delegation from the citizens of 
this Territory to apply for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it is 
not our real enemies that are here instead of you. We do not wish to harm you 
or any of the command to which you belong, and I can assure you that in any 
other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would be received as civilly 
and treated as courteously as in any other portion of our Union. 

"On my departure from the States, the fluctuating tide of popular opinion 
against us seemed to be on the wave. By this time there maybe quite a reaction 
in the public mind. If so, it may probably affect materially the position of the 
administration, and tend to more constitutional, pacific and humane measures. 
In such an event our relative positions would be materially changed, and instead 
of meeting as enemies, we could meet, as all Americans should, friends to -each 
other, and united against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue is devoutly 



HISTOR Y OF SALT LAKE CLl V. j8g 

to be desired, and I can assure you that no one would more appreciate so happy 
a result to our present awkward and unpleasant position, than yours truly, 

JOHN TAYLOR. 
Captain Marcy. 

Headquarters Army of Utah, Black's Fork, 

1 6 miles from Fort Bridger, en route to Salt Lake City, 

November yth. i8^y. 
Official: F. J. PORTER, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 



CHAPTER XX. 



REVIEW OF THE EXPEDITION, KANSAS TROUBLES. GENERAL HARNEY 
RELIEVED OF THE COMMAND. GENERAL PERSIFER F. SMITH APPOINTED 
IN HIS STEAD. HE DIES AND COLONEL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON 

IS APPOINTED. DISASTROUS MARCH OF THE SECOND DRAGOONS TO 

UTAH. SCENE OF THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS. 

At this point must be given a circumstantial review of the history ot the 
Expedition from the issuing of General Scott's circular to the close of the winter 
of 18,7-8, so« bitter in its experience to the ill-fated troops who composed the 
army sent to invade the Rocky Mountain Zion. 

The force consisted of two regiments of infantry — the Fifth and Tenth; 
one regiment of cavalry — the old Second Dragoons ; and two batteries of 
artillery — Reno's and Phelps'. Of the equipments, it may be said there was 
nothing forgotten and nothing grudged, to make the Expedition a splendid and 
thorough success. 

"So well is the nature of this service appreciated," wrote the commander- 
in-chief to General Harney, by the pen of his aid de camp, "and so deeply are 
the honor and interests of the United States involved in its success, that I am 
authorized to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to 
complete the efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to 
it, as far as attainable. Hence, in addition to the liberal orders for its supply here- 
tofore given — and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of suc- 
cess, have been dictated by the chiefs of staff departments here — a large discretion 
will be made over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment 
of spies, guides, interpreters or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent 
you may think desirable." 

And the officers were as eminent as the amplitude of the supplies and effi- 



igo HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

ciency of the equipments. The chief officers were gentlemen of thorough mili- 
tary education. There were names connected with that army, which rank to day 
in the national galaxy of America's great generals. There was General Harney, 
who at that period held the reputation of being the greatest Indfan fighter of all 
the commanding officers of the American army; and for that reason he was 
probably singled out at the onset for this campaign against the Mormons, which 
in a mountainous country must necessarily have partaken much of the guerilla 
warfare, if it came to the action. There was General Persifier F. Smith, a dis- 
tinguished officer; Captain Van Vliet, afterwards a Major-General ; Colonel 
Philip St. George Cooke, also afterwards a Major General, and of before time 
the honored commander of the Mormon Battalion ; Captain Marcy a distin- 
guished officer and father in-law of General McClellen ; Colonel Alexander who 
himself was able to command an expedition ; and greater than all besides Colonel 
Albert Sidney Johnston, the brilliant soldier who afterwards commanded the 
Confederate army ot the battle of Shiloh, and fell as one of the laurelled heroes 
of Southern rebeldom, but in 1857 he was sent as the commander to put down 
Mormon rebeldom. What a strange fatality ! and what a parallel! 

It was the flower of the American army that was sent to Utah, and its his- 
tory is more remarkable from that very fact. When the order was given for the 
march of the troops, no one of that command could have divined that such ter- 
rible disasters were in store as befel them before the close of the year. The 
prospect appeared auspicious at the commencement of the march. Writing from 
Fort Kearney, August loth. Colonel Alexander reported all well. " The men 
are in good health and condition, and have surprised me by the endurance they 
exhibited from the commencement. The march from Fort Leavenworth here 
occupied nineteen days, giving an average of fifteen and a half miles per day." 
Writing from Fort Laramie, September 3d, he congratulates with the following 
passage : * 

''On the 5th the march to Utah will be resumed, and although the accounts 
of the road as regards grass makes it much more difficult than anything we have 
yet experienced, I hope to give as favorable a report upon my arrival at the Salt 
Lake City. 

"I may be excused from expressing the pride I feel in the successful accom- 
plishment by my regiment of so much of its first arduous duty, and I confidently 
express the belief that unless some very unforeseen accident occurs, I will reach 
the Territory of Utah in a condition of perfect efficiency and discipline." 

Meantime a change had come in the disposition of the Expedition, that the 
Mormons might well consider as fated, both to themselves and the troops; for 
had that expedition under General Harney reached the Great Salt Lake Valley 
that year, it certainly must have been after a desperate battle or two with the 
" Nauvoo Legion" under General Wells; then if the word of Brigham Young 
had been kept, as faithfully as the burning of the government trains indicated, 
General Harney, even though a victor, would have found Great Salt Lake City 
in ashes ; and, in his spring campaign, every city in Utah would have shared 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. igi 

the same fate, or that United States army would have been baptized in its own 
blood. 

But no sooner had Colonel Alexander started with his advance troops than 
the Kansas troubles revived. " Bleeding Kansas" had for several years been the 
national sensation, and "Border Ruffianism " was a real terror to the American 
mind, while Mormon rebellion was much of a myth, and at its worst was no sub- 
ject of political terrorism to the nation. The presence of General Harney and 
the Second Dragoons was now needed in Kansas by this new development of 
affairs. His supposed fitness, above other generals to command the Utah Expe- 
dition, made him more abundantly fit now to grapple with Kansas. Captain Van 
Vliet sensed the strange fatality of this new development when he said to Brig- 
ham Young : " I am anxious to get back to Washington as soon as I can. I have 
heard officially that General Harney has been recalled to Kansas, to officiate as 
Governor." 

Thus the General who, from his experience in Indian warfare, was supposed 
to be sufficient to put down the Indians and Mormons combined — that being one 
of the suppositions of this war — never took command of this expedition, and the 
dragoons weie, therefore, absent from the Plains when they were most required. 

General Persifer F. Smith was assigned to the command in the place of 
General Harney, but he fell ill and died at Fort Leavenworth. The infantry and 
artillery, with all the quartermaster and commissary stores, were then on the 
plains, and the command of the expedition, by seniority of rank, devolved upon 
Colonel Alexander, of the Tenth Infantry. The expedition was, therefore, with- 
out any instructions from the Government ; all that its commander, Colonel 
Alexander, knew was its destination. The next link of the strange history is 
found in the following military order : 

'•Washington, August 28th, 1857, 

" Colonel: In anticipation of the orders to be issued placing you in com- 
mand of the Utah expedition, the general-in-chief directs you to repair, without 
delay, to Fort Leavenworth, and apply to Brevet Brigadier General Harney for 
all the orders and instructions he has received as commander of that expedition, 
which you will consider addressed to yourself, and by which you will be governed 
accordingly. You will make your arrangements to set out from Fort Leaven- 
worth at as early a day as practicable. Six companies of the 2d Dragoons will 
be detached by General Harney to escort you and the civil authorities to Utah, 
to remain as part of your command instead of the companies of the ist Cavalry, 
as heretofore ordered. Brevet Major T. J. Porter, assistant adjutant general, will 
be ordered to report to you for duty before you leave Fort Leavenworth. 

"I have the honor to be, colonel, very respectfully, -your most obedient 
servant, 

iRviN McDowell, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 
" Colonel Albert S. Johnston, 

2d Cavalry, Washington, D C. 



1^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 

As the army passed the boundary line of Utah, Governor Young's Proclama- 
tion was forwarded, with his order to arrest the advance of "the forces now in- 
vading Utah Territory." This was the juncture when either General Harney or 
C ) lonel Johnston should have been on the spot, with the entire force, to have 
opened the campaign, but at that very moment Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston 
wasstill at Fort Leavenworth, a thousand miles from the army to which he 
had been appointed, while Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, commanding 2d 
Dragoons, and Colonel C. F. Smith commanding Battalion loth Infantry were 
also far away from the seat of action. Colonel Cooke in command of six com- 
panies 2d Dragoons commenced his march from Fort Leavenworth, on the 17th of 
September, and arrived at Fort Bridger November 19. Of his onset he has thus 
reported : 

"The regiment has been hastily recalled from service in the field and al- 
lowed three or four days only, by my then commanding officer, to prepare for a 
march of eleven hundred miles over an uninhabited and mountain wilderness ; 
in that time the six companies of the regiment who were to compose the expedi- 
tion were re-organized; one hundred and ten transfers necessarily made from and 
to other companies; horses to be condemned and many obtained; the com- 
panies paid, and about fifty desertions occured ; the commanders of four of them 
changed. To these principle duties and obstacles, implying a great mass of writ- 
ing, were to be added every exertion of experience and foresight to provide for a 
line of operation of almost of unexampled length and mostly beyond communi- 
cation. On the evening of the i6th, at the commencement of a rain-storm, an 
inspector general made a hurried inspection by companies, which could not have 
been very satisfactory to him or others — the company commanders, amid the 
confusion of Fort Leavenworth, presenting their new men, raw recruits, whom 
they had yet scarcely found or seen, under the effects usually following the pay- 
table." 

Governor Gumming, also, who should have been at the seat of war to have 
met Governor Young's proclamation with a counter proclamation, giving to Col- 
onel Alexander the power to act as Vx^ posse cotmnitatus, before the winter set in, 
was under the escort of Colonel Cooke, and did not issue his proclamation before 
the 2ist of November. 

Brigham and the Mormons alone were prepared for the issue, notwithstand- 
ing the Government had taken every precaution to prevent the news of the 
projected expedition reaching Utah in advance, by cutting off the postal com" 
munication. (It is so charged by Governor Young.) In six days after the news 
reached the Pioneers of the coming of the army, the Utah militia is ordered out ; 
in twenty-one days the first detachment of the Mormon Life Guards has taken 
the field, under Colonel Burton; in one month and eleven days Lot Smith has 
burnt the supply trains of the Expedition. 

In May, General Scott's circular was issued for the march of the army; in 
the latter part of November Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston and Governor Alfred 
Gumming were at headquarters, Camp Scott, powerless to act, locked out from 
Salt Lake Valley by the commanding general of the year — inexorable winter. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. /pj 

General Sam Houston had said to the Government at the onset: "If you 
make war upon the Mormons you will get awfully whipped !" which, when it 
was told to Brigham Young, he said, " General Sam Houston had it right." 

Hearing nothing from his commander, without instructions and fearing 
everything, Colonel Alexander concentrated his forces at Ham's Fork, until 
some course should be resolved upon by a council of the officers. It was then 
the latter part of September; winter was approaching, the stock of forage was 
rapidly decreasing, and the country was altogether unfitted for winter-quarters. 
Every day's delay was disastrous, and threatened the very existence of the ex- 
pedition, for the mountains were already covered with snow and the daring Mor- 
mon cavalry were constantly harassing the su^Dply trains and running off the 
animals. The troops began to show signs of demorilization ; they were in a 
bleak and barren desert, with an enemy surrounding them that knew every inch 
of the ground, and who, to all appearance, could easily destroy them without shed- 
ding a drop of their own blood. 

On the loth of October the officers of the Expedition held a council of war 
and determined that the army should advance from Ham's Fork, but to change 
the route of travel and make Salt Lake Valley, if they could, via Soda Springs, a 
distance of nearly three hundred miles, and at least a hundred and fifty miles 
farther than the route through Echo Canyon. The order was issued, and next 
day the troops commenced a dreary march. 

"Early in the morning," says Stenhouse, in his "Rocky Mountain Saints," 
"the sky was surcharged with dark, threatening clouds, and as they started the 
snow fell heavily. A few supply-trains were kept together and guarded by the 
infantry, but the travel was slow, vexatious and discouraging. The beasts of 
burden were suffering from want of forage, as, in anticipation of this movement, 
the grass had been burned all along that route. The animals were completely 
exhausted, and, before they were a week on the nt-w route, three miles a day 
was all the distance that could be made. 

"Another council of war was held, but the only topics of discussion were 
the suffering, disaster, and heavy losses of the company. The soldiers were mur- 
muring, and dissatisfaction reigned everywhere. Some gallant officers were desir- 
ous of forcing an issue with the Mormons, cutting their way through the canyons^ 
and taking their chances of what might come. This course might have afforded 
some gratification to individuals, but to the company at large it was impracticable : 
every effort was necessary to save the Expedition from total ruin. " 

In explanation of the unprecedented slow march, it should be stated that 
every movement was really a military manouvre. Colonel R. T. Burton, with a 
force of about 200 Mormon soldiers was. constantly harassing the army, which 
in return resorted to every strategy to deceive the Mormon soldiers in regard to 
their real intent. 

Every day they moved a short distance, but realizing that their movements 
were constantly watched by the Mormon soldiery, Colonel Alexander was in 
doubt as to what course to pursue, as while moving north, every means of annoy- 
ance without actual warfare was employed by this little body of defenders of 

their Utah homes. Finally, as the result of this continued vigilance, on the 
11 



ig4 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



part of the little army of Mormons, Colonel Alexander retraced his steps and 
counter-marched down stream and went into Winter Quarters. 

"In this forlorn condition the new commander was heard from, and the 
troops were instantly inspired with new life. Colonel Johnston comprehended 
the situation and ordered the Expedition to retrace its steps. The snow was six 
inches deep, the grass all covered, the animals starving. The advance had been 
slow, the retreat was simply crawling. On the 3rd of November they reached 
the point of rendezvous, and next day Colonel Johnston joined them with a small 
reinforcement and the remainder of the supply-trains. 

"The morale of the army was restored by the presence of an efficient com.- 
mander with instructions in his pocket, but the difficulties of the Expedition were 
increasing every hour. The supply-trains were strung out about six miles in 
length, the animals worrying along till, thoroughly exhausted, they would fall in 
their tracks and die. 

"All this long line of wagons and beef cattle had to be guarded to prevent 
surprise and the stampede of the animals. The snow was deep on the ground 
and the weather was bitterly cold. Many of the men were fatally rrost-bitten, 
and the catte and mules perished by the score. In Colonel Philip St. George 
Cooke's command fifty-seven head of horses and mules froze to death in one 
night on the Sweetwater, and from there to Fort Bridger, where the Expedition 
finally wintered, the road was literally strewn with dead animals. The camp on 
Black's Fork, thirty miles from Fort Bridger, was named 'The Camp of Death.' 
Five hundred animals perished around the camp on the night of the 6th of 
November. Fifteen oxen were found huddled together in one heap, frozen stiff. 

"In this perilous situation the expeditionary army to Utah made the distance 
to Bridger — thirty-five miles — in fifteen days! Often the advance had arrived at 
camp before the end of the train left. On the i6th of November, the army 
reached their winter-quarters. Camp Scott, two miles from the site of Fort 
Bridger and one hundred and fifteen from Salt Lake City." 

The official report of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke is still more desolate. 
The experience of several days, as noted by the Colonel, will illustrate his report 
of the march of the Second Dragoons from Fort Leavenworth to Camp Scott: 

^^ November 6th, \\Q found the ground once more white and the snow fall- 
ing, but then very moderately; I marched as usual. On a four-mile hill the 
north wind and drifting snow became severe; the air seemed turned to frozen fog ; 
nothing could be seen; we were struggling in a freezing cloud. The lofty wall 
at 'Three Crossings' was a happy relief; but the guide, who had lately passed 
there, was relentless in pronouncing that there was no grass. The idea of find- 
ing and feeding upon grass, in that wintry storm, under the deep snow, was hard 
to entertain ; but as he promised grass and other shelter two miles further, we 
marched on, crossing twice more the rocky stream, half choked with snow and 
ice; finally he led us behind a great granite rock, but all too small for the 
promised shelter. Only a part of the regiment could huddle there in the deep 
snow; whilst, the long night through, the storm continued, and in feaful eddies 
from above, before, behind, drove the falling and drifting snow. Thus exposed 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 



195 



for the hope of grass, the poor animals were driven, with great devotion, by the 
men, once more across the stream and three-quarters of a mile beyond, to the 
base of a granite ridge, but which almost faced the storm ; there the famished 
mules, crying piteously, did not seek to eat, but desperately gathered in a mass, 
and some horses, escaping the guard, went back to the ford, where the lofty pre- 
cipice first gave us so pleasant relief and shelter. 

" Thus morning light had nothing cheering to reveal ; the air still filled with 
driven snow; the animals soon came driven in, and, mingled in confusion with 
men, went crunching the snow in the confined and wretched camp, tramping all 
things in their way. It was not a time to dwell on the fact that from that moun- 
tain desert there was no retreat, nor any shelter near; but a time for action. No 
murmurs, not a complaint was heard, and certainly none saw in their com- 
mander's face a doubt or clouds ; but with cheerful manner he gave orders as 
usual for the march. 

"JVovember 10. The northeast wind continued fiercely, enveloping us in a 
cloud which froze and fell all day. P'ew could have faced that wind. The 
herders left to bring up the rear with extra, bat nearly all broken down mules, 
could not force them from the dead bushes of the little valley ; and they re- 
mained there all day and night, bringing on the next day the fourth part that 
had not frozen. Thirteen mules were marched, and the camp Avas made four 
miles from the top of the pass. A wagon that day cut partly through the ice of 
a branch, and there froze so fast eight mules could not move it empty. Nearly 
all the tent pins were broken in the last camp ; a few of iron were here substi- 
tuted. Nine trooper horses were left freezing and dying on the road that day, 
and a number of soldiers and teamsters had been frost-bitten. It was a desper- 
ately cold night. The thermometers were broken, but, by comparison, must 
have marked twenty-five degrees below zero. A bottle of sherry wine froze in a 
trunk. Having lost about fifty mules in thirty-six hours, the morning of the 
eleventh, on the report of the quartermaster, I felt bound to leave a wagon in the 
bushes, filled with seventy-four extra saddles and bridles, and some sabres. Two 
other wagons at the last moment he was obliged to leave, but empty. The 
Sharp's carbines were then issued to mounted as well as dismounted men. 

"November II. The fast growing company of dismounted men were 
marched together as a separate command by day ; the morning of the 12th, a 
number of them were frost-bitten from not being in motion, although standing 
by fires. 

'^November i^. The sick report had rapidly run up from four or five to 
forty- two; thirty-six soldiers and teamsters having been frosted. 

'^YoKT^KiTiG^^, November ig. I have one hundred and forty-four horses, 
and have lost one hundred and thirty-four. Most of the loss has occurred much 
this side of South Pass, in comparatively moderate weather. It has been of 
starvation ; the earth has a no more lifeless, treeless, grassless desert ; it contains 
scarcely a wolf to glut itself on the hundreds of dead and frozen animals, which 
for thirty miles nearly block the road ; with abandoned and shattered property, 
they mark, perhaps, beyond example in history, the steps of an advancing army 
with the horrors of a disastrous retreat." 



ig6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The winter experience of the troops after their arrival at Camp Scott was 
quite in keeping with the march to Utah as described by Colonel Cooke. Rations 
were short, and many articles of daily necessity were altogether unattainable. 
Whiskey sold at ^12 a gallon; tobacco $3 a pound, and sugar and coffee about 
the same rate. Flour for a time was a luxury at a very high figure ; ''and the 
possession of a good supply with no other protection than the covering of a tent 
was as dangerous to its owner as a well-filled purse is to a pedestrian in a first- 
class city after sunset." The cattle, too, were miserably poor, but their hides 
furnished mocassins for the soldiers. Every day, all through the winter, bands 
of fifteen or twenty men might be seen hitched to wagons, trailing for five or six 
miles to the mountain sides to get loads of fuel for the use of the camp. But the 
greatest privation of all was caused by the lack of salt. Learning of this distress 
of the soldiers, and knowing that with poor meat and no vegetables, the craving 
for salt to season the dish must be almost as intolerable as the burnmg thirst for 
water in the desert, Brigham sent a load of salt to Colonel Johnston, accompanied 
with a letter of gift, which forms one of the Government documents. (See 
appendix.) But Colonel Johnston ordeced the messengers from his camp with 
every expression of contempt for Brigham Young, the great Mormon ''rebel." 
" How mutable are human affairs!" comments Stenhouse, noting this incident. 
"Five years later, that same Colonel Johnston was himself designated a 'rebel,' 
and became one of the most distinguished generals in the Confederate army. 
The Colonel Johnston of Utah became the General Albert Sidney Johnston of 
Shiloh!" 

The salt, however, by indirect means was returned to the camp. Johnston's 
army, after all, did eat Brigham Young's salt; and the soldiers knew it, but the 
highsi)irited commander shared it not. The Indians, however, soon furnished a 
supply for the Colonel and his officers, and hurried through the snow with their 
packs of salt and sold it at $5 per pound, but the increase of the supply reduced 
the price. 

Probably Colonel Johnston thought that Brigham Young was wantonly 
tantalizing the high spirit of himself and officers with a realization of their con- 
dition ; but, if he had read the following entry in Apostle Woodruff's diary, at 
a later date, he would probably have revised that opinion. 

"I spent the evening at President Young's office (at Provo). He said, 'I 
am sorry for the army; and thought of sending word to the brethren in Great 
Salt Lake City to sell vegetables to them. I have also had it in my heart, when 
peace is established, to take all the cattle, horses and mules, which we have taken 
from the army, and return them to the officers.'" 

Here is another similar entry of a later date : 

"Colonel Alexander called yesterday and had a short interview; and it was 
very agreeable. President Young said, ' I was much pleased with him, and am 
satisfied that, if he had the sole command of the army, and I could have had 
three hours' conversation with him, all would have been right, and they could 
have come in last fall as well as now.' " 

With this couple Colonel Alexander's statement in his letter, "I have only 
to repeat my assurance that no harm would have happened to any citizen of 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIl F, 



zp7 



Utah, through the instrumentality of the army of the United States in the per- 
formance of its legitimate duties without molestation. Together, these simple 
notes combine a-volume of historical explanations. The people of Utah regarded 
it as an unhall iwed crusade not a United States army that they were resisting. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE NAUVOO LEGION ORDERED IN FOR THE WINTER, PICKET GUARD 
POSTED, MARCH OF THE LEGION TO GREAT SALT LAKE CITY: RE- 
CEIVED WITH SONGS OF TRIUMPH. A JUBILANT WINTER IN ZION. 
SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT MOVEMENTS FOR THE SPRING CAMPAIGN. 

The army having gone into Winter Quarters at " Old Fort Bridger " and 
''Henry's Fork," the Nauvoo Legion was called in and concentrated at Camp 
Weber, situated at the mouth of Echo Canyon. As soon as the Territorial troops 
had all arrived, provisions were made for a picket-guard, consisting of fifty 
picked men under the command of Captain John R. Winder, to remain at Camp 
Weber during the winter, and the following order was issued : 

" Head Quarters Eastern Expedition, 

Camp Weber, December 4th, 1857. 
" Cap t. John R. Winder. 

"Dear Bro: You are appointed to take charge of the guard detailed to 
remain and watch the movements of the invaders. You will keep ten men at 
the lookout station on the heights of Yellow Creek. Keep a constant watch from 
the highest point during daylight, and a camp guard at night, also a horse guard 
out with the horses which should be kept out on good grass all day, and grained 
with two quarts of feed per day. This advance will occasionally trail out towards 
Fort Bridger, and look at our enemies from the high butte near that place. You 
will relieve this guard once a week. Keep open and travel the trail down to the 
head of Echo, instead of the road. Teamsters or deserters must not be permitted to 
colne to your lookout station. Let them pass with merely knowing who and 
what they are, to your station on the Weber and into the city. F officers or 
others undertake to come in, keep them prisoners until you receive further ad- 
vices from the city. Especially and in no case let any of the would be civil 
officers pass. These are, as far as I know, as follows: A. Cumming (governor), 
Eckels (chief justice), Dotson (marshal), Forney (superintendent of Indian 
affairs), Hockaday (district attorney). At your station on the Weber you will 
also keep a lookout, and guard the road at night, also keep a camp and horse 
guard. Keep the men employed making improvements, when not on other duty. 
Build a good horse corral, and prepare stables. Remove the houses into a fort 



ig8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

line and then picket in the remainder. Keep a trail open down the Weber to 
the citizen's road. Be strict in the issue of rations and feed. Practice economy 
both in your supplies and time and see that there is no waste of either. Dry a 
portion of the beef and use the bones in soup with the hard bread, which, as it 
will not keep equal with the flour, it is desirable to have first used so far as 
practicable. 

''Instruct each mess to save their grease and ashes, and make soap, and 
wash their own clothes. Dig out trouughs to save the soap, and learn to be saving 
in all things. If your lookout party discover any movement of the enemy in this 
direction, let them send two men to your camp on the Weber, and the remainder 
continue to watch their movements, and not all leave their station, unless it 
should prove a large party, but keep you timely advised so that you can meet 
them at the defences in Echo, or if necessary render them assistance. Where 
you can do so at an advantage, take all such parties prisoners, if you can without 
shooting, but if you cannot, you are at liberty to attack them as no such party 
must be permitted to come into the city. Should the party be two strong and 
you aie compelled to retreat, do so after safely cacheing all supplies; in all cases 
giving us prompt information by express, that we may be able to meet them be- 
tween here and the city. Send into the city every week all the information you 
can obtain, and send whether you have any news from the enemy or not, that we 
may know of your welfare, kind of weather, depth of snow, etc. 

"The boys at the lookout station should not make any trail down to the 
road, nor expose themselves to view, but keep concealed as much as possible, 
as it is for that purpose that that position has been chosen. No person without a 
permit must be allowed to pass from this way to the enemy's camp. Be careful 
about this. Be vigilant, active and energetic and observe good order, discipline 
and wisdom in all your works, that good may be the result. Remember that to 
you is entrusted for the time being the duty of standing between Israel and their 
foes, and as you would like to repose in peace and safety while others are on the 
watchtower, so now while in the performance of this duty do you observe the 
same care, vigilance and activity, which you would desire of others when they 
come to take your place. Do not let any inaction on the part of the enemy lull 
you into a false security and cause any neglect on your part. 

''Praying the Lord to bless and preserve you in life, health and strength, 
and wisdom and power to accomplish every duty incumbent upon you and bring 
peace to Israel to the utter confusion and overthrow of her enemies. 
"I remain, your brother in the Gospel of Christ, 

[Signed,] DAN'L H. WELLS, 

Lieut. Genrl. Comdngy 

"P. S. Be careful to prevent fire being kindled in or near the commissary 
storehouse." 

The guard having been selected, the Legion marched to Great Salt Lake 
City and on arriving there was greeted by the enthusiastic citizens with songs of 
victory. The poetess, Eliza R. Snow, saluted with her war song, which the fol- 
lowing lines will illustrate : 



HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CLTY. ig^ 

" Strong in the power of Brigham's God, 

Your name's a terror to our foes ; 
Ye were a barrier strong and broad 

As our high mountains crowned with snows. 
>i< * * 

Then welcome ! sons of light and truth. 
Heroes alike in age and youth." 

In about two weeks Captain Winder reported to Governor Young that a deep 
snow had fallen in the mountains and he was instructed to release all but ten 
men. This guard was continued during the winter. 

There was no need of scouts or spies to keep the city well posted relative to 
the army, for all through that winter, so cheerless to the Expedition, deserters 
and army teamsters were constantly arriving from Bridger, in many instances 
in a starving and destitute condition. They were kindly treated by the Mormon 
guard, provided with food and passed on to Great Salt Lake City. Through this 
channel, Governor Young and General Wells were kept well informed of the 
condition and contemplated movements of the army. 

In December the Utah Legislature met in Great Salt I-ake City, and Gover- 
nor Young delivered his annual message, in which he reviewed the conduct of 
the Administration towards Utah, and at great length expounded the funda- 
mental principles of the American Confederation. It is a remarkable document, 
and will be read a century hence with deep interest, [See Appendix.] 

On the 2oth of December the Legislature unanimously passed resolutions ap- 
proving of Governor Young's course, and each member, signing his name to the 
document, pledged himself to maintain the rights and liberties of the people of 
Utah. 

Notwithstanding that Governor Young and the chief men of the community 
had been indicted for high treason, in the self-constituted court of Chief Justice 
Eckels, held at Camp Scott ; notwithstanding that Governor Cumming had also 
issued his proclamation to nullify that of Governor Young; and notwithstand- 
ing that the prospects were that before the close of the coming year the 
cities of Utah would be in ashes, and the Mormon women and children 
have fled to the "chambers of the mountains," while their husbands, 
fathers, sons and brothers would be doing battle with a re-inforced army; 
yet the winter of 1857-8 is to this day spoken of as the "gayest winter ever 
known in Utah." One of the literati of Salt Lake City, writing to a brother 
scribe in New York City, said : " Peace is enjoyed throughout this Territory by the 
citizens, from north to south, and every heart beats with the love of liberty — relig- 
ious, political and social. During the winter festivities were very prevalent, and 
entertainments of various kinds were enjoyed. Dramatic and literary associations 
were attended to overflowing ; balls and parties were frequent and nm-nerously 
filled, and every amusement suitable for an enlightened and refined people was a 
source of profit to the caterer and pleasure and benefit to the patronizers. Indeed, 
had you seen the manner in which they enjoyed themselves, you would never have 
surmised for one moment that within a few miles of us there was an army— repug- 
nant to every feeling of the people — who were only waiting to kill, corrupt and 
debase an innocent and virtuous community." 



200 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

There is the great sagacity and remarkable common-sense leadership of 
Brigham Young seen in all this jubilee. He was preparing to make his second 
exodus, if necessary, and did not intend to play his Moses to a dispirited Israel. 

Early in the Spring a large number of the soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion 
were again in the field, occupying their old camping grounds, where they con- 
tinued until peace was proclaimed. 

Of the state of affairs on the government side Stenhouse thus summarizes: 

"Notwithstanding the difficulty experienced at that time of traveling across 
the plains in winter, an express occasionally carried to the Government the un- 
welcome news of the disaster that had befallen the expedition and the sufferings 
and privations that ensued. At one time there were grave fears of its ultimate 
success, but brave men and the unlimited resources of the Government were 
destined to overcome every obstacle. Captain Marcy with a company of picked 
men undertook a perilous journey from Fort Bridger to Taos, New Mexico, to 
obtain provisions, cattle and mules, for the relief of the expedition, and after 
most terrible suffering and heavy loss of animals, and many disabled men, he 
reached the point of supply, and was eminently successful. 

" The misfortunes that had befallen the troops aroused the Government to a 
realization of the necessity of rendering every aid, both in men and material, to 
save the expedition and make it successful. Lieut. -Gen. Scott was su Timaned to 
Washington to consult with the Secretary of War, and at one time the project of 
entering Utah from the west was seriously entertained. The intimation that two 
regiments of volunteers would probably be called for in the spring met with a 
ready response from all parts of the Union. It was very evident that the nation 
was thoroughly dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Utah, and wanted to bring 
the Mormons to a settlement. 

"Ready to take advantage of anything which promised wealth, there were 
multitudes of solicitous contractors seeking to supply the army in the West; and 
with a prodigality beyond all precedent, the War Department was perfectly reck- 
less. The Sixth and Seventh regiments of infantry, together with the First 
Cavalry, and two batteries of artillery — about three thousand in all — were ordered 
to Utah, and every arrangement made for speedy and colossal warfare with the 
Prophet. Political writers charged to the administration of Mr. Buchanan an 
utter recklessness of expenditure, intended more for the support of political 
favorites and for the attainment of political purposes in Kansas than for the over- 
throw of the dynasty of Brigham. It was estimated in Washington that forty- 
five hundred wagons would be required to transport munitions of war and pro- 
visions for the troops for a period of from twelve to eighteen months, besides 
fifty thousand oxen, four thousand mules, and an army of teamsters, wagon-mas- 
ters, and employees, at least five thousand strong. It was very evident that the 
Government was playing with a loose hand, and the consideration of cost to the 
national treasury was the last thing thought of. The transportation item for 1858, 
provided for the expenditure of no less than four and a half millions, and that 
contract was accorded to a firm in western Missouri, without public announce- 
ment or competition. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 201 

While all this was occupying the attention of the public, and the Govern- 
ment seemed determined that the war against the Mormons should be carried out 
with vigor, there was another influence at work to bring '^ the Utah rebellion " to 
a peaceful termination. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

BUCHANAN COERCED BY PUBLIC SENTIMENT INTO SENDING A COMMISSION 
OF INVESTIGATION. HE SENDS COLONEL KANE WITH A SPECIAL MIS- 
SION TO THE MORMONS. ARRIVAL OF THE COLONEL IN SALT LAKE 
CITY. HIS FIRST LNTERVIEW WITH THE MORMON LEADERS. INCI- 

DENTS OF HIS SOJOURN. HE GOES TO MEEI" GOVERNOR GUMMING, 

AND IS PLACED UNDER ARREST BY GENERAL JOHNSTON. HIS CHAL- 

LENGE TO I'HAT OFFICER. HE BRINGS IN THE NEW GOVERNOR IN 

TRIUMPH. RETURN OF COLONEL KANE. 

The reaction came. The leading pipers, both of America and England, 
declared that President Buchanan had committed a great and palpable blunder. 
He had sent an army, before a committee of investigation, and had made war 
upon one of our Territories for rejecting (?) a new Governor before that Gov- 
ernor had been sent. Brigham Young had clearly a constitutional advantage 
over the President of the United States — for in those days the rights of the citi- 
zen, and the rights of a State or Territory, had some meaning in the national 
mind. The idea of " Buchanan's blunder " once started, it soon became uni- 
versal in the public mind. The Mormons were not in rebellion, as they them- 
selves stoutly maintained. They were ready to receive the new Governor with 
becoming loyalty, but not willing to have him forced upon them by bayonets. 
There was nothing more to be said in the case, excepting that by the common 
law of nature, a man may hold off the hand at his throat to say in good old 
scriptural language, "Come let us reason together." 

All America, and all Europe, "perceived the error," and a storm of con- 
demnation and ridicule fell upon the devoted head of the President. Peace com- 
missioners alone could help him out of the trouble. 

At this critical juncture Colonel Kane sought the President and offered 
his services as mediator. Buchanan wisely recognized his potency and fitness, 
and without a moment's loss- of time the Colonel set out on his self-imposed 
mission, although in such feeble health that any consideration short of the 
noble impulse that actuated him at the time would have deterred him from 
making the attempt. The undertaking, was as delicate as it was important. Its 



202 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

success alone could make it acceptable, either to the Mormons or to the nation. 

For prudential reasons he registered himself as " Dr. Osborne'" among the 
passengers on board the California steamer, which left New York in the first week 
of January, 1858. On reaching the Pacific coast, he hastened, overland^ to 
Southern California, there overtaking the Mormons who had just broken up their 
colony at San Bernardino, re-gathering to Utah for the common defense. An 
escort was immediately furnished him, and he reached Salt Lake City in the fol- 
lowing February. 

Governor Young called a council of the Presidency and Twelve, at his house, 
on the evening of the day of Colonel Kane's arrival, and at 8 o'clock the " mes- 
senger from Washington" was introduced by Joseph A. Young, as "Dr. 
Osborne." 

The introduction was very formal. The Colonel had a peculiar mission to 
fulfill, and was evidently desirous to maintain the dignity of the Government. 
Moreover, it was more than eleven years since he had met his friends of Winter 
Quarters. They had, with their people, become as a little nation, and the United 
States was making war upon them as an independent power. Notwithstanding 
that his great love for them had prompted him to undertake the long journey 
which he had just accomplished, at first he must have felt the uncertainty of his 
mission, and some misgivings as to the regard in which they would hold his 
mediation. But perhaps no other man in the nation at that critical moment 
would have been received by the Mormon leaders with such perfect confidence. 

The Colonel was very pale, being worn down with travel by day and night. 
An easy chair was placed for him. A profound silence of some moments 
reigned. The council waited to hear the mind of the Government, for the 
coming of Colonel Kane had put a new aspect on affairs, though what it was to 
be remained to be shaped from that night. With great difficulty in speaking he 
addressed the council as follows : 

"Governor Young and Gentlemen: I come as an ambassador from the 
chief executive of our nation, and am prepared and duly authorized to lay before 
you, most fully and definitely, the feelings and views of the citizens of our com- 
mon country, and of the executive towards you, relative to the present position 
of this Territory, and relative to the army of the United States now upon your 
borders. 

"After giving you the most satisfactory evidence in relation to matters con- 
cernmg you, now pending, I shall then call your attention, and wish to enlist 
your sympathies, in behalf of the poor soldiers who are now suffering in the cold 
and snow of the mountains. I shall request you to render them aid and com- 
fort, and to assist them to come here, and to bid them a hearty welcome into 
your hospitable valley. 

"Governor Young, may I be permitted to ask a private interview for a few 
moments with you? Gentlemen, excuse my formality." 

They were gone about thirty minutes, when they returned to the room. 

Colonel Kane then informed the council that Captain Van Vliet had made a 
good report of them at Washington, and had used his inflnence to have the army 
stop east of Bridger. He had done a great deal in their behalf. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 203 

"You all look very well," said the Colonel, "you have built up quite an 
empire here in a short time." 

He spoke upon the prosperity of the people, instancing some of its phases ; 
and then the enquiry came from some one present: " Did Dr. Bernhisel take his 
seat? " No news whatever of the Utah delegate had yet reached them. 

"Yes," he answered, "Delegate Bernhisel took his seat. He was opposed 
by the Arkansas member and a few others, but they were treated as fools by more 
sagacious members ; for, if the delegate had been refused his seat it would have 
been tantamount to a delaration of war." 

Speaking of the conduct of the Mormons, he said : 

"You have borne your part manfully in this contest. I was pleased to see 
how patiently your people took it." 

" How was the President's message received?" asked Governor Young. 

" The message was received as usual. In his appointments he had been 
cruelly impartial. So far he has made an excellent President. He has an able 
cabinet. They are more united, and work together better than some of our 
former cabinets have done." 

"I suppose," observed Governor Young, caustically, "they are united in 
putting down Utah?" 

"I think not," replied the Colonel. 

Then came conversations on the affairs of the nation — of Spain, Kansas, the 
Black Warrior affair, financial pressure, etc. 

By this time all restraint between the brethren and their noble friend was 
gone. 

"I wish you knew how much I feel at home," he observed. "I hope I 
shall have the privilege of ' breaking bread with these, my friends.' " 

" I want to take good care of you," returned Governor Young warmly. " I 
want to tell you one thing, and that is, the men you see here do not look old. 
The reason is, they are doing right, and are in the service of God. If men would 
do right they would live to a great age. There are but few in the world who 
have the amount of labor to do which I have. I have to meet men every hour 
in the day. It is said of me that I do more business in an hour than any Presi- 
dent, King or Emperor has to perform in a day ; and that I think for the people 
constantly. You can endure more now than you could ten years ago. If you 
had done as some men have done you would have been in your grave before 
now.'' 

The Colonel replied, "I fear that I can endure more than I could ten years 
ago. The present life doesn't pay, and I feel like going away as soon as it is the 
will of God to take me." 

"I know, to take this life as it is, and as men make it," answered President 
Young, "it does not appear worth living, but I can tell you that, when you see 
things as they are, you will find life is worth preserving, and blessings will follow 
our living in this life, if we do right." 

" Now," continued the President, warming with his subject, "if God should 
say, I will let you live in this world without any pain or sorrow, we might feel 
life was worth living for. But this is not in his economy. We have to partake 



204 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

of sorrow, affliction and death; and if we pass through this affliction patiently, 
and do right, we shall have a greater reward in the world to come. I have been 
robbed several times of my all in this life, and my property has gone into the 
hands of my enemies; but as to property, I care no more about it than about the 
dirt in the streets, only to use it as God wishes. But I think a good deal ol a friend 
— a true friend. An honest man is truly the noblest work of God. It is not 
in the power of the United States to destroy this people, for they are in the hands 
of God, If we do right, He will preserve us- The Lord does many things which 
we would count as small things. For instance, a poor man once came into my 
office ; I felt by the spirit that he needed assistance ; I took five dollars out of 
my pocket and gave to him. I soon after found a five-dollar gold piece in my 
pocket, which I did not put there. Soon I found another. Many think that the 
Lora has nothing to do with gold ; but he has charge of that as well as every 
other element. Brother Kimball said in Nauvoo, 'if we have to leave our houses 
we will go to the mountains, and in a few years we will have a better city than we 
have here.' This is fulfilled. He also said, ' We shall have gold, and coin twenty- 
dollar gold pieces.' We came here, founded a city, and coined the first twenty- 
dollar gold pieces in the United States. Seeing the brethren poorly clad, soon 
after we came here, he said, ' It will not be three years before we can buy cloth- 
ing cheaper in Salt Lake Valley than in the States.' Before the time was out, the 
gold-diggers brought loads of clothing, and sold them in our city at a wanton 
price. 

"Friend Thomas," concluded Governor Young, "the Lord sent you here, 
and he will not let you die — no, you cannot die till your work is done. I want 
to have your name live to all eternity. You have done a great work, and you 
will do a greater work still." 

The council then broke up, and the brethren went to their homes. 

The straightforward, noble simplicity of what was thus done and said between 
Thomas L. Kane and Brigham Young, in the presence of the aposdes, cannot but 
strike the attention of the intelligent investigator. 

After the council had ended, word was sent to Elder Wm. C. Staines that a 
Dr. Oaborne, traveling with the company from California, was sick, and desired 
accommodation at his house; and late in the evening "Dr. Osborne" was duly 
introduced to, and cordially welcomed by, Elder Staines. The elder had no idea 
that his guest was other than the person represented, for when Colonel Kane was 
at Winter Quarters, he (Staines) was among the Indians, with Bishop Miller's camp. 

However, in a lew days Elder Staines learned who his guest was, and, as a 
favorable opportunity presented itself, said to him : 

"Colonel Kane, why did you wish to be introduced to me as Dr. Osborne?" 

"My dear friend," replied the Colonel, "I was once treated so kindly at 
winter quarters that I am sensitive over its memories. I knew you to be a good 
people then ; but since, I have heard so many hard things about you, that I 
thought I would like to convince myself whether or not the people possessed the 
same humane and hospitable spirit which 1 found in them once. I thought, if I 
go to the house of any of my great friends of Winter Quarters, they will treat me 
as Thomas L. Kane, with a remembrance of some services which I may have 



HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI7 K 205- 

rendered them. So I requested to be sent to some stranger's house, as ' Dr. 
Osborne,' that I might know how the Mormon people would treat a stranger at 
such a moment as this^ without knowing whether I might not turn out to be 
either an enemy or a spy. And now, Mr. Staines, I want to know if you could 
have treated Thomas L. Kane better than you have treated Dr. Osborne." 

''No, Colonel," replied Elder Staines, " I could not." 

"And thus, my friend." added 'Dr. Osborne,' "I have proved that the 
Mormons will treat the stranger in Salt Lake City, as they once did Thomas L. 
Kane at Winter Quarters." 

In a few days, under the inspiring spirit and affectionate nursing of his host, 
Colonel Kane was sufficiently recovered to carry out his design of proceeding to 
the head quarters of the army (Fort Bridger, then called Camp Scott). 

Governor Young's policy had changed it nought, excepting in that which 
was consistent with the improved situation. The Mormons would receive their 
new Governor loyally, but would not have him accompanied by an army into 
their capital; neither would they allow an army to be quartered in any of their 
cities. The agent of the administration could ask no more nor desire more. It 
was the basis of a fair compromise, which would give to President Buchanan a 
plausible out-come, and at the same time maintain the Mormon dignity. 

The visit of Colonel Kane to Camp Scott was attended with a chain of cir- 
cumstances that give to the narration of it a decidedly dramatic cast. At the 
worst season of the year, in delicate health, he made his way through the almost 
impassable snows of the mountains, a distance of 113 miles. Arrived on the 
loth of March, in the vicinity of the army outposts, he insisted, out of consid- 
ation for the safety of his friendly escort, on entering the lines unaccompanied. 
Reaching the nearest picket post, the over-zealous sentry challenged him, and at 
the same time fired at him. In return, the Colonel broke the stock of his rifle 
over the sentry's head. The post being now full arroused and greatly excited, 
Colonel Kane, with characteristic politeness as well as diplomacy, requested to 
be conducted to the tent of Governor Gumming. The Governor received him 
cordially. 

The Colonel's diplomacy in seeking the Governor, instead of General John- 
ston, is evident. His business was not directly with the commander, but with 
the civil chief, whose posse commitatus the troops were. The compromise which 
Buchanan had to effect, with the utmost delicacy, could only be through the new 
Governor, and that, too, by his heading off the army sent to occupy Utah. 

The General was chagrined. Here was Buchanan withdrawing from a ser- 
ious blunder as gracefully as possible; but where was Albert Sidney Johnston to 
achieve either glory or honor out of the Utah war? 

Affecting to treat Colonel Kane as a spy, an orderly was sent to arrest him. 
It was afterwards converted into a blundering execution of the General's invita- 
tion to him to dine at head-quarters. The blunder was no doubt an intentional 
one. Colonel Kane replied by sending a formal challenge to General Johnston. 

Governor Gumming could do nothing less than espouse the cause of the 
•'ambassador," who was there in the execution of a mission entrusted to hmi by 
the President of the United States. The affair of honor also touched himself. 



2o6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

He resented it with great spirit, extended his official protection to his guest, and 
from that moment there was an impassable breach between the executive and the 
military chief. The duel, however, was prevented by the interferance of Chief 
Justice Eckels, who threatened to arrest all concerned in it if it proceeded 
further. 

The conduct of General Johnston was looked upon by the Mormon leader 
as very like a bit of providential diplomacy interposed in behalf of his people. 
With the Governor and the commander of the army at swords' points, the issues 
of the "war" were practically in the hands of Brigham Young. From that 
moment he knew that he was master of the situation ; and the extraordinary 
moves that he made thereupon, culminating with the second exodus, shows what 
a consummate strategist he was, and how complex were his methods of mastering 
men. He was now not only in command of his own people, who at the lifting of 
his finger would move with him to the ends of the earth, but substantially dic- 
tator both to the Governor and the army. Johnston could only move at the call 
of the Governor, and was hedged about by the new policy of the President, 
while this shaping of affairs converted the Mormon militia, then under arms, 
into the Q,qv^xx\ox'% posse coinmitaius, instead of the regular troops. 

The mission of Colonel Kane to the seat of war was to induce the Governor 
to trust himself through the Mormon lines, under a Mormon escort of honor that 
would be furnished at a proper point, and to enter immediately upon his guberna- 
torial duties. The officers remonstrated with the Governor against going to the city 
without the army, predicting that the Mormons would poison him, or put him out 
of the way by some other wicked ingenuity ; but the camp was now no longer the 
place for him, and with a high temper and a humane spirit, he trusted himself to 
the guidance of Colonel Kane. 

The Governor left Camp Scott on the 5th of April, en route for Salt Lake 
City, accompanied by Colonel Kane and two servants. As soon as he had passed 
the Federal lines, he was met by an escort of the Mormon militia, and welcomed 
as Governor of the Territory with military honors. 

On the 12 of April they entered Salt Lake City in good health and spirits, 
escorted by the mayor, marshal and aldermen, and many other distinguished 
citizens. 

Arrived at the residende of Elder Staines, Governor Young promptly and 
frankly called npon his successor at the earliest possible moment ; and they were 
introduced to each other by Colonel Kane. 

"Governor Gumming, I am glad to meet you!" observed Brigham, with 
unostentatious dignity, and that quiet heartiness peculiar to him. 

"Governor Young, I am happy to meet you, sir! " responded His Excel- 
lency warmly, at once impressed by the presence and spirit of the remarkable 
man before him. 

" Well, Governor," said Elder Staines, after the interview was ended, " what 
do you think of President Young? Does he appear to you a tyrant, as repre- 
sented? " 

" No, sir. No tyrant ever had a head on his shoulders like Mr. Young. He 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 207 

is naturally a very good man. I doubt whether many of your people sufficiently 
appreciate him as a leader." 

The brethern were apprised of the fact that the officers at Camp Scott had 
warned the Governor that the Mormons would poison him, so it was contrived 
that Elder Staines and Howard Egan should eat at the same table with him and 
partake of the same food. Of course he understood the delicate assurance that 
"death was not in the pot." 

Three days after his entrance into the city, Governor Gumming officially 
notified General Johnston that he had been properly recognized by the people ; 
that he was in full discharge of his office, and that he did not require the presence 
of troops. 

On his part, ex-Governor Young set the public example, and on the Sunday 
following introduced him to a large assembly as the Governor of Utah. 

Thus successfully ended the mission of Col. Kane, who shortly thereafter re- 
turned to Washington, to report in person to the President. Journeying by the 
overland route, a body-guard of Mormon scouts accompanied him to the Mis- 
souri River. It is no more than simple justice to here testify of him, that a more 
gentle and noble man has rarely been found, and for his disinterested kindness 
toward the Mormon people they will ever hold his name in honorable and affec- 
tionate remembrance. 



CHAPTER XXni. 



REPORT OF GOVERNOR GUMMING TO THE GOVERNMENT. THE GOVERNMENT 
RECORDS FOUND NOT BURNED, AS REPORTED BY DRUMMOND. THE 
MORMON LEADERS JUSTIFIED BY THE FACTS, AND THE PEOPLE LOYAL. 
GRAPHIC AND THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF THE MORMONS IN THEIR 
SECOND EXODUS. THE GOVERNOR BRINGS HIS FAMILY TO SALT LAKE 
CITY. HIS WIFE IS MOVED TO TEARS AT WITNESSING THE HEROIC 

ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE. 

Governor Gumming immediately reported the condition of affairs in Utah, 
and the re-action that it caused in the public mind, both in America and Europe, 
can well be imagined. It was a new revelation, to the age, of Mormon character 
and Mormon sincerity. The peculiar people were never understood till then, 
notwithstanding their previous exodus, for only Missouri and Illinois seemed con- 
cerned in their early history and doings; but now that the United States Gov- 
ernment was a party in the action, all the world became interested in the extra- 
traordinary spectacle of a peculiar, little, unconquerable people, braving the wrath 
of a mighty nation. 

The current events of those days, including the "second exodus," which 



2o8 niSlORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

was begun in anticipation of a breach of faith, on the part of the United States 
authorities, in this instance, as in the previous case of the State authorities at 
Nauvoo, are well recounted in the following report of Governor Gumming, ad- 
dressed to Geneial Gass, then Secretary of State: 

"Executive Office, Salt Lake Gity, U. T., May 2d, 1858. 

"Sir: You are aware that my contemplated journey was postponed in con- 
sequence of the snow upon the mountains, and in the canyons between Fort 
Bridger and this city. In accordance with the determination communicated in 
former notes, I left camp on the 5th, and arrived here on the 12th ult. 

" Some of the incidents of my journey are related in the annexed note, ad- 
dressed by me to General A. S. Johnston, on the 15th ult:" 

"Executive Office, Salt Lake Gity, U. T., April 15th, 1858. 

"Sir: I left camp on the 5rh, en route to this city, in accordance with a 
determination communicated to you on the 3d inst, accompanied by Colonel 
Kane as my guide, and two servants. Arriving in the vicinity of the spring, 
which is on this side of the "Quaking Asp" hill, after night, Indian camp fires 
were discerned on the rocks overhanging the valley. We proceeded to the spring, 
and after disposing of the animals, retired from the trail be\ond the mountain. 
We had reason to congratulate ourselves upon having taken this precaution, as we 
subsequently ascertained that the country lying between your outposts and the 
' Yellow Greek' is infested by hostile renegades and outlaws from various tribes." 

" I was escorted from Bear River Valley to the western end of Echo Ganyon. 
The journey through the canyon being performed, for the most part, after night, 
it was about 11 o'clock p. M., when I arrived at Weber Station. I have been 
everywhere recognized as Governor of Utah; and, so far from having encount- 
ered insults or indignities, I am gratified in being able to state to you that, in pas- 
sing through the settlements, I have been universally greeted vvith such respectful 
attentions as are due to the representative authority of the United States in the 
Territory. 

"Near the Warm Springs, at the line dividing Great Salt Lake and Davis 
counties, I was honored with a formal and respectful reception by many gentle- 
men including the mayor and other municipal officers of the city, and by them 
escorted to lodgings previously provided, the mayor occupying a seat in my car- 
riage. 

" Ex-Governor Brigham Young paid me a call of ceremony as soon as I was 
sufficiently relieved from the fatigue of my mountain journey to receive company. 
In subsequent interviews with the ex-Governor, he has evinced a willingness to 
afford me every facility I may require for the efficient performance of my adminis- 
trative duties. His course in this respect meets, I fancy, with the approval of a 
majority of this community. The Territorial seal, with other public property, 
has been tendered me by William H. Hooper, Esq., late Secretary /r^ tern. 

"i have not yet exmiined the subject critically, but apprehend that the 
records of the United States Gourts, Territorial Library, and other public prop- 
erty, remain unimpaired. 

12 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2og 

" Having entered upon the performance of my official duties in this city, it 
is probable that I will be detained for some days in this part of the Territory. 

" I respectfully call your attention to a matter which demands our serious 
consideration. Many acts of depredation have been recently committed by the 
Indians upon the property of the inhabitants — one in the immediate vicinity of 
this city. Believing that the Indians will endeavor to sell the stolen property at 
or near your camp, I herewith inclose the Brand Book (incomplete) and memor- 
anda (in part) of stock lost by citizens of Utah since February 25th, 1858, which 
may enable you to secure the property and punish the thieves. 

" With feelings of profound regret I have learned that Agent Hart is charged 
with having incited to acts of hostility the Indians in Uinta Valley. I hope that 
Agent Hart will be able to vindicate himself from the charges contained in the 
inclosed letter from William H. Hooper, late Secretary /rt* te?n., yet they demand 
a thorough investigation. 

"I shall probably be compelled to make a requisition upon you for a suffi- 
cient force to chastise the Indians alluded to, since I desire to avoid being 
compelled to call out the militia for that purpose. 

" The gentlemen who are intrusted with this note, Mr. John B. Kimball and 
Mr. Fay Worthen, are engaged in mercantile pursuits here, and are represented 
to be gentlemen of the highest respectability, and have no connection with the 
Church here. Should you deem it advisable or necessary, you will please send 
any communication intended for me by them. I beg leave to commend them to 
your confidence and courtesy. They will probably return to the city in a few 
days. They are well known to Messrs. Gilbert, Perry and Burr, with whom you 
will please communicate. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

A. GUMMING, 
Governor Utah Territory. 
To A. S. Johnston, commanding Army of Utah, Camp Scott, U. T 

''The note omits to state that I met parties of armed men at Lost Creek 
and Yellow Creek, as well as at Echo Canyon. At every point, however, I was 
recognized as the Governor of Utah, and received with a military salute. When 
it was arranged with the Mormon officers in command of my escort that I should 
pass through Echo Canyon at night, I inferred that it was with the object of con- 
cealing the barricades and other defenses. I was, therefore, agreeably surprised 
by an illumination in honor of me. The bonfires kindled by the soldiers from 
the base to the summits of the walls of the canyon, completely illuminated the 
valley, and disclosed the snow-colored mountains which surrounded us. When I 
arrived at the next station, I found the ' Emigrant Road ' over the ' Big Moun- 
tain' still impassable. I was able to make my way, however, down ' Weber Can- 
yon.' Since my arrival, I have been employed in examining the records of the 
Supreme and District Courts, which I am now prepared to report as being per- 
fect and unimpaired. This will doubtless be acceptable information to those 
who have entertained an impression to the contrary. 

" I have also examined the Legislative Records, and other books belonging 
to the Secretary or State, which are in perfect preservation. The property re- 

13 



2IO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

turn, though not made up in proper form, exhibits the public property for which 
W. H. Hooper, late Secretary of State //-^ tern., is responsible. It is, in part, the 
same for which the estate of A. W. Babbitt is liable, that individual having died 
whilst in the office of Secretary of State for Utah. 

" I believe that the books and charts, stationery and other property apper- 
taining to the Surveyor-General's office will, upon examination, be found in the 
proper place, except some instruments, which are supposed to have been disposed of 
by a man temporarily in charge of the office. I examined the property, but can- 
not verify the matter in consequence of not having at my command a schedule 
or property return. 

" The condition of the large and valuable Territorial library has also com- 
manded my attention, and I am pleased in being able to report that Mr. W. C. 
Staines, the librarian, has kept the books and records in the most excellent con- 
dition. I will, at an early day, transmit a catalogue of this library, and a schedule 
of the other public property, with certified copies of the records of the Supreme 
and District Courts, exhibiting the character and amount ot the public business 
last transacted in them. 

" On the 2ist inst. I left Salt Lake City, and visited Tooele and Rush Val- 
leys, in the latter of which lies the military reserve selected by Colonel Steptoe, 
and endeavored to trace the lines upon the ground, from field-notes which are 
in the Surveyor-General's office. An accurate plan of the reserve, as it has been 
measured off, will be found accompanying a communication, which I shall address 
to the Secretary of War, upon the subject. 

"On the morning of the 26th inst., information was communicated to me 
that a number of persons who were desirous of leaving the Territory were unable 
to do so, and considered themselves to be unlawfully restrained of their liberties. 
However desirous of conciliating public opinion, I felt it incumbent upon me to 
adopt the most energetic measures to ascertain the truth or falsehood of this 
statement. Postponing, therefore, a journey of importance which I had in con- 
templation to one of the settlements of Utah County, I caused public notice to 
be given immediately of my readiness to relieve all persons who were, or deemed 
themselves to be, aggrieved, and on the ensuing day, which was Sunday, requested 
a notice to the same effect to be read, in my presence, to the people in the tab- 
ernacle. 

"I have since kept my office open at all hours of the day and night, and have 
registered no less than 56 men, 38 women and 71 children, as desirous of my pro- 
tection and assistance in proceeding to the States. The large majority of these 
people are of English birth, and state that they leave the congregation from a 
desire to improve their circumstances, and realize elsewhere more money for their 
labor. Certain leading men among the Mormons have promised them flour, and 
to assist them in leaving the country. 

" My presence at the meeting in the tabernacle will be remembered by me 
as an occasion of interest. Between three and four thousand persons were assem- 
bled for the purpose of public worship; the hall was crowded to overflowing; but 
the most profound quiet was observed when I appeared. President Brigham 
Young introduced me by name as the Governor of Utah, and I addressed the 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 211 

audience from 'the stand.' 1 informed them that I had come among them to 
vindicate the national sovereignty; that it was my duty to secure the supremacy 
of the constitution and the laws; that I had taken my oath of office to exact an 
unconditional submission on their part to the dictates of the law. I was not in- 
terrupted. In a discourse of about thirty minutes' duration, I touched (as I 
thought best) boldly upon all the leading questions at issue between them and the 
General Government. I remembered that I had to deal with men embittered by 
the remembrance and recital of many real and imaginary wrongs, but did not 
think it wise to withhold from them the entire truth. They listened respectfully 
to all I had to say — approvmgly, even, I fancied — when I explained to them 
what I intended should be the character of my administration. In fact, the 
whole character of the people was calm, betokening no consciousness of having 
done wrong, but rather, as it were, indicating a conviction that they had done 
their duty to their religion and to their country. I have observed that the Mor- 
mons profess to view the constitution as the work of inspired men, and respond 
with readiness to appeals for its support. 

"Thus the meeting might have ended; but, after closing my remarks, I rose 
and stated that I would be glad to hear from any who might be inclined to address 
me upon topics of interest to the community. This invitation brought forth in 
succession several powerful speakers, who evidently exercised great influence over 
the masses of the people. They harangued on the subject of the assassination of 
Joseph Smith, Jun., and his friends, the services rendered by the Mormon Bat- 
talion to an ungrateful country, their sufferings on 'the Plains' during their 
dreary pilgrimage to their mountain home, etc. The congregation became greatly 
excited, and joined the speakers in their intemperate remarks, exhibited more 
frenzy than I had expected to witness among a people who habitually exercise 
great self-control. A speaker now represented the Federal Government as desir- 
ous of needlessly introducing the national troops into the Territory, 'whether a 
necessity existed for their employment to support the authority of the civil offi- 
cers or not; ' and the wildest uproar ensued. I was fully confirmed in the opin- 
ion that this people, with their extraordinary religion and customs, would gladly 
encounter certain death rather than be taxed with a submission to the military 
power, which they considered to involve a loss of honor. 

"In my first address I informed them that they were entitled to a trial by 
their peers; that I had no intention of stationing the army in immediate contact 
with their settlements, and that the military posse would not be resorted to until 
other means of arrest had been tried and failed. I found the greatest difficulty 
in explaining these points, so great was the excitement. Eventually, however, 
the efforts of Brigham Young were successful in calming the tumult and restoring 
order before the adjournment of the meeting. It is proper that I should add 
that more than one speaker has since expressed his regret at having been betrayed 
into intemperance of language in my presence. The President and the Amer- 
ican people will learn with gratification the auspicious issue of our difficulties 
here. I regret the necessity, however, which compels me to mingle with my 
congratulations, the announcement of a fact that will occasion great concern. 

"The people, including the inhabitants of this city, are moving from every 



212 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

settlement in the northern part of the Territory. The roads are everywhere 
filled with wagons loaded with provisions and household furniture, the women 
and children often without shoes or hats, driving their flocks they know not 
where. They seem not only resigned but cheerful. 'It is the will of the Lord,' 
and they rejoice to exchange the comforts of home for the trials of the wilder- 
ness. Their ultimate destination is not, I presume, definitely fixed upon. ' Go- 
ing south,' seems sufficiently definite for the most of them, but many believe 
that their ultimate destination is Sonora. 

''Young, Kimball and most of the influential men have left their com 
modious mansions, without apparent regret, to lengthen the long train of wan- 
derers. The masses everywhere announce to me that the torch will be applied to 
every house indiscriminately throughout the country, so soon as the troops at- 
tempt to cross the mountains. I shall follow these people and try to rally them. 

"Our military force could overwhelm most of these poor people, involving 
men. women and children in a common fate; but there are among the Mormons 
many brave men, accustomed to arms and horses; men who could fight desper- 
ately as guerrillas; and if the settlements are destroyed, will subject the country 
to an expensive and protracted war, without any compensating results. They 
will, I am sure, submit to 'trial by their peers,' but they will not brook the idea 
of trials by 'juries' composed of 'teamsters and followers of the camp,' nor of 
an army encamped in their cities or dense settlements. 

" I have adopted means to recall the few Mormons remaining in arms, who 
have not yet, it is said, complied with my request to withdraw from the canyons 
and eastern frontiers. I have also taken measures to protect the buildings which 
have been vacated in the northern settlements, I am sanguine that I will save a 
great part of the valuable improvements there. 

" I shall leave this city for the South to-morrow. After I have finished my 
business there, I shall return as soon as possible to the army, to complete the 
arrangements which will enable me before long, I trust, to announce that the road 
between California and Missouri may be traveled with perfect security by trains 
and emigrants of every description. 

"I shall restrain all operations of the military for the present, which will 
probably enable me to receive from the President additional instructions, if he 
deems it necessary to give them. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

A. CUMMING, 

Governor of Utah. 
To Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 

" To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

" I transmit the copy of a dispatch from Governor Gumming to the Secre- 
tary of State, dated at Great Salt Lake City on the 2d of May, and received 
at the Department of State yesterday. From this there is reason to believe that 
our difficulties with the Territory of Utah have terminated, and the reign of the 
Constitution and laws has been restored. I congratulate you on this auspicious 
«vent. 



HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIl V. 213 

"I lost no time in communicating this information and in expressing 
the opinion that there will be no occasion to make any appropriations for the 
purpose of calling into service the two regiments of volunteers authorized by the 
Act of Congress approved on the 7th of April last, ' for the purpose of quelling 
disturbances in the Territory of Utah, for the protection of supply and emigrant 
trains and the suppression of Indian hostilities on the frontier.' 

" I am the more gratified at this satisfactory intelligence from Utah, because 
it will afford some relief to the treasury at a time demanding from us the strictest 
economy ; and when the question which now arises upon every appropriation is, 
whether it be of a character so important and urgent as to brook no delay, and to 
justify and require a loan, and most probably a tax upon the people to raise the 
money necessary for its payment. 

" In regard to the regiment of volunteers authorized by the same act of Con- 
gress to be called into service for the defence of the frontier of Texas against In- 
dian hostilities, I desire to leave this question to Congress, observing, at the same 
time, that in my opinion, this State can be defended for the present by the regu- 
lar troops, which have not yet been withdrawn from its limits. 

JAMES BUCHANAN. 

Washington City, June 10, 1858. 

On the 13th of May, Gov. Cumming started for Camp Scott, for the pur- 
pose of moving his family to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile the "exodus" had been 
quietly going forward, and when the Governor returned he only found a few men 
who had been left in the city to burn it in case the army attempted to quarter 
there. 

The Governor and his wife proceeded to the residence of Elder Staines, 
whom they found in waiting with a plentiful cold lunch. His family had gone 
south, and in his garden were significantly heaped up several loads of straw. 

The Governor's wife inquired their meaning, and the cause of the silence 
that pervaded the city. Elder Staines informed her of their resolve to burn the 
town in case the army attempted to occupy it. 

" How terrible ! " she exclaimed. " What a sight this is ! I never shall 
forget it.! It has the appearance of a city that has been afiflicted with a plague. 
Every house looks like a tomb of the dead ! For two miles I have seen but one 
man in it. Poor creatures ! And so all have left their hard-earned homes? " 

Here she burst into tears. 

" Oh ! Alfred (to her husband), something must be done to bring them 
back ! Do not permit the army to stay in the city. Can't you do something for 
them?" 

"Yes, madam," said he, '^ I shall do all I can, rest assured. I only wish I 
could be in Washington for two hours ; I am persuaded that I could convince 
the Government that we have no need for troops." 



21^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE ARRIVAL OF PEACE COMMISSIONERS. EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL BE- 
TWEEN THEM AND THE MORMON LEADERS. A SINGULAR SCENE IN 
THE COUNCIL. ARRIVAL OF A COURIER WITH DISPATCHES. "STOP 
THAT ARMY! OR WE BREAK UP THE CONFERENCE." "BROTHER DUN- 
BAR, SING ZION! • THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS MARVEL, BUT AT LAST 
FIND A HAPPY ISSUE. RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE MORMON ARMY. 

The honorable course of Van Vliet, in protesting against an exterminating 
war upon a religious people, coupled with the guarantee which Colonel Kane had 
personally given to the Government for the essential loyalty of the Mormons, 
made the sending of peace commissioners imperative. An example of the right 
course once set by the noble Kane, President Buchanan hastened to send Gov- 
ernor L. W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben McCullough, of Texas, to 
negotiate a peace. They arrived in the city in June, 1858. VVilford Woodruff 's 
Journal contains the following minute of their first council with the Mormon 
leaders : 

'* yune nth. The Presidency and many others met with the Peace Com- 
missioners in the Council House. Governor Powell, a Senator-elect from Ken- 
tucky, and Major McCullough, from Texas, were then introduced to the assembly, 
as the Peace Commissioners sent by President Buchanan. Governor Powell 
spoke to the people, and informed us what the President wished at our hands. 
President Buchanan has sent by them a proclamation, accusing us of treason and 
some fifty other crimes, all of which charges are false. Yet he pardons us for 
all these offenses, if w^e will be subject to the constitution and laws of the United 
States, and if we will let his troops quarter in our Territory. He pledged him- 
self that they should not interfere with our people, nor infringe upon any city, 
and said that he had no right to interfere with our religion, faith or practice. 

"The Peace Commissioners confirmed the same. They did not wish to en- 
quire into the past at all, but wished to let it all go and talk about the present 
and the future. 

^'Reflections. President Buchanan had made war upon us, and wished 10 
destroy us because of our religion, thinking that it would be popular, but he 
found that Congress would not sustain him in it. He has got into a bad scrape, 
and wishes to get out of it the best he can. Now he wants peace, because he is 
in the wrong, and has met with a strong resistance from a high-minded people in 
these mountains, which he did not expect to meet. We are willing to give him 
peace upon any terms that are honorable ; but not upon terms ivhich are dishonor- 
able to us. We have our rights and dare maintain them, trusting in God for 
victory. The Lord has heard our prayers, and the President of the United 
States has been obliged to ask for peace." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



215 



The naivete of Apostle Woodruff, in his idea of giving peace to James 
Buchanan, is something amusing, yet is there a severe democratic philosophy in it. 
'' He wants peace because he is in the wrong and has met with a strong resistance 
from a high-minded people," is a passage that any President of the United States 
might profitably lay under his official pillow, whether in his administration towards 
a Utah or a Louisiana. But Brother Woodruff's emphatic view that the Mormons 
could only consent to a peace on honorable terms; with his brave assertion that, 
"we have our rights, and dare maintain them, trusting in God for victory," has 
in it a touch of sublimity. 

That day also witnes.-,ed a striking example of Governor Young's tact and reso- 
lution : 

The Peace Commissicmers had laid their message before the council. Brig- 
ham had spoken, as well as the Peace Commissioners. The aspect of affairs was 
favorable. Presently, however, a well-known character, O. P. Rockwell, was seen 
to enter, approach the ex-Governor and whisper to him. He was from the Mormon 
army. There was at once a sensation, for it was appreciated that he brought some 
unexpected and important news. Brigham arose; his manner self-possessed, but 
severe. 

"Governor Powell, are you aware, sir, that those troops are on the move 
towards the city?" 

"It cannot be ! " exclaimed Powell, surprised, for we were promised by the 
General that they should not move till after this meeting." 

" I have received a dispatch that they are on the march for this city. My 
messenger would not deceive me." 

It was like a thunderclap to the Peace Commissioners : they could offer no 
explanation. 

" Is Brother Dunbar present ?" inquired Brigham. 

"Yes, sir," responded the one called. 

What was coming now ? 

" Brother Dunbar, sing Zion." 

The Scotch songster came forward and sang the following soul-stirring lines, 
by Chas. W. Penrose : 

O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky- 
Arches ever the vales of the free ; 
Where the pure breezes blow, 
And the clear streamlets flow. 
How I've longed to your bosom to flee, 
O Zi on ! dear Zion ! land of the free, 

My own mountain home, now to thee I have come, 
All my fond hopes are centered in thee. 

Though the great and the wise all thy beauties despise. 
To the humble and pure thou art dear ; 
Though the haughty may smile 
And the wicked revile. 
Yet we love thy glad tidings to hear. 
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ; 

Thou wert forced to fly to thy chambers on high. 
Yet we'll share joy or sorrow with thee. 



2i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITy. 

In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet; 
On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread, 
And their silver and gold. 
As their prophets have told. 
Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head. 
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ; 

Soon thy towers shall shine with a splendor divine, 
And eternal thy glory shall be. 

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. 
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ; 

In thy temples we'll bend, all thy rights we'll defend. 
And our home shall be ever with thee. 

The action of Brigham had been very simple in the case, but there was a 
world of meining in it. Interpreted it meant — "Gentlemen, we have heard 
what President Buchanan and yourselves have said about pardoning us for stand- 
ing up for our constitutional rights, and defending our lives and liberties. We 
will consent to a peace on honorable terms ; but you must keep faith with us. 
Stop that army ! or our peace conference is ended. Brethren, sing Zion. Gen- 
tlemen, you have our ultimatum ! " 

With the theme before him, the reader will fully appreciate what the singing 
of "Zion" meant. There have been times when the singing of that hymn by 
the thousands of saints has been almost as potent as that revolutionary hymn of 
France — the Marsellaise. This was such a time. 

After the meeting McCullough and Governor Gumming took a stroll together 
for the purpose of chatting upon the affairs of the morning. 

"What will you do with such a people?" asked the Governor, with a mix- 
ture of admiration and concern. 

"D n them ! I would fight them if I had my way," answered McCul- 
lough. 

" Fight them, would you? You might fight them but you would never whip 
them. They would never know when they were whipped ! Did you notice the 
snap in those men's eyes to-day? No, sir; they would never know when they were 
whipped ! " 

At night the Peace Commissioners and the Mormon leaders were again in 
council, in private session, until ten o'clock. 

Next morning, at nine o'clock, the conference again convened, and the 
doors were thrown open to the public. Elders John Taylor, George A. Smith and 
Adjt.-Gen. James Ferguson gave expression to their views and feelings, and then 
President Young spoke at some length, with a will and a purpose in every word. 
Woodruff, in his journal, says: 

" Then the Peace Commissioners heard the roar of the " lion of the Lord." 

The following brief synopsis of his speech, furnished by one present, will give 
the reader an idea of what the " roar of the lion of the J-ord" was at that criti- 
cal moment, when the issue of peace or war was pending: 



HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIl K 217 

President Young arose. He said : "I have listened very attentively to the 
commissioners, and will say, as far as I am concerned, I thank President Buchanan 
for forgiving me, but I really cannot tell what I have done. I know one thino-, 
and that is, that the people called * Mormons ' are a loyal and a law-abiding 
people, and have ever been. Neither President Buchanan nor any one else can 
contradict the statement. It is true, Lot Smith burned some wagons containing 
Government supplies for the army. This was an overt act, and if it is for this we 
are to be pardoned, I accept the pardon. The burning of a few U. S. wagons is 
but a small item, yet for this, combined with false reports, the whole Mormon 
people are to be destroyed. 

"What has the United States Government permitted mobs to do. to us? 
Gentlemen, you cannot answer that question ! I can, however, and so can thou- 
sands of my brethren. We have been whipped and plundered ; our houses 
burned, our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children butchered and mur- 
dered by the scores. We have been driven from our homes time and time again ; 
but have troops ever been sent to stay or punish those mobs for their crimes ? 
No ! Have we ever received a dollar for the property we have been compelled to 
leave behind? Not a dollar ! Let the Government treat us as we deserve; this 
is all we ask of them. We have always been loyal, and expect to so continue; 
but, hands off! Do not send your armed mobs into our midst. If you do, we 
will fight you, as the Lord lives ! Do not threaten us with what the United States 
can do, for we ask no odds of them or their troops. 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 fevv of the boys here and, with the help of the Lord 
can whip the whole of the United States. These, my brethren, put their trust in 
the God of Israel, and have no fears. We have proven him, and he is our friend. 
Boys, how do you feel? Are you afraid of the United States? (Great 
demonstration among the brethren.) No! No! We are not afraid of man, 
nor of what he can do. 

" 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 it, if needs be, but must not quarter less than forty miles from us. 

" If you bring your troops here to disturb this people, you have got a bigger 
job than you or President Buchanan have any idea of. Before the troops reach 
here, this city will be in ashes, every tree and shrub will be cut to the ground, 
and every blade of grass that will burn shall be burned. 

"Our wives and children will go to the canyons, and take shelter in the 

mountains; while their husbands and sons will fight you; and, as God lives, we 

will hunt you by night and by day, until your armies are wasted away. No mob 

can live in the homes we have built in these mountains. That's the programme, 

gentlemen, whether you like it or not. If you want war you can have it; but, if 

you wish peace, peace it is ; we shall be glad of it." 
14 



2i8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cn\. 

The Commissioners "wished peace;" and the result of their negotiations 
was embodied in the following note to General Johnston : 

"Great Salt Lake City, Utah Ter., 
June 1 2th, 1858. 
" Dear Sir: We have the pleasure of informing you that after a full and 
free conference with the chief men of the Territory, we are informed by them 
that they will yield obedience to the Constitution and laws of the United States ; 
that they will not resist the execution of the laws in the Territory of Utah; that 
they cheerfully consent that the civil officers of the Territory shall enter upon the 
discharge of their respective duties, and that they will make no resistance to the 
army of the United States in its march to the valley of Salt Lake or elsewhere. 
We have their assurance that no resistance shall be made to the officers, civil or 
military, of the United States, in the exercise of their various functions in the 
Territory of Utah. 

" The houses, fields and gardens of the people of this Territory, particularly 
in and about Salt Lake City, are very insecure. The animals of your army would 
cause great destruction of property if the greatest care should not be observed in 
the march and the selection of camps. The people of the Territory are some- 
what uneasy for fear the army, when it shall reach the valley, will not properly 
respect their persons and property. We have assured them that neither their per- 
sons nor property will be injured or molested by the army under your command. 
" We would respectfully suggest, in consequence of the feeling of uneasiness, 
that you issue a proclamation to the people of Utah, stating that the army under 
your command will not trespass upon the rights or property of peaceable citizens 
during their sojourn in or march through the Territory. Such a proclamation 
would greatly allay the existing anxiety and fears of the people, and cause those 
who have abandoned their homes to return to their houses and farms. 

"We have made inquiry about grass, wood, etc., necessary for the subsist- 
ence and convenience of your army. We have conversed with Mr. Ficklin 
[U. S. deputy marshal] fully on this subject, and given him all the information 
we have, which he will impart to you. 

" We respectfully suggest that you march to the valley as soon as it is con- 
venient for you to do so. 

" We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

L. W. POWELL, 
BEN McCULLOUGH, 

Commissioners to Utah. 
''To General A. S.Johnston, commanding Army of Utah, Camp Scott, U. Z." 

To this came the following reply : 

" Headquarters, Department of Utah, 

Camp on Bear River, June 14th, 1858. 
" Gentlemen : Your communication from Salt Lake City was received to- 
day. The accomplishment of the object of your mission entirely in accordance 
with the instructions of the President, and the wisdom and forbearance which you 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 219 

have so ably displayed to the people of the Territory, will, I hope, lead to a more 
just appreciation of their relations to the General Government, and the establish- 
ment of the supremacy of the laws. I learn with surprise that uneasiness is felt 
by the people as to the treatment they may receive from the army. Acting under 
the two-fold obligations of citizens and soldiers, we may be supposed to compre- 
hend the rights of the people, and to be sufficiently mindful of the obligations of 
our oaths, not to disregard the laws which govern us as a military body. A refer- 
ence to them will show with what jealous care the General Government has guarded 
the rights of citizens against any encroachments. The army has duties to per- 
form here in execution of the orders of the Department of War, which, from the 
nature of them, cannot lead to interference with the people in their varied pur- 
suits; and if no obstruction is presented to the discharge of those duties, there 
need not be the slightest apprehension that any person whatever will have any 
cause of complaint. 

"The army will continue its march from this position on Thursday, 17th 
instant, and reach the valley in five days. I desire to encamp beyond the Jordan 
on the day of arrival in the valley. 

With great respect, your obedient servant, 

A. S. JOHNSTON, 
" Colonel Second Cavalry and Brevet Brigadier- General United States Army, 
Commanding. 

" To the Hon L. W. Powell and Major-General McCulloi/gh, United States Com- 
missioners to Utah." 

Although a minute statement of the Mormon military force and the methods 
by which it was turned to good account in the " Utah war," might be of interest 
to many, it will doubtless satisfy the general reader to simply know that only so 
much of that force was used as was necessary to effectively carry out President 
Young's policy, /. e., to harass and retard the advance of the U. S. army until a 
more peaceful solution of the question at issue could be reached. In the execu- 
tion of that policy an effective body of scouts was sent forward, with orders of 
which the following is a sample, which orders were scrupulously obeyed and 
executed with precisely the results desired : 

"On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once to 
annoy them in every possible way. Use every exertion to stampede their animals, 
and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them and on their 
flanks. Keep them from sleeping by night surprises. Blockade the road by fell- 
ing trees, or destroying the fords when you can. Watch for opportunities to set 
fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if possible, to envelop their trains. 
Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men concealed as 
much as possible, and guard against surprise." 

They were also ordered to not " shed blood" if it could possibly be avoided, 
and then only and strictly in self-defence. Although often fired upon by the 
soldiers, in no single instance did they return the fire. 



220 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

REFLECTIONS UPON THE "UTAH WAR." THE REACTION. CURRENT OPIN- 
ION, AS EXPRESSED BY THE LEADING JOURNALS OF EUROPE AND 
AMERICA. 

That the Mormons would have fought; that they would, in the language of 
their leader, have made a "Moscow of Utah, and a Potter's Field of every can- 
yon," had the United States pushed the issue to extermination, there can be little 
doubt, knowing how terribly so large a number as 75,000 or 80,000 earnest re- 
ligionists could have avenged themselves, at that day, in those far-off mountains 
and valleys. 

But the opinion expressed to Van Vliet, relative to the reaction which would 
come in the public mind over Utah affairs, and his fixed resolve, if possible, to 
prevent the shedding of blood, as declared in that conversation, and still more 
emphatically pronounced in all his orders to Lieut. -Gen. Wells, best denote what 
was Brigham's policy and first desire. True, it had been as much as he could do 
to keep his people from fighting the "enemy," notwithstanding the "enemy" 
was the United States. A quarter of a century's injustice had fired them with 
an indignation that made them feel a superhuman strength. But though the 
founder of Utah had resolved to conquer the issue, he had no wish to lose the 
nucleus of a nationality which his people had evolved in their isolation. 

Why then this second exodus? Why! It was the very backbone of Brig- 
ham's triumph. As great a triumph was in that exodus as in any battle the great 
Napoleon ever fought. It was in fact the exodus which forced the "reaction." 
It carried such an overwhelming power that it became like an irresistible impulse 
in the public mind. Not only was this so with the American people, but it was 
so with every nation in Europe. Deep sympathy, blended with a mighty admir- 
ation, was felt for a people who could at once dare a war with the United States, 
in defence of their religious cause, and rise to such a towering heroism as to sanc- 
tify their act by a universal offering of their homes for sacrifice. This was no 
common rebellion. These were no unworthy rebels. No rude defiers of "the 
powers that be " were they : their act placed them on a level with the men who 
won the independence of America: their women were fitting mates of the 
mothers, daughters and sisters of the revolution. 

The Londoti Times called the Mormons a nation of heroes. It said : 

"The intelligence from Utah is confirmatory of the news that came by the 
last steamer. This strange people are again in motion for a new home, and all 
the efforts of Governor Gumming to induce the men to remain and limit them- 
selves to the ordinary quota of wives have been fruitless. We are told that they 
have left a deserted town and deserted fields behind them, and have embarked 
for a voyage, over 500 miles of untracked desert, to a home, the locality of 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 221 

which is unknown to any but their chiefs. Does it not seem incredible that, at 
the very moment when the marine of Great Britain and the United States are 
jointly engaged in the grandest scientific experiments that the world has yet seen, 
30,000 or 40,000 natives of these countries, many of them of industrious and 
temperate habits, should l»e the victims of such arrant imposition? Does it not 
seem impossible that men and women, brought up under British and American 
civilization, can abandon it for the wilderness and Mormonism? There is much 
that is noble in their devotion to their delusions. They step into the waves of 
the great basin with as much reliance on their leaders as the descendants of Jacob 
felt when they stepped between the walls of water in the Red Sea. The ancient 
world had individual Curiatii, Horatii, and other examples of heroism and devo- 
tion ; but these western peasants seem to be a nation of heroes, ready to sacrifice 
everything rather than surrender one of their wives, or a letter from Joe Smith's 
golden plates." 

The following from the New York Times will give a specimen of what the 
American press generally said upon the subject: 

" Whatever our opinions may be of Mormon morals or Mormon manners, 
there can be no question that this voluntary abandonment by 40,000 people of 
homes created by wonderful industry, in the midst of trackless wastes, after years 
of hardships and persecution, is something from which no one who has a particle 
of sympathy with pluck, fortitude and constancy can withhold his admiration. 
Right or wrong, sincerity thus attested is not a thing to be sneered at. True or 
false, a faith to which so many men and women prove their loyalty, by such sac- 
rifices, is a force in the world. After this last demonstration of what fanaticism 
can do, we think it would be most unwise to treat Mormonism as a nuisance to be 
abated by 2^ posse co?mnitaius. It is no longer a social excresence to be cut off 
by the sword; it is a power to be combated only by the most skillful political 
and moral treatment. When people abandon their homes to plunge with women 
and children into a wilderness, to seek new settlements, they know not where, 
they give a higher proof of courage than if they fought for them. When the 
Dutch submerged Holland, to save it from invaders, they had heartier plaudits 
showered upon them than if they had fertilized its soil with their blood. We 
have certainly the satisfaction of knowing that we have to deal with foemen 
worthy of our steel. * * * If the conduct of the recent operations 

has had the effect of strengthening their fanaticism, by the appearance of perse- 
cution, without convincing them of our good faith and good intentions, and 
worse still, has been the means of driving away 50,000 of our fellow-citizens from 
fields which their labor had reclaimed and cultivated, and around which their 
affections were clustered, we have something serious to answer for. Were we not 
guilty of a culpable oversight in confounding their persistent devotion with the 
insubordination of ribald license, and applying to the one the same harsh treat- 
ment which the law intends for the latter alone? Was it right to send troops 
composed of the wildest and most rebellious men of the community, commanded 
by men like Harney and Johnston, to deal out fire and sword upon people whose 
faults even were the result of honest religious convictions? Was it right to allow 



222 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Johnston to address letters to Brigham Young, and through him to his people, 
couched in the tone of an implacable conqueror towards ruthless savages? Were 
the errors which mistaken zeal generates ever cured by such means as these? And 
have bayonets ever been used against the poorest and weakest sect that ever 
crouched beyond a wall to pray or weep, without rendering their faith more in- 
tense, and investing the paltriest discomforts with the dignity of sacrifice? 
* * * We stand on the vantage ground of higher knowledge, 
purer faith and acknowledged strength. We can afford to be merciful. At all 
events, the world looks to us now for an example of political wisdom such as few 
people, now-a-days, are called on to display. Posterity must not have to ac- 
knowledge with shame that our indiscretion, or ignorance, or intolerance drove 
the population of a whole State from house and home, to seek religious liberty 
and immunity from the presence of mercenary troops, in any part of the conti- 
nent to which our rule was never likely to extend." 

Reynolds' Newspaper, in an editorial written specially to represent the British 
Republicans, views of the Mormon community in their great struggle for their re- 
ligious and social liberties, gave the following strong passages: 

" It may be that Mormonism has originated in imposture, and that many, if 
not all, of its peculiar rites and customs are the ' abomination of desolation.' 
Let this point, though not yet proved, be conceded; still, the social and political 
problem is by no means solved. After we have demonstrated the fabulousness of 
the gold tablets, convicted Joseph Smith of all sorts of possible and impossible 
scoundrelisms, and proved his followers to be a mixed multitude of the gravest 
knaves and idiots that ever walked the earth, Mormonism still remains a great 
human fact — perhaps the greatest — certainly the most wonderful fact of this 
nineteenth century. As such, it is entitled to our earnest and respectful consid- 
eration. 

"There can be no doubt that, in one thing at least, Mormonism has been 
eminently successful. It has, in the great majority of instances, really improved 
the earthly condition of those who have embraced it. More than this, it has 
inspired with hope and with courage thousands of despairing and heart broken 
wretches, who, prior to their conversion, seemed abandoned of God and man. 
This new faith has, so to speak, created a soul under the ribs of death. It has 
given to thousands of once destitute and despised Englishmen something to live 
for, to fight for, and, if need be, to die for. On thi§ ground, then, were it for 
nothing else, the Mormons, not as fanatics or sectaries, but as heavily- oppressed, 
long-suffering, and earnestly struggling men, are entitled to the sympathy of the 
enslaved classes throughout the world. 

"But they have a claim to something more than sympathy. Their heroic 
endurance and marvellous achievements entitle them to the respect and admira- 
tion of their fellow-creatures. Twice were the Mormons driven from their settle- 
ments in the United States before they had resolved upon their stupendous 
pilgrimage to the Valley of the Salt Lake. How that gigantic journey was ac- 
complished ; how a thousand miles of untrodden desert — untrodden, save by the 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 223 

wild beast or wilder Indian, where death in a hundred forms had to be encoun- 
tered and defied — had to be traversed; how the poor, hungered, and toil-worn, 
but still dauntless pilgrims reached their destination ; how they built a city, 
founded a civil and ecclesiastical polity; how law and order were established; 
how skill and industry converted barren wastes into fruitful fields, howling forests 
into smiling gardens, until, under the talismanic wand of Labor, the wilderness 
was made to blossom as the rose , how their missionaries were employed with 
startling success in every European country; and how many thousands of the 
down-trodden and penury-stricken victims of European tyranny were leaving the 
land of their birth, in order to find in the Mormon territory, that hope and en- 
couragement denied to them in their native countries; — how all this has been 
accomplished by the reviled followers of Joseph Smith, all Europe and America 
have heard, and, though hating, admired." 

The famous African explorer. Captain Burton, of the British army, closing 
his description of the great man who took his people successfully through that 
crisis, gives us the following suggestive passage in his "City of the Saints: " 

'' Such is His Excellency, President Brigham Young, 'Painter and Glazier' 
(his earliest craft), prophet, revelator, translator and seer; the man who is revered 
as king or kaiser, pope or pontiff, never was; who, like the old man of the moun- 
tain, by holding up his right hand could cause the death of any man within his 
reach; who, governing as well as reigning, long stood up to fight with the sword 
of the Lord, and with his few hundred guerrillas, against the then mighty power 
of the United States; who has outwitted all diplomacy opposed to him; and, 
finally, who made a treaty of peace with the President of the great Republic, as 
though he had wielded the combined power of France, Russia and England." 

Substantially, the word of Brigham Young was fulfilled, in that he had said 
an invading army should not enter the city. 

General Johnston and his army came not as conquerers into Zion. The 
entire chain of circumstances, from the start of their expedition, had been most 
humiliating to the brave men who deserved better service. Their march had 
been but a series of disasters and failures. 

They were merely permitted to pass through the streets of Salt Lake City on 
their way to a location in the Territory well removed from the Mormon people. 
Zion was a forsaken city that day. The Saints were still south with their great 
leader. If faith was not kept with them they did not intend to return, and war 
would have been re-opened in deadly earnest. 

It was a sad spectacle to see a community of earnest religionists who could 
not trust in the parent power, even after the proclamation of the President. But 
the history of the Mormons in their minds to this hour shows a constant justifica- 
tion of this lack of confidence. 

On the 13th of June, the army commenced its movement towards the city 5 
and, on the morning of the 26th, it might have been seen advancing from the 
mouth of Emigration Canyon to make what once was expected to have been a 
triumphal entrance into conquered Zion, with all " the pomp and circumstance 



224 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

of glorious war." Here is a picture of it as it was, from the pen of an aimy 
correspondent : 

" It was one of the most extraordinary scenes that have occurred in Ameri 
can history. All day long, from dawn until after sunset, the troops and trains 
poured through the city, the utter silence of the streets being broken only by the 
music of the military bands, the monotonous tramp of the regiments, and the 
rattle of the baggage wagons. Early in the morning, the Mormon guards had 
forced all their fellow religionists into the houses, and ordered them not to make 
their appearance during the day. The numerous flags that had been flying from 
staffs on the public buildings during the previous week were all struck. The only 
visible groups of spectators were on the corners near Brigham Young's residence, 
and consisted almost entirely of Gentile civilians. The stillness was so profound 
that during the intervals between the passage of the columns, the monotonous 
gurgle of the City Creek struck on every ear. The Commissioners rode with the 
General's staff. The troops crossed the Jordan and encamped two miles from the 
city, on a dusty meadow by the river bank." 

But the army correspondent did not properly construe the death-like stillness 
and desertion of the city, when he says the Mormon guard had " forced all their 
fellow religionists into their houses." They were not in their houses, but in the 
second exodus. It is estimated that there were no less than 30,000 of the Mormon 
people from the city and northern settlements in " the move south." They took 
with them their flocks and herds, their chattels and furniture. When that army 
marched through the streets of Zion, grass was growing on the side walks, and 
there were only a few of " the boys " left on the watch in the city, to see that the 
people were not betrayed. Some of the officers were deeply moved by the scene 
and the circumstances. Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, who had 
commanded the Mormon battalion in the Mexican war, rode through the city 
with uncovered head, leading the troops, but forgetting not his respect fur the 
brave Mormon soldiers who had so nobly served with him in their country's 
cause. 

Cedar Valley, forty miles west of the city, was chosen as their permanent 
camping place, which was named Camp Floyd, in honor of the then Secretary 
of War. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 225 



CHAPTER XXV. 

GOVKRXOR CUMMING PLEADS WITH THE SAINTS. THEY RETURN TO THEIR 
HOMES. THE JUDGES. CRADLEBAUGH'S COURT. HE CALLS FOR TROOPS. 
PROVO CITY INVADED BY THE ARMY. CONSPIRACY TO ARREST BRIG- 
HAM YOUNG. GOVERNOR CUMMING ORDERS OUT THE UTAH MILITIA 
TO REPEL INVASION. TIMELY ARRIVAL OF A DISPATCH FROM GOVERN- 
MENT STAYS THE CONFLICT. ATTORNEY-GENERAL BLACKS REBUKE TO 
THE JUDGES. GENERAL JOHNSTON'S FRIENDS DEMAND THE REMOVAL 
OF GOVERNOR CUMMING. THE SITUATION RECOVERED BY THE PATRI- 
OTISM OF THOMAS L. KANE, DIVISION IN THE CABINET. PARALLEL 
• OF THE BLAINE REMINISCENCE OF JERE S. BLACK. 

Return we now to the Saints in their flight. It had taxed their faith and 
their means to an absolute consecration of their all, and called forth as much re- 
ligious heroism as did their first exodus from Nauvoo. Gallant old Governor 
Gumming was almost distracted over this Mormon episode. He was not used to 
the self-sacrifices and devotion of the peculiar people whom he had taken under 
his official guardianship. They were more familiar than he with this part of their 
eventful drama. Familiarity had bred in them a kind of contempt for their own 
sufferings and privations. So they witnessed their new Governor's concern for 
them with a stoical humor. They were, indeed, grateful, but amused. They 
could not feel to deserve his pity, yet were they thankful for his sympathy. They 
sang psalms by the wayside. He felt like strewing their path with tears. He 
followed them fifty miles south, praying them, as would a father his wayward 
children, to turn back. But the father whom they knew better was leading 
them on. 

"There is no longer danger. General Johnston and the army will keep faith 
with the Mormons. Every one concerned in this happy settlement will hold sacred 

the amnesty and pardon of the President of the United States! By G d, 

sirs, Yes." 

Such was the style of Governor Cumming's pleadings with the " misguided " 
Mormons. But Brigham replied with a quiet fixedness of purpose : 

" We know all about it, Governor. We remember the martyrdoms of the 
past ! We have, on just such occasions, seen our disarmed men hewn down in 
cold blood, our virgin daughters violated, our wives ravished to death before our 
eyes. We know all about it, Governor Gumming." 

It was a terrible logic that thus met the brave meditation of the fine old 

Georgian successor of Governor Young, who coupled patriotism with humanity, 

and believed in the primitive faith that American citizens and American homes 

must be held sacred. 
1 



226 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Brigham Young alone could turn the tidal wave, and lead back the Mormon 
people to their homes. Had he continued onward to Sonora, Central America, 
anywhere — to the ends of the earth — this people would have followed him. 

The Mormon leaders, with the body of the Church, were ac Provo on the 
evening of the 4th of July ; General Johnston and his army being about to take 
up their quarters at Camp Floyd. It was on that evening that Governor Gum- 
ming informed his predecessor that he should publish a proclamation to the Mor- 
mons for their return to their homes. 

''Do as you please, Governor Gumming," replied Brigham, with a quiet 
smile. "To-morrow I shall get upon the tongue of my wagon, and tell the 
people that /am going home, and they can do as they please." 

On the morning of the 5th, Brigham announced to the people that he was 
going to start for Salt Lake City; they were at liberty to follow him to their 
various settlements, as they pleased. In a few hours nearly all were on their 
homeward march. 

But scarcely had the people returned to their homes, ere they had abundant 
proof how much they could have trusted a united Federal power, in an anti-Mor- 
mon crusade, with an army at its service to subvert the civil and religious liberties 
of the people. 

The machinery of the Federal power was soon set in motion. Chief Justice 
Eckles took up his quarters at Camp Floyd; Associate Justice Sinclair was as- 
signed to the district embracing Salt Lake City; and Associate Justice Cradle- 
baugh was assigned to the judicial supervision of all the southern settlements ; 
and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Jacob Forney, and Alexander Wilson, U. S. 
District Attorney, entered upon the discharge of their duties. 

The Governor from the beginning assumed a pacific attitude, in which he 
was seconded by Superintendent Forney and District- Attorney Wilson. But the 
three Judges, in concert with the Marshal, united in the prosecution of past 
offences that had naturally arisen out of the condition of the hostility, just 
brought to a happy and peaceful issue. 

Judge Sinclair convened the First, now the Third Judicial District Court in 
Great Salt Lake City in November, 1858, and in his charge to the Grand Jury he 
urged the prosecution of the leading men of the Territory for treason, for intimi- 
dation of the courts, and for polygamy. President Buchanan's pardon, the 
Judge admitted, was "a public fact in the history of the country," but "like 
any other deed, it ought to be brought judicially by plea, motion or otherwise." 
In fine. Judge Sinclair wanted to bring before his court ex-Governor Young, 
Lieut.-General Daniel H. Wells, and the leading Mormons generally, especially 
the Apostles, "to make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and 
make them humbly accept from him the President's clemency." So explains Mr. 
Stenhouse. But it was something more radical and serious than a vainglorious 
effort to humble Utah to the footstool of a Federal Judge. It was an attempt to 
reopen in the courts the entire conflict which had so nearly come to the issue of 
war. U. S. District Attorney Wilson, however, would not present to the jury 
bills of indictment for treason, pleading that the Commissioners had presented 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 227 

the pardon, and the people had accepted it, and the Governor had proclaimed 
that peace was restored to the Territory. 

"But the young Judge," relates Mr. Stenhouse, "was more successful in his 
efforts to bring forward the charge of intimidating the courts. It could not be 
expected that the charge to the jury on polygamy would secure much attention. 
It was regarded little better than a grand farce to ask a Mormon jury to find 
indictments against their brethren for polygamy. The terra of Judge Sinclair's 
judicial service was a failure, only memorable for one thing — he sentenced the 
first white man who was ever hanged in Utah, and he was a Gentile, to be 
executed 07i a Sunday! Of course, the day had to be changed." 

But the most extraordinary judicial action, and that which continues the 
historical thread of those times, \vas in the important district assigned to Judge 
Cradlebaugh. The criminal cases which he sought to investigate were those com- 
monly known as the Potter and Parrish murders at Springville, and the Mountain 
Meadows Massacre in Southern Utah. On the 8th of March, 1859, at Provo, 
Judge Cradlebaugh delivered an extraordinary address to the Grand Jury, and 
commenced extraordinary proceedings, which in their sequel nearly made Salt 
Lake City the seat of actual war between Johnston's troops and the Utah militia 
under Governor Gumming, and which was barely prevented by the timely inter- 
ference of the General Government. The history of Salt Lake City, however, 
cannot follow in detail the entire history of Utah, only so far as its subject and 
action find therein its proper centre of unity. Suffice here to mark that Judge 
Cradlebaugh in his investigations and prosecutions aimed chiefly to implicate the 
leaders of the Mormon Church in all the criminal offenses and deeds of violence 
done within the Territory. In summing up the evidence in the case of the 
murders at Springville, the Judge concluded with the following address: 

"Until I commenced the examination of the testimony in this case, I always 
supposed that I lived in a land of civil and religious liberty, in which we were 
secured by the Constitution of our country the right to remove at pleasure from 
one portion of our domain to another, and also that we enjoyed the privilege of 
worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. But I re- 
gret to say, that the evidence in this case clearly proves that, so far as Utah 
is concerned, I have been mistaken in such supposition. Men are murdered here : 
coolly, deliberately, premediatatedly murdered — their murder is deliberated and 
determined upon by the church council-meetings, and that, too, for no other 
reason than that they had apostatized from your church, and were striving to 
leave the Territory. 

"You are the tools, the dupes, the instruments of a tyrannical church des- 
potism. The heads of your church order and direct you. You are taught to 
obey their orders and commit these horrid murders. Deprived of your liberty 
you have lost your manhood, and become the willing instruments of bad men. 

" I say to you it will be my earnest effort, while with you, to knock off your 
ecclesiastical shackles and set you free." 

It is easily to be seen that with such a grand jury, charged in this manner by 
such a judge, it was impossible to accomplish the ends of justice ;— equally im- 



228 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

possible whether they had been " the willing instruments" of a "tyrannical 
church," or a grand jury of honest, innocent men. 

In the course of one of these prosecutions. Judge Cradlebaugh made a requi- 
sition upon General Johnston for troops to act as protection to certain witnesses, 
and also, in the absence of a jail, to serve as a guard over the prisoners. The 
mayor of Provo (Kimball Bullock) protested that the presence of the military 
was an infringement upon the liberties of his fellow-citizens; but the judge 
answered that he had well considered the request before he had made it. A pe- 
tition was sent to Governor Gumming, and he asked General Johnston to with- 
draw the troops, asserting that the court had no authority to call for the aid of 
the military, except through him. The judges interpreted General Johnston's in- 
structions from the War Department adversely to the statement of the Governor, 
and the troops were continued at Provo. On the 27th of March (1859), the 
Governor issued a proclamation protesting against the continuance of the troops 
at Provo, taking open ground against the action of the military commander. 

About this time was concocted a conspiracy to arrest Brigham Young. It 
was proposed that a writ be issued for his apprehension. The officers entrusted 
with its execution presented themselves at the Governor's office, to request his 
co-operation. But Governor Gumming stoutly resisted the attempted outrage. 
He himself afterwards thus related this conspiracy to arrest his predecessor: 

"They had 'got the dead wood on Brigham Young this time,' so they said, 
as they unfolded to me their plans. If Brigham resisted. General Johnston's 
artillery was to make a breach in the wall surrounding his premises, and they 
would take him by force and carry him to Camp Floyd. 

"I listened to them, sir, as gravely as I could, and examined their papers. 
They rubbed their hands and were jubilant; they 'had got the dead wood on 
Brigham Young ! ' I was indignant, sir, and told them, 'by G — d, gentlemen, 
you can't do it ! When you have a right to take Brigham Young, gentlemen, you 
shall have him without creeping through walls. You shall enter through his door 
with heads erect as become representatives of your government. But till that 
time, gentlemen, you can't touch Brigham Young while I live, by G — d! '" 

"Such was the story," Says Stenhouse, "told by the Governor to the author 
a few years later, and as he related it all the fire of his nature was depicted on his 
countenance and told unmistakably that he would have made good every word 
with his life." 

The officers returned to Camp Floyd discomfited, and immediately the news 
was circulated that General Johnston would send two regiments of troops and a 
battery of artillery to enforce the writ for the apprehension of Brigham. 

The New York Herald of date May 25, 1S59, gave to the country a graphic 
picture of affairs in Utah at that moment : 

OUR SALT LAKE CITY CORRESPONDENCE. 

"Great Salt Lake City, U. T., April 23, 1859. 

" In my last letter I informed you of the threat of Judge Sinclair that he 
would hold court in this city during May, with three-fourths of the army now at 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



22Q 



Carnp Floyd, quartered in Union Square, ready to carry out his orders. The 
apprehension of a collision which that threat inspired measurably died away in 
the bosoms of the people generally, and the youthful judge was beginning to get 
credit for idle braggadocia, and his tongue was regarded as having only divulged 
what was in his heart to do, if he only could get the chance; but, alas! the day 
after the departure of the last mail from here, rumors of his intentions were in 
circulation at Camp Floyd, which leaves us no reason to doubt that his threat was 
no idle boast, but is in reality the fixed determination of his heart, to lead to a 
collision between the citizens and the troops. Of this Governor Gumming is ap- 
parently fully convinced, as also the other officials outside of the judicial clique. 
By the departure of the next mail, plans will be better developed, if not even 
then carried into execution, or at least attempted; and should you then hear of 
the eagerly-sought-for collision having taken place, it can be witnessed that we 
have not sought it, but that it is the deep-laid scheme of sutlers, degraded judges, 
and disappointed officers of our great republican army, for the sake of perishable 
gold, gratification of personal revenge, and the empty glory of swords to be 
crimsoned with the blood of fellow-citizens, who so love the liberty bequeathed 
to them by illustrious sires that they will fight for its maintenance, though 
their homes should be made desolate and their wives and children left without 
protectors in the land of freemen's inheritance. 

" An express from Camp Floyd arrived here on Sunday night with the intelli- 
gence that two regiments were coming to the city to make arrests, and it was ex- 
pected that they would have orders for forced marches, to come in upon us un- 
awares. Immediately on Governor Cumming being made acquainted with the re. 
port and circumstances, tvhich leave tio roo7n to doubt of the plans of the judges, he 
notified General D. H. Wells to hold the militia in readiness to act on orders. 
By two o' clock on Monday motning five thousand men were under arms. Had the 
United States' troops attempted to enter the city, the struggle must have com- 
menced, for the Governor is determined to carry out his instructions. What has 
deferred their arrival here we know not; but now that this plan is known, a 
watchful eye is kept on the camp, and the shedding of blood seems inevitable- 
We have confidence in the overruling care of our heavenly Father ; and what' 
ever does take place, will eventually turn out for good. 

"Major told me yesterday that General Johnston was resolved to carry 

out his orders, and he affirms that they are to use the military on the requisition 
of the judges, and not on the requisition of the Governor only. I have just 
learned that 500 soldiers were on the march to Sanpete settlement to arrest per- 
sons there whom the judges are seeking after. The judicial-military-inquisitorial 
farce played at Provo satisfies everybody that it is not violated justice that seeks 
redress, but the madness of men drunken with whisky and vengeance, that seek 
satiety in blood. There is not an official in any settlement outside this city but 
what expects to be handled as were those at Provo; and the only safety they have 
from judicial vengeance — not personal, but vengeance against the community — 
is in flight to the mountains. In the south, where the weather has been excel- 
lent for early agricultural operations this spring, the fields have been left unculti- 
vated, and the seed that should be fructifying in the soil is still lying in the barn, 



230 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

the end of which must be famine; for unless the Governor has power to restrain 
the judges from calling the military to act as a posse comitatus, no man of any 
influence will trust himself at home. We fear no judge of the United States. 
The Supreme Judge of all we fear, and in His fear we live, and earthly tribunals 
have no terror for us : but the insolence of men like Cradlebaugh and Sinclair 
and the despotism of their military aids drive the iron to our souls. The very 
latest news now in circulation in the city is that the judges have hired the Indians 
to scour the mountains in search of the persons that the Marshal and military have 
been unable to discover at home. What next? Shall a price be offered the red 
men of the forest for the scalps of our citizens? Oh, my God ! what shall we be 
driven to? My heart sickens at the outrages to which we have been subjected, 
and I dread the future. Nothing shall be done on our part to hasten hostilities; 
but if it is impossible to avoid them, the responsibility is theirs. 

" Governor Gumming has no disposition, nor has this community any, to 
screen any man or men from the punishment due for any crime or misdemeanor 
they may be accused of; but he will not suffer military terrorism to reign in the 
Territory over which he is Governor, and we are to a man ready to sustain him. 
We appeal to the American nation, and ask any man whose soul is not absorbed 
with the acquisition of perishable pelf only, what can we do more than we have 
done to preserve peace? and what course is open to us but to defend our rights 
as citizens of the Union?" 

Happily at this juncture an official letter from Washington decided that the 
military could only be used as a posse on a call from the Governor. This com- 
munication from the U. S. Attorney-General is a valuable historical review of 
Utah affairs at that juncture, by the U. S. Government itself: 

"Attorney-General's Office, May 17, 1859. 

"Gentlemen — The President has received your joint letter on the subject 
of the military force with which the Court for the Second District of Utah was 
attended during the term recently held at Provo City. He has carefully con- 
sidered it, as well as all other advices relating to the same affair, and he has 
directed me to give you his answer. 

"The condition of things in Utah made it extremely desirable that the 
Judges appointed for that Territory should confine themselves strictly within their 
own official sphere. The Government had a district attorney, who was charged with 
the duties of a public accuser, and a marshal, who was responsible for the arrest 
and safe-keeping of criminals. For the judges there was nothing left except to 
hear patiently the causes brought before them, and to determine them impartially 
according to the evidence adduced on both sides. It did not seem either right 
or necessary to instruct you that these were to be the limits of your interference 
with the public affairs of the Territory; for the Executive never dictates to the 
Judicial department. The President is responsible only for the appointment of 
proper men. You were selected from a very large number of other persons who 
were willing to be employed on the same service, and the choice was grounded 
solely on your high character for learning, sound judgment, and integrity. It 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 231 

was natural, therefore, that the President should look upon the proceedings at 
Provo with a sincere desire to find you in all things blameless. 

"It seems that on the 6th of March last, Judge Cradlebaugh announced to 
the commanding officer of the military forces that on the 8th day ot the same 
month he would begin a term of the District Court at Provo, and required a 
military guard for certain prisoners, to the number of six or eight, who were 
then in custody, and would be triable at Provo. The requisition mentions it as 
a probable fact that *a large band of organized thieves' would be arrested; but 
the troops were asked for without reference to them. Promptly responding to 
this call the commanding-general sent up a company of infantry, who encamped 
at the Court House, and soon afterwards ten more companies made their appear- 
ance in sight, and remained there during the whole term of the court. In the 
meantime, the Governor of the Territory, hearing of this military demonstration 
upon a town previously supposed to be altogether peaceful, appeared on the 
ground, made inquiries, and, seeing no necessity for the troops, but believing, on 
the contrary, that their presence was calculated to do harm, he requested them 
to be removed. The request was wholly disregarded. 

"The Governor is the supreme Executive of the Territory. He is respon- 
sible for the public peace. From the general law of the land, the nature of his 
office, and the instructions he received from the State Department, it ought to 
have been understood that he alone had power to issue a requisition for the move- 
ment of troops from one part of the Territory to another, — that he alone could 
put the military forces of the Union and the people of the Territory into rela- 
tions of general hostility with one another. The instructions given to the Com- 
manding-General by the War Department are to the same effect. In that paper a 
'requisition'' is not spoken of as a thing which anybody except the Governor can 
make. It is true that in one clause the General is told that if the Governor, t le 
judges, or the marshal shall find it necessary to siivimon directly a part of the 
troops to aid either in the performance of his duty, he (the General) is to see the 
summons promptly obeyed. This was manifestly intended to furnish the means 
of repelling an opposition which might be too strong for the civil posse, and too 
sudden to admit of a formal requisition by the governor upon the military com- 
mander. An officer finds himself resisted in the discharge of his duty, and he 
calls to his aid first the citizens, and, if they are not sufficient, the soldiers. 
This would be directly summoning a part of the troops. A direct summons and 
a requisition are not convertible terms. The former signifies a mere verbal call 
upon either civilians or military men for force enough to put down a present 
opposition to a certain officer in the performance of a particular duty; and the 
call is to be always made by the officer who is himself opposed upon those per- 
sons who are with their own hands to furnish the aid. A requisition, on the 
other hand, is a solemn demand in writing made by the supreme civil magistrate 
upon the commander-in-chief of the military forces for the whole or part of the 
army to be used in a specified service. In a Territory like Utah, the person who 
exercises this last-mentioned power can make war and peace when he pleases, 
and holds in his hands the issues of life and death for thousands. Surely it was 
not intended to clothe each one of the judges, as well as the marshal and all his 



232 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

deputies, with this tremendous authority. Especially does this construction seem 
erroneous when we reflect that these different officers might make requisitions 
conflicting with one another, and all of them crossing the path of the Governor. 

"Besides, the matter upon which Judge Cradlebaugh's requisition bases itself 
was one with which the Judge had no sort of official connection. It was the duty 
the marshal to see that the prisoners were safely kept and forthcoming at the 
proper time. For aught that appears, the marshal wanted no troops to aid him, 
and had no desire to see himself displaced by a regiment of soldiers. He made 
no complaint of weakness, and uttered no call for assistance. Under such cir- 
cumstances it was a mistake of the Judge to interfere with the business at all, 

"But, assuming the legal right of the judge to put the marshal's business 
into the hands of the army without the marshal's concurrence, and granting also 
that this might be done by means of a requisition, was there in this case any oc- 
casion for the exercise of such power? When we consider how essentially peace- 
able is the whole spirit of our judicial system, and how exclusively it aims to 
operate by moral force, or at most by the arm of civil power, it can hardly be 
denied that the employment of military troops about the courts should be avoided 
as long as possible. Inter arma silent leges, says the maxim; and the converse of 
it ought to be equally true, that inter leges silent arma. The President has not 
found, either on the face of the requisition or in any other paper received by him, 
a statement of specific facts strong enough to make the presence of the troops 
seem necessary. Such necessity ought to have been perfectly plain before the 
measure was resorted to. 

"It is very probable that the Mormon inhabitants of Utah have been guilty 
of crimes for which they deserve the severest punishment. It is not intended by 
the Government to let any one escape against whom the proper proofs can be 
produced. With that view, the district attorney has been instructed to use all 
possible diligence in bringing criminals of every class and of all degrees to justice. 
We have the fullest confidence in the vigilance, fidelity and ability of that officer. 
If you shall be of opinion that his duty is not performed with sufficient energy, 
your statement to that eff"ect will receive the prompt attention of the President. 

" It is very likely that public opinion in the Territory is frequently opposed to 
the conviction of parties who deserve punishment. It may be that extensive 
conspiracies are formed there to defeat justice. These are subjects upon which 
we, at this distance, can affirm or deny nothing. But, supposing your opinion 
upon them to be correct, every inhabitant of Utah must still be proceeded against 
in a regular, legal, and constitutional way. At all events, the usual and estab- 
lished modes of dealing with public ofl"enders must be exhausted before we adopt 
any others. 

" On the whole, the President is very decidedly of opinion — 

" I. That the Governor of the Territory alone has power to issue a requisi- 
tion upon the commanding-general for the whole or part of the army : 

" 2. That there was no apparent occasion for the presence of the troops at 
Provo : 

"3. That if a rescue of the prisoners in custody had been attempted, it 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 233 

was the duty of the marshal, and not of the judge, to summon the force which 
might be necessary to prevent it : 

" 4. That the troops ought not to have been sent to Provo without the con- 
currence of the Governor, nor kept there against his remonstrance : 

" 5. That the disregard of these principles and rules of action has been in 
many ways extremely unfortunate. 

"I am, very respectfully, yours, &c., 

J. S. BLACK. 

"Hon. J. Cradlebaugh, Hon. C. E. Siticlair, Associate Judges, Supreme 
Court, Utah.'''' 

A great Constitutional pronouncement like the foregoing from a jurist so 
distinguished as Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black, given by the direction of 
the President of the United States, was too authoritative and potent to be set 
aside. Governor Gumming had clearly won the victory over his rivals, at least 
in the Constitutional aspects of his position. 

The anti- Mormon influence everywhere was now invoked to have Governor 
Gumming removed, and for a time this was under consideration in the Cabinet. 
The probabilities were all against the Governor being retained, but a fine stroke 
of strategy, executed by Col. Thos. L, Kane, recovered his position. Stenhouse, 
who was present as reporter for the New York Herald, relates the circumstance 
thus: 

"Soon after the return of Col. Kane to the Eastern States, that gentleman 
was invited to deliver a lecture before the Historical Society of New York upon 
'The Situation of Utah.' Though in very feeble health, and unprepared for such 
a lecture, his devotion to what he no doubt sincerely believed to be the welfare 
of the Mormons and the honor of the Government, overcame all impediments, 
and the lecture was delivered. In that audience were two Mormon elders listen- 
ing eagerly for a sentence that might help "the cause" in the West. By previous 
arrangement the agent of the Associated Press was to be furnished with a notice 
of the lecture, and thus a dispatch next morning was read everywhere throughout 
the Union to the effect that there was a division among the Mormons, that some 
were eager for strife, others for peace, but that Brigham Young was on the side of 
peace and order, and was laboring to control his fiery brethren. This was a 
repetition of a part of the diplomacy of the Tabernacle. Governor Gumming 
was complimented by the gallant Colonel as a clear-headed, resolute, but prudent 
executive, and the very man for the trying position. 

"Before such an endorsement, sent broadcast over the Republic, coming 
from the lips of the gentleman who had warded off the effusion of blood, and 
saved the nation from the expense and horror of a domestic war, the Cabinet of 
Mr. Buchanan silently bowed, but they were terribly chagrined." 

Apostle George Q. Cannon, who was one of the "two Mormon elders" 
present at the lecture, relates this singular and quite dramatic episode of Utah 
history with several additional points, which have a national significance. The 
story is told in an obituary sketch of Thomas L. Kane, with an affectionate 
simplicity that gives it a special value in the History; 



234 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

"As I write, another illustration of his forgetfulness of self and his ardent 
zeal in behalf of Utah comes to my mind. It was during the Buchanan admin- 
istration. Governor Gumming, who had been sent out by President Buchanan 
with the army as Governor of the Territory, did not work harmoniously with the 
army officers. Differences had arisen between them at the time they were in 
camp during the winter at Ham's Fork and Fort Bridger. 

" These differences increased after they came into the valley, and the influ- 
ence of the army people was used with the administration to have Gumming 
removed President Buchanan was inclined to yield to the pressure of Albert 
Sidney Johnston's friends. Johnston at that time was quite an influential per- 
sonage; in fact influences were being used to prepare the way for him to succeed 
General Winfield Scott as commander of the army of the United States. * Presi- 
dent Buchanan made inquiries of some of General Kane's friends as to how the re- 
moval of Governor Gumming would be received by him. He heard of this, and, 
though at the time confined to his room with an attack of pleurisy, saw that 
something must be done to prevent the removal of Governor Gumming, which 
he viewed at the time as a move that would be unfortunate to Utah. The His- 
torical Society of New York Gity — a very influential society — hadsolicited him 
to deliver a lecture upon Utah affairs; but he had postponed accepting the offer. 
He saw that this was the opportune moment to deliver it, and though suffering 
from severe pain he resolved to go to New York and deliver the lecture. His 
friends tried to dissuade him from the step, as they felt that he was endangering 
his life. But he was determined to go, and wrote to the President of the Society, 
who was pleased to accept the proffer of the lecture. Accompanied by his physi- 
cian, he traveled from Philadelphia to New York, delivered the lecture, in which 
he eulogized Governor Gumming, and gave him the praise that was due to him for 
his conduct after reaching Utah, and the next morning there appeared in all the 
newspapers of the country, through the associated press, a brief epitome of the 
lecture^ commending Governor Gumming's administration of affairs. It had the 
effect to turn the scale in Gumming's favor. President Buchanan relinquished 
the idea of removing him, and he remained Governor until he had served out his 
full term. I was in the East at the time and familiar with all the circumstances, 
and I vvas deeply impressed with the General's conduct on that occasion." 

There is to be discerned in these two statements a division growing up in the 
views and purposes of the members of Buchanan's Gabinet at that critical juncture 
of our national affairs, which is capitally presented in Mr. Blaine's great book of 
reminiscences, in w^hich he presents, on the one side, John B. Floyd, Secretary of 
War with President Buchanan preparing the way for secession ; on the other, 
Gen. Lewis Gass, Secretary of State, and Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black, 
taking the alarm both for the Democracy and the Union, and setting their faces 
against the secession movement, which General Albert Sidney Johnston was fated 
to represent as one of its chiefest military captains. Mr. Blaine has not intended 
any reference to Utah, but that which he describes touching a division in the 
Gabinet, relative to our national affairs, is strangely to be traced at the same 
moment in the Gabinet over Utah affairs. So far as secession and Secretary 
Floyd is concerned, the statement of ex-Delegate Gannon suggests a very striking 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 235 

parallel to the Blaine reminiscences of the state of Buchanan's Cabinet at that 
juncture. 

The historical pertinence of the case is the more striking from the fact that 
it was subsequent to the decision of the Attorney-General against the Judges' and 
General Johnston's action. After the receipt of that dispatch a mass meeting of 
Gentiles was held at Camp Floyd, on the 23rd of July, at which the Judges and 
the Indian Agent — Dr. Garland Hurt — were present, and in which they took a 
prominent part. An address was penned, rehearsing all the crimes charged to 
the Mormons, asserting that they were as disloyal after the President's pardon as 
when they were in arms in Echo Canyon, that the President was deceived and 
badly advised, and had done a great wrong in withdrawing the protection of the 
military from the courts. 

Thus it would seem that there was before the country, emanating from 
Johnston and his friends, who were seeking to make him commander-in-chief of 
the armies of the United States, not only a demand for the removal of Governor 
Camming, but a virtual impeachment of the Attorney-General as an ill-adviser 
on Utah affairs, for it was undoubtedly Jeremiah S. Black who had given the new 
impulse to the Buchanan movement, as represented in General Kane and Governor 
Gumming, and his Constitutional decision had most likely saved Great Salt Lake 
City from the "baptism of blood," and made valid the President's pardon. But 
it seems that he would have failed at last, in his revision of the Buchanan policy 
touching Utah, had not Thomas L. Kane risen from his couch and, in his noble 
regard for the honor of his country, made valid the proclamation of peace and 
pardon which had been granted in the august name of the American Republic. 

A supplementary page from Mr. Blaine's great book may be given here to 
illustrate the reorganization of the Buchanan Cabinet, by Judge Black, and the 
radical change in its policies, so strongly marked both in the affairs of Utah and 
the greater affairs of the nation ; and a bankrupt U. S. Treasury will be very sug- 
gestive of Secretary Floyd's expenditure of from fourteen to twenty millions of 
dollars on the Utah Expedition : 

*' Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of Sta*e on the 17th of 
December — the day on which the disunion convention of South Carolina as- 
sembled. He found the malign influence of Mr. Buchanan's message fully at 
work throughout the South. Under its encouragement only three days were re- 
quired by the convention at Charleston to pass the ordinance of secession, and 
four days later Governor Pickens issued a proclamation declaring ' South Caro- 
lina a separate, sovereign, free and independent State, with the right to levy war, 
conclude peace and negotiate treaties.' From that moment Judge Black's posi- 
tion towards the Southern leaders was radically changed. They were no longer 
fellow-Democrats. They were the enemies of the Union to which he was de- 
voted, they were conspirators against the Government to which he had taken a 
selemn oath of fidelity and loyalty. 

"Judge Black's change, however important to his own fame, would prove 
comparatively fruitless unless he could influence Mr. Buchanan to break with the 
men who had been artfully using the power of his Administration to destroy the 



JSO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY. 

Union. The opportunity and the test came promptly. The new ' sovereign, 
free and independent ' government of South Carolina sent commissioners to 
Washington to negotiate for the surrender of the national forts and the transfer 
of the national property within her limits. Mr. Buchanan prepared an answer 
to their request which was compromising to the honor of the Executive and peril- 
ous to the integrity of the Union. Judge Black took a decided and irrevocable 
stand against the President's position. He advised Mr. Buchanan that upon the 
basis of that fatal concession to the disunion leaders he could not remain in his 
Cabinet. It was a sharp issue, but was soon adjusted. Mr. Buchanan gave way 
and permitted Judge Black and his associates, Holt and Stanton, to frame a reply 
for the Administration. 

"Jefferson Davis, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Slidell, who had been 
Mr. Buchanan's, intimate and confidential advisers, and who had led him to the 
brink of ruin, found themselves suddenly supplanted, and a new power installed 
in the White House. Foiled and no longer able to use the National Administra" 
tion as an instrumentality to destroy the national life, the secession leaders in Con- 
gress turned upon the President with angry reproaches. In their rage they lost 
all sense of the respect due to the Chief Magistrate of the nation, and assaulted 
Mr. Buchanan with coarseness as well as violence. Senator Benjamin spoke of 
him as 'a senile Executive under the sinister influence of insane counsels.' This 
exhibition of malignity towards the misguided President afforded to the North 
the most convincing and satisfactory proof that there had been a change for the 
better in the plans and purposes of the Administration. They realized that it 
must be a deep sense of impending danger which could separate Mr. Buchanan 
from his political associations with the South, and they recognized in his position 
a significant proof of the desperate determination to which the enemies of the 
Union had come. 

" The stand taken by Judge Black and his loyal associates was in the last 
days of December, iS6o. The reorganization of the Cabinet came as a matter 
of necessity. Mr. John B. Floyd resigned from the War Department, making 
loud proclamation that his action was based on the President's refusal to sur- 
render the national forts in Charleston Harbor to the secession government of 
South Carolina. This manifesto was not necessary to establish Floyd's treason- 
able intentions towards the Government ; but, in point of truth, the plea was 
undoubtedly a pretense, to cover reasons of a more personal character which 
would at once deprive him of Mr. Buchanan's confidence. There had been 
irregularities in the War Department tending to compromise Mr. Floyd, for which 
he was afterwards indicted in the District of Columbia. Mr. Floyd well knew 
that the first knowledge of these shortcomings would lead to his dismissal from 
the Cabinet. Whatever Mr. Buchanan's faults as an Executive may have been, 
his honor in all transactions, both personal and public, was unquestionable, and 
he was the last man to tolerate the slightest deviation from the path of rigid 
integrity. 

"Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, followed Mr. Floyd after a 
short interval. Mr. Cobb had left the Treasury a few days before General Cass 
resigned from the Cabinet, and had gone to Georgia to stimulate her laggard 



I 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 237 

movements in the scheme of destroying the Government. His successor was 
Philip Francis Thomas, of Maryland, who entered the Cabinet as a representative 
of the principles whose announcement had forced General Cass to resign. The 
change of policy to which the President was now fully committed forced Mr. 
Thomas to retire after a month's service. He frankly stated that he was unable 
to agree with the President and his other advisers 'in reference to the condition 
of things in South Carolina,' and therefore tendered his resignation. Mr. Thomas 
adhered to the Union and always maintained an upright and honorable char- 
acter ; but his course at that crisis deprived him subsequently of a seat in the 
United States Senate, though at a later period he served in the House as Repre- 
sentative from Maryland. 

"Mr. Cobb, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Thompson had all remained in the Cabinet 
after the Presidential election in November, in full sympathy, and so far as pos- 
sible in co-operation with the men in the South who were organizing resistance 
to the authority of the Federal Government. Neither those gentlemen, nor any 
friend in their behalf, ever ventured to explain how, as sworn officers of the 
United States, they could remain at their posts consistently with the laws of 
honor — laws obligatory on them not only as public officials who had taken a 
solemn oath of fidelity to the Constitution, but also as private gentlemen, whose 
good faith was pledged anew every hour they remained in control of the depart- 
ments with whose administration they had been intrusted. Their course is un- 
favorably contrasted with that of many Southern men (of whom General Lee and 
the two Johnstons were conspicuous examples), who refused to hold official posi- 
tions under the national Government a single day after they had determined to 
take part in the scheme of disunion. 

"By the reorganization of the Cabinet the tone of Mr. Buchanan's admin- 
istration was radically changed. Judge Black had used his influence with the 
President to secure trustworthy friends of the Union in every department. Edwin 
M. Stanton, little known at the time to the public, but of high standing in his 
profession, was appointed Attorney-General soon after Judge Black took charge 
of the State Department. Judge Black had been associated with Stanton per- 
sonally and professionally, and was desirous of his aid in the dangerous period 
through which he was called to serve. 

"Joseph Holt, who, since the death of Aaron V. Brown in 1859, had been 
Postmaster-General, was now appointed Secretary of War, and Horatio King, of 
Maine, for many years the upright first assistant, was justly promoted to the head 
of the Post-office Department. Mr. Holt was the only Southern man left in the 
Cabinet. He was a native of Kentucky, long a resident of Mississippi, always iden- 
tified with the Democratic party, and affiliated with its extreme southern wing. 
Without a moment's hesitation he now broke all the associations of a lifetime^ 
and stood by the Union without qualification or condition. His learning, his 
firmness and his ability were invaluable to Mr. Buchanan in the closing days 
of his administration. 

"General John A. Dix, of New York, was called to the head of the Treasury. 
He was a man of excellent ability, of wide experience in affairs, of spotless char- 
acter and a most zealous friend of the Union. He found the Treasury bankrupt, 



2jS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITV. 

the discipline of its officers in the South gone, its orders disregarded in the States 
which were preparing for secession. He at once imparted spirit and energy into 
the service, giving to the administration of this department a policy of pronounced 
loyalty to the Government. No act of his useful and honorable life has been so 
widely known or will be so long remembered as his dispatch to the Treasury 
agent at New Orleans to take possession of a revenue cutter whose commander was 
suspected of disloyalty and of a design to transfer his vessel to the Confederate 
service. Lord Nelson's memorable order at Trafalgar was not more inspiring to 
the British Navy than was the order of General Dix to the American people, 
when, in the gloom of that depressing winter, he telegraphed South his per- 
emptory words: ' If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot 
him on the spot.' 

"Thus reconstructed, the Cabinet as a whole was one of recognized power, 
marked by high personal character, by intellectual training, by experience in 
affairs, and by aptitude for the public service. There have been Cabinets perhaps 
more widely known for the possession of great qualities ; but, if the history of suc- 
cessive administrations from the origin of the Government be closely studied, it 
will be found that the reorganized Cabinet of President Buchanan must take rank 
as one of exceptional ability." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

JUDGE CRADLEBAUGH DISCHARGES THE GRAND JURY AND TURNS SOCIETY 
OVER TO LAWLESS RULE. THE INDIANS ENCOURAGED TO DEPREDA- 
TIONS ON THE SETTLEMENTS. A DARK PICTURE OF SALT LAKE SOCIETY. 
WHY GOVERNOR GUMMING DID NOT INVESTIGATE THE MOUNTAIN 
MEADOWS MASSACRE. 

Having failed to obtain the indictment of the leaders of the Mormon Church, 
the judges resolved that they would close their courts and give society into the 
hands of the numerous desperadoes with which the Territory now abounded. In 
discharging the grand jury, Judge Cradlebaugh uttered one of the most remark- 
able passages to be found in the whole history of criminal jurisprudence : 

"If it is expected," he said, "that this court is to be used by this com- 
munity as a means of protecting it against the peccadilloes of Gentiles and In- 
dians, unless this community will punish its own murderers, such expectations 
will not be realized. It will be used for no such purpose. When the people 
shall come to their reason and manifest a disposition to punish their own high 
offenders, it will then be time to enforce the law also for their protection. If this 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2jg 

court cannot bring you to a proper sense of your duty, // can at least turn the 
savages held in custody loose upon you ^ 

Accordingly Judge Cradlebaugh dismissed the prisoners and adjourned his 
court *' without day." 

On his part D. Hurt, the Indian agent, had, both before and after the en- 
trance of Johnston's troops, spent his official service in inciting hostile Indians 
to commit depredations upon the Mormon settlements. This, indeed, was the 
specific charge which Governor Gumming reported to Secretary Gass against 
Indian Agent Hurt, both as inimical to the peace of the Territory and interrup- 
tive of his own executive duties representing the Federal Government. Upon 
this Indian line of the history, George A, Smith, just prior to the entrance of 
Johnston's troops, writing to T. B. H. Stenhouse, said : 

" It has been the policy of Governor Young and our people to keep the In- 
dians neutral, should a contest ensue. I read in the last papers received from the 
States loud boasts of having secured the Utah and other Indians as allies against 
the Mormons. Strange as it may seem to civilized persons, all the reckless and 
unprincipled Indians of the mountains have been hired, with new guns, blankets, 
clothing, ammunition, paint, etc., to steal, rob, murder, and do anything else 
that can be done to destroy the Mormons. Indian agents have sent messengers 
to all the peaceable Indians to incite them to deeds of rapine and bloodshed. A 
number of scattering settlements have been attacked, and innocent blood stains 
the skirts of the present administration, whose agents have procured the murders. 

"I am an American, as you well know. I love my country, and hate to see 
her rulers trample under foot her glorious institutions, and re-enact barbarism 
more cruel than that inflicted by the King of Great Britain, through the hands of 
the red men upon the scattered settlements of the colonies, in the war of inde- 
pendence. We wish 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' 

" With 3,500 bayonets, rifles, revolvers, and heavy ordnance pointed at us, 
and within three days' march of our city, 4,500 more en route to reinforce them, 
carte blanche on the United States treasury, would seem enough to satisfy our 
most bitter persecutors, without hiring as allies the savage hordes of the deserts 
and mountains to murder, scalp, roast, and eat their fellow-citizens, because they 
forsooth differed on the subject of religion. 

' Who can believe it ! — the cause is rather odd — 
Men hate each other for the love of God ! ' 

"You are aware that all the outrages in the country, heretofore, have been 
caused by men who are enemies to the inhabitants of this Territory — who have 
passed through our borders and recklessly shot at and otherwise abused the 
Indians. 

" Experience shows that Indians, like Congressmen and Government officials, 
have their price." 

Mr. William G. Mills, writing to the same person, who at that time was a 
special attache of the New York Herald on Ulah affairs, said : 



i40 HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CLTY. 

"The officials and others among the troops are employing their influence 
and means to bribe the Indians to steal the cattle, and horses, and mules from 
the settlers here; and already some have succeeded in stealing, and have mas 
sacred several persons in the outer settlements. The cattle will be conveyed to 
the army. One poor fox skin from an Indian will be paid for with a quantity of 
powder, lead, caps, blankets, and shirts — more than a hundred times its value — 
in order to buy over the rude savages to rob from and murder those who have 
hitherto fed and clothed them. This is done whenever an Indian visits them. It 
is not, of course, bribing or buying the Indian — it is only paying for the fox or 
buckskin; and significant nods, winks, and signs accompanying the gift are 
easily interpreted, and robbery and murder are the result. Dr. Hurt, the Indian 
agent, who decamped from the Indian farm, to create an excitement in his favor, 
in pretence for personal safety — 'The wicked fieeth when none pursueth' — has 
collected a band of Indians in Uintah Valley, among whom is the murderer 
Tintic, and placed himself as their chief at their head, to make an attack on the 
southern setilements, and promising not only blankets, pov^der, etc., but a share 
of the pillage, as the reward of their nefarious acts. Mufder in the north is to 
be responded to by murder of quiet and peaceable citizens in the south. Every 
mule and horse that the Indians steal is blamed on the Mormons, though the lat- 
ter may be a hundred miles from the scene of action. A good supply of whisky 
is furnished to the Indians by the ofificers and others, and they seem to enjoy 
themselves well together. Drinking among the troops was carried on to excess 
during the winter, which was calculated to excite their bitterest feelings and to 
enter in every scheme to annoy and kill the citizens. White men and murderous 
Indians are 'hail fellows well met.' 

"The Indians, by the presence of the troops, are emboldened to annoy the 
various settlements, because the Mormons would rather not fight. In Tooele 
County — the most westerly in the Territory — those Indians who were hitherto 
friendly have become excited by the conversations and bribes of the army, and 
have stolen about one hundred and fifty head of cattle and sixty horses, and fired 
upon the men who were guarding. At Salmon River settlement, two hundred 
and fifty head of cattle were stolen about the 4th of March, and several Mormons 
killed and scalped, and again attacked subsequently. It is expected that Dr. 
Hurt and his tribe will make an attack soon upon the southern settlements; but 
the people are prepared for every emergency, and will repulse them. 

"The war chiefs of several tribes of Indians, during the time of the excite- 
ment last fall and winter, applied personally to Governor Young for his advice 
and permission to go out with their tribes and 'use up' the soldiers, which they 
deemed themselves amply capable to do; but he, in every instance, told them to 
keep away from the army and show no bad feelings whatever, and requested them 
to avoid killing the white men. I have seen the chiefs exhibit sanguine feelings 
in relation to killing the soldiers, but entirely softened down by the counsel and 
expressions of Governor Young. He wrote to Ben Simons, the Delaware Indian, 
chief of the Weberites, in reply to a letter, to stand in a neutral position, neither 
take part with the Mormons nor the soldiers, in the event of a collision, and has 



I 



HIST OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI J V. 241 

always endeavored to suppress that bloodthirsty spirit of the treacherous red 
men." 

The action of the judges, in suspending altogether the administration of 
justice, and by semi-proclamation turning loose upon society the desperadoes, 
produced such a condition of things, compared with which the history of Great 
Salt Lake City was stainless before the onset of the Buchanan Expedition. 

Mr. Stenhouse in his Rocky Mountain Saints has painted the dark picture of 
those times thus outlined and colored : 

"With such a large body of troops there were, as usual, numerous camp- 
followers plying their petit industries, gambling, thieving, and drinking. Gen- 
eral Johnston, with strict surveillance and severe military punishment, had been 
able to control them on the march and at Camp Scott; but when they found 
in the valleys of the Saints a wider and safer field for operations, they gave rein 
to their vilest passions, and a worse set of vagabonds never afflicted any com- 
munity with their presence than did the followers of Johnston's army the inhabi- 
tants of the chief city of Zion. Quite a number of young Mormons — and some 
not so young — became as reckless and daring as any of the imported Gentiles, 
and life and property for a time were very insecure in Salt Lake City. 

" The programme of the police authorities seemed to be to give the desper- 
adoes the largest liberty, so that they might, in their drunken carousals, ' kill off 
each other,' and what they left undone invisible hands readily accomplished. 
During the summer and fall of 1859 there was a murder committed in Salt Lake 
City almost every week, and very rarely were the criminals brought to justice. 

"The Mormon leaders taught the people to attend to their fields and work- 
shops, keep out of ' Whisky Street,' and let 'civilization' take its course. They 
had plenty of hard work to engage their attention, and no money, so that the 
business street was seldom visited by them, and they saw little of what was trans- 
piring in their midst. The Church weekly paper took pride in reporting, as it 
occurred, 'another man for breakfast,' and with that 'the people of God' were 
satisfied that 'the good work was rolling on.' Israel would one day be free from 
his oppressors. 

" The rioting and killing that were traceable occupied little more than pass- 
ing attention, but the midnight work of invisible hands created a sensation of 
terror in the minds of all who were inimical to the priesthood. The Valley Tan, 
notwithstanding its true boldness, felt the danger of the hour, and in one of its 
doleful wails ejaculated: 'How long, oh ! how long are scenes like this to con- 
tinue ? * * * It would seem as if the insatiable demon and enemy 
of man must himself be gorged with the flow of human blood in our midst.' 

* * * ' No man's life is secure as long as the scenes of violence 
and bloodshed, which have been of such frequent occurrence among us for 
months past, continue to be repeated, and the perpetrators escape unpunished or 
not detected.' 

"The bloody work continued, and finally terminated with the munder of 
Brewer and Joaquin Johnston, two intimate friends, who were shot at the same 
instant as they were walking home together. The author well remembers seeing 



242 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

yery early the next morning the marshal of the city and the chief of police who 
gravely informed him of the 'sad news' — 'Johnston and Brewer had quarreled, 
and killed each other!' This story was feeble enough, but no one cared to ques- 
tion it: the people had got used to the record of scenes of blood. 

" In the ' swift destruction' that fell upon the desperadoes, there was no miti- 
gation of punishment on account of faith or family relationship, and very respect- 
able Mormon families had to mourn the untimely end of boys who, before the 
entrance of the army, gave promise of lives of usefulness and honor. All the 
bad and desperate Mormons were not brought to judgment, but the pretext alone 
was wanting for carrying more extensively into execution the general programme. 
Resistance to an officer, or the slightest attempt to escape from custody, was 
eagerly seized, when wanted, as the justification of closing a disreputable career, 
and in more than one case of this legal shooting, there is much doubt if even 
the trivial excuse was waited for. The Salt Lake police then earned the reputa- 
tion of affording every desperate prisoner the opportunity of escape, and, if 
embraced, the officer's ready revolver brought the fugitive to a 'halt,' and saved 
the country the expenses of a trial and his subsequent boarding in the peniten- 
tiary. A coroner's inquest and cemetery expenses were comparatively light. 

"With the troops themselves there was no collision. The Governor had 
requested General Johnston to withhold furlough from the soldiers, and few of 
them ever had the opportunity of visiting the City of the Saints. With some 
officers there had been, in the city, slight difficulties, which were, however, easily 
settled. Only one serious affair occurred, ending in the death of Sergeant Pike. 
This person was charged with violently assaulting a young Mormon and cracking 
his skull with a musket. During the Sergeant's trial in Salt Lake City, while on 
the public street at noon, passing to his hotel, a young man shot him down, and 
shortly afterward he died. The young man, with the aid of others, escaped, and 
was never arrested. There was great excitement at Camp Floyd, but the Ser 
geant's comrades were too far away to retaliate. 

" From the time of the arrival of the troops in the valley, Brigham was per- 
sonally very cautious, and never exposed himself to attack. For a long time he 
absented himself from the public assemblies, kept an armed door-keeper at the 
entrance of his residences, and by night was protected by an armed guard of the 
faithful. Every ward in the city took its turn in watching over the Prophet, and 
the floors of his offices were nightly covered with a guard, armed and equipped, 
and ready at a moment's notice to repulse the imaginary foe, 

"During the day, when Brigham ventured beyond the outer walls of his 
premises, half a dozen friends always accompanied him wherever he went. It is 
pleasing to add that no one ever so much as said to him an unbecoming word." 
In this condition of society, and the antagonistic complication of affairs 
existing between the Governor and General Johnston and the Judges, is to be 
found the exact historical exposition why the Mountain Meadow Massacre was 
not brought to judgment and avenged years before the execution of John D. 
Lee. 

Ex-Governor Young has often, yet most senselessly been reproved and held 
guilty for not causing an investigation of the tragedy in question, and bringing 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 243 

its executors to justice immediately after the bloody deed was done. One of the 
questions and its answer from the deposition of Brighara Young, taken at the 
trial of Lee, bears directly upon this point : 

" Q. Why did you not as Governor institute proceedings forthwith to 
investigate the massacre and bring the guilty authors to justice? 

"A. Because another Governor had been appointed by the President of 
the United States, and was then on the way here to take my place, and I did not 
know how soon he might arrive ; and because the United States Judges were not 
in the Territory. Soon after Governor Gumming arrived I asked him to take 
Judge Cradlebaugh, who belonged to the Southern District, with him, and I 
would accompany them with sufficient aid to investigate the matter and bring the 
offenders to justice." 

But the action of the Judges, at the very onset, made it impossible for ex- 
Governor Young or Governor Gumming to move far in the matter. Though 
Brigham Young had been Justice personified, had he proceeded he must have 
walked into the death-trap set for him. 

The following editorial excerpt from the New York Tribune, July 3rd, 
1858, describes the case of Governor Gumming before the entrance of the troops, 
which was more abundantly illustrated afterwards : 

"The latest accounts from Utah present the affairs of that Territory in rather 
a queer light. All the correspondents of the newspapers who write from Camp 
Scott most zealously contend that Governor Gumming, in representing the Mor- 
mons as having submitted to his authority, has either been grossly deceived him- 
self, or else is seeking to deceive the Government and the country. Possibly, as 
to this matter, the good people of Gamp Scott, civil and military, judge the 
Mormons a little too much by themselves. If the disposition to obey the Gov- 
ernor and to second and sustain him in the exercise of his office is not greater 
within the valley than it seems to be at Gamp Scott and Fort Bridger, the extent 
of the Governor's authority is certainly limited enough. Whether or not Brig- 
ham Young and his people have combined together, while seeming to acknowl- 
edge Gumming as Governor — in fact to set aside and override his authority, at 
'east it is very certain that such a combination exists in full force at Gamp Scott, 
with Mr. Ghief Justice Eckles at its head. Perhaps there is something in the air 
of Utah that stimulates to treason, rebellion, and resistance to authority. 
Whether that be so or not, the authority of Gumming as Governor seems just 
now quite as much in danger from the Ghief Justice, the civil officers, and the 
army sent to Utah at such an expense to place him and sustain him in the Gov- 
ernor's chair, as from those whose anticipated opposition to his authority led to such 
costly preparations to uphold it. In fact, it would seem that, on the question of 
due respect to Cumming's gubernatorial authority, the people inside the valley 
and those out of it had completely changed ground. The resistance to Governor 
Gumming is not now on the part of Brigham Young and the Mormons generally, 
but on the part of Ghief Justice Eckels, Marshal Dotson, General Johnston, the 
camp, and the camp-followers. 

" In this resistance to the authority of Governor Gumming and combination 
to reduce him, if possible, to a cipher, the recently arrived Peace Comrais- 



244 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

sioners, according to all accounts, have joined, actuated possibly by a feeling ot 
jealousy that they should have been anticipated by Governor Gumming and the 
work of pacification taken out of their hands. Nor, if we are to believe the 
letters from the camp, do these gentlemen confine themselves merely to thwart- 
ing the policy of Governor Gumming and nullifying his authority as Governor. 
They go, indeed, much further than that. The President's proclamation, of 
which they are the bearers, does not meet their approbation, or appear to them 
adapted to the exigencies of the case. They harmonize completely, we are told, 
with Judge Eckles and General Johnston, and not content with upsetting and 
overriding the Governor, are resolved to upset and override the President too. 
The proclamation is, therefore, to be construed — by the help, we suppose, of 
that profound jurist, Judge Eckles — in conformity to their ideas. In other words, 
it is to be nullified and set aside. 

" We have heard a great deal heretofore about the danger of personal vio- 
lence and loss of property to which the Gentiles in the Territory of Utah have 
been exposed on the part of the Mormons. At present, the danger seems to be 
entirely the other way. Nothing can exceed the rancorous and even ferocious 
feelings against the Mormons with which the army at Camp Scott appears to be 
penetrated. They regard themselves as engaged not so much in a public service 
as in the prosecution of a private quarrel. They regard the Mormons as having 
subjected them to all the hard service of this campaign — as having kept them en- 
camped all winter on short rations amid the mountains — as having derided, ma- 
ligned, and insulted them ; and even the very common soldiers are represented as 
having put on an air of offended dignity at the idea that the Peace Commis- 
sioners had arrived to snatch their intended victims from their revengeful grasp. 
This state of feeling on the part of the soldiers affords an abundant justification 
for Governor Cumming's objections to their entry into the valley and for the 
dread and horror with which the Mormons regard their presence there. If it be 
deemed proper or necessary to station troops in Utah, they ought to be some 
fresh corps, and not a body of men filled with such hatred and prejudice. Let 
some of the troops now on their march across the plains be employed in this ser- 
vice, and the force now collecting under General Johnson be sent in some other 
direction. That officer, however, would seem bent upon entering the valley, in 
spite of the remonstrances of Governor Gumming, whose authority over the 
troops he denies, with the very object, it would seem, of driving the Mormons to 
destroy their houses and to prevent them from gathering their crops, thus subject- 
ing thousands of women and children to the danger of starvation." 

The Peace Commissioners, however, in the sequel accomplished their mis- 
sion, but the breach between Governor Gumming and General Johnston and the 
Judges, extended, as we have seen, to the impeachment of his course and a 
demand from Camp Floyd for his removal. 

But his inability to investigate and bring to justice the authors of the Moun- 
tain Meadow Massacre, during his term of office, is known to have been a thorn 
in Governor Cumming's side. After him no Governor could be specially held 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 245 

responsible; and thus justice tarried long, impeded at the onset by the Judges 
themselves, which is the unmistakable import of Attorney-General Black's rebuke 
to them. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

AFTER THE UTAH WAR. CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY. BENEFITS 
OF CAMP FLOYD TO THE COMMUNITY. TRADE WITH THE CAMP. THE 
PONY EXPRESS. THE BULK OF THE TROOPS MARCH FOR NEW MEXICO 
AND ARIZONA. JOHNSTON LEAVES FOR WASHINGTON. THE DEPARTURE 
OF GOVERNOR GUMMING. THE REMNANT OF THE ARMY ORDERED TO 
THE STATES. SALES OF CAMP FLOYD. GOODS WORTH FOUR MILLION 
DOLLARS SOLD FOR ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. DESTRUCTION OF ARMS 
AND AMMUNITION. LINCOLN'S NEW APPOINTMENTS FOR UTAH. COM- 
PLETION OF THE TELEGRAPH LINE. FIRST MESSAGE FROM EX-GOV- 
ERNOR YOUNG— "UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." THE GOVERNOR TO PRESI- 
DENT LINCOLN AND HIS RESPONSE. UTAH'S MANIFESTO ON THE CIVIL 
WAR. 

Soon after the attempt of the military, instigated by the Judges, to arrest 
Brigham Young, the Lieut. -General of the Utah militia issued the following: 

"special order no. 2. 

"Headquarters Nauvoo Legion, 
Adjutant-General's Office, G. S. L. City, July ist, 1859. 

"Monday, the 4th, will be the eighty-third anniversary of the birth of 
American freedom. It is the duty of every American citizen to commemorate 
the great event; not in a boisterous revelry, but with hearts full of gratitude to 
Almighty God the Great Father of our rights. 

"The Lieutenant-General directs for the celebration in the city as follows : 

" isl. — At sunrise a salute of thirteen guns will be fired, commencing near the 
residence of His Excellency the Governor, to be answered from a point on South 
Temple Street, near the residence of President Brigham Young. 

" The national flag will be hoisted at the signal from the first gun, simul- 
taneously at the residences of Governor Gumming and President Young, at the 
office of the Territorial Secretary, and the residence of the United States At- 
torney. Captain Pitt's band will be stationed at sunrise opposite the residence 
of Governor Gumming, and Captain Ballo's band opposite the residence of 
President Young. 

"At the hoisting of the flags the bands will play the 'Star Spangled 
Banner.' 



246 HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CLTY. 

" 2d. — After the morning salute the guns will be parked at the Court House 
till noon, when a salute of 33 guns will be fired. 

"3d. — At sunset a salute of five guns, in honor of the Territories, will be 
fired, and the flags lowered. 

"4th. — For the above service Lieutenant Atwood and two platoons of 
artillery will be detailed. Two six-pounder iron guns will be used for the 
salutes. Also a first lieutenant and two platoons of the ist cavalry will be de- 
tailed as a guard, and continue on guard through the day. The whole detach- 
ment will be dismissed after the sunset salute. 

"5th. — Col. J. C. Little, of the General's staff, will perform the duties of 
marshal of the day, with permission to select such deputies as he may require to 
assist him. The Declaration of Independence will be read by him from the steps 
of the Court House at noon. 

"6th. — The bands and the services to be performed by them will be under 
the direction of Col. Duzette. 

" By order of 

Lieut. -Gen. DANIEL H. WELLS. 
Adjt.-Gen. JAMES FERGUSON." 

When the danger of conflict between Camp Floyd and Salt Lake City was 
passed, the citizens began to realize many material benefits from the camp. 

The famine of 1855-6 had impoverished the Territory in its agricultural re- 
sources ; the handcart emigration had brought to the country several thousand 
poor people, destitute, after their terrible journey, of even the barest clothing, 
whereas in former years the " Independent Companies," and the "Ten-pound 
ox-team companies," had brought moderate, and in some cases rich and plentiful 
supplies, which had lasted the emigrants several years before they were entirely 
exhausted. But now for a long while the common sources of supplies had been 
stopped ; and commerce with the east had been suspended by the expedition it- 
self. The Gentile merchants had broken up their houses at the approach of the 
army, and General Johnston on his joining his army issued orders that no trains 
of merchandise bound for Great Salt Lake City should be allowed to pass his 
lines. 

Thus the community had become utterly destitute of almost everything 
necessary to their social comfort. The people were poorly clad, and rarely ever 
saw anything on their tables but what was prepared from flour, corn, beet- 
molasses, and the vegetables and fruits of their gardens. They were alike desti- 
tute of implements of industry, and horses, mules, and wagons for their agricul- 
tural operations. Utah was truly very poor at that period ; indeed, never so poor 
since the Californian emigrants poured into Great Salt Lake City in 1849. 

The presence of the army soon changed the condition of the community. 
It was not to be expected that the leaders of the Church would from the Taber- 
nacle encourage much intercourse between the camp and the citizens, but quite a 
number of the self-reliant men, who have since represented the business and com- 
merce of the Territory, sought directly the intercourse of trade with the camp, 
while the more cautious furnished these middle men with the native supplies of 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 247 

the country, by which the trade was sustained. In this way money was gathered 
in freely by the Gentiles and the bold Mormon traders, and the people generally 
were thus indirectly clothed and supplied with the delicacies of tea, coffee and 
sugar, in return for the produce of the field, the dairy and the chicken-coop. 

It was at Camp Floyd, indeed, where the principal Utah merchants and 
business men of the second decade of our history may be said to have laid the 
foundation of their fortunes, among whom were the Walker Brothers. Nor 
should it be made to appear that this commerce with Camp Floyd marked the 
rising of an apostate wave in Utah society. It signified simply the desire of each 
to better his own condition and that of society at large. And thus commercial 
intercourse and mutual benefits softened the feelings of hostility between the 
citizens and the soldiers, and the Utah Expedition became transformed into a 
great blessing to Utah, and especially to the Mormon community. A passage 
here, from the New York HetahV s Utah special correspondent, of the novelties 
of the Camp Floyd trade, must be quoted for its striking illustration: 

"Among the rascalities of those times, contracts were awarded to certain 
political hucksters at Washington for an enormous quantity of flour to be supplied 
at $28.40 per 100 pounds, which in the course of time was furnished by the 
Prophet at $6 in the City of the Saints. That contractor also managed to get an 
order from the Secretary of War for the specie at Camp Floyd, failing which he 
was to be paid in mules, and of these he had his choice, at figures ranging from 
;^ioo to $150 each. Great bands of these animals were driven to California, and 
sold on the Pacific at nearly six times their Camp Floyd prices. With such and 
many other flagrant facts, it is not surprising that the Prophet and the Apostles 
designated Mr. Buchanan's expedition to Utah in 1857, 'The Contractors' 
War!'" 

The experiment of the Pony Express from the Missouri River to the 
Pacific Ocean was made in the spring of i860. The Deseret News of date April 
nth, made note: '* The first Pony Express from the west left Sacramento 
City at 12 m., on the night of the 3rd instant, and arrived in this city at 11:45 
of the 7th, inside of the prospectus time. The express from the east left St. 
Joseph, Missouri, at 6:30 on the evening of the 3d, and arrived in this city at 
6:25 on the evening of the 9th. This brings us within six days' communication 
from the frontier and seven from Washington — a result which we Utonians, ac- 
customed to receive news three months after date, can well appreciate." 

Among the first news brought was that a bill was before the House to amend 
the organic act of this Territory, remove the seat of government from Great Salt 
Lake City to Carson Valley, and change the name from Utah to Nevada. The 
object stated w^as to take the controling power out of the hands of the Mormons 
of Utah, and give it into the hands of the Gentiles of Nevada. 

In May of this year the mass of the troops from Camp Floyd took up their 
march for New Mexico and Arizona. Only a few were left to perform the 
requisite duties of the garrison. 

Just previous. General Albert Sidney Johnston left Camp Floyd for Washing- 
ton, via the southern route to California. He never visited Great Salt Lake City 



24S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

after he passed through it with his army. General Johnston and Brigham Young 
therefore never met. After his departure the command devolved upon Colonel 
Philip St. George Cooke, who by a general order February 6th, 1861, changed 
the name of Camp Floyd to Fort Crittenden. The intent was understood to dis- 
connect the fort from the name of Secretary Floyd, whose plot for secession was 
exposed, and his Utah Expedition, sinking twenty millions of the nation's 
money, considered to be a part of that secession plot. 

In May, 1861, just previous to the outbreak of our great civil war. Governor 
Gumming and his lady departed from Great Salt Lake City with no expectation 
of returning. He had entered the city amid great display of welcome, and fain 
had the city shown him and his lady like honors in their retirement, but it was 
against his wish ; so his departure was not generally known until it was announced 
in the Deseret News, in which the thanks of a grateful community were sent after 
him for the faithful performance of his service towards them and to the General 
Government. 

The remainder of Johnston's army was ordered to the States to participate 
in the war; and the order was given to destroy the best equipped military post 
eyer established in the West. But before the evacuation and destruction of arms, 
public sales were announced of provisions and army stores of every kind. Many 
went from Great Salt Lake City and the nearer settlements to purchase these valu- 
able supplies, which were sold by auction, and consisted of flour, bacon, groceries 
of all kinds, hardware, carpenters' tools, blacksmiths' tools, wagons, harness, 
tents, medical stores, clothing, and, in fine, everything the settlers most needed. 
It was estimated that four million dollars' worth of goods were sold for ;^ 100,000. 
Flour sold for 52 cents per sack of 100 tbs. in double sacks, for which the Gov 
ernment had paid $28.40. Everything else was in proportion. 

President Young sent his business manager, Mr. H. B. Clawson, to purchase 
all kinds of supplies most needed for his numerous family, dependents and work- 
men. He bought about $40,000 worth, among which was the Government safe, 
where had been deposited $80,000 in gold, which the Government had freighted 
to Camp Floyd in an ox team. 

But the most historical article was the flagstaff, which was transplanted from 
Camp Floyd to the brow of the hill on the east of Brigham's mansion, where for 
many years it stood, though now seen no more. 

During the sale Mr. Clawson, in his character of ex-Governor Young's busi- 
ness manager, became familiarly acquainted with Quartermaster Col. H. G. Cross- 
man and other officers, to whom he extended a courteous invitation to visit 
President Young before their departure from the Territory. They politely 
accepted, and seized the opportunity to present to the Founder of Utah the flag- 
staff which had borne aloft the national banner at Camp Floyd. At such a 
moment of secession, the gift was a magnificent compliment to the ex-Governor, 
and, indeed, to the Mormon people also; but Philip St. George Cooke, the com- 
mander of the Mormon Battalion, was in command after the departure of General 
Johnston, and perhaps he and others of the officers had revised their views of the 
" Utah rebellion." 

After the sales were over, the arms and ammunition weie taken to a distance 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 249 

and piled up in pyramids; long trains of powder were then properly arranged, 
and at a given signal the fusee was touched and the work of destruction accom- 
plished. Several pieces of ordnance that could not be exploded were consigned 
to deep wells; but it is said that they were recovered and that they have often 
since done good service in the celebration of the Fourth of July, in honor of the 
national birth, and of the Twenty-fourth of July, in honor of the arrival of the 
Pioneers into these valleys and the founding of Great Salt Lake City. 

In the early autumn of 1861 the troops marched Eastward, ai:d thus ended 
the famous Utah expedition. 

The change of Federal administration incident to the election of Abraham 
Lincoln, also, in due course of time gave to Utah a new set of Federal officials. 
Excepting the Governor, these proved to be more acceptable to the people than 
their predecessors had been. Secretary Wooton, after the departure of Governor 
Gumming, on the first announcement of secession sent in his resignation to Presi- 
dent Lincoln. John W. Dawson, of Indiana, was then appointed Governor; 
Frank Fuller, of New Hampshire, Secretary ; John F. Kinney, who had already 
been Chief Justice of this Territory, replaced Chief Justice Eckles ; and Asso- 
ciate Justices Crosby and Flenniken were appointed to succeed Sinclair and 
Cradlebaugh. Secretary Fuller arrived before Governor Dawson, and, on the re- 
tirement of Mr. Wooton, Fuller also became acting Governor. James Duane 
Doty was Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It was said that these appointments 
were designed by President Lincoln to conciliate ex-Governor Young and the 
Mormons at the outbreak of our civil war. Whether this was so or not, it is no 
more than just to here record that, notwithstanding the anti-Mormon attitude of 
the party that elevated Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, his course towards Utah 
was uniformly consijderate. 

Governor Dawson arrived and entered happily upon his official duties, but 
he soon fell into temptation, and his gallantries towards a lady of the city be- 
coming exposed, he hastily departed, and Secretary Fuller a second time became 
the acting Governor. 

About the middle of October, 1861, the eastern portion of the Pacific Tele- 
graph Line was completed to Great Salt Lake City. The following record of the 
event is from the Deseret News of October 23 : 

"On Thursday afternoon the 'operator' connected with the eastern portion 
of the telegraph line informed the visitors who had gathered around his table to 
witness the first operations in communicating with the Eastern States, that the 
'line was built," but for some reason there was no through message either sent or 
received till the following day. 

"The first use of the electric messenger being courteously extended to 
President Young, he forwarded the following congratulations to the President of 
the Company : 

"Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Oct. 18, 1861. 

" Hon. J. H. Wade, President of the Pacific Telegraph Cofnpany, Cleveland, 

Ohio. 

"Sir — Permit me to congratulate you on the completion of the Overland 
4 



2SO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Telegraph line west to this city, to commend the energy displayed by yourself 
and associates in the rapid and successful prosecution of a work so beneficial, and 
to express the wish that its use may ever tend to promote the true interests of the 
dwellers upon both the Atlantic and Pacific Slopes of our continent. 

''Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our 
once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one 
so far completed. 

BRIGHAM YOUNG." 

On Sunday morning the following very becoming reply was received : 

"Cleveland, Oct. 19, 1861. 
^^ Hon. Brigham Young, Prest., Great Salt Lake City: 

"Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your message of last 
evening, which was in every way gratifying, not only in the announcement of the 
completion of the Pacific Telegraph to your enterprising and prosperous city, 
but that yours, the first message to pass over the line, should express so unmis- 
takeably the patriotism and union-loving sentiments of yourself and people. 

"I join with you in the hope that this enterprise may tend to promote the 
welfare and happiness of all concerned, and that the annihilation of time in our 
means of communication may also tend to annihilate prejudice, cultivate brotherly 
love, facilitate commerce and strengthen the bonds of our once and again to be 
happy union. 

"With just consideration for your high position and due respect for )ou 
personally, 

" I remain your obedient servant, 

J. H. WADE, 

Prest. Pac. Tel. Co.'' 

Acting-Governor Fuller made early use of the wire to extend salutations to 
President Lincoln, of which the following are copies of the congratulations and 
the acknowledgment : 

"G. S. L. CiTV, Oct. 18, 1861. 
" To the President of the United States : 

"Utah, whose citizens strenuously resist all imputations of disloyalty, con- 
gratulates the President upon the completion of an enterprise which spans a 
continent, unites two oceans, and connects with nerve of iron the remote ex- 
tremities of the body politic, with the great governmental heart. May the whole 
system speedily thrill with the quickened pulsations of that heart, as the paracide 
hand is palsied, treason is punished, and the entire sisterhood of States joins hands 
in glad reunion around the National fireside. 

FRANK FULLER, 
Acting- Governor of Utah Territory.'' 

"Washington, D. C, Oct. 20, 1861. 
'''Hon. Frank Fuller, Acting Governor of Utah: 

"Sir — The completion of the telegraph to Great Salt Lake City, is auspi- 



HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CITY. 231 

cious of the stability and union of the Republic. The Government reciprocates 
your congratulations. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN." 

" During the business hours on Friday there was quite an interest in the 
performances of the electricity, and congratulations over the wire to distant 
friends were extended in every direction. The day throughout was quite an oc- 
casion for the moving celebrities of Main Street- 

"The western line, as reported to us, was to have been finished on Monday 
evening or yesterday morning — a much earlier day than the most sanguine 
friends of Mr. Street anticipated. The last poles being set to the west of Fort 
Crittenden, Mr. Street has consequently been detained there, but was expected 
in this morning, and will doubtless open his battery on the inhabitants of the 
Pacific during the course of to-day ; and thus the inhabitants of the Pacific and 
Atlantic States will be united in electric bonds. 

"Having expressed our sentiments on the building of the telegraph line 
through the Territory in a recent number of the News, we will now only say 
that the hope is entertained that at no distant day the 'iron horse' may have a 
track prepared for it across the continent." 

As might be expected, the great civil war between the North and the South 
gave to Utah the opportunity for a unique example in her conduct. She had her- 
self just been "in rebellion" ; how would she now act? This was a most natural 
question, and, strange to say, her answer was almost the reverse of the general 
pronouncement of what she would do. 

And here it might be said that it matters not to the integrity of history 
whether or not the Mormons be understood by others, as long as they act con- 
sistently with themselves, and their own faith in their religious and national 
mission. We have just seen that on the very first occasion after the " Utah 
rebellion," as we will style it to illustrate the example, they made haste to 
re assert their faith in the Constitution and the Union, by celebrating the day of 
American independence very much with the same intention as though they had 
sent a manifesto to the States of their views and conduct. And just in keeping 
with this was the pronouncement of the Mormon leaders upon secession at its 
very birth, as the accompanying Fourth of July military order will suggest : 

Headquarters Nauvoo Legion, 

G. S. L. City, June 25th, 1861. 

GENERAL ORDERS, NO. I. 

1. Thursday, the Fourth of July, being the eighty-fifth anniversary of 
American independence; notwithstanding the turmoil and strife which distress 
the nation established on that foundation, the citizens of Utah esteem it a privi- 
lege to celebrate the day in a manner becoming American patriots and true lovers 
of the Constitution of their country. 

2. The Lieut. -General directs that district commanders throughout the 
Territory will conform, as far as practicable, to the requisitions of the various 
committees of arrangements for details. 



252 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

8. In Great Salt Lake City, at the request of the committee of arrange- 
ments, the following details will be made, and placed under the direction of 
Major John Sharp, marshal of the day, viz : 

One company of the ist, and one of the 3d regiments of infantry. 
One company of light artillery and two guns. 
Two brass bands and one martial band. 
By order of 

Lieut. -Gen. D. H. Wells, 
James Ferguson, Adjt.-Gen. 

This military manifesto, just after the national flag had been fired upon at 
Fort Sumter, meant simply that Utah was going to stand by the Union. 



CHAPTER XXVIH. 

MORMON SERX'ICK ON THi: OVERLAND MAIL LLNE. PRESIDENT LLNCOLN 
CALLS ON BRIGHAM YOUNG FOR HELP. THE EX-GOVERNOR'S RESPONSE. 
BEN HOLLADAV THANKS BRIGHAM. LOT SMITHS COMMAND. REPORT 
OF THE SERVICE. GENERAL CRAIG COMPLIMENTS THE MORMON 

TROOPS. 

. In the spring of 1862 the Indians were troublesome on the Overland Mail 
Route and stopped the mails. They destroyed nearly every mail station between 
Fort Bridger and North Platte, they burned the coaches and mail bags, ran off 
the stock, and killed the drivers. 

Acting-Governor Fuller, Chief Justice Kinney, and six other gentlemen 
connected with the mail and telegraph lines, joined in recommending to Secretary 
Stanton to authorize the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, James Duane Doty, to 
raise and put in service immediately, "a regiment of mounted rangers from the 
inhabitants of the Territory, with officers to be appointed by him," etc. 

But Acting-Governor Fuller and Chief Justice Kinney had over-rated the 
Federal power in Utah, as embodied in themselves, for such a service, when they 
overlooked ex-Governor Young, Lieutenant-General Wells and the Utah militia. 

Three days after the despatch of Governor Fuller and others to Secretary 
Stanton, Brigham Young telegraphed to the Utah Delegate at Washington a 
corrected statement in which he said, "the militia of Utah are ready and able, 
as they ever have been, to take care of all the Indians, and are able and willing 
to protect the mail line if called upon to do soJ" 

But ex-Governor Young, however, did not wait even to be called upon for 
help. The need of the service was too imperative to linger for official etiquette, 
and to Colonel Robert T. Burton the Commanding-General issued the following 



HISTOR V OF SAL 2' LAKE CLTY. 2^j 

"INSTRUCTIONS. 

"G. S. L. City, April 24, 1862. 
" Coi. Robert T. Bur Ion and the detachment to guard the ma it stage under you: 

"You are detailed for this special service, and will proceed from this place 
in company with Captain Hooper, General C. W. ^Vest, Judge Kinney, and 
probably other passengers in the mail coach for the Eastern States, as a guard to 
protect them against the depredations of Indians, who are said to be hostile; and 
continue in their company on the route as far as it may be deemed necessary by 
yourself and Captain Hooper for their safety. In traveling, the stage must corres- 
pond to your time, as it cannot be expected that without change of animals your 
detachment can keep pace with the stage, especially where the roads are good. 
You will obtain grain for your animals, and some provisions for your command 
at the mail stations, for which you will give a receipt to be paid in kind, keeping a 
copy of each receipt, and advising President Young by telegraph, so that we can 
forward the amounts by the teams going to the States, which are expected to start 
in a few days. In traveling be cautious, and vigilant, and keep together and 
allow no straggling from camp, either night or day. There must not be any 
drinking of spirituous liquors, neither swearing, or abusive language of any kind, 
and treat everybody with courtesy, and prove there is no necessity of trouble 
with the Indians, when white men act with propriety. 

" If you can get to speak with Indians, treat them kindly, showing them you 
are their friends; and so far as you are able, investigate the cause and origin of 
the present difficulties. 

"You had better have one or two friendly Indians to accompany you, 
through whose agency you may be able to communicate with others, and thus 
become apprised of their intentions. 

" When you meet the troops from the East said to be on their way, you can 
return, but you will remain in the vicinity of the threatened difficulties until 
relieved, or so long as it may be necessary. 

"* * ^ Keep a journal of every day's proceedings, and a strict 
account of every business transaction, as well of the causes leading to the dis- 
turbances, if obtainable. 

"Send by telegraph to President Young from every station giving us in short 
the current news, and prospects of Indians, state of the roads, weather, and other 
matters of interest. 

"When you arrive at or near the scene of disaster, feel your way before you, 
proceed so that you may not be surprised by a concealed or sudden movement of 
the Indians, or other evil-disposed persons. 

"May God bless, prosper and preserve you all. 

DANIEL H. WELLS, 
'' Lieut. -General Commanding N. L. Militia of Utah Territory:' 

A day later Acting-Governor Fuller made an official requisition for the 
escort, and the Lieut. -General issued a supplemental order: 



234 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

" spec al orders, no. 2. 

" Headquarters Nauvoo Legion, 

"G. S. L. City, April 25th, 1862. 

" ist. In compliance with the requisition this day made by His Excellency 
Frank Fuller, Acting-Governor Utah Territory, Col. R. T. Burton will forthwith 
detail twenty men, properly armed and equipped, and mounted on good and 
efficient animate, provided with thirty days' rations and grain for animals, and 
wagons sufficient to carry grain, rations and bedding, and proceed East on the 
overland mail route, guarding mails, passengers, and property pertaining thereto. 

"2d. It is expected that to have the protection of the escort, the mail 
coaches will travel with it, as it cannot be expected that without change of 
animals it can keep pace with the mail coaches, especially when the roads are 
good. 

" 3d, Colonel Burton will immediately offer his services to said Mail Com- 
pany, and then proceed upon his journey, and remain on the line until relieved 
by the troops said to be coming up from the East, or so long as it may be neces- 
sary to quiet the Indians, who are said to be hostile, and the road considered safe 
from their depredations. 

" God bless and prosper you all. 

DANIEL H. WELLS, 
Lieut.- General Commanding N. L. Militia Utah Territory.''^ 

But the historical mark extraordinary of this service is seen in the call of 
President Lincoln on Brigham Young for help, and his authorizing of him to 
raise a company, just as though he had been still the Governor of Utah : 

"■ order. 

"Washington, April 28th, 1862. 
^^ Mr. Brigham Youn^, Salt Lake City : 

"By express direction of the President of the United States, you are 
authorized to raise, arm and equip one company of cavalry for ninety (90) days' 
service. 

" This company will be organized as follows: One captain, one first lieu- 
tenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, one quartermaster sergeant, 
four (4) sergeants, and eight (8) corporals, two (2) musicians, two (2) farriers, 
one saddler, one wagoner, and fifty-six (56) to seventy-two (72) privates. 

"The company will be employed to protect the property of the Telegraph 
and Overland Mail Companies, in or about Independence Rock, where depreda- 
tions have been committed, and will continue in service only until the U. S. 
troops can reach the point where they are so much needed. It may therefore be 
disbanded previous to the expiration of ninety (90) days. 

" It will not be employed for any offensive operations other than may grow 
out of the duty herein assigned to it. The officers of the company will be 
mustered into the U. S. service by any civil officer of the U. S. at Salt Lake City 
competent to administer an oath. The men employed in the service above named 
will be entitled to receive no other than the allowance authorized by law. to 
soldiers in the service of the U. S. Until the proper staff officers for substituting 



k 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 255 

these men arrive, you will please furnish subsistence for them yourself, keeping an 
accurate account thereof for future settlement with U. S. Government. 
" By order of the Secretary of War. 

L. THOMAS, 

Adjutant- General. ' ' 

This telegram was received at 9 o'clock at night, April 28; but, within the 
hour, the following was issued and immediately in the hands of Major Lot Smith : 

" Headquarters Nauvoo Legion, 
" Great Salt Lake City, April 28th, 1862. 

"special orders, no. 3. 

" ist. Pursuant to instructions received this day from ex-Governor Brigham 
Young, and in compliance with a requisition from the President of the United 
States, Major Lot Smith of the Battalion of Life Guards is hereby directed to 
enlist by voluntary enrollment for the term of ninety days a company of mounted 
men, to be composed as follows, to-wit : One captain, one first lieutenant, one 
second lieutenant, one quartermaster sergeant, one first sergeant, four sergeants, 
eight corporals, two musicians, two farriers, one saddler, one wagoner, and 
seventy-two privates. Major Smith is hereby assigned to the command of the 
company with rank of captain, and on mustering the men into service, will 
administer the proper oath agreeably to instructions herewith accompanying. 

" 2d. The object of this expedition, to which this company is assigned, as 
instructed and authorized by the President, is the protection of the property of 
the Overland Mail and Telegraph Companies, at or about Independence Rock, 
and the adjoining country. Captain Smith will, therefore, as £oon as his ccm- 
pany is completed proceed at once to the above named vicinity, and patrol the 
road so as to render all necessary aid as contemplated by the instructions. It is 
not anticipated that the company, or any portion of it will camp so near any of 
the mail stations, as to give trouble or inconvenience ; but sufficiently adjacent to 
render prompt and ready aid when required. Captain Smith is enjoined to pre- 
serve strict sobriety in his camp and prevent the use of all profane language or 
disorderly conduct of any kind. No apprehension is entertained by the General 
commanding, but that the best and most praiseworthy deportment will char- 
acterize the expedition, the officers and men having been selected with care, and 
with a view to their ability to render good and efficient service. 

"3d. Judging from advices received from the President of the United 
States, troops may soon be expected on the road to relieve the company now or- 
dered out; the commander of the detachment will receive the necessary instruc- 
tions in proper time, and will remain on duty Avith his command until so in- 
structed. 

" 4th. It is desirable to cultivate as far as practicable friendly and peaceful 
relations with the Indians. 

"5th. The service to be expected from the horses and mules on the expe- 
dition will be a sufficient argument in favor of great care in marching and feed- 



256 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

ing, as well as vigilant guarding and precaution against surprises. The greatest 
economy must be used with ammunition ; none should be heedlessly wasted. 

DANIEL H. WELLS. 
^^ Lieut. -General Commanding Nauvoo Legion, Militia of Utah Territory y 

BRIGHAM young's TELEGRAM TO ADJT. -GENERAL L. THOMAS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

"Great Salt Lake City, May ist, 1862. 
" Adjt.-Gen. L. Thomas, U. S. A., Washington City, D. C: 

" Immediately on the receipt of your telegram of the 28 ult., at 8:30 p. m., 
I requested General Daniel H. Wells to proceed at once to raise a company of 
cavalry to be mustered into the service of the United States for ninety days, as 
per your aforesaid telegram. General Wells forthwith issued the requisite orders, 
and yesterday the captain and other officers were sworn by Chief Justice J. F. 
Kinney, the enrolling and swearing in the privates attended to, and the company 
went into camp adjacent to this city. 

"To-day the company, seventy-two (72) privates, officered as directed, and 
ten (10) baggage and supply wagons, with one assistant teamster deemed neces- 
sary, took up their line of march for the neighborhood of Independence Rock. 

BRIGHAM YOUNG." 

It will be noticed that about a day and a half had elapsed before the return 
telegram of the ex-Governor was sent answering the call of President Lincoln. 
At first it might seem that there was a missing link — that a previous answer must 
have been sent to the effect that the call would be responded to at the earliest 
moment ; but the feature of the case is eminently like the character of Brigham 
Young. He answered the moment he could say to the President of the United 
States, Your order is obeyed; the company is on the march ! Abraham Lincoln 
was just the man to appreciate such a telegram and such executive business ; so 
was also the great mail contractor Ben Holladay, who became assured the mo- 
ment he knew that Brigham Young was moving in the service and thus acknowl- 
edged : 

"New York, May 2, 1862. 
' ' To Gov. Brigham Young : 

"Many thanks for your prompt response to President Lincoln's request. As 

soon as the boys can give protection, the mails shall be resumed. I leave for 

your city Sunday next. 

BEN HOLLADAY." 

As a link of the history may be given Chief Justice Kinney's certificate. 

"I, John F. Kinney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States for the Territory of Utah, do hereby certify, that in pursuance of the fol- 
lowing order from the War Department, I mustered into service of the United 
States for the period of ninety days, unless sooner discharged, the following 
officers, whose names appear to the certificate by administering the usual oath, 
and the oath provided by the act of Congress August 6th, 1861." 

The following extracts from Major Lot Smith's letters to Brigham Young, 
give a touch of the performance of the service: 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 257 

''Pacific Springs, June 15th, 1862. 
* ' Prest. Brigham Young : 

" Dear Sir — I had an interview with Brig. -Gen. Craig, who arrived by stage 
at this point. He expressed himself much pleased with the promptness of our at- 
tention to the call of the General Government, also the exertions we had made 
to overcome the obstacles on the road, spoke well of our people generally; he also 
informed me he had telegraphed to President Lincoln to that effect, and intended 
writing him at a greater length by mail. I received written instructions to the 
effect that he had placed the whole of Nebraska Territory under martial law ; 
Utah, he remarked, was perfectly loyal, and as far as he knew always had been. 
He also remarked, we were the most efficient troops he had for the present ser- 
vice, and thought as we had broke into our summer's work, of recommending 
President Lincoln to engage our services for three months longer." 

"Pacific Springs, June ayth^ '62. 
* ' President Young : 

" Dear Sir — I have just received orders from General Craig through Colonel 
Collins to march my command to Fort Bridger to guard the line from Green 
River to Salt Lake City, and start from here to-morrow morning. 

"Lieut. Rawlings and command arrived here yesterday; owing to neglect of 
the mail, my orders to Lieut. Rawlings did not reach him until eight days after 
they were due, consequently there has been no detail left at Devil's Gate, 

"There has been built by the command at the former place a log house 20 
feet by 16 feet, with bake houses and detached also a commodious corral. 

"Lieut. Rawlins has left the above station of Major O'Farral, Ohio volun- 
teers, but occupied by Messrs. Merchant and Wheeler, traders, who formerly 
owned the station that was destroyed there ; the property is subject to our order 
at any time. The command also made a good and substantial bridge on Sweet- 
water; three of our teams crossed over; the mail bridge would have been ;g2oo 
per wagon, this bridge is free, and also in charge of Major O'Farral. Several 
emigration companies crossed during the time the command was there, free. 
One company presented us with a good wagon, which Lieut. Rawlins handed over 
to Captain Harmon. 

" I have had frequent interviews with Col. Collins and officers; they have 
behaved very gentlemanly, and expressed themselves much pleased with our ex- 
ertions, and seemed disposed to render us every assistance to contribute to our 
comfort. 

" Col. Collins is decidedly against killing Indians indiscriminately, and will 
not take any general measures, save on the defensive, until he can ascertain satis- 
factorily by whom the depredations have been committed, and then not resort to 
killing until he is satified that peaceable measures have failed. 

"Col. Collins and officers all allow we are best suited to guard this road, 
both men and horses ; they are anxious to return, and if they have any influence, 
I imagine they will try to get recalled and recommend to Utah to furnish the 
necessary guard. The Colonel has just left our camp, he has sent for Washakie, 
chief of the Snakes, with a view to make treaty or obtain information. No 



2^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

sickness at all in camp at present. We are attached to Col. Collins' regiment. 
Gen. Craig's division, and furnish our muster, descriptive and other returns to 
that command. Should General Wells require duplicates, we will forward them. 

I am sir, yours respectfully, 

LOT SMITH." 

" Deer Creek, May i6, 1862. 

" Governor Fuller— My detachment arrived here yesterday at 3 p.m., en- 
ccuntering no difficulty, save that caused by the mud, snow, etc. We have seen 
no Indians on the route; found all the mail stations from Green River to this 
point deserted, all stock having been stolen or removed, and other property 
abandoned to the mercy of the Indians or white men. We found at the Ice 
Spring station, which had been robbed on the night of the 27th, a large lock 
xx\3,\\ — twenty-six sacks, a great portion of which had been cut open and scattered 
over the prairie. Letters had been opened and pillaged, showing conclusively 
that some renegade whites were connected with the Indians in the robbery. The 
mail matter, after being carefully collected and placed in the sacks, I have con- 
veyed to this point, also ten other sacks of lock mail, from the Three Crossings; 
all of which will be turned over to the mail agent at Lapariel. Twenty miles 
from this, we will meet men from the East for this purpose. The United States 
troops from the East will be in this vicinity to-morrow; and, unless otherwise 
directed by yourself or General Wells, I will return immediately, halting on the 
Sweet Water to investigate still further the causes of the difficulty, as I have not 
been able to learn who or what Indians positively have been engaged in the mat- 
ter ; but suppose it to be about thirty renegade Snakes and Bannacks from the 
north. Some of the party spoke English plainly, and one the German language. 
Hon. W. H. Hooper and Mr. C. W. West will take passage in the coach that 
comes for the mail. 

R. T. BURTON, Commanding:' 

General Burton supplements this with the following : 

"This year (1862) will be remembered as the season of the highest water 
ever experienced in the mountains; as a consequence travel (over the mountains) 
was almost impossible. Some idea may be formed of this matter from the fact 
that it took this command, with all their energy and exertion, nine days to go to 
Fort Bridger, a distance of only 113 miles from Salt Lake. Most of our wagons 
had to be dispensed with at Fort Bridger, at which point we proceeded mainly 
with pack animals. It is proper, also, to state that we received from the Govern- 
ment officers stationed at the military fort at Fort Bridger, provisions, tents, camp 
equipage, etc., all that was within their power to grant. From this point (Fort 
Bridger) all the mail stations were abandoned, many of them burned, some of 
the coaches still standing upon the road riddled with bullet holes from the attack 
made by the Indians at the time the drivers and passengers were killed. In some 
of the mail stations west of the Devil's Gate we found large numbers of mail 
sacks which had been cut open by Indians and the contents scattered over the 
ground, which were carefully picked up by my company and carried on to the 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. gjp 

North Platte and turned over to the mail contractor at that point. The coaches 
were enabled to come west as far as Lapariel Station, a distance of some thirty- 
miles east of the Platte. 

"The expedition was one of the most hazardous and toilsome we were ever 
called upon to perform, but succeeded admirably without the loss of a man or 
animal. Returned to Salt Lake City thirty days from the time of starting and 
u'ere mustered out of service by Governor Fuller. " 



CH.\PTER XXIX. 

LTAH .^GAIX ASKS ADMISSION INTO THE UNION AS A ST.\TE. THE HISTORY 
AND PASSAGE OF THE ANTI-POLYGAMIC BILL IN THE HOUSE AND SEN- 
ATE. THE BILL SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN. PRESENTATION TO 
CONGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE "STATE OF DESERET," 

At this juncture, in the spring of 1862, it is worthy of special notice that 
Utah was again asking admission into the Union. The Legislature of the pro- 
posed ''State of Deseret " was then in session. Hons. Wm. H. Hooper and 
George Q. Cannon were elected senators j the former with the memorial and con- 
stitution, went east under the escort of Colonel Burton and his troop; and a des- 
patch was sent to Apostle Cannon, who was then in England, requesting him to 
join Mr. Hooper in Washington early in June, which he did. The senators-elect 
labored diligently in Washington during the remainder of that session of Con- 
gress, and, notwithstanding that Utah was not admitted to statehood, she pro- 
voked much respect from members of Congress over her conduct at that moment, 
when it was thought by no inconsiderable portion of the world that the issues of 
the war would be won by the South. It was universally understood at that time 
that the sympathies of France and England were with the Southern Confederacy. 

It is due to the history to here affirm something of the political views of 
Utah relative to the Union. Delegate Hooper, December i6th, i860, in a letter 
to Apostle George Q. Cannon, said: 

" I think three-quarters of the Republicans of the House would vote for our 
admission; but I may be mistaken. Many say they would gladly 'swap' the 
Gulf States for Utah. I tell them that we show our loyalty by trying to get in, 
while others are trying to get out, notwithstanding our grievances, which are far 
greater than any of the seceding States ; but that I consider we can redress our 
grievances better in the Union than out of it." 

Now it was with just this view before them that the people of Utah again 
sought admission into the Union as a State in the spring and summer of 1862, 



26o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Ex-Governor Young and his compeers who were proud that so many of their 
sires were among the men who founded this nation, and then, in a later generation, 
won for it independence, held, as we see in every view, that the South committed 
a grave error in seceding. They affirmed that the Southern States should have 
fought out their issue inside the Union, and under the sanction of the Constitu- 
tion. They did wrong, the people of Utah thought, in setting up a new confed- 
eracy, and firing upon the old flag, thus tarnishing the bright integrity of their 
cause. 

The Mormon view of the great national controversy then, was, that the 
Southern States should have done precisely what Utah did, and placed themselves 
on the defensive ground of their rights and institutions, as old as the Union. And 
it is worthy of special note in the political record of Utah that her Delegate ad- 
vocated the Union doctrine at the capitol and condemned secession, during the 
term of the last Congress preceding the dissolution, offering Utah as a political 
example with words that deserve to be imperishable in history : "We can redress 
our grievances better in the Union than out of it." 

In the House of Representatives, April 8, 1862, Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, by 
unanimous consent, introduced a bill to punish and prevent the practice of polyg- 
amy in the Territories of the United States, and for other purposes, and to disap- 
prove and annul certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah ; 
which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Ter- 
ritories. 

April 28. — Mr. Ashley, from the Committee on Territories, reported back, 
with a recommendation that it do pass, a bill (H. R. No. 39 ij to punish and pre- 
vent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other 
places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Territorial Legislature of 
Utah. 

The bill was read. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I desire to say to the House that this is the iden- 
tical bill passed about two years ago, when there was an elaborate report made by 
a gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Nelson, and when it received the almost unani- 
mous support of the House. The only difference between the two bills is this : 
that bill excepted from its provisions the District of Columbia, and that excep- 
tion is stricken out in this bill. I presume there is no member of the House who 
is desirous to discuss this measure, and I move the previous question. 

Mr. Maynard. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to suggest a 
single verbal amendment, rather a matter of taste than otherwise. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I will hear the suggestion. 

Mr. Maynard. It is to strike out the word "nevertheless" in the proviso 
to the first section. It has no business there; it is surplusage. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. Well, if the gentleman from Tennessee says that 
" nevertheless" has no business there, I presume he is right ; and I have no ob- 
jection to the amendment. 

Mr. Maynard. I offer the amendment. I have no speech to make about it. 

The amendment was agreed to. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 261 

Mr. Cradlebaugh. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to offer 
an amendment. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I prefer to have the bill pass as it is. 

Mr. Cradlebaugh. I think if the gentleman understood the character of the 
amendment he would not object. It is merely to correct the bill, and not for the 
purpose of throwing any impediments in the way of its passage. The bill, in its 
present shape, does not amount to anything. 

The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous 
question ? 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I decline to do so. 

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered. 

The bill was ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time ; and being en- 
grossed, it was accordingly read the third time. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I move the previous question on the passage of 
the bill. 

Mr. Biddle. Is all debate necessarily cut off at this time? 

The Speaker. It will be if the previous question is sustained. 

Mr. Biddle. There are some of us who would like to hear debate, if not to 
participate in it. 

The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous 
question ? 

Mr. Mortill, of Vermont. I decline to do so, and call for tellers. 

Tellers were ordered ; and Messrs. Cox and Chamberlain were appointed. 

The House divided; and the tellers reported — ayes sixty-five, noes not 
counted. 

So the previous question was seconded. 

The main question was ordered to be put; and being put, the bill was 
passed. 

In the Senate, June 3d — 

Mr. Bayard. I move to take up House bill No. 391. It was reported back 
from the Committee on the Judiciary, with amendments, about three weeks ago. 
It is a bill that ought to be acted upon. 

The motion was agreed to ; and the bill (H. F. No. 391) to punish the practice 
of polygamy in the Territories of the United States, and other places, and disap- 
proving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of 
Utah, was considered as in committee of the Whole. 

The amendment of the Committee on Judiciary was to strike out all after the 
enacting clause, and insert, as a substitute : 

That every person having a husband or wife living, who shall marry any other 
person, whether married or single, in a Territory of the United States, or other 
place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall, except in the 
cases specified in the proviso to this section, be adjudged guilty of bigamy, and 
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, and by im. 
prisonment for a term not exceeding five years: Provided nevertheless, T\\2A this section 
shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or 
wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years without being 



262 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C/Tl. 

known to such person within that time to be living ; nor to any person by reason 
of any- former marriage which shall have been dissolved by the decree of a compe- 
tent court ; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have 
been annulled or pronounced void by the sentence or decree of a competent court 
on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract. 

8ec. 2. And be if further enacted. That the following ordinance of the pro- 
visional government of the State of Deseret, so called, namely: "An ordinance 
incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," passed February 
8, in the year 1S51, and adopted, re-enacted, and made valid by the Governor and 
Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, by an act passed January 19, in 
the year 1855, entitled, "An act in relation to the compilation and revision of 
the laws and resolutions in force in Utah Territory, their publication and distribu- 
tion," and all other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by the said Legislative 
Assembly of the Territory of Utah, which establish, support, maintain, shield, or 
countenance polygamy, be, and the same hereby are, disap{)roved and annulled : 
Provided, That this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or inter- 
fere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance heretofore 
mentioned, nor with the right " to worship God according to the dictates of con- 
science," but only to annul all acts and laws which establish, maintain, protect, or 
countenance the ])ractice of jjolygamy, evasively called spiritual marriage, however 
disguised by legal or ecclesiastical solemnities, sacraments, ceremonies, consecra- 
tions, or other contrivances. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted. That it shall not be lawful for any cor- 
poration or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real 
estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the Terri- 
torial government of a greater value than ;Jioo,ooo; and all real estate acquired or 
held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act, 
shall be forfeited and escheat to the L^nited States : Provided, T^hat existing vested 
rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section. 

Mr. Bayard. I will state, very briefly, the difference between the bill as 
proposed to be amended by the Judiciary Committee, and the bill as passed by the 
House of Representatives. The bill of the House is intended to punish the crime 
of polj^gamy, or bigamy properly speaking, when committed in any Territory of 
the United States ; but, in point of fact, it goes beyond that — it punishes cohabita- 
tion without marriage. The committee, in their amendments, have so altered the 
first section as to provide for the punishment of the crime of bigamy, leaving the 
punishment for a similar offense, where marriage had been contracted elsewhere, 
to the State where it was contracted. We thought that clearly preferable, and that 
it would be of no utility to carry the act beyond the evil intended to be remedied, 
which was to put down polygamy, as a part of the recognized legal institutions of 
Utah. 

There is a mistake in printing as to the second section. The second section 
of the bill is not altered at all; we leave it precisely the same as it was in the 
original bill. It repeals the ordinance of LTtah, commonly called '' An ordinance 
incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." It is precisely in 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 263 

words like the second section of the House bill, which is not altered in anv 
respect. 

The third section is an amendment of the committee, and it is in the nature 01 
a mortmain law. The object is to prevent the accumulation of real estate in the 
hands of ecclesiastical corporations in Utah. Though that Territory is large, the 
value of real estate is not of large amount ; and the object of the section is to pre- 
vent the accumulation of the property and wealth of the community in the hands 
of what may be called theocratic institutions, inconsistent with our form of govern- 
ment. In my own judgment it would be wiser to limit the amount of real estate that 
could be held by any corporation of that character in a Territory, to the value of 
$50,000, I think §100,000 is too much. I am satisfied that there is great danger in 
that Territory, under its present government, that the ecclesiastical institutions 
which prevail there will ultimately become the owners in perpetuity of all the valuable 
land in that Territory, and so afford a nucleus for the permanence of their general 
institutions unless a stop be put to it by act of Congress. 

I have now stated the provisions of the amendment as proposed by the com- 
mittee. The first section of the bill is altered so as to punish the crime of bigamy, 
but leaving the question of cohabitation or mere adultery apart from the crime of 
bigamy, without reference to any action of Congress. The second section is ex- 
actly the same as the section in the House bill. The third section is a new one, the 
object of which is to operate in the nature of a mortmain law, to prevent the en- 
tire property of that Territory being accumulated in perpetuity in the hands of a 
species of theocratic institutions. 

The amendment was agreed to. 

Mr. Hale. I shall probably vote lor the bill ; but I should like to know from 
the chairman of the committee if its provisions are not inconsistent with 

Air. Bayard. I move to strike out "$100,000" and insert "$50,000," in 
the third section. 

Mr. Hale. I will wait until that is decided. 

Mr. Bayard. I m.ake that motion. 

The Vice President. The Senator's motion is not now in order, the amend- 
ment of the committee having been adopted. It will be in order when the bill 
shall have been reported to the Senate. 

Mr. Hale. I was only going to say that I had been looking at a decision of 
the Supreme Court in which the rights of Congress over the Territories are exam- 
ined with some care, and it occurred to me that possibly the provisions of this 
bill might be inconsistent with some of the doctrines and dogmas of that decision. 
I refer to a case decided in the Supreme Court at the December term of 1S56, 
entitled, " Dred Scott vs. Sandford," and the doctrine was pretty thoroughly gone 
over in that decision as to how far the powers of Congress extended over the Terri- 
tories. It strikes me that by analogy this bill infringes upon that decision, for I 
remember that one of the exponents of the true faith on this floor used to illus- 
trate this dogma at least as often as once a month by saying that the same 
law prevailed as to the regulation of the relations of husband and wife, parent 
and child, and master and servant. I think at least once a month for years that 
was proclaimed to be the law. If the national Legislature have no more power 



264 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

over the relations of husband and wife — and that seems to be the one touched 
here — than over master and slave, it seems to me that if we mean to maintain that 
respect which is due to so august a tribunal as the Supreme Court of the United 
States, we ought to read the Dred Scott decision over again, and see if we are not 
in danger of running counter to it. It strikes me decidedly that we are ; and at 
this time when there is so much necessity for invoking all the reverence there is 
in the country for the tribunals of the country, it seems to me we ought to tread 
delicately when we trench upon things that have been so solemnly decided by the 
Supreme Court as this has. But, as the gentleman who reports the bill is a mem- 
ber of the Judiciary Committee, if it is clearly his opinion that we can pass this 
bill without trenching upon the doctrine of tne Dred Scott decision, I shall inter 
pose no objection. 

Mr. Bayard. I will not be drawn into any argument. It is sufficient to say 
that I have read the decision to which the honorable Senator alludes, I think with 
some care, and in my judgment this bill is entirely within its principles as well as 
within the decision itself. I cannot see the contrariety. I shall not enter into the 
argument now. To me it is very palpable that the bill is within the power of 
Congress and is necessary legislation. 

The bill was reported to the Senate. 

Mr. Bayard. I propose now in the fifth line of the third section to strike 
out "one hundred" and insert "fifty," so as to make the limitation of real 
estate held by an ecclesiastical corporation, ^50,000. 

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to. 

The amendment made as in the Committee of the Whole, as amended, was 
concurred in. 

Mr. McDougall. It may not be considereed a very judicious thing to object 
to this measure here, but I feel called upon to do it. There is no Senator, I think, 
who objects more strongly than I do to the vicious practice that obtains in the 
Territory of Utah ; but I think we have just at this time trouble enough on our 
hands without invoking further trouble. We have had our communication with 
California cut off by the Indians on the line of communication. We have already 
had a Utah war that cost the Government a large amount of money. We are to 
have a controversy with them as to their admission as a State. They are clamoring 
for that now. In my judgment, no particular good is to be accomplished by the 
passage of this bill at present. When the time does come that our communication 
across the continent is complete, then we can take jurisdiction where we have 
power, and can employ power for the purpose of correcting these abuses. I sug- 
gest to gentlemen, in the first place, that they cut off most likely the communica- 
tion across the continent to our possessions on the Pacific by a measure of legisla- 
tion of this kind, which will be well calculated to invite, certainly will invite, great 
hostility, and interfere with the general interests of the country. It will cost the 
Government a large amount if communication is interfered with, and do no substan- 
tial good. I do not think the measure at this time is well advised. It is understood 
its provisions will be a dead letter upon our statute-book. Its provisions will be 
either ignored or avoided. If Senators will look the question fairly in the face, 
and consider how important it is that we should have no difficulties now on our 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 265 

western frontier between us and the Pacific, how poorly we can afford to go into 
the expenditure of a large amount of money to overcome difficulties that will be 
threatened on the passage of this bill, and then consider the little amount of sub- 
stantial good which will result from it, I think they will hesitate before they pass 
it. The impolicy of its present passage will cause my colleague and self, after con- 
sultation, to vote against the bill. 

The amendment was ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read a third 
time. 

Mr. Hoioard. 1 ask for the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill. 

Mr. Sumner. I was about to make the same request. 

The yeas and nays were ordered, and being taken, resulted — yeas 37, nays 2; 
as follows : 

Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Browning, Chandler, Collamer, Cowan, 
Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, 
Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Rice, Sauls- 
bury, Sherman, Simmons, Stark, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Thomson, Trumbull, Wade, 
Wilkinson, Willey, Wilmot, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wright — 37. 

Nays — Messrs. Latham and McDougall — 2. 

So the bill was passed. 

The title was amended so as to read, "A bill to punish and prevent the 
practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, 
and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Utah." 

In the House of Representatives, June 5, 1862 — 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I ask the unamimous consent of the House to 
take up and consider at this time the amendments of the Senate to an act (H. R 
No. 391) to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the 
United States and other places, and annulling certain acts of the Legislative 
Assembly of the Territory of Utah. 

Objection was made. 

Mr. Moorhead. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to introduce a 
resolution of inquir)^ 

Mr. Wickliffe. I object. 

Mr. Bingham. I call for the regular order of business. 

In the House of Representatives, June 17, 1868 — 

The Speaker laid before the House bill of House (No. 391) to punish and 
prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and 
other places, disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly 
of the Territory of Utah — reported from the Senate with amendments. 

The Speaker. The bill and amendments will be referred to the Committee 
on Territories. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I object to these bills being taken up for refer- 
ence. There is no necessity for the reference of this bill. 

The Speaker. The order has been made. 



266 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I move to reconsider the vote by which the 
order was made ; and on that motion I demand tellers. 

Tellers were ordered ; and Messrs. Morrill, of Vermont, and Olin were ap- 
pointed. 

The tellers reported — ayes sixty-eight, noes not counted. 

So the motion to reconsider was agreed to.^ 

In the House of Representatives, June 17 — 

The next bill taken up was (H. R. N(^. 391) to punish the practice of po- 
lygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving 
and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, 
with Senate amendments. 

The amendments were read. 

Mr. Phelps, of Missouri. I think, Mr. Speaker, that this is rather hasty 
legislation. I should not be at all surprised if it were ascertained that the 
Catholic Church in the city of Santa Fe owns real estate to the amount of more 
than fifty thousand dollars under grants made by the Mexican Government. I 
was about to submit a motion that the bill be referred to the Committee on 
the Judiciary. I recollect very well that, in the hurry and haste of legislation, 
a bill passed the House to prohibit polygamy in the Territories, which indirectly 
sanctioned it within the District of Columbia, or inflicted no punishment for it 
here. I desire that this matter shall be critically examined, and therefore I think 
it should be referred to the Judiciary Committee. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I am perfectly willing that the bill shall be 
passed over informally until the gentleman from Missouri can inform himself on 
the subject. 

Mr. Phelps, of Missouri. I have no objection to letting the bill remain on 
the Speaker's table. Let the amendments be printed, and let us know what we 
are legislating upon. 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I have no objection to that. 

\Jt was so ordered. 

In the House of Representatives, June 24, 1862 — 

An act, (H. R. No. 391) to punish the i)ractice of polygamy in the Terri- 
tories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling 
certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, with Senate 
amendments thereon. 

Mr. Morrill of Vermont. I desire to say, in reference to the objection 
made by the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Phelps] last week, to one of the pro- 
visions of this bill, that I understand the Roman Catholic church at Santa Fe has 
property exceeding 150,000 in amount, but that is protected under treaty stipu- 
lations. His objection, therefore, is not valid. I now move the previous ques- 
tion on concurring with the Senate amendments. 

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered. 

The amendments were read. 

The amendments of the Senate were concurred in. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CTTY. 267 

Mr. Morrill of Vermont moved to reconsider the vote by which the amend- 
ments were concurred in ; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the 
table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 

In the House of Representatives, June 30, 1862 — 

Mr. Granger, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported as a truly en- 
rolled bill an act (H. R. No. 391) to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy 
in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and an- 
nulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah. 

In the House of Representatives, July 2, 1862 — 

A message was received from the President of the United States, informing 
the House that he had approved and signed an act (H. R. 391) to punish and 
prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other 
places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of 
the Territory of Utah. 

In the House of Representatives, on the 9th of June, 1862, Hon. J. M. Bern- 
hisel, Delegate from Utah, presented the Constitution of the State of Deseret and 
the memorial accompanying it, asking for admission into the Union on an equal 
footing with the original States, which were received and referred to the Committee 
on Territories. On the loth the Vice-President presented the same in the Senate, 
when Mr. Latham, of California, moved to print the constitution and memorial, 
and to admit the senators-elect, Messrs. W. H. Hooper and George Q. Cannon to 
the floor of the Senate, which motion was referred to the committee on Territories, 
in that branch of the National Legislature. The next day Mr. Latham offered a 
resolution to admit Messrs. Hooper and Cannon, claiming to be senators from Des- 
eret, to the floor of the Senate, which was laid over. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FOURTH OF JULY PROCL.WIATION BY THE CITY COUNCH.. THE CITY'S LOY- 
.\LTY. THE TWO GOVERNORS. GREAT SPEECH OF GOVERNOR HARD- 
ING. THE CITY HONORS THE CALIFORNIA SENATOR. THANKSGIVING 
PROCLAMATION. A CHANGE IN GOVERNOR HARDING'S CONDUCT. 

Great Salt Lake City this year deemed it a duty to make special call for the 
Fourth of July, whereas, formerly, either the Governor of the Territory, or 
the Lieutenant-General of the militia, made proclamation and gave the order 
of the day. It signified that Salt Lake City was, with well-considered for- 
mality, making a record that it upheld the L^nion as an everlasting covenant of the 



268 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

American States. The following Preamble and Resolutions were passed by the 
CitypCouncil of Salt Lake City, June 28th, 1862 : 

" Whereas, While w^e lament the deplorable condition of our once happy 
country, the independence of which was purchased by the best blood of our sires, 
we hail with pleasure the approaching anniversary of the birthday of the Nation, and 
in view of perpetuating our free and liberal institutions which have for so long a 
time inspired the patriotism of every true American citizen, and the strangers of 
other climes, who have sought an asylum under the protecting aegis of our glorious 
Constitution ; therefore, 

^^ Resolved, That we will celebrate the eighty-sixth anniversary of our National 
independence. 

''Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed, in behalf of the City Coun- 
cil, to arrange the programme and order of celebration. 

" Resolved, That Lieutenant-General Wells and staff be resi)ectfully solicited to 
co-operate in the celebration of the day, with such of the military of the district, 
and the several bands, as may be deemed proper. 

''Resolved, That the State, Federal, Territorial and County officers l^e invited 
to take part in the celebration and join in the procession, and that the invitation be 
extended to strangers and citizens generally, to participate in the ceremonies at the 
Bowery. 

"The following appointments for the occasion were then made, viz : 

"Committee of Arrangements: Messrs. Wm. Clayton, J. C. Little, Theodore 
McKean, Enoch Reese, and Nathaniel H. Felt. 

"Furnishing Committee: Alonzo H. Raleigh, Elijah F. Sheets, and Isaac 
Groo. 

"Marshals of the Day: Col. Robert T. Burton and Majors John Sharp and 
Andrew Cunningham. 

ROBERT CAMPBELL, City Recorder.'' 

On the 7th of July Stephen S. Harding of Indiana, the new Governor of 
Utah Territory, arrived in the city and received a hearty welcome ; Judges Waite 
and Drake arrived a few days later. 

The Pioneer Day of this year was celebrated with a grand pageantry and ex- 
traordinary enthusiasm. The procession halted in front of ex-Governor Young's 
mansion, where with his counselors, H. C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, he 
joined it, accompanied by Governor Harding, Secretary Fuller, Judges Waite 
and Drake, Superintendent Doty, Mr. Fred Cook, assistant treasurer of the Over- 
land Mail Co., Mr. James Street, of the U. P. Telegraph Co., and H. S. Rum- 
field, Esq. It may be said that the " forces of the Gentiles" united this year to 
celebrate the anniversary of the Utah Pioneers. It was computed that there were 
under the branches of the "Old Bowery" five thousand persons, besides the 
thousands congregated outside. The most unique feature of the day was the in- 
troduction and speech of Governor Harding. 

Governor Young invited Governor Harding to address the people ; and on 
the two Governors taking the stand, there was a perfect stillness in the vast 
assembly; but, on Governor Young saying, "I have the pleasure of presenting 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 269 

Governor Harding, who will make a speech," the stillness of the multitude was 
broken and the Governor was greeted with cheering. 

SPEECH OF GOVERNOR HARDING. 

"Fellow Citizens — And in that word, I mean all of you, of all ages, sexes 
and conditions — I am pleased at being with you to-day, and of being introduced 
in the agreeable manner you have just witnessed. I have desired the opportunity 
of looking upon such a vast concourse of the people of Utah, at one time; and, 
as such an occasion now presents itself; it is right and proper that I should say a 
few things to you. 

"You have doubtless been informed before now that the President of the 
United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, has appointed 
me to the office of Governor of this Territory. I have come amongst you to en- 
ter upon the discharge of the high and important duties that have devolved upon 
me, and when I greatly distrust my own ability, yet I cannot but hope that, with 
your assistance, I shall be able to discharge those duties to your satisfaction, and 
with strict fidelity to the Government, whose servant I am. 

" If I know my own heart, I come amongst you a messenger of peace and 
good will. I have no wrongs — either real or imaginary, to complain of, and no 
religious prejudices to overcome — [applause]. Believing, as I do, that the Con- 
stitution of the United States secures to every citizen the right to worship God 
according to the dictates of his own conscience; and holding, further, that the 
Constitution itself is dependent for its support and maintenance on the preserva- 
tion of that sacred right, it follows, as a corollory, that, under no pretext what- 
ever, will I consent to its violation in this particular, by any official act of mine, 
whilst Governor of this Territory — [tremendous applause.] 

"In a Government like ours, based upon the freest exercise of conscience, 
religion is a matter between man and his Maker, and not between man acd the 
Government, and for the honest exercise of duties inculcated by his religious faith 
and conscience, so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others, equally 
as sacred as his own, he is not responsible to any human tribunal, other than that 
which is found in the universil judgment of mankind [hear hear]. If the 
right of conscience of the minority depended upon the will of the majority, then, 
in a government like ours, that same minority in a future day might control the 
conscience of the majority of to-day — when by superior cunning and finesse a 
political canvass had been won in its favor, and thus alternately would it be in the 
power of either when elevated to the seat of the law-makers to impose a despot 
ism upon the conscience of its adversary only equalled by the ' Index Expurga- 
toris' against which the Protestant world so justly complained [applause]. 

" It has long been a maxim and accepted as true by our people, ' That it is 
safe to tolerate error, so long as truth is left free to combat it.' Who are in 
error, and in what that error consists in matters of speculative theology, are 
questions only cognizable at the bar of heaven. It has been the fate of pro- 
pogandists of new ideas and religious dogmas, without regard to their truth or 
falsity, to meet with opposition, often ending in the most cruel persecution. 
Hoary-headed error, claiming for itself the immunity of ages, glares with jaun- 



270 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



diced eyes upon all new ideas, which refuse to pay to it its accustomed homage. 
I know of no law of the human mind that makes this age an exception to the 
rule. Nevertheless, he who founds his ideas and theories on truth, correlative with 
his physical and spiritual being, and consequently in harmony with the law of 
nature, must ultimately succeed; whilst he who builds upon falsehood must share 
the fate of him who built his house upon the sand. This is not only a declara- 
tion of divine truth, but is in accordance with all human experience. The great 
highway of man's civilization and progress is strewn with the wrecks of a thou- 
sand systems — once the hope of their founders and challenging the confidence 
of mankind [hear, hear]. But I must limit this dissertation, and will sum up in a 
few words what I have intended to say on this branch of the subject. 

"The founders of our Constitution fully comprehended these ideas which I 
have so briefly glanced at, and they clothed the citizen with absolute immunity in 
the exercise of his rights of conscience, and thence the protecting shield of the 
Constitution around him, and over him, in all the diverging paths that lead the 
enquirer in his researches after truth in the dim unknown of speculative 
theology. 

"But I must not detain you, I leave this part of the subject, and address 
myself to the occasion that has called together this mighty multitude. 

"On every hand I behold a miracle of labor. Fifteen years ago to-day, 
and your Pioneers, by their heroism and devotion to a principle, consecrated 
this valley to a civilization wonderful *to the stranger within your gates,' and 
in the developments of which a new era will be stamped not only upon the 
history of our own country, but on the world. You have indeed ' caused the 
desert to blossom as the rose.' Waving fields of gold; gardens containing all 
that is necessary for the comfort of civilized man; 'shrubberies that a Shenstone 
might have envied;' orchards bending beneath the promise of most luscious 
fruit, — now beautify the fields which your industry has filled with new life, and 
where but fifteen years ago the genius of solitude, from yon snow capped peak, stood 
marking on her rocky tablets the centuries of desolation and death that rested 
on these same fields, since the upheaval force of nature formed the mighty zone 
that separates the two oceans that wash the shores of our continent. 

"Wonderful progress! wonderful people! If you shall be content, as I 
doubt not you will be, to enjoy the blessings with which you are surrounded, and 
abide your time, and enjoy your privileges under a benign and just government, 
'Inipetium in Imperio' and not attempt to reverse this order of things absolutely 
necessary under our form of government; and above all things, if you will act 
up to the line of your duty contained in that one grand article of your faith, 
' We believe in being honest, tnie, chaste, ternperate, benevolent, virtuous and up- 
right, and in doing good to all ;//^;z,' you cannot fail to obtain that ultimate suc- 
cess [applause] which is the great desideratum of your hopes. Honestly conform 
to the standard of your creed and faith, and though you may for a time be ' cast 
down,' you cannot be destroyed [great applause] ; for the power of the Eternal 
One will be in your midst, though no mortal eye may behold the ' pillar of cloud 
and of fire' [applause]. As the Great Master of sculpture gathered and com- 
bined all the perfections of the human face into one divine model, so you, in 



HISTORY OF SAL7- LAKE CITY. 271 

that one grand article, have bound into one golden sheaf, all the Christian vir- 
tues that underlie our civilization. 

"But this must suffice. I, perhaps, have said more than I ought to have 
said, and yet I cannot see how I could have said less. If my words shall be as kindly 
received by you as they have been honestly and frankly uttered by me, and we 
will act accordingly, my mission among you cannot fail of being alike profitable 
to you and to the government that I represent [hear, hear]. 

" This is the hour when your loyalty to our common country is most ac- 
ceptable and grateful to the heart of every patriot. Be but content and abide 
your time, and your reward will be as great as it is certain. Duty to ourselves, 
to our God and our country calls upon us to cast aside every prejudice and to 
rally around the Constitution and the flag of our fathers, and if need be, to bap- 
tize them anew with our own blood. The Constitution will not perish, that flag 
will not trail in the dust, but they will both come out of the present fiery ordeal, 
redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the genius of universal liberty and 
justice [great applause]." 

In view of Governor Harding's subsequent course the foregoing speech will 
presently assume the character of a page of Utah history. 

Senator Milton S. Latham, of California, passed through the city early in 
November on his way to Washington. The City Council in its session on the 
evening preceding his arrival, adopted a preamble and resolutions tendering him 
the hospitality of the city during his sojourn here. The Senator was waited upon 
by Councilors Little, Felt and Groo, to whom he returned his thanks for the 
complimentary resolutions of the Council, but his short stay prevented his ac- 
ceptance. Latham and McDougall, California's two Senators, were the only ones 
who voted -'nay" on the passage of the anti-polygamic bill of 1862. The honor 
shown to Senator Latham signified that Great Salt Lake City was returning 
thanks to California for her minority vote in protest of the bill. 

Towards the close of the year 1862, an entire change of feeling came over 
Governor Harding towards "his Mormon people," especially those of the 
leaders; and singularly enough it began with his following 

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION: 

" Man, in all ages of the world, in the development of his moral nature, has 
demonstrated that he is not less a religious than a social being. 

" Whether we study his attributes at the shrine of Isis in her ancient tem- 
ples ; at the rude altar of the wandering Hebrew amidst his flocks and herds ; in 
the fierce games of the warlike Greek and Roman, or in that simple and more 
touching act of the Hindoo husbandman, as he lays a portion of his harvest at 
the feet of his rude idol, still do all these acts of devotion, rude and unseemly as 
they may appear to us, demonstrate his character as a devotional being — that his 
spiritual nature cannot be satisfied 'with bread alone,' but requires 'that manna 
of consolation that comes down from above.' 

" That without this, the soul is ever crying out like a wandering outcast, 

" ' Oh, Father of Life, withhold not thy mercies from me.' 

" If these manifestations have been in all ages of the world, ere the shep- 



272 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

herds of Gallilee heard the song of 'Peace and good will to men,* much more 
should we feel it to be our duty, as a Christian people, to inculcate even a higher 
spirit of devotion, and manifest by our acts, our dependence upon God, the God 
of our fathers, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, from whose bounteous hands 
* proceed every good and perfect gift.' 

''He has kept the people here, guarded by His eternal ramparts, as in the 
' hollow of His hand.' He has said Peace, Peace, and the troubled elements be- 
came still. The angel of his mercy has stretched out her burning scepter, and 
the elements became purified ; disease and mildew and blight vanished to their 
silent caves, and Plenty poured out upon you from her abundant horn. Your 
granaries are full to overflowing; no scourge has fallen upon you, but the God of 
Peace has reigned triumphantly in your midst, while in other and fairer portions 
of the land, the Demon of Civil War has driven his blood-stained chariot over 
desolated fields and deserted cities — the plowshare has been beaten into a sword, 
and the pruning-hook into the murderous knife, and waving harvests, ready fcr 
the reaper, have not been gathered into barns, but * plowed under' 

■' • By gory felloes of the cannon's wheels.' 

"It is meet that at such a time as this, that the good people of this Terri- 
tory, following, not only the examples of their fathers, but a precedent set by its 
first Governor, should dedicate, and set apart at least one day in the year, for 
thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the manifold mercies and blessings 
that he has vouchsafed unto us, and that He will continue his mercies. That He 
will put it into the hearts of our rulers to rule in righteousness, and that * Judg- 
ment may not be turned aside in the streets.' That peace may again return to 
our bleeding country, and that the institutions of our fathers may come forth 
purified from the sins which have weighed down a nation, and brought the keen 
displeasure and wrath of God upon us. 

"Therefore, I, Stephen S. Harding, Governor of the Territory of Utah, do 
hereby set apart Thursday, the first day of January, proximo, as a day of 
Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God, for all His mercies to us as a 
people, and recommend and request a general observance of it to that end, that 
here, on the threshhold of a New Year, we may manifest in a proper spirit our 
dependence on Him, and supplicate His Omnipotent Power to continue to pro- 
tect and guard us from future evils, as a nation and people. 

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
[L.S.] the seal of said Territory to be affiixed. 

"Done at Great Salt Lake City, in the Territory of Utah, this second day 
of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. 
(Signed) STEPHEN S. HARDING. 

"By the Governor, 

Frank Fuller, Secretary." 

This proclamation, which greeted Great Salt Lake City with a classic swell, 
was passed unheeded, not only by our city, but by the entire Territory. Gov- 
ernor Harding took the non-response of the citizens, not only as marked per- 
sonal slight to himself, but also as a scoff at the Federal power embodied in his 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



273 



Excellency, Stephen S. Harding. But the citizens, in not holding high "temple 
service for Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God," on the day appointed by 
Governor Harding, intended no personal slight '.ovvards him or scoff at Federal 
authority. 

But the salient point of the history to the secular mind would be that, the 
non-observance of this Thanksgiving Day, brought Stephen S. Harding to the 
full realization of the fact that, though he was Governor of Utah, Brigham Young 
was still Governor of the Mormon people. Therein was the intolerable offence 
to his Excellency. 

A few days afterwards the Utah Legislature met. In the State House, Ste- 
phen S. Harding could teach the people that he, and not Brigham Young, was 
their Governor. At least such was the intent of the lesson conveyed in his mes- 
sage. Mr. Stenhouse notes the example thus: 

''The Governor's message to the Legislature, in December, was the tocsin of 
war, and was considered a very offensive document. He referred to the passage of 
the anti-polygamic law of July of that year, and warned the people against the 
pernicious counsels of the apostles and prophets who had recommended it "to be 
openly disregarded and defied." The manner of the delivery of the message was 
worse than the matter, and probably no Legislature ever felt more humiliated and 
insulted. It was painful to observe the legislators, as they sat quiet and immovable, 
hearing their faith contemned. It was interpreted as an open and gratuitous insult 
on the part of the Executive." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS ORDERED TO UTAH. SKETCH OF GENERAL 
CONNOR. HIS FIRST MILITARY ORDER. INTERESTING LETTER FROM 
THE COMMAND. PETITION OF THE VOLUNTEERS TO GO TO THE POTO- 
MAC. MARCH FROM FORT CRITTENDEN TO SALT LAKE. PREPARA- 
TIONS FOR BATTLE AT THE JORDAN. ZION AT PEACE. SURPRISE OF 
THE TROOPS. THE HALT AT THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION HIS ADDRESS 
TO THE TROOPS. CAMP DOUGLAS. 

Although the Utah militia had been offered for the protection of the Over- 
land Mail and Telegraph line. Secretary Stanton deemed it prudent to entrust the 
permanent service to the California Volunteers rather than to the Utah militia. 
Utah was placed under a military surveillance during the war, and California was 
made her sister's keeper. At least, such was the interpretation placed upon the 
military mission of General Connor and his command, to whom is devoted the 
following historical sketch, quickly connecting as it does with the main branch of 
the history of Great Salt Lake City. 



jy^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

General Patrick Edward Connor was born in the south of Ireland, March 17, 
1820. At an early age he emigrated with his parents to New York City, where he 
was educated. In 1839 he entered the regular army, at the age of 18, during the 
Florida war. He left the service in November of 1844, and returned to New York, 
where he entered into mercantile business; but in the early part of 1846 emigrated 
to Texas. The war with Mexico broke out that year, and young Connor, as Cap- 
tain of the Texas Volunteers, was the second volunteer officer mustered into 
service, in the regiment of Albert Sidney Johnston, whom they elected Colonel. 
Connor was with his company at the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and 
Buena Vista. In the latter battle he was severely wounded, being the first officer 
who bore the scars of war, for which honor he now draws a full Captain's pension. 

Shortly after the close of the Mexican war, Captain Connor emigrated to 
California, where he engaged in business till the breaking out of our great civil 
war. Immediately the gallant officer tendered his services to the Governor of 
California, and was appointed by him Colonel of the Third California Infantry. 

The California Volunteers entered the service w^th the full expectation of 
being called directly to the theatre of war, for both officers and men were fired 
with a martial spirit becoming California in the nation's crisis. It is doubtful, in- 
deed, if this military fervor would have been kindled had the Volunteers known 
that they were about to be ordered to Utah by the Government, to watch the Mor- 
mons, lest their leaders should take advantage of our national calamity and pro- 
claim a rebellion. Some of the officers and men, it is understood, gave way to 
occasional fits of ill-humor, very pardonable in men who, panting for military 
glory, as well as inspired by patriotism, had offered their lives in defense of the 
Union, only to find themselves, in the sequel, transported to our then Rocky 
Mountain isolation. 

It was in May, 1862, that Colonel Connor was ordered with his regiment to 
Utah. His command consisted of the Third California Infantry and a part of the 
Second California Cavalry. He took up his line of march in July, 1862. 

On assuming command of the Military District of Utah, Colonel Connor 
issued the following military order: 

" Headquarters, District of Utah, 

Fort Churchill, August 6th, 1862. 

"Order No. 1. — The undersigned, pursuant to orders from Department 
Headquarters, hereby assumes command of the Military District of Utah, com- 
prising the Territories of Nevada and Utah. 

"In assuming command of the district I especially enjoin upon all disburs- 
ing officers the necessity of being particularly attentive, careful and economical 
in their disbursements of the public funds ; and that they in no instance purchase 
from persons who have at any time, by word or act, manifested disloyalty 
to the Federal Government. 

"Being credibly informed that there are in this district persons who, while 
claiming and receiving protection to life and property, are endeavoring to destroy 
and defame the principles and institutions of our Government under whose be- 
nign influence they have been so long protected, it is therefore most rigidly en- 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 27s 

forced upon all commanders of posts, camps and detachments, to cause to be 
promptly arrested and closely confined until they have taken the oath of 
allegiance to the Government of the United States, all persons who from this 
date shall be guilty of uttering treasonable sentiments against the Government; 
and upon a repetition of the offense to be again arrested and confined until the 
fact shall be communicated to these headquarters. Traitors shall not utter 
treasonable sentiments in this district with impunity, but must seek some more 
genial soil, or receive the punishment they so richly merit. By order of 

P. EDWARD CONNOR, 
Co/, jd Infantry, C. V., Coin. Dist. of Utah. 
'^Jatnes W. Stillman, A. A. A. General'^ 

The Deseret News of September 10, notes: 

"Col. P. E. Connor, commanding the California Volunteers, arrived in the 
city yesterday afternoon. The Volunteers remain at Ruby Valley till the 
Colonel's return, when they will afterwards advance to the place that will be 
selected as a military post. The Colonel took a stroll about town and looked 
around with an air of familiarity that indicated that after all Salt Lake City was 
something of a place, and might not be unpleasant, notwithstanding its desert 
surroundings." 

A correspondent writing to the San Francisco Bulletin in behalf of his com- 
rades, gives a very interesting and suggestive page of history: 

" Headquarters Utah District, 

Ruby Valley, N. T., September 24, 1862. 
"The Third Infantry California Volunteers wants to go home — not for the 
purpose of seeing the old folks, but for the purpose of tramping upon the sacred 
soil of Virginia, and of swelling the ranks of the brave battlers for the brave old 
flag. The action of the San Francisco Quartette and the glory which awaits the 
California regiment that first lands on the Atlantic coast, combined to make the 700 
hearts camped in Ruby Valley pulse vigorously with the patriotic desire to serve 
their country in shooting traitors instead of eating rations and freezing to death 
around sage-brush fires, which two are the only military duties to be performed 
hereabouts. Accordingly a meeting of the officers was called on Tuesday night. A 
committee was appointed to draft a dispatch to be sent to Gen. Halleck; and 
each captain was requested to draw up a paper to the purport that the subscriber 
would authorize the paymaster to withhold from his pay the amount subscribed 
by him, on the condition, and no other condition, that the regiment be ordered 
east. Each captain was requested to present this document to his company and 
report at an adjourned meeting. 

»" To-day, at i p. m., the following sums had been subscribed by the privates 
and company officers : 

"Company I, Capt. Lewis, ^3,430; Company K, Capt. Hoyt, $3,475; 
m Company H, Capt. Black, $2,550; Company F, (part absent on detailed duty) 
B Capt. Potts, $600; Company C, Capt. May, $3,260; Company E, Capt. Tupper, 
B ^4,674; Company G, Capt. Urmy, $7,431- 
^^U "That is excellent evidence of the earnest patriotism of our 700 men. In 

c 



276 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

addition to packing a musket, eating salt pork, and trannping over these abominable 
deserts, they are willing, and actually do, out of their ^13 per month, subscribe 
$25,000 for the privilege of going to the Potomac and getting shot. If Cali- 
fornia is not proud of them, the God of Washington is; and that is quite as sat- 
isfactory. But California cannot help appreciating such a sacrifice upon the part 
of men who, after giving their time, labor, and if need be, their lives, to their 
country, now give the last mite of their small pittance. Private Goldthaite, of 
Company G, alone, subscribed $5000, while the majority of the men gave every 
cent of their pay. 

"The company officers ranged about thus: Second lieutenants, ;^ioo to 
%zoo; first lieutenants, $200 to $300; captains, $300 to $500. In some instances 
that takes more than their pay. The staff officers have not yet pungled, as they 
are waiting to see what amount will remain to be raised. 

" The three companies at Stockton would most undoubtedly equal their com- 
rades, fehould they do so, at the average of 53,000 per company the funds would 
reach upwards of 536,000. 

"The following despatch was sent to Gen. Halleck, with the consent of 
Gen. George Wright: 

'■'■ ^ Major- General Halleck, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C- 

"The Third Infantry, Cal. Vols., has been in service one year, and marched 
600 miles; it is well officered and thoroughly drilled ; is of no service on the 
Overland Mail route, as there is cavalry sufficient for its protection in Utah Dis- 
trict. The regiment will authorize the Paymaster to withhold 530,000 of pay 
now due if Government will order it East; and it pledges Gen. Halleck never 
to disgrace the flag, himself or California. The men enlisted to fight traitors, 
and can do so more effectively than raw recruits; and ask that they may be placed 
at least on the same footing in regard to transportation East. If the above sum 
is insufficient, we will pay our own passages from San Francisco to Panama. 
" ' By request of the regiment. 

P. EDW. CONNOR, 

" ' Col. Commanding. 
" ' Ruby Valley, N. T., September 24, 1862. ' " 

" So far as anybody can see, there is not a bit more use for infantry out here 
than there is for topographical engineers. Cavalry is the only efficient arm against 
Indians, and the companies of the 2d regiment, in the district, are fully compe- 
tent to chastise all offenders. Brigham Young offers to protect the entire line with 
100 men. Why we were sent here is a mystery. It could not be keep Mormon- 
dom in order, for Brigharn can thoroughly annihilate us with the 5,000 to 25,000 
frontiersmen always at his command." 

Towards the middle of October the Volunteers reached the former encamp- 
ment of U, S. troops at Camp Floyd. Parties who would have been financially 
benefitted by the Volunteers occupying the vacated quarters at Camp Floyd tried 
to induce the Colonel to remain there, and, failing that, they sought to intimi- 
date him with the intelligence that the Mormon intended to dispute the passage 
of the Californians over the Jordan. At the same time, a story was current 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 277 

among the Volunteers that Brigham Young, on hearing of their advance, had out 
of contempt for them and the nation, cut down the United States flag-staff at 
Camp Floyd and left it lying on the public road, over which they had to travel. 
There was no truth in this reported threat of Mormon resistance; and, as already 
told, the flag-staff was presented to ex-Governor Young by the officers at Camp 
Floyd. 

A few days after the establishment of Camp Douglas the San Francisco 
Bulletin published, from the correspondent already noticed, the following very 
interesting details of the march of the Volunteers from Fort Crittenden and 
their passage through Great Salt City : 

"Jordan Springs, U. T., Saturday, October, 18, 1862. 

"The Salt Lake Expedition, numbering 750 men, is within twenty-five miles 
of the City of the Saints, having marched twenty miles north of Fort Crittenden 
to-day. From the slope on which our camp is pitched we can discern the white 
specks which constitute the residences of the modern apostles ; but at present we 
are more interested in the designs and doings of said apostles than in the general 
appearance of their habitations. I closed yesterday's letter [see Bulletin of 30th 
October] by mentioning a camp rumor, to the effect that the Mormons would 
prevent a nearer approach of our troops to the city than Fort Crittenden, and 
that the banks of the narrow stream called Jordan, which empties the waters of 
Lake Utah into Great Salt Lake, would form the field of battle. At the time it 
caused no further thought than as the starting point of rambling conversations 
respecting Mormondom and the mission which the command has been detailed to 
execute — both subjects upon which we have but little information. However, at 
the present writing — sundown — reliable advices received tend to establish the 
l)robable truthfulness of the report. When information reached the city, as it 
did last night, that Col. Connor would not purchase the buildings erected by 
Johnson's command in 1858 at what was then Camp Floyd, now Fort Crittenden, 
and that he designed to occupy some locality within striking distance of the heart 
of Mormondom, the most intense excitement is said to have prevailed. The 
leaders are represented to be in conclave, meditating upon the question and 
striving to arrive at a determination, while the people were in a high state of 
expectancy as to what the leaders would do, what the troops would do, and what 
they themselves would be called upon to do. The Chief of the Danites — better 
known perhaps as the Destroying Angels, whose duty it is, if report be true, to 
place parties odious to the leaders of the Church where they can never tell tale?, 
is represented as riding through the streets offering to bet ^500 that we could and 
should not cross the river Jordan, the bet being untaken. Furthermore, not a 
single camp rumor, but reliable parties assert that Brigham Young would, when 
we near Jordan, have us met by commissioners empowered to inform us that the 
Mormons objected to our close proximity to their city and would forcibly resist 
an attempt on our part to cross that stream. 

"How much truth there may be in these advices, or how much the real state 
of aff'airs in Salt Lake is exaggerated I know not. As a faithful correspondent it 
is only my province to inform you of the exact condition and operations of this 



278 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

command, but further than that I cannot go, and, of course, will not be held re- 
sponsible for the correctness or incorrectness of the rumors which reach this com- 
mand. Be they, however, true or untrue, and be the opinion entertained by our 
Colonel what it may, certain it is that he is moving with the utmost prudence, 
that thirty rounds of ammunition have just been issued to each man, and that the 
two 6-pounders are [abundantly furnished with destructive missiles, and the 12- 
pound mountain howitzer amply supplied with shells, that the camp is so pitched 
upon an open plain that no force can get to it without a fair fight ; in short, that 
every preparation for war that can be made is made, and equally certain is it that 
on to-morrow we will cross the river Jordan if it lies within our power. 

" Col. Connor sent word to-day to the above-mentioned chief of the Dan- 
ites that he would 'cross the river Jordan if hell yawned below him; ' and the 
battle-fields of Mexico testify that the Colonel has a habit of keeping his word. 

" Thus you see that whether we are to have a fight or not rests entirely with 
the Mormon rulers. And if it be true that United States troops, when ordered 
by Government to occupy United States territory, are to be forcibly prevented 
by those living upon United States lands, from executing the order — if this prin- 
ciple is to constitute the national policy, then the nation has ceased to be a live 
nation, and the sooner it recognizes the Southern Confederacy the better. 
But if our troops are to march on United States territory wherever Govern- 
ment sends them, and those who resist their march, because of polygamy, are as 
really traitors as those who resist because of slavery, and are to be dealt with as 
such. This command, from the highest to the lowest, is disposed to treat the 
Mormons with true courtesy and the strictest justice, so long as they remain 
friendly to the Government; but the moment they become traitors the river Jor- 
dan will be as acceptable to us as the river Potomac, for we shall be fighting for the 
same precise principle — the flag and national existence— as are our eastern 
brethren ; and even should annihilation be our fate, of which we have no fears, 
the belief that our countrymen would think of our graves as they do of those in 
Virginia, and that the Union men of California, our old friends, would swarm 
forth by the thousand to avenge us — such a hope and belief would nerve us for 
death. 

"Nevertheless, unless he fails to exercise his statesmanship, universally ac- 
corded to him, Brigham Young cannot but foresee the results which would flow 
from a war of his beginning. Admitting him to have an army of 8,000 well 
drilled and effective men, or, for that matter, one of 50,000 — and admitting him 
to be able to capture our force and all the forces which California could send 
hither, yet, in the course of one, or two, or three years, the Government could 
flood his valley with regiments, and sweep it with a gulf stream of bayonets. 
That he is prepared to initiate a movement which cannot fail to bring upon his 
people the full power of the nation I do not believe ; and yet there may be hot 
heads over whom he has but partial control. A small spark can ignite the powder 
of a vast magazine. 

"Having given you the prevalent opinion of the camp, there should also 
be given what probably may turn out to be the cause why some, if not most, of 
the rumors current in Salt Lake were set afloat. When Floyd after expending 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 279 

$5,000,000 in the erection of quarters in Camp Floyd ordered the disgraceful 
and outrageous sale of the same, the buildings were bought for a mere song by 
private parties. 

" On several occasions, in fact during the whole march, Col. Connor has 
been solicited by the agents of owners to repurchase them. He did not see fit to 
do so; but it was expected that the smallness of the command, and the avowal 
that the Mormons would not permit him to locate near the city, taken in connec- 
tion with the fact that his arrival so late in the season would prevent him from 
erecting winter quarters, it was expected, I say, that these and other pruden- 
tial reasons would induce him to effect the purchase of Fort Crittenden; and it 
is more than probable that his refusal of the offers was regarded as a financial 
maneuver by which to secure the property at low figures. Hence the idea that 
we really would not winter at that point has never been realized by them, and so 
thoroughly has the belief that we would winter there pervaded the Mormon 
people, that when we marched beyond it they — unable to understand the object 
of the expedition, and fearful that the real, and to them a hostile, design, is 
hidden under the avowed one — have their fears a thousand fold quickened and 
imagine an attack upon the city possible. In addition it appears that the chief 
of the Danites is the principal owner of the buildings and decidedly anxious to sell 
and that the agents have from time to time assured him of the certainty 
of his prospects. Up to the hour that Col. Connor's decision was unknown at 
Fort Crittenden, the city is reported to have been perfectly quiet, but in about 
the time it would take to telegraph his refusal to Salt Lake, the excitement is 
said to have begun. There can, therefore, be little doubt that the already aroused 
suspicions of the Mormons have been worked upon by parties interested in the 
sale of the property, and who, failing to persuade Col. Connor into buying, now 
seek to frighten him therein by threats of forcible resistance, and mayhap a dis- 
play of military power. In this they will most signally fail, for I must say that 
he is a blessed hard man to scare. At the same time, if it is the settled Mormon 
policy to resist the Federal Government, and if the people have been toned up 
to the Union pitch, a few leaders actuated by selfish motives, can easily indicate 
its execution. A courier will arrive late to-night with authentic intelligence, 
which I will endeavor to obtain. 



" Salt Lake City, October 20, 1862. 

" When Sunday's reveille awoke the command, it awoke expectant of battle 
ere another one should roll out upon the grey day-break. Blankets were never 
got out from under and compactly strapped in knapsacks more promptly; cooks 
never prepared steaming breakfast with greater alacrity, and upon the principle 
that the aggregate stomach of a regiment has a great deal to do with the aggre- 
gate prowess of a regiment, they never prepared a more bountiful repast. Upon 
the same principle, no breakfast during the whole march was stowed away in a more 
cool, nonchalant, jovial manner. The routine of months was dissipated, and, 
doubtless each man's curiosity to know how he would personally stand fire, and 
the more general question which side would whip, made everybody happy. The 



28o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

first scene which met my eyes was Colonel Connor seated upon a log, calmly en- 
gaged in loading his pistols, and playing with his toddling child. In some direc- 
tions were heard the popping of muskets and the thud of ramrods, as the men 
made sure of their pieces, while in others could be seen individuals seated on the 
ground, vigorously burnishing up their already glittering muskets and brasses — 
determined no doubt to die according to regulations, if die they must. No 
difference what thoughts raged within each breast, the exterior seemed calm and 
determined. 

"An incident at the hospital will serve as a criterion of the general animus. 
Five men were sick in the hospital and thirty-six sick in quarters. At sick-call 
Surgeon Reid, who had been arranging hia abominable knives, saws and probes, 
said that this was a day when every man able to carry a musket should do so, and 
one that would determine who were loafers and who were soldiers. Twenty-eight 
out of the forty-one, many of whom were really unfit for service, shouldered their 
pieces, and the remainder did not only because they could not. 

" A strong force of cavalry preceded the staff, and the command moved for- 
ward in so compact a body, and with such a steady, springing step, that General 
Wright's heart would have rejoiced at the sight. The fact that the carriages 
formed behind the staff as usual was an intimation to the men that a fight was im- 
l)robable, and word presently passed that a courier had arrived with information 
that no resistance would be made at the bridge. Before it did so, however, as the 
Colonel passed the artillery, he put several questions to Lieutenant Hunneyman, 
commanding, respecting the quantity and kind of ammunition in the caissons, and 
also the numbers of the ammunition wagons. When through, the Lieutenant, 
who has seen service, said, ' Colonel, if you expect an attack to-day, I will over- 
haul those wagons and take more cannister,' with the same air that one calls for 
fried oysters in a restaurant. The reply was, ' Not to day; but to-morrow do so.' 
There were other incidents of the same kind, but I did not happen to see them. 

" After a speedy march of fifteen miles — during which not one of the usual 
stragglers fell back from his position — we crossed the Jordan at 2 p. m. and found 
not a solitary individual upon the eastern shore. It was a magnificent place for a 
fight, too, with a good-sized bluff upon the western side from which splendid 
execution could have been done ; but all were glad that no necessity existed there- 
for, as we heartily desire to avoid difficulty with the loyal citizens. 

" While camped for the night, it was definitely ascertained that, although there 
had been some excitement in the laity, yet it wasrfar from general, and was insti- 
gated by parties interested in selling the Fort Crittenden buildings. Further- 
more, that the mass of the people were glad of our near location, as it would 
bring many a dollar into the city circulation. Bishop Heber Kimball, who, I am 
told, ranks next to President Young, is reported to have spoken thus in his sermon 
at the temple: ' Letters have been written to Colonel Connor's command, to Cali- 
fornia and the East, that we are opposed to the coming of the troops ; that we are 
disloyal to the Government and sympathizers with Secessionists. It is all a d — d 
lie." This certainly was a gratifying assurance, though not mildly expressed. 

" This morning, Monday, we resumed the line of march, thoroughly ignor- 
ant of the spot that would next receive our tents, but decidedly hopeful that it 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CLTY. 281 

would receive them permanently. That it was to be near the city we knew ; that 
the leading Mormons objected to its proximity because of the danger of difficulties 
between the soldiers and citizens, we knew; that in 1858 they had resisted the now 
traitor Johnston's 10,000 men, and after com|)elling him to winter in the mountains, 
had, late in the Spring, forced him into a treaty by which he bound himself not to 
locate within 40 miles of Salt Lake, we knew; that they were far stronger and bet- 
ter armed now than they then were, we knew ; and that more than one of their Irad- 
ing men — among them a Bishop — had offered to bet that w^e would not come within 
twenty miles of the Temple, we also knew. A large and influental party was avow- 
edly opposed to any near approach, and, in view of the advice received by our com- 
mander — which were from reliable source.s — the precise animus of the people and 
the treatment that would meet us, we did not know. That, should they see fit, it 
w-as in their power to vastly outnumber and in all probability annihilate us, was 
more than possible, and that we w^ere 600 miles of sand and draught from reinforce- 
ments, was certain. All of these certainties and uncertainties conspired to create 
the same excitement that passengers in olden days felt when two Mississippi 
steamers lapped guards, burned tar, and carried the engineer as a weight on the 
safety valve. We had generally suppo.sed, and the people had universally 
supposed, that the command would pass around the city, or at the most but through 
the outer suburbs, which course, under all the circumstances, was considered deci- 
dedly bold, and upon the whole, not so conciliatory a policy as had been adopted 
by General Johnston's thousands. 

"Accordingly, when some two miles out, a halt was sounded and the column 
formed as follows : Advance guard of cavalry, Colonel Conner and staff; cavalry 
brass band; Cos. A and M of 2d Cavalry, C. V., light battery; infantry field 
band; 3d Infantry Battalion; staff, company quarters and commissary wagons ; 
rear guard of infantry. 

"You may imagine our surprise — strive to imagine the astonishment of the 
people, and the more than astonishment of the betting bishop — as the column 
marched slowly and steadily into a street which receives the overland stage, up it 
between the fine trees, the sidewalks filled with many women and countless children, 
the comfortable residences, to Emigration Square, the Theatre and other notable 
landmarks were passed, when, about the centre of the city, I should think, it filed 
right through a principal thoroughfare to Governor Harding's Mansion — on which, 
and on which alone waved the same blessed stars and stripes that were woven in the 
loom of '76. Every crossing was occupied by spectators, and windows, doors and 
roofs had their gazers. Not a cheer, not a jeer greeted us. One little boy, running 
along close to the staff, said — " You are coming, are you? " to which it was replied 
that we thought we were. A carriage, containing three ladies, who sang "John 
Brown " as they drove by, were heartily saluted. But the leading greeting was ex- 
tended by Governor Harding, Judges Waite and Drake, and Dr.— — , who met us 
some distance out. Save these three instances, there were none of those mani- 
festations of loyalty that any other city in a loyal Territory would have made. 

"The sidewalk by the mansion was thoroughly packed with Mormons, 
curious to know what would be the next feature. It was this: The battalion 



282 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

was formed into two lines, behind them the cavalry, with the battery resting upon 
their right, in front of the Governor's residence. 

" After giving the Governor the salute due his rank he was introduced by 
Col. Connor to the command, and, standing in his buggy, spoke precisely thus: 

"Soldiers and Fellow Citizens: 

"It is with pleasure that I meet you all here to-day. God forbid that ever I 
shall live to see the day that I will not be rejoiced to see the flag of my country 
in hands that are able and worthy to defend it. When I say this, I am conscious, 
soldiers, that your mission here is one of peace and security, not only to the 
government that gives you employment, but to every individual who is an inhab- 
tant of this Territory. 

"The individual, if any such there be, who supposed that the Government 
had sent you here that mischief might come out of it, knows not the spirit of our 
Government, and knows not the spirit of the officers who represent it in this 
Territory. When I say this, I say what is strictly true; and I say it that it may 
be ttfipressed upon your minds as true, as well as upon the minds of every indi- 
vidual who hears me upon this occasion. Never let it be said that an American 
soldier, employed under the glorious flag of his country, that emblem of beauty 
and glory, has disgraced it by conduct not in accordance with his duty, and the 
discipline of the United States army. The duty of a soldier is a plain and stern 
duty ; and yet it is one that redounds to the glory and happiness of himself, and 
to the happiness of every true and loyal individual in whose midst he may be 
placed. If, however, he should break over the bounds of his discipline — if he 
should run wild in the riot of the camp, then, indeed, his presence will be a 
curse everywhere, and not a security to the institutions of the Government, which 
it is his duty to maintain with his life's blood. 

" I confess that I have been disappointed, somewhat, in your coming to 
this city. I have known nothing of the disposition that has been made of you; 
and for the truth of this assertion, I appeal to your commander, and to every 
individual with whom I have had communication on this subject. But you are 
here, and I can say to you, God bless you, and God bless the flag you carry; God 
bless the Government you represent; and may she come out of her present diffi- 
culties unscathed; and may the fiery ordeal through which she is passing purge 
her of her sins; may her glorious institutions be preserved to the end of time; 
may she survive these troubles, and be redeemed, and disenthralled from the 
causes of the difficulties and calamities through which she is passing, and through 
which she may be yet called to pass. 

" I do not know now what disposition is to be made of you, but I suppose 
you will be encamped somewhere, I know not where, but within a short distance 
of this city. I believe the people you have now come amongst will not disturb 
you if you do not disturb them in their public rights and in the honor and peace 
of their homes ; and to disturb them you must violate the strict discipline of the 
United States Army which you must observe, and which you have no right to 
violate. In conforming thus to your duty, you will have my countenance and 
support, and every drop of blood in my veins if necessary for the maintenance 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 283 

of your rights and the Government I represent. But if on the contrary you for 
any reason whatever should run wild in the riot of the camp — should break over 
the bounds of propriety, and disregard that discipline that is the only possible 
safety for yourselves, then shall I not be with you ; but in the line of your duty, 
God being my helper, I will be with you to the end, and to death. I thank you." 

"At the conclusion of the speech, Colonel Connor called for three cheers 
for our Country and Flag, and three more for Governor Harding, all of which 
would have drawn forth the admiration of your Fire Department. Thereupon the 
march through the city was resumed, the bands continuing their flood of music, 
and a tramp of two and a half miles east brought us to the slope between Emigra- 
tion and Red Butte Canyons, where a permanent post will probably be established. 

" I have very astutely discovered that we could have reached the spot by a 
much shorter road, and that we marched over six miles for the purpose of passing 
through the well-built metropolis of the modern Saints. There is no reason why 
we should not do it that is recognized by the United States Government, and 
I for one was curious to see rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. 

" And so ended the long tramp from your good State, and the attempts to 
frighten Colonel Connor into the purchase of Fort Crittenden. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

BATTLE OF BEAR RIVER. CONNORS REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT HISTORY 
OF THE BATTLE. CONGR.\TL'LATIONS OF THE COLONEL TO HIS TROOPS. 
BURIAL OF THE DEAD. OUR CITIZENS AT THE FUNERAL, THE BATTLE, 
AS RECORDED IN THE MILITARY HISTORY OF CACHE VALLEY, 

Soon after his arrival in Utah, Colonel Connor, on the 2(;th of January, 
1863, fought the celebrated battle of Bear River, against the Snake ^nd Bannock 
Indians under Bear Hunter and other chiefs. There they killed and captured of 
the Indians nearly 400. The cemetery of Camp Douglas was consecrated to 
receive the relics of the heroes who fell in that battle; but there was compensa- 
tion for their loss, as that tamous victory forever put a quietus to Indian hos- 
tilities in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. 

The following official report of the battle from Colonel Connor is a valuable 
page of Utah history : 

"Headquarters District of Utah, 

Camp Douglas U. T., Feb. 6th, 1863. 
" Colonel: 

"I have the honor to report that from information received from various 

sources of the encampment of a large body of Indians on Bear River, in Wash- 



jS4 history of salt lake c/Ty. 

ington Territory, one hundred and forty miles north of this point, who had 
murdered several miners, during the winter, passing to and from the settlements 
in this valley to the Beaver Head mines, east of the Rocky Mountains, and being 
satisfied that they were part of the same band who had been murdering emigrants- 
on the overland mail route for the past fifteen years and the principal actors and 
leaders in the horrid massacres of the past summer, I determined although the 
season was unfavorable to an expedition, in consequence of the cold weather and 
deep snow, to chastise them if possible. Feeling that secrecy was the surest way 
to success, I determined to deceive the Indians by sending a small force in ad- 
vance, judging, and rightly, that they would not fear a small number. 

"The chiefs, Pocatello and Sanpitch, with their bands of murderers, are still 
at large. I hope to be able to kill or capture them before spring. 

"If I succeed, the overland route west of the Rocky Mountains will be rid 
of the Bedouins who have harassed and murdered emigrants on that route for a 
series of years. 

"In consequence of the nuiiiber of men left on the route with frozen feet 
and those with the train and howitzers and guarding the cavalry horses, I did not 
have to exceed two hundred men engaged. 

"On the 2 2d ultimo, I ordered Co. K. Third California Volunteers, Capt. 
Hoyt; two howitzers under command of Lieut. Honeyman and twelve men of 
the Second California Cavalry with a train of fifteen wagons, conveying twelve 
days' supplies, to i)roceed in that direction. On the 24th ultmio, I proceeded 
with detachments from companies A, H, K, and M. Second California Cavalry, 
numbering two hundred and twenty men, accompanied by Major McGarry, 
Second California Cavalry; Surgeon Reid, Third California Volunteers; Cap- 
tains McLean and Price, and Lieutenants Chase, Clark, Quinn and Conrad, 
Second California Cavalry. Major Gallager, Third California Volunteers and 
Capt. Berry, Second California Cavalry, who were present at this post attending 
general court martial as volunteers. 

"I marched the first night to Brigham City about sixty-eight miles distant ; 
and the second night's march from Camp Douglas, I overtook the infantry and 
artillery at the town of Mendon and ordered them to march again that night. I 
resumed march with the cavalry and overtook the infantry at Franklin, W. T., 
about twelve miles from the Indian encampment. I ordered Capt. Hoyt, wnth 
the infantry, howitzers and train not to move until after 3 o'clock a. m., I moved 
the cavalry in about an hour afterward, passing the infantry, artillery and wagons 
about four miles from the Indian encampment. As daylight was approaching I 
was apprehensive that the Indians would discover the strength of my force and 
make their escape. I therefore made a rapid march with the cavalry and reached 
the bank of the ravine shortly after daylight, in full view of the Indian encamp- 
ment, and about one mile distant, I immediately order Major McGarry to ad- 
vance with the cavalry and surround, before attacking them, while I remained a 
few minutes in the rear to give orders to the infantry and artillery. On my 
arrival on the field I found that Major McGarry had dismounted the cavalry and 
was engaged with the Indians, who had sallied out of their hiding places on foot 
and horseback and, with fiendish malignity, waved the scalps of white women. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 285 

and challenged the troops to battle, at the same time attacking them. Finding 
it impossible to surround them, in consequence of the nature of the ground, he 
accepted their challenge. 

"The position of the Indians was one of strong natural defence, and almost 
inaccessible to the troops, being in a deep dry ravine from six to twelve feet 
deep, and from thirty to forty feet wide, with very abrupt banks and running 
across level table land, along which they had constructed steps from which they 
could deliver their fire without being themselves exposed. Under the embank- 
ment they had constructed artificial courses of willows, thickly wove together, 
from behind which they could fire without being observed. 

"After being engaged about twenty minutes, I found it was impossible to 
dislodge them without great loss of life. I accordingly ordered Major McGarry, 
with twenty men, to turn their left flank which was in the ravine where it en- 
tered the mountain. Shortly afterward Capt. Hoyt reached the ford, three- 
fourths of a mile distant, but found it impossible to cross footmen, some of whom 
tried it, however, rushing into the river but finding it deep and rapid, retired. 
I immediately ordered a detachment of cavalry with led horses, to cross the in- 
fantry, which was done accordingly and upon their arrival on the field I ordered 
them to the support of Major McGarry's fl.inking party who shortly afterward 
succeeded in turning the enemy's flank. 

" Up to this time, in consequence of being exposed on a level and open 
plain, while the Indians were under cover they had the advantage of us, fighting 
with the ferocity of demons. My men fell thick and fast around me, but after 
flanking them we had the advantage and made good use of it. I ordered a flank- 
ing party to advance down the ravine on either side, which gave us the advantage 
of an enfilading fire and caused some of the Indians to give way and run towards 
the mouth of the ravine. At this point I had a company stationed who shot 
them as they run out. I also ordered a detachment of cavalry across the ravine 
to cut off the retreat of any fugitives who might escape the company (Capt. 
Price) at the mouth of the ravine. But few, however, tried to escape, but con- 
tinued fighting with unyielding obstinacy, frequently engaging hand to hand 
with the troops until killed in their hiding-places. The most of those who did 
escape from the ravine were afterward shot in attempting to swim the river or 
killed while desperately fighting under cover of the dense willow thicket which 
lined the river banks. To give you an idea of the desperate character of the 
fight, you are respectfully referred to the list of killed and wounded transmitted 
herewith. The fight commenced at about six o'clock in the morning and con- 
tinued until ten. At the commencement of the battle the hands of some of the 
men were so benumbed with cold that it was with difficulty that they could load 
their pieces. Their suffering during the march was awful beyond description, 
but they steadily continued without regard to hunger, cold or thirst, not a mur- 
mur escaping them to indicate their sensibilities to pain or fatigue. Their un- 
complaining endurance during their four nights' march from Camp Douglas to 
the battle field is worthy the highest praise. The weather was intensely cold 
and not less than seventy-five had their feet frozen and some of them, I fear, will 
be crippled for life. 



286 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CIl V. 

"I should mention here that in my march from this post no assistance was 
rendered by the Mormons, who seemed indisposed to divulge any information 
regarding the Indians and charged enormous prices for every article furnished 
my command. I have also to report to the General commanding, that previous 
to my departure, Chief Justice Kinney, of Salt Lake City, made a requisition for 
the purpose of arresting the Indian Chiefs, Bear Hunter, Sanpitch and Sagvvitch. 
I informed the Marshal that my arrangements for an expedition against the In- 
dians were made and that it was not only my intention to take any prisoners, but 
that he could accompany me. Marshal Gibbs accordingly accompanied me and 
rendered efficient aid in caring for the wounded. 

"I have great pleasure in awarding to Major McGarry, Major Gallagher 
and Surgeon A. K. Reid the highest praise for their skill, gallantry and bravery 
throughout the engagement. And to the company officers the highest praise is 
due, without invidious distinction for their courage and determination evinced 
throughout the engagement ; their obedience to orders, attention, kindness and 
care for the wounded are no less worthy of notice. Of the good conduct and 
bravery of both officers and men, California has reason to be proud. 

" We found 224 bodies in the field, among which were those of the chiefs 
Bear Hunter, Sagwitch and Lehi. How many more were killed than stated I am 
unable to say; as the condition of the wounded rendered their immediate removal 
a necessity, I was unable to examine the field. I captured 175 horses, some arms, 
destroyed over seventy lodges, and a large quanity of wheat and other provisions 
which had been furnished them by the Mormons. I left a supply of provisions 
for the sustenance of 160 captive squaws and children who were released by me 
on the field. 

"The enemy had about three hundred warriors, mostly all armed with rifles 
and having plenty of ammunition, which rumor says they received from the in- 
habitants of this Territory in exchange for property of massacred emigrants. 
The position of the Indians was one of great natural strength and had I not suc- 
ceeded in flanking them the mortality of my command would have been terrible. 
In consequence of the deep snow the howitzers did not reach the field in time 
to be used in the action. 

" I have the honor of remaining, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

(Signed) P- Ed. Connor, 

Colonel jrd Cal. Vol, Com d. District. 
" To Lt. Col. R. C. Drum, Asst. Adjt. Gen. U. S. A., Department of the 

Pacific.'''' 

" Headquarters of the Army, 

Washington, D. C, March 29th, 1863. 
* ' Brig. - General Geo. Wright, 

Comd'g Deft of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal. 
"General: 

"I have this day received your letter of February 20th, inclosing Col. P. Ed. 
Connor's report of his severe battle and splendid victory on Bear River, Wash- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 287 

ington Territory. After a forced march of one hundred and forty miles in mid- 
winter and through deep snows, in whicl> seventy-six of his men were disabled 
by frozen feet; he and his gallant band of only two hundred, attacked three hun- 
dred warriors in their stronghold and after a hard fought battle of four hours 
destroyed the entire band, leaving 224 dead upon the field. Our loss in the 
battle was fourteen killed and forty-nine wounded. Colonel Connor and the 
brave Californians deserve the highest praise for their gallant and heroic 
conduct. Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

(Signed) H. W. Halleck, 

General-in-chief. 

The following order, bearing the same date as that of Col. Connor's letter 
to the Department of the Pacific, was read to the volunteers, while on dress 
parade, by Adjutant Ustick: 

" Headquarters District of Utah, 

Camp Douglas, U. T., Feb. 6, 1863. 

"The Colonel commanding has the pleasure of congratulating the troops of 
this Post upon the brilliant victory achieved at the battle of Bear River, Wash- 
ington Territory. 

"After a rapid march of four nights in intensely cold weather, through deep 
snow and drifts, which you endured without murmur or complaint, even when 
some of your number were frozen with cold, and faint with hunger and fatigue, 
you met an enemy who have heretofore, on two occasions, defied and defeated 
regular troops, and who have for the last fifteen years been the terror of the emi- 
grants, men, women and children and citizens of those valleys, murdering and 
robbing them without fear of punishment. 

"At daylight on the 29th of January, 1863, you encountered the enemy, 
greatly your superior in numbers, and had a desperate battle. Continuing with 
unflinching courage for over four hours, you completely cut him to pieces, captured 
his property and arms, destroyed his stronghold and burnt his lodges. 

"The long list of killed and wounded is the most fitting eulogy on your cour- 
age and bravery. The Colonel commanding returns you his thanks. The gallant 
officers and men who were engaged in this battle, without invidious distinction, 
merit the highest praise. Your uncomplaining endurance and unexampled con- 
duct on the field, as well as your thoughtful care and kindness for the wounded, is 
worthy of emulation. While we rejoice at the brilliant victory you have achieved 
over your savage foe, it is meet that we do honor to the memory of our brave 
comrades, the heroic men who fell fighting to maintain the supremacy of our arms. 

" While the people of California will regret their loss, they will do honor to 
every officer and soldier who has by his heroism added new laurels to the fair 
escutcheon of the State. 

" By order of Colonel Connor. 

(Signed) WM. D. USTICK, 

" First Lieutena7it and Adjutant, Third Infantry, C. F., 

Acting Assistant Adjutant General^ 

The burial of the dead who fell in the battle of Bear River was a solemn 



288 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

occasion to the city as well as to the camp. The day was cold and raw, yet a 
large number of our citizens were present at the burial. Up to this time scarcely 
any of the citizens had set foot within the encampment, but now there was quite a 
score of carriages from the city, many equestrians and a large concourse of people 
on foot, and had it been generally known, thousands from the city would have 
paid reverent tribute to the slain, for it was duly appreciated that they had fallen 
in the service of Utah. 

"Up to I p. m. the sixteen coffins lay side by side in the Quartermaster's 
store-room, where the dead were visited by their surviving comrades. At that 
hour the entire command formed in procession and escorted the bodies to the 
military graveyard, where Parson Anderson officiated in the burial service. Three 
volleys were fired over the bodies as they were laid in their graves, and the last 
solemn rites were ended. The band, that before led the measured, solemn step of 
the procession to the funeral dirge and Dead March, now moved away gaily, re- 
viving the thoughtful, and recalling to the duties and obligations of life those who 
had not yet finished their page of history. 

" The remains of Lieutenant Chase were consigned to their resting-place by 
the brethren of the Masonic fraternity attached to the command, together with a 
few from the city. The deceased was a Royal Arch Mason, but the small number 
of that grade in attendance rendered the adoption of the Master Mason's burial 
service necessary. At the solicitation of the brethren, Sir Knight Frank Fuller, 
Secretary of the Territory, officiated as W. M., and Colonel Evans, of the Second 
Cavalry, as Marshal, Chief Justice Kinney and United States Marshal Gibbs 
walked in the procession, which consisted altogether of some twenty members. 
The services at the grave were of a highly impressive character, and were witnessed 
by nearly the whole of the command, together with numerous citizens. At the 
close of the solemnities, the fraternity changed their position while a dirge was 
performed by the band, and gave place to a detail of forty-eight soldiers, who 
fired three volleys over the grave. The procession then returned to camp in re- 
versed order." 

It may be noted that Lieutenant Darwin Chase in his youth was one of the 
most promising of the Mormon Elders; his name and labors in the ministry was 
often associated with Apostle Erastus Snow. It was supposed that the Indians 
mistook Lieutenant Chase for Colonel Connor and made him a particular mark. 
The Lieutenant's horse had more attractive trappings, which drew the attention 
of the Indians towards him and away from the real commander, who is said to 
have " sat almost motionless on his charger, within easy distance of the Indians' 
rifles, watching the progress of the fight and giving his orders." 

For the integrity of history, it must be noted that Colonel Connor in his 
report to the War Department did an injustice to the people of Cache Valley when 
he said: 

"I should mention here that in my march from this post no assistance was 
rendered by the Mormons, who seemed indisposed to divulge any information 
regarding the Indians, and charged enormous prices for every article furnished my 
command." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 28g 

Accompany the above with an historical note in the Logan Branch records, 
from which the author himself copied it: 

" Jan. 28th, 1863, Colonel Connor passed through Logan with a company of 
450 soldiers, and on the 29th he came upon and attacked a band of Indians in a 
deep ravine through which a small creek runs west of Bear River and twenty miles 
north of Franklin. The Indians resisted the soldiers and a severe battle ensued 
which lasted four hours, in which eighteen soldiers were killed and [many] 
wounded. About 200 Indians were killed and a great many wounded. Colonel 
Connor captured about 150 Indian ponies, and returned through Logan on Jan. 31. 
The weather was so intensely cold that scores of his men had their feet and hands 
frozen. We, the people of Cache Valley, looked upon the movement of Colonel Con- 
nor as an interventioji of the Almighty, as the Indians had been a source of great 
annoyance to us for a long time, causing us to stand guard over our stock and 
other property the most of the time since our first settlement." 

This historical minute was made early in 1863, just after the battle of Bear 
River. Notice the striking proof of this in the naming of Connor's rank — 
" Colonel Connor." He was not yet created Brigadier-General, for fighting that 
battle, when Secretary Farrell made that minute. Records are invaluable ! This 
one justifies Cache Valley. A misrepresentation of the Mormon people was made 
to the War Department, though we are quite as confident that " Colonel Connor" 
was too honorable to so design his report. The above will show General Con- 
nor's views of the Mormon people at the date of the writing of his official letter, 
and of the sympathy of the people of Cache Valley with the Indians. The 
records of Cache speak of the absolute sympathy of the entire people of Cache 
with the California Volunteers, and their gratitude to them for redeeming them 
from Indian depredations. 

Col. Martineau, "in his most interesting sketch of the military history of 
Cache Valley, gives the following account of the battle : 

"In January, 1863, Col. P. E. Connor, with about 400 United States troops, 
fought the battle of Bear River, about twelve miles north of Franklin. Thi^ 
action, though more properly belonging to the annals of the United States army^ 
we think should be noticed in this connection, as it had an immense influence in 
settling Indian affairs in Northern Utah, and especially in Cache County. Indian 
outrages against settlers and travelers had grown more and more frequent and 
audacious, until they became unbearable, and Colonel Connor determined to put 
an end to them. Making forced marches from Camp Douglas to Franklin during 
an intensely cold winter and through deep snow, his command left Franklin some 
hours before daylight, and after a march of twelve miles, found the Indians, 
numbering about 400 warriors, very strongly posted in the deep ravine through 
which Battle Creek enters Bear River. To attack this natural fortress the troops 
had to cross an open plain about half a mile in width, in plain view of the In- 
dians, who were hidden behind the steep banks of the stream. The troops 
reached Bear River early in the morning of an intensely cold day. The river 
was full of running ice, but was gallantly forded, many of the mengetting wet- 
and afterwards having their feet and legs frozen. 



2go 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



"As the troops advanced they met a deadly fire from the Indian rifles; but 
without wavering pressed steadily on, and after a bloody contest of some hours, 
in which the Indians fought with desperation, the survivors, about loo in number, 
fled. Pocatello and Saguich, two noted chiefs, escaped, but Bear Hunter was 
killed while making bullets at a camp fire. When struck he fell forward into the 
fire and perished miserably. For years he had been as a thorn to the settlers, 
and his death caused regret in none, A simultaneous attack in front and on both 
flanks finally routed the Indians, whose dead, as counted by an eye-witness from 
Franklin, amounted to 368, besides many wounded, who afterwards died. About 
ninety of the slain were women and children. The troops found their camp well 
supplied for the winter. They burnt the camp and captured a large number of 
horses. The troops suffered severely in killed and wounded, besides a great 
number who had their feet and legs frozen by fording Bear River. The morning 
after the battle and an intensely cold night, a soldier found a dead squaw lying 
in the snow, with a little infant still alive, which was trying to draw nourishment 
from her icy breast. The soldiers, in mercy to the babe, killed it. On their 
return the troops remained all night in Logan, the citizens furnishing them supper 
and breakfast, some parties, the writer among the number, entertaining ten or 
fifteen each. The settlers furnished teams and sleighs to assist them in carrying 
the dead, wounded and frozen to Camp Douglas. In crossing the mountains be- 
tween Wellsville and Brigham City the troops experienced great hardships. They 
toiled and floundered all day through the deep snow, the keen, whirling blasts 
filling the trail as fast aa made, until, worn out, the troops returned to Wellsville. 
Next day Bishop W. H. Maughan gathered all the men and teams in the place 
and assisted the troops through the pass to Salt Lake Valley. 

"The victory was of immense value to the settlers of Cache County and all 
the surrounding country. It broke the spirit and power of the Indians and 
enabled the settlers to occupy new and choice localities hitherto unsafe. Peter 
Maughan, the presiding bishop of the County, pronounced it an interposition of 
Providence in behalf of the settlers; the soldiers having done what otherwise 
the colonists would have had to accomplish with pecuniary loss and sacrifice of 
lives illy spared in the weak state of the settlements. This was the universal sen- 
timent of the County. It made the flocks and herds and lives of the people 
comparatively safe; for though the survivors were enraged against the people of 
the County, whom they regarded as in a manner aiding and abetting the troops, 
they felt themselves too weak to forcibly seek revenge." 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2gr 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

GREAT MASS MEETING OF THE CITIZENS TO PROTEST AGAINST THE CONDUCT 
OF GOVERNOR HARDING AND JUDGES WAITE AND DRAKE. THE READ- 
ING OF HIS MESSAGE TO THE LEGISLATURE. DEEP INDIGNATION OF 
THE PEOPLE. STIRRING DENUNCIATIONS BY THE LEADERS OF THE 
PEOPLE. RESOLUTIONS. PETITION TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOR THE 
REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES. A COMMITTEE APPOINTED 
TO WAIT UPON THEM AND ASK THEIR RESIGNATION IN THE NAME OF 
THE PEOPLE. THE COMMITTEES REPORT. 

In the Spring of 1863 there occurred a demonstration of the people of Great 
Salt Lake City over the conduct of Governor Harding and Judges Waite and 
Drake. An immense mass meeting was held in the city on the 3rd of March 
As a prelude to the proceedings Captain Thomas' brass band played " Hail Col- 
umbia," after which the meeting organized with the Hon. Daniel Spencer, chair- 
man. Next came a prayer from the chaplain, Joseph Young, for divine guidance 
in their important business, followed by the band playing the " Star Spangled 
Banner," after which the Hon. John Taylor arose and briefly stated the object 
of the meeting. They had met together, he said, for the purpose of investi- 
gating certain acts of several of the United States officials now in the Territory. 
It was a mass meeting of the citizens, and he, for one, desired to hear a proper 
statement of the course of the persons alluded to, so far as that affected the 
citizens of the Territory, laid before the people, and that such action might be 
adopted as they thought proper, and as the circumstances demanded. 

The time had come for certain documents to be placed before the people 
and before the country, and on which they could not avoid taking action. 
Though the Legislature was under no obligation at the opening of the session to 
publish the Governor's message — as such action on their part was purely compli- 
mentary — they did at first contemplate doing so, but on reflection, considered 
that the character of that message was such that they could not with respect to 
themselves and to the community do so, and many were of opinion that its pub- 
lication at that time might have subjected his Excellency to the insult which his 
intemperate language had provoked. Mr. Taylor then gave place to the Hon. 
Albert Carrington, who read the message from the printed Journals of the Leg- 
islature. 
" Gentlemen of the Council and Bouse of Representatives of the Territory 

of Utah : 

"Since the adjournment of the eleventh annual session of this body, the 
office of Governor of this Territory has been conferred upon me according to 
law. On the 7th day of July last I arrived in this city and assumed the duties 
of my office. I had heard much of the industry and enterprise of the people of 



2g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Utah, but I must admit that my most sanguine expectations were more than real- 
ized upon my arrival here. A few years since this Territory was only known as a 
desert. I found it the home of a large and thriving population, who have ac- 
complished wonders in the short period that it has been settled ; and under the 
steady progress of labor, protected in its indefensible rights, the whole area em- 
braced in the Organic Act establishing this Territory must present a spectacle to 
the people of the United States as satisfactory to them as it is creditable to your- 
selves. 

" The present season has been one of unusual abundance, not only here, but 
throughout the entire Union; and, notwithstanding civil war has made desolate 
many of the fairest districts which have ever been the abode of a civilized 
people; yet He who has promised 'seed time and harvest,' and ' the rain to fall 
upon the unjust as well as the just,' has still remembered the whole American 
people with superabundant mercies. If the harmony of the world has been 
marred, it has not been through the withholding of His kindness from the 
nation. 

"It is not necessary for me to dwell upon the causes which have superin- 
duced the unhappy troubles now existing in the States of the American Union. 
That African slavery, and the unnatural antagonisms which grow out of that re- 
lation, lie at the foundation, I have no doubt. I am aware that other reasons 
have been assigned, but such reasons are confined to but very few in comparison 
to the many who will agree with me in my proposition. That it is the duty of 
every lover of human liberty and friend of republican institutions on this conti 
nent to stand by the Government in its present trials is, to my mind, a proposition 
too clear for argument. Notwithstanding organized treason is still making 
gigantic efforts to carry out its purpose of the destruction of the Union, yet I am 
happy in the belief that the rebellion has culminated; that it can never be as 
strong again as it has been for a few months past. The extremest measures have 
been resorted to in the rebel States to put the last man in the field for the pur- 
pose of sustaining the rebel flag ; nevertheless, that flag has been compelled to 
retreat step by step before the victorious legions of the Union, and still there are 
millions of men to be called into the field, if it shall hereafter be found that 
those millions are needed. 

"CONSERVATISM OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

" The most conservative advocate of the Union, no matter what his opinions 
heretofore may have been on the question of slavery, cannot complain of the 
policy of the Administration of President Lincoln in dealing with this question. 
While it was known to all men that 4,000,000 of chattel slaves were supplying 
their rebel masters with means to prosecute their work of ruin to the Govern- 
ment, and for the overthrow of the Constitution — the joint labors of our common 
ancestors; yet that same Government, through its civil ministers and military 
commanders, it must be confessed, hesitated long to strike the rebel interests 
where its blows could be made to tell with most terrible effect. 

"OBJECTS OF THE WAR. 

"The present war has not been prosecuted by the Federal Government be- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



293 



cause of any hostility towards the institutions of the Southern States, but to pre- 
serve the union of the great family of States. The question of emancipation, or 
no Union, has been thrust upon the President. In meeting that question he has 
shown a patriotic wisdom worthy the head of a great nation. If the Union 
could have been preserved and slavery still suffered to remain intact, that institu- 
tion would never have been disturbed by the American people, but would have 
been suffered to expand its malign influences in the impoverishment of the soil 
where it exists, until fiiially it must have perished by the inexorable law of retri- 
bution, which, like an avenging Nemesis, is ever following in the track of wrong. 
But no matter when or how the present difficulties may be settled, slavery is 
doomed — it must perish, from the very nature of things. 

"PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 

"On the first day of January, proximo, the time given by the President to 
the slave masters of the rebel States will have expired. If madness shall still rule 
Ki their councils and no returning sense of duty or patriotism shall have been 
awakened in their hearts, and they shall still refuse to return to that allegiance 
which is their plainest duty, then the President, exercising that power which he 
holds as commander-in-chief, and which, as a war power, no man, whose opinions 
are entitled to the least respect, has ever denied, will by proclamation declare the 
freedom of every slave in the States or districts of States, where such rebellion 
shall then exist. This new order of things may for a time jostle the commercial 
interests of not only this country, but of the whole civilized world; but order 
and harmony will soon be restored, and our system of Government will still be 
preserved, with no disturbing element remaining — a beacon-light to the nations, 
and a refuge to countless millions who will come after us. 

"ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF DESERET INTO THE UNION. 

"After the adjournment ol the last session of this body, in accordance with 
a joint resolution emanating therefrom, the people of this Territory proceeded to 
elect delegates to form a Constitution for the State of Deseret ; and after such 
Constitution was formed and adopted, the people proceeded to elect a Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor, and other officers, amongst which was a representative to 
Congress; and also two United States Senators were elected. One of the gen- 
tlemen elected as a United States Senator proceeded to Washington City and 
caused to be laid before Congress the object of his mission. He was treated with 
that courtesy to which a gentleman on so grave a mission should ever be entitled. 
He was permitted to occupy a seat within the bar of the Senate chamber, and 
was otherwise received with the kindest consideration. In consequence of the 
lateness of the session, it could not be expected that more would have been done 
than was in the premises. The Constitution and other documents were referred 
to the appropriate committee, where the matter now rests. That the question 
will be taken up at the approaching session of Congress and acted on in that spirit 
of fairness that becomes a great and generous nation, I have no doubt. 

"I am sorry to say that since my sojourn amongst you I have heard no sen- 
timents, either publicly or privately expressed, that would lead me to believe that 



2g4. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

much sympathy is felt by any considerable number of your people in favor of the 
Government of the United States, now struggling for its very existence ' in the 
valley and 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. 
1 would, in the name of my bleeding country, that you, as the representatives 
of public sentiment here, would speedily pass such a resolution as will extort 
from me, if necessary, a public acknowledgment of my error, if error I have 
committed. 

"I have said this in no unkind spirit; I would much rather learn that the 
fault has been on my part and not on yours. 

"I regret also to say, I have found in conversing with many gentlemen of 
social and political influence, that because the question of the admission of this 
Territory into the Union was temporarily postponed, distrust is entertained in re- 
gard to the friendly disposition of the Federal Government, and expressions have 
been used amounting to inuendoes at least, as to what the result might be in case 
the admission should be rejected or postponed. Every such manifestation of 
spirit on the part of the objectors is, in my opinion, not only unbecoming, but is 
based on an entire misconception of the rights of the applicant, and the duties 
of the representatives of the States composing the Union. 

"The Constitution of the United States provides, in Art. 4, and Sec. 3, 
' that new States may be admitted by Congress in this Union,' etc. The question 
properly arises, when and how are they to be admitted? Not, surely, upon the 
demand of the people of the Territory seeking to be admitted, but upon the con- 
sent of Congress. When that consent becomes a right to be demanded, depends 
on circumstances. It is doubtless the interest and policy of the Federal Govern- 
ment to admit the Territories belonging to it to the status and condition of States 
whenever there is a sufficient population to warrant it, and they api)ly to Con- 
gress with a Constitution republican in spirit and form. 

" But still the Congress has not only the right but it is one of their gravest 
duties, to see that this great boon is not conferred upon a people unprepared to 
enter into the great political family on a basis that is unjust to other members of 
the Union. Amongst the first inquiries is that in relation to the population of 
the Territory knocking for admission. Is it such as to entitle a State to a mem- 
ber in the House of Representatives? If such is the case, and the Constitution 
which has been adopted as the organic law is such as the Constitution of the 
United States contemplates; if the same has been adopted in good faith, and the 
people are loyal to the Constitution and the laws, and desire the welfare of the 
Federal Government, then it becomes not only the duty of the Congress to ad- 
mit such applicant, but the latter has a right morally and politically to demand 
such admission. But on the other hand, if it is not clearly shown that there is a 
sufficient population, that the Constitution is republican in form and spirit, that 
the same has been adopted in good faith, and that the people are loyal to the 
Federal Government and to the laws, then the right to make such demand does 
not exist, nor should the application be entertained after these facts appear. 

"The admission of a new State into the Union is, or ought to be, attended 
with gravest consideration. For instance, suppose the population of the Terri- 



HISTORY OF SAL7- LAKE CITY. 295 

tory is known to fall far short of the number that entitles the present members of 
the Union to a representation in Congress, should it be thought hard or strange that 
objections should be made? Is it thought a hardship that the people of the Stare 
of New York, comprising 4,000,000, are not willing that their voices should be 
silenced in the Senate of the United States by 60,000 or 80,000 in one of the 
Territories? I am aware that precedents may be cited in some few instances, 
where these reasons have been overlooked and disregarded, but that fact does not 
affect the question under consideration. The reasons which controlled Congress at 
the time referred to were never good and sound ones, but we found in the wishes 
and ambition of political parties, anxious to control the vote in the electoral col- 
lege, for chief magistrate. If the precedent was a bad one, the sooner it is 
changed the better for all parties concerned. 

"In connection with this subject, I respectfully recommend the propriety of 
passing an act whereby a correct census may be taken of the population of the 
Territory. If it shall be found that the population is sufficient to entitle it to one 
representative in Congress, on the present basis, I shall be most happy in aiding 
you to the extent of my humble abilities, in forwarding any movements having 
for their end, the admission of the Territory into the Union as a State. 

* ' POLYGAMY. 

" It would be disingenuous if I were not to advert to a question, though seem- 
ingly it has nothing to do with the premises, is yet one of vast importance to 
you as a people, and which cannot be ignored — I mean that institution which is 
not only commended but encouraged by you, and which, to say the least of it, is 
an anomaly throughout Christendom — I mean polygamy, or, if you please, plural 
wives. In approaching this delicate subject, I desire to do so in no offensive 
manner or unkind spirit; yet the institution, founded upon no written statute of 
your Territory, but upon custom alone exists. It is a patent fact, and your own 
public teachers, by speech and pamphlet, on many occasions, have challenged its 
investigation at the bar of Christendom. I will not on this occasion be drawn 
into a discussion either of its morality or its Bible authority; I will neither affirm 
or deny any one of the main proceedings on which it rests. That there is seem- 
ing authority for its practice in the Old Testament Scripture, cannot be denied. 

" But still there were many things authorized in the period of the world 
when they were written which could not be tolerated now without overturning the 
whole system of our civilization, based, as it is, on the new and better revelation 
of the common Savior of us all. While it must be confessed that the practice of 
polygamy prevailed to a limited extent, yet it should be remembered that it was 
in that age of the world when the twilight of a semi-barbarism had not yielded 
to the effulgence of the coming day, and when the glory and fame of the kings 
of Israel consisted more in the beauty and multitude of their concubmes than in 
the wisdom of their counselors. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," 
was once the lex talionis of the great Jewish law-giver. So capital punishment 
was awarded for Sabbath breaking; and there were many other statutes and cus- 
toms which at this age of the world, if adopted, would carry us backward into 
the centuries of barbarism. 



2p6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

" I lay it down as a sound proposition that no community can happily exist 
with an institution as important as that of marriage wanting in all those qualities 
that make it homogeneal with institutions and laws of neighboring civilized communi- 
ties having the same object. Anomalies in the moral world cannot long exist in 
a state of mere abeyance; they must form the very nature of things, become ag- 
gressive, or they will soon disappear from the force of conflicting ideas. This 
proposition is supported by the history of our race, and is so plain that it may be 
set down as an axiom. If we grant this to be true, we may sum up the conclu- 
sion of the argument as follows: either the laws and opinions of the community 
by which you are surrounded must become subordinate to your customs and 
opinions, or, on the other hand, you must yield to theirs. The conflict is irre- 
pressible. ' ' • 

*' But no matter whether this anomaly shall disappear or remain amongst you, 
it is your duty at least, to guard it against flagrant abuse. That plurality of wives 
is tolerated and believed to be right, may not appear so strange. But that a 
mother and her daughter are allowed to fulfill the duties of wives to the same hus- 
band, or that a man could be found in all Christendom who could be induced to 
take upon himself such a relationship, is perhaps no less a marvel in morals than 
in matters of taste. The bare fact that such practices are tolerated amongst you 
is sufficient evidence that the human passions, whether excited by religious fa- 
naticism or otherwise, must be restrained and subject to laws, to which all must 
yield obedience. No community can long exist without absolute social anarchy 
unless so important an institution as that of marriage laws is regulated by law. 
It is the basis of our civilization, and in it the whole question of the descent and 
distribution of real and personal estate is involved. 

" Much to my astonishment, I have not been able to fmd any laws upon the 
statutes of this Territory regulating marriage. I earnestly recommend to your 
early consideration the passage of some law that will meet the exigencies of the 
people. 

"act of congress against polygamy. 

"I respectfully call your attention to an Act of Congress passed the first day 
of July, 1862, entitled "An Act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy 
in the Territories of the United States, and in other places, and disapproving 
and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory ot Utah." 
(Chap. CXXVII. of the Statutes at Large of the last Session of Congress, page 
501.) I am aware that there is a prevailing opinion here that said Act is uncon- 
stitutional, and therefore it is recommended by those in high authority that no 
regard whatever should be paid to the same — and still more to be regretted, if I 
am rightly informed, in some instances it has been recommended that it be 
openly disregarded and defied, meanly to defy the same. 

"I take this occasion to warn the people of this Territory against such dan- 
gerous and disloyal counsel. Whether such Act is unconstitutional or not, is not 
necessary for me either to affirm or deny. The individual citizen, under no cir- 
cumstances whatever, has the right to defy any law or statute of the United 
States with impunity. In doing so, he takes upon himself the risk of the penal- 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 297 

ties of that statute, be they what they may, in case his judgment should be in 
error. The Constitution has amply provided how and where all such questions of 
doubt are to be submitted and settled, viz : in the courts constituted for that pur- 
pose. To forcibly resist the execution of that Act would, to say the least, be a 
high misdemeanor, and if a whole community should become involved in such 
resistance, would call downu pon it the consequences of insurrection and rebellion. 
I hope and trust that no such rash counsels will prevail. If, unhappily, I am 
mistaken in this, I choose to shut my eyes to the consequences. 

"LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 

"Amongst the most cherished and sacred rights secured to the citizens of 
the United States, is the right ' to worship God according to the dictates of con- 
science.' It would have been strange indeed, if the founders of our Government 
had not thrown around the citizen this irrevocable guaranty, when it is remem- 
bered that so many of the framers of the Constitution must have been familiar 
with the acts of the British Parliament against 'non-conformists,' and had wit- 
nessed the injustice and hardship resulting therefrom. They had seen men of the 
most exalted abilities and virtues excluded from places of public trust for no 
other reason than that they would not subscribe to all of the dogmas of a church 
established by law. They had witnessed, at the same time, other men of the 
most questionable integrity and morality clothed in the robes of prelate and 
bishop, exacting without stint or mercy, enormous revenues from an unwilling 
people, and spending the same in the pursuit of an unholy ambition, and in a 
luxury that better befitted some Eastern satrap than the followers of ' the meek 
and lowly Jesus,' in whom they professed to believe. In the light of their past 
experience, and inspired by the great primal truths of the Declaration, the 'in- 
defeasible rights of man to the enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness' still sounding in their ears, they founded a government on the basis of 
religious tolera.ion, before unknown to mankind. This could not well have been 
otherwise, from the very nature of things. It was the inevitable corollary that 
proceeded from the premises, and thus was it that religion was made a matter be- 
tween man and his Maker, and not between man and the Government. 

"But here arises a most important question, a question perhaps that has never 
yet been asked or fully answered in this country — how far does the right of con- 
science extend ? Is there any limit to this right? and, if so, where shall the line 
of demarcation be drawn, designating that which is not forbidden from that which 
is? This is indeed a most important inquiry, and from the tendency of the times, 
must sooner or later be answered. I cannot and will not on this occasion pretend to 
answer this question, but will venture the suggestion that when it is answered the 
same rules will be adopted as if the freedom of speech and of the press were in- 
volved in the argument. 

"Let us refer to this provision of the Constitution; it is found in the first 
article of the amendments: ' Congress shall make no laws respecting the establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the free- 
dom of speech or of the press ' Can we logically infer from the above provision 
that these rights are not co-relaMve, or that they do not rest on the same princi- 



2pS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

pies? that one of these rights is of more importance to the citizen than the other, 
and that his duty in their ' free exercise' is not the same? I think not. 

"Let us briefly examine this proposition. Because 'the freedom of speech 
and of the press ' is guaranteed, can the citizen thereby be allowed to speak 
slanderously and falsely of his neighbor? Can he write and print a libel with 
impunity? He certainly cannot; and his folly would almost amount to idiocy if 
he should appeal to the Constitution to shield him from the consequences of his 
acts. But the question may be asked — why not? The answer is at hand. Simply 
because he is not allowed to abuse these rights. If, upon a prosecution for slan- 
der or libel, the defendant should file his plea setting up that provision of the 
Constitution as a matter of defense, the plea would not only be bad on demurrer, 
but the pleader would be looked upon as a very bad lawyer. Will any one in- 
form me why the same parity of reasoning should not apply in one case as the 
other ? 

" That if an act, in violation of law and repugnant to the civilization in the 
midst of which that act has been committed, should be followed by a prosecution, 
could be justified under the guaranty of the Constitution securing the 'free ex- 
ercise of religion' more than in the case above cited? I shall pause for an 
answer. There can be no limits beyond which the mind cannot dwell, and our 
thoughts soar in their aspirations after truth. We may think what we will, 
believe what we will, and speak what we will, on all subjects of speculative the- 
ology. We may believe with equal impunity the Talmud of the Jew, the Bible 
of the Christian, the Book of Mormon, the Koran, or the Veda of the Brahmin. 
We cannot elevate, other than by moral forces, the human soul from the low plane 
of ignorance and barbarism, whether it worships for its God, the Llama of the 
Tartars, or the Beetle of the Egyptians. But when religious opinions assume 
new manifestations and pass from mere sentiments into overt acts, no matter 
whether they be acts of faith or not, they must not outrage the opinions of the 
civilized world, but, on the other hand, must conform to those usages established 
by law, and which are believed to underlie our civilization. 

"But, the question returns — Is there any limit to the 'free exercise of re- 
ligion?' If there is not, then in the midst of the nineteenth century, human 
victims may be sacrificed as an atonement for sin, and "widows may be burned 
alive on the funeral pile." Is there one here who believes that such shocking 
barbarisms could be practiced in the name of religion, and in the 'free exercise 
thereof in any State or Territory of the United States? If not, then there 
must be a limit to this right under consideration, and it only remains for the 
proper tribunal at the proper time to fix the boundaries, as each case shall arise 
involving that question. 

" POWERS VESTED IN THE GOVERNOR BY THE ORGANIC ACT. 

"The Act of Congress organizing the Territory of Utah, and providing a 
Government therein, defined with sufficient certainty the duties of each depart- 
ment in said Government. These several departments were made to consist of the 
Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. Amongst the duties imposed upon 
the Governor, is that of nominating certain officers, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Council. The first question that arises under this head is, what 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2gg 

ofificers are to be nominated by the Governor? The seventh section of said Act 
is in the following words: 'And be it further enacted, that all township, dis- 
trict and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed, or 
elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided for by the Gov- 
ernor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah.' The Governor shall 
nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council 
(not Assembly) appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for, etc. Town- 
ship, district and county officers are to be appointed or elected, as the case may 
be, in such manner as the Governor and Legislative Assembly may direct. It is 
clear to my mind that the Organic Act contemplates two classes of officers, viz: 
township, district and county, and another class not included in the former, 
which embraces all officers strictly Territorial, such as attorney-general for the 
Territory, marshal, auditor, treasurer, etc. 

"I cannot arrive at any other conclusion in the examination of the Act, than 
that the officers not included in the first class must be appointed by the Governor, 
by and wiih consent of the Legislative Council, and cannot be elected, as in the 
former instance, by joint ballot of the Legislative Assembly, have held such 
offices contrary to law and have been removed upon the prosecution of a writ of 
quo zvarranto. It follows further, that if such officers acted without authority of 
law their acts were void, and are not binding upon the citizens. This becomes a 
question of much importance when we consider the hardship and inconvenience 
that may hereafter grow out of the same. I respectfully submit for your consider- 
ation, whether it would not be safer either to pass some law legalizing the acts of 
such persons, while in the supposed discharge of their duties, or it may be that 
it would require an Act of Congress legalizing such assumed official acts. 

"Before dismissing this part of my subject, I feel it to be my duty to suggest 
to you whether a very grave question may not hereafter arise as to the authority 
of the Legislative Assembly to elect by joint ballot any of the officers denomin- 
ated as ' township, district or county officers.' I have been unofficially advised 
that the word ' election ' as used in the Organic Act, might be held to refer to the 
people, and not to the Legislative Assembly. If such a question should hereafter 
arise, and such a possible view should be taken in deciding this question, it would 
involve the most serious consequences. I will express no opinion on the subject. 
I only raise the question for your consideration. 

"revision and codification of the statutes. 

" I respectfully call your attention to the necessity of a thorough revision 
and codification of the statutes of this Territory. I am aware that something 
was attempted at your last session in that direction ; but it seems to me that the 
committee which had that duty under their charge stopped far short of what was 
required at their hands. It is the duty of the law makers to leave the statutes by 
which the people are to be governed so plain in their several requirements that 
the stranger cannot be misled. It is extremely difficult to ascertain what precise 
statutes are in force on many subjects in this Territory. Besides this, there are 
many provisions in the statutes manifestly unjust, and whilst they remain must be 
considered anomalies. I will not consume time in any argumentation on this 



joo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

subject, believing that it will be only necessary to call your attention to the facts 
as they exist. 

"Amongst the most objectionable of these provisions, may be found the fol- 
lowing in the revis5d statutes of 1855, and which are still in force: 

"Chap. 5, relating to justices of the peace. Sees. 8, 15, 19. 

"Chap. 3, relating to the procedure in civil cases. Sec. 28. 

"Chap. 6, relating to attorneys-at-law. This whole chapter should be re- 
pealed. 

"Chap. 12, relating to estates of decedents. Sees. 14, 24, 25, 26. The 
great objection to these sections is, that no limit whatever is fixed to the value of 
the estate, thereby cutting off claims which ought to be paid, when there is 
enough to do so, and still the family will be left in comfortable circumstances. 

"Chap. 18, in relation to divorces. There should be a specified time when 
such notice of the pendency of the application should be given to the defendant. 
Sec. 18, in the same chapter, gives the probate judge power too plenary. In ques- 
tions of so much importance, the party should have the benefit of a trial by 
jury. 

"Chap. 32 should be stricken from the statute. No such crime as treason 
against a Territory is known to the laws. 

"I call your attention especially to sections 112 and 113, under the title of 
'Jubtifiable Killing, and the Prevention of Public Offences.' These provisions 
are too palpably unjust to stand a day on your statutes. It would be an easy 
matter for a man to be murdered, and yet under these provisions his murderer 
could escape under the plea that the circumstances were such as to excite his fears 
that certain acts either would be done or had been, for which he claimed the 
immunity of the statute. If your laws against the offenses therein named are 
not sufficiently penal, make them so; but to authorize by a public statute the kill- 
ing of a man on mere suspicion that he has committed or will commit certain 
acts, which are less than capital upon his conviction after a fair trial, seems to be 
most cruel and unjust. In China, it is said that a high Mandarin of the ' blue button ' 
may kill with imjumity a person suspected of stealing rice, and cut open his 
stomach to find the evidence of his guilt. In no other instance have I been able 
to find any statute or custom analogous to the one under consideration. No com- 
munity can adopt the principles contained in that statute without soon becoming 
(dropping the figure) ' as a whitened sepulchre filled with dead men's bones. 

"VOTING BY BALLOT. 

"I respectfully call your attention to Chap. 47, Sec. 5, in relation to voting 
at elections by ballot. Said section is as follows: 'Each elector shall pro- 
vide himself with a vote containing the names of the persons he wishes elected, 
and the offices he would have them fill, and present it neatly folded to the judge 
of the election, who shall number it and deposit it in the ballot-box. The clerk 
shall then write down the name of the elector opposite the number of his vote.' 
Why the elector should be required to provide himself a vote and present it 
neatly folded, perhaps can be satisfactorily explained ; but I confess that the ob- 
ject of voting by ballot is completely defeated by the above provisions. Why 



HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 301 

not vote viva voce at once. The great object to be obtained in voting at our 
popular elections is absolute freedom of the elector in depositing his vote. Hence 
it is that in most, if not all the States, the right of voting by secret ballot is 
secured to the elector by stringent laws. The reason is obvious. A thousand 
circumstances might so comj^letely surround the elector that he would be com- 
pelled oftentimes to vote against the convictions of his judgment, and yet could 
nut, if interested and powerful parties were permitted to exercise their control 
over him in the discharge of one of his most sacred duties. 

"In connection with this subject, I take pleasure in adopting the language 
of my worthy predecessor, Governor Gumming, as being eminently fit and 
proper : ' Many of the laws now on the statute book w^re passed under a con- 
dition of things which will soon cease to exist. You cannot reasonably anticipate 
a continuance of the partial isolation which has characterized your early his- 
tory in this region. It must be borne in mind, that you- are situated upon the 
great highway between the oceans, which is already traversed by expresses and 
telegraphs, and is soon to witness the establishment of a railroad trans- 
porting through your valleys the commodities of the world. It would be 
well that you make timely preparation for changes that are fast approaching you, 
and are ultimately inevitable. New relations between yourselves and the outer 
world must occur. I would therefore urge upon you that you appoint a com- 
mittee to prepare a code of laws suitable for the present and future requirements 
of this community. The judges are constituted your legal advisers in these 
matters — to them I refer you.' If this was true in i860, how much more is it 
true to-day? The constantly increasing travel over the great Overland Mail 
route, the thousands of emigrants passing yearly through your Territory, many of 
whom become permanent citizens, admonish all of us that your days of isolation 
from the outside world have forever passed. Even if it were desirable, you can- 
not longer remain i:olated and walled in by these natural ramparts around you. 
Every canyon susceptible of improvement will be converted into some thorough- 
fare where the never-ceasing tide of our population will be poured along. Every 
nook and valley, which for ages have been trodden by wild beasts or savage men, 
will become the home of some enterprising citizen whose right it will be to claim 
the protection of just and wholesome laws. 

"FINANCIAL. 

" I herewith annex the auditor's and treasurer's reports for the year 1862. 
They have been made out with so much clearness in their details that it is only 
necessary for me to refer them to you, accompanying the former with a few brief 
suggestions. By reference to appended statement "A" in the auditor's report, 
it will be seen that the aggregate amount of taxable property assessed within the 
said Territory for the year 1862 is $4,779,518; and the same statement shows a 
tax due the Territorial treasury for the current year, estimated at one per cent., 
of $47)795-i8> from which will have to be taken, for cost of assessing, collecting 
and remittances by county courts, at least 12 per cent.; leaving a probable net 
revenue of ;^42,o59.76. 

" The whole Territorial liability, including the direct tax assessed by the 



J02 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

United States, and assumed by the Territorial Legislature, January 17, 1862, 
amounts to the aggregate sura of ^40,199.31. The assets out of which this sum 
is to be paid, by reference to the same report, amounts to the sum of ^50,612. 10, 
leaving a balance still in the treasury on the ist day of November, 1862, of 
$10,412.99. The above result cannot fail in being satisfactory to you. The 
report of the treasurer is so clear and concise that it is not necessary for me to 
add one word more than what is contained in the report itself. 

"Before dismissing the subject I call your attention especially to the auditor's 
report for the year 1861, in regard to the aggregate value of taxable property 
within this Territory for that year. By examining the same you will find that 
such aggregate amount was §5,032,184 — thereby showing the strange fact that 
since that assessment was made there has been a falling off in the value of taxable 
property within this Territory in a single year of $252,666, and what is still 
more remarkable, this apparent loss in Great Salt Lake County alone has been 
$140,280, whilst, on the other hand, in the County of Davis, there has been an 
apparent gain of j!;4io,5i4. I am advised that the cutting off a portion of this 
Territory, and adding the same to that of Nevada, cannot account for this phe- 
nomenon. 

"If there is no mistake in these computations it presents a most remarkable 
fact indeed. I shall not attempt to account for it here, but call your attention to 
the same, merely adding that in the absence of great local calamities, which affect 
in their nature whole communities, I question whether such an instance can be 
found in the history of any people. But it remains with you to account for this 
phenomenon. This city is the heart and centre of the county where so remark- 
able a deficiency has developed itself, and yet there certainly has been no 
natural causes for this condition of things. Not only have the people stood 
still in all of their industrial pursuits, absolutely earning nothing over and above 
their current expenses that goes to swell the aggregate wealth, but there has been 
a positive loss, if we are to be governed by these data, in Great Salt Lake County 
alone, in one year, of $140,280. Can this be so, when we take into considera- 
tio that the present year has been one of unusual prosperity, while the labors of 
the husbandman have been most bountifully paid, and on every hand of this 
thriving city unmistakable evidences of prosperity are apparent ? This result can 
only be accounted for on one hypothesis, viz : in former years the valuation of 
property has been too high, or the present year it has been too low. These fluctu- 
ations to some extent will always exist from factitious causes alone, in spite of the 
greatest precaution ; but it is the duty of the Legislature to guard not only the 
people but the treasury, against abuses of the kind, if any exist. There can be 
no wrong to the people in the collection of an ad valorem tax, providing the 
property has been fairly assessed and its value fairly determined. The revenue is 
the common fund of the people, and there should be no favoritism in the collec- 
tion of the same. No matter whether the individual property-holder possesses 
ten, twenty or a hundred thousand dollars' worth, he should submit to the same 
rules in determining its value, as if he was the owner only of one hundred or ten 
hundred dollars' worth. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^03 

"MISCELLANEOUS. 

"On the 29th of October last the Secretary of the Interior addressed me a 
letter informing me that he had designated me to receive for the Territorial Li- 
brary here, two sets of the documents of the 2d session of the 36th Conc^ress- 
that by tlie Act approved the 14th March, 1862, making appropriations for the 
Legislative, Executive and Judicial expenses for the Government for the year 
ending 30th June, 1862, there is the following provision: ' Provided, that the 
said journals and documents shall be sent to such libraries and public institutions 
only as shall signify a willingness to pay the cost of transportation of the same.' 
Upon inquiry I find that no funds were at my disposal with which to pay for such 
transportation, and I notified the Department accordingly. 

" There will doubtless be other important documents to be distributed on 
the same terms hereafter, and I recommend that you provide the necessary means 
whereby you can avail the people of this Territory of the benefits of these 
donations. 

" I am advised that the penitentiary of this Territory is in a dilapidated 
condition, and that some repairs are absolutely necessary in order to make the 
same a safe or proper receptacle for public offenders. I recommend that you me- 
morialize Congress upon that subject. 

"I have not been able to find any law upon your statutes inaugurating a 
common school system, or that any money has been appropriated with a view to 
that end, although you have appropriated money to other objects of much less 
importance, for instance, in keeping up a quasi military establishment at a con- 
siderable expense to the people. As much as this condition of things at one 
period of your history may have been required, it seems to me that the time has 
passed when the Territorial fund should be used for that purpose at the expense of 
so important a measure as that which looks to the education of the rising genera- 
tion amongst you. I need not dwell here upon the importance of common 
schools; your intelligence must supply any argumentation on my part. 

" The condition of the militia of this Territory is unknown to me. Although 
the statute organizing the ^ame makes it the duty of the lieutenant-general com- 
manding to report to the Governor, who is recognized as commander-in-chief, on 
or before the ist day of December, annually; yet no such report has been made 
to me, and therefore I am wholly uninformed on the subject. If I shall hereafter 
deem it my duty, I may require that such report be made. 

" There are many other topics to which, perhaps, I ought to refer, but I have 
no data from which to draw conclusions. If reports on any of these subjects shall 
hereafter be made to me I will communicate them to you, with such suggestions as 
I shall deem proper. 

" INDL<^N TROUBLES. 

" Complaints have been frequently made to me during the past summer and 
up to a recent period by immigrants who have suffered great loss and violence from 
hostile Indian bands who infest some parts of this and adjoining Territories, whilst 
peacefully pursuing their travel to such points of destination as was their right to 
do; and from statements which I believe to be reliable, certain residents of this 



J04. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

Territory have been known openly to barter and trade with the Indians for cloth- 
ing and other articles which they at the time must have known were the spoils and 
plunder from murdered citizens. These practices have, in my opinion, a direct 
tendency to encourage these outrages against humanity. I respectfully suggest 
for your consideration whether any legislation is demanded at your hands to pre- 
vent these outrages in the future. The presence of a military command here will 
doubtless have a tendency to prevent many of these horrors. 

"I am glad that I am enabled to inform you that the Federal Government 
has made arrangements to hold treaties with some if not all the tribes of Indians 
that have so long infested this and neighboring Territories, and it is to be hoped 
that this will be done at an early day, and the Indian title to the lands therein be 
speedily extinguished, and such disposition will be made of their former occupants 
as becomes a great, generous and just Government. 

" HOMESTEAD ACT. 

"On the I St day of January, 1863, the Homestead Act passed on the 20th 
May last will go into effect, thereby enabling any person who is of the age of 21 
years, or who is the head of a family, or who has performed service in the army 
or navy of the United States, and who has not been in arms against the United 
States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, and has declared his inten- 
tion to become a citizen of the same, to enter on and take possession of 160 acres 
of any of the public lands not otherwise appropriated, and by cultivating the 
same for ihe term of five years, and paying $10, will, upon the compliance with 
these conditions, be enritled to a patent for the same. Thus will it be in the 
power of every loyal citizen to possess a homestead of 160 acres of land, secured 
from all liabilities from any debts which he may have contracted prior to his 
patent for the same. When it is remembered that the beneficent act was intended 
to secure a home to every loyal citizen, on terms so easy and just, its consequences 
for good cannot well be estimated to the present and future generations. What 
patriotic devotion does the recipient of this great boon not owe to the Govern- 
ment that thus shields himself and his family from the possibility of want, if he 
will make use of the means that God and nature have given him ! What should 
be the character of that loyalty due from the citizens from such a Government — 
a Government which enables him at one bound, although ruined in his fortunes, 
to spring from indigence and poverty to comparative ease and independence? 
The Indian title to the lands in our vast territories will soon be extinguished, and 
they will be open to settlement on the terms above presented. What inducements 
are there which are not held out to those just beginning life, and who may reason- 
ably hope to witness thriving cities springing up where the wild Indian now lights 
his camp fires and pitches his rude lodge ! 

" When it is also remembered that every rood 01 land in this Territory will 
be open to the citizens, upon no harder terms than that they will occupy and 
cultivate it, and remain loyal to our common Government, who should doubt for 
a moment that such a golden opportunity shall be ofTered in vain, or that one 
link shall be stricken from the chain of sympathy that should ever bind us alike 
in interest, in body and soul, to that same benign and just Government? 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



" CONCLUSION. 



305 



"I have felt it my duty to urge upon your earnest consideration the sugges- 
tions and measures herein recommended; at the same time I felt that I would be 
wanting in proper respect to you were I to accompany each of these recommenda- 
tions with an assignment of all the reasons which might be urged in their favor. 
I am accountable to the Government of our common country for these recom- 
mendations. You too are accountable to the same tribunal and to your immediate 
constituents for the disposition that you make of them. It is your province and 
duty to consider and discuss them, and either adopt or reject them as your wis- 
dom shall determine. 

"I desire to assure you, gentlemen, that nothing in my power shall be want- 
ing to demonstrate my honest regard for the interest and welfare of the people of 
this Teriitory. They deserve much at the hands of the Federal Government for 
their persevering industry ; and, so far as my humble efforts may contribute to 
that end they shall never be wanting. No matter what differences of opinion 
may exist between us on many subjects, I will endeaver to convince you of my 
sincerity by the uprightness of my conduct, and shall always be satisfied with the 
discharge of rny official duties, when I know that they stand approved by the 
general voice of the people. 

"May each one of you be clothed with wisdom from on high, in the dis- 
charge of the important duties which devolve upon you, and may your delibera- 
tions be such as not only to secure the lasting peace, happiness and prosperity of 
the people of this Territory, but also redound to the welfare and glory of our 
common county. 

STEPHEN S. HARDING. 
*' Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Decembers, 1862:' 

The reading of the message was listened to with great attention, and at its 
conclusion, the audience unmistakably indicated their uneasiness over the insult 
offered to their representatives, who had been forced to listen to its delivery by 
the Governor in person. There was one deep feeling of contempt manifest for 
its author. Mr. Carrington then alluded to the inconsistences of the Governor's 
professions and his actions. He said his Excellency reminded him of the man 
and his cow. He commenced with sweet apples and at every opportunity threw 
in the onions. The Governor commenced with admitting that the Constitution 
debarred him from interfering with their religious rights, and at every oppor- 
tunity throughout the message he attacked them. He said he would neither 
affirm nor deny with regard to the question of polygamy, yet at the same time, he 
held it up to ridicule and obloquy, and everywhere affirming that it was 
not only contrary to civilization, but anomalous, and that it could not be en- 
dured, was contrary to the law and unconstitutional, while at the same time he 
conceded that it was a religious rite and a matter of faith with the people. These 
were, he said, a few of the reasons which induced the Legislative Assembly 
to waive the complimentary publication of the message, in hopes that his Excel- 
lency might consider his folly, mend his ways and pursue the course which he 
promised in the latter part of his message; but how consistently he had acted 



jo6 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 

since that time, the audience would be able to judge after the reading of other 
documents during the meeting. 

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FROM WASHINGTON. 

Mr. Carrington then read correspondence from Hon. John M. Bernhisel, 
Delegate to Congress, and from the Hon. Wm, H. Hooper, Senator-elect, in 
which the unjustifiable proceedings of Governor Harding and the Associate-Jus- 
tices Waite and Drake were exposed. Mr. Carrington read an extract from a 
letter, dated Washington, 2 2d January, in which Governor Harding was repre- 
sented to have communicated to the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of 
the United States and President of the Senate, his message, accompanied by a 
letter stating that the message had been suppressed through the influence of one 
of our prominent citizens, referring, unquestionably, to Governor Young. The 
following is the last paragraph of the letter referred to : 

'* I entertain strong hopes that we shall be able to obtain, before the termi- 
nation of the session, an appropriation to liquidate your Indian amounts, unless 
prevented by Governor Harding's insinuation of the disloyalty of our peopled 

The following is an extract from a letter, dated Washington, February, 1863 : 

"On the nth of December last, Senator Browning introduced a bill in the 
Senate, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. This bill was pre- 
pared at Great Salt Lake City, and its enactment by Congress, recommended by 
Governor Harding and Judges Waite and Drake. The leading and most exceptional 
features of this bill are the following: 1st: It limits the jurisdiction of the Pro- 
bate Court to the probate of wills, to the issue of letters of administration and the 
appointment of guardians. 2 : It authorizes the Marshal to summon any persons 
within the district in which the court is held that he thinks proper as jurors. 3 : 
It authorizes the Governor to appoint and commission a// militia officers, including 
Major-General, and remove them at i)leasure. It also confers on the Governor 
authority to appoint the days for training." 

On the 27th of January, the Hon. Wm. H. Hooper writes from Wa.shington 
that "Governor Harding is, of course, doing all he can by letters" against the 
people of Utah. His letter was chiefly occupied with the bill presented by Mr. 
Browning. The Senator's letter was entirely confirmatory of those from the pen of 
our Delegate. He says : 

"The bill has been presented, and referred back. There does not appear to 
have been any action on it. It has not been printed ; should it be, I will forward 
a copy. The bill was drawn up at Salt Lake City, and attached with eyelets. Also 
attached was as follows: "The bill should be passed." Signed : S. S. Harding, 
Governor; Waite and Drake, Associate Justices." 

The reading of these extracts created quite a sensation. When the insinuation 
of the disloyalty of the people was read, there was a loud murmur of dissatisfaction 
throughout the audience. Mr. Carrington's sarcastic reference to the Governor's 
promise "to help us" and his allusion to His Excellency's private room being a 
new place for drafting bills for the action of Congress, had a telling effect upon the 
meeting. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J07 

SPEECH OF HON. JOHN TAYLOR. 

After the applause had subsided, which greeted his rising, Mr. Taylor said, " It 
has already been stated that these documents speak for themselves. They come from 
those who are ostensibly our guardians and the guardians of our rights. They come 
from men who ought to be actuated by the strictest principles of honor, truth, 
V rtue, integrity, and honesty, and whose high official position ought to elevate 
them above suspicion, yet what are the results? 

" In relation to the Governor's Message, enough perhaps has already been said. 
We are not here to enter into any labored political disquisitions, but to make some 
plain matter-of-fact statements, in which are involved the vital interests of this com- 
munity. There is one feature, however, in that document which deserves a passing 
notice. It would seem that we are by direct implication accused of disloyalty. 
He states that he has not heard any sentiments expressed, either publicly or pri- 
vately, that would lead him to believe that much sympathy is felt by any consid- 
erable portion of this people in favor of the Government of the United States. 
Perhaps we may not be so blatan t and loud-spoken as some people are ; but is it 
not patent to this community that the Legislature, during the session of 1861-2, 
assumed the Territorial quota of taxation, and at the very time that his Excel- 
lency was uttering this infamy, a resolution passed by the House, lay on the 
table, requesting the secretary to place a United States flag on the State House 
during the session. This was a small affair, yet significant of our feelings. 

"It is not a matter of very grave importance to us generally what men may 
think of us, whether they be Government officials or not ; but these allegations 
assume another form, and their wickedness is now rendered vindictive from the 
peculiar circumstances in which our nation at the present time is placed. When 
treason is stalking through the land, when all the energies, the wealth, the power 
of the United Slates have been brought into requisition to put down rebellion, 
when anarchy and distrust run riot through the nation ; when, under these cir- 
cumstances, we had a right to look for a friend in our Governor, who would, at 
least, fairly represent us, we have met a most insidious foe, who, through base in- 
sinuations, misrepresentations and falsehood, is seeking with all his power, pri- 
vately and officially, not only to injure us before Government, but to sap the very 
foundations of our civil and religious liberty ; he is, in fact, in pursuit of his un- 
hallowed course, seeking to promote anarchy and rebellion, and dabbling in your 
blood. It is then a matter of no small importance (hear, hear). Such it would 
seem were Governor Harding's intentions when he read this message, such were 
his feelings when he concocted it. The document shows upon its face that it was 
not hastily written; it has been well digested and every word carefully weighed. 
It most assuredly contains the sentiments of his heart (hear, hear), of which his 
Washington letters are proof positive in relation to our alleged disloyalty. 

" We are told about the generous reception of our senators-elect; of this we 
are most profoundly ignorant. Their reception was not so gracious as he would 
represent. He labors under error, for which we do not feel to reproach him ; but 
what are we to think of his official letters to Washington? They are facts. 
What of his gracious acts of kindness to this people and to their representatives. 
From the statements of our representatives in Congress, he is the most vindictive 



joH HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

enemy we have. The only man, it would seem, who is insidiously striving to sap 
the interests of the people, and to injure their reputation, yet he is our Governor, 
and professes to represent our interests and to feel intensely interested in our wel- 
fare. Let us investigate for a short time the results of his acts, should his designs 
be successful, leaving the allegations of treason out of the question. 

"We have been in the habit of thinking that we live under the auspices of a 
republican government; that we had the right of franchise ; that we had the privi- 
lege of voting for whom we pleased, and of saying who should represent us; but it 
may be that we are laboring under a mistake, a political illusion. We have 
thought too that if a man among us was accused of crimes, that it was his privi- 
lege to be tried by his peers ; by people whom he lived among, who would be the 
best judges of his actions. We have farther been of the opinion that, while act- 
ing in a military capacity, when we were called to muster into service, to stand 
in defence of our country's rights, we had a right to the selection of our own 
officers. It is a republican usage — we have always elected our own militia officers ; 
but if the plotting of Governor Harding and our honorable Judges should be 
carried into effect we can do so no more ; we shall be deprived of franchise, of 
the rights of trial by an impartial jury, and shall be placed in a military capacity, 
under the creatures of Governor Harding or his successors' direction ; in other 
words, we shall be deprived of all the rights of freemen, and placed under a mili- 
tary despotism ; such would be the result of the passage of this act. Let us 
examine it a little. An act already framed by the Governor and Judges, passed 
in the congress of Governor Harding's sitting room, is forwarded to Washington 
with a request that it be passed. Now suppose it should, what would be the 
result? As I have stated, we suppose that we possess the rights of franchise; that 
is a mistake, we do not, we only think we do. The Governor has already taken 
that from us. How so? Have we not the privilege of voting for our own legis- 
lators, our own representatives in the Legislative Assembly? Yes. But the Gov- 
ernor possesses the power of veto. This old relic of Colonial barbarism ingrafted 
info our Territorial organization was always in existence among us, but never 
was so foully abused as in the person of our present Governor; he has done all 
he could to stop the wheels of government, and to produce dissatisfaction, and 
has exercised his veto to the fullest extent of his power. As an instance of this, 
there were twenty laws passed the Legislative Assembly, only six of which 
are approved ; two of those were resolutions, one changing the place of meeting 
from the Court House to the State House, and the other the adjournment to next 
session. The other four are matters of minor importance, while everything con- 
nected with the welfare of the community, fourteen acts, are just so much waste 
paper. Now, I ask, where is your franchise? In Governor Harding's pocket, or 
stove. 

"Again, in regard to juries, already referred to, you know what the usage 
has been, in relation to this matter. Governor Harding and the Judges want to 
place in the hands of the United States Marshal the power of selecting juries 
whom he pleases, no matter whither they come, or who they are. This is what 
our honorable Judges and Governor would attempt. Your liberties are aimed at, 
and your rights as freemen ; and then, if you do not like to be disfranchised, and 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 



309 



your liberties trampled under foot by a stranger — if you do not like to have 
blacklegs and cutthroats sit upon your juries. Mr. Harding wants to select his 
own military, and choose his own officers to lead them, and then if you will not 
submit, 'I will make you' [voices all over the house, 'Can't do it,' with loud 
applause.] We know he cannot do it, but this is what he aims at. [Clapping 
and great applause.] When these rights are taken from us, what rights have we 
left? [Cries of ' None.'] It could scarcely be credited that a man in his posi- 
tion would so far degrade himself as to introduce such outrageous principles, and 
it is lamentable to reflect upon, that men holding the position of United States' 
Judges could descend to such injustice, corruption and depravity [applause]. 
These things are so palpable that any man with five grains of common sense can 
comprehend them ; ' he that runneth may read.' It is for you to judge whether 
you are willing to sustain such men in the capacity they act in or not. [One 
unanimous cry of ' No ! ' and loud clapping]. 

"governor young's speech. 

" On Governor Young responding to the invitation to address the meeting, 
and approaching the speaker's desk, he was greeted with prolonged deafening ap- 
plause. He stated that he had no intention of delivering a lengthy address, but 
while he spoke he would solicit the quiet of the assembly. He knew well the 
feelings of his auditory; but would prefer that they should suppress their demon- 
strations of applause to other times and places, when they might have less busi- 
ness and more leisure. On the resumption of perfect silence, he said that they 
had heard the message of the Governor to the last Legislature of Utah. They 
would readily perceive that the bread was buttered, but there was poison under- 
neath. It seemed to him that the enemies of the Union, of the Constitution and 
of the nation, were determined to ruin if they could not rule. A foreseeing 
person might suppose that they conspired to bring about a revolution in the west, 
so as to divide the Pacific from the Atlantic States, for their acts tended to that 
end. He believed that no true Democrat, no true Republican desired to see the 
nation distracted as it now was, but the labors of fanatics, whether they had plans 
which they comprehended or not, were in that direction. When Governor Hard- 
ing came to this Territory last July, he sought to ingratiate himself into the es- 
teem of our prominent citizens, with whom he had early intercourse, by his pro- 
fessed friendship and attachment to the people of Utah. He was then full of 
their praises, and said that he was ready to declare that he would stand in the de- 
fense of polygamy, or he should have to deny the Bible, and that he had told the 
President of the United States before he left Washington, that if he was called 
upon to agitate the question, he would haveto take the side of polygamy, or he 
should have to renounce the Bible. He said, in the Bowery, on the 24th of July, 
and at other places and at other times that if he ever learned that he was obnox- 
ious to the people, and they did not wish his presence, he would leave the Territorv. 

[Voices everywhere, ' He had better go now.'] 

" He was not aware whether the two Associate Judges were tools operating 
with him, or whether they knew no better. The success sought in their schemes 
was the establishment of a military government over the Territory, in the hopes 



J 10 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

of goading on the people to open rupture with the general government. Then, 
they would call out that Utah was disloyal ! He was aware that nothing would 
please such men better than the arrest of all progress Westward ; they would, no 
doubt of it, be delighted to see the stoppage of travel across the plains and all 
intercourse by mail or telegraph destro)'ed. Any amount of money had been 
employed by parties interested in mail transportation and passenger travel to the 
Pacific, by way of Panama, to destroy the highway across the plains ; and there 
were men among them not above operating to the accomplishment of that end, 
under the pretence of other purposes. 

" He then alluded to the law that was drafted in this city and sent to Wash- 
ington for adoption by Congress, to take from the people their rights as free 
American citizens, and portrayed the despotism that would follow placing the 
power of selecting jurors in the hands of a United States Marshal. Any such 
power could in the hands of designing men, destroy and subvert every right of 
free citizens. For that purpose, any class of disreputable men could at any time 
be imported into the Territory, and with a residence of a few hours be the ready 
tools for the accomplishment of any purpose. When their rights and the i)rotec- 
tibn of their liberties were taken from them, what remained ? [Voices, ' Nothing, 
nothing.'] Yes, service to tyrants, service to despots ! 

" He concluded his address by expressing that his feelings were that the 
nation might be happy and free as it had been, and exhorted the people to be 
true to themselves, to their country, to their God, and to their friends. Gov- 
ernor Young resumed his seat amidst great applause and cheering. 

"Wm. Clayton, Esq., then read the following 

' 'RESOLUTIONS : 

^^ Resolved, That we consider the attack made upon us, by his Excellency 
Governor Harding, wherein our loyalty is impugned, as base, wicked, unjust and 
false ; and he knew it to be so when uttered. 

"Resolved, That we consider the attempt to possess himself of all military 
authority and dictation, by appointing all the militia officers, as a stretch at mili- 
tary despotism hitherto unknown in the annals of our Republic. 

"Resolved, That we consider his attempt to control the selection of juries, 
as so base, unjust and tyrannical, as to deserve the contempt of all freemen. 

"Resolved, That we consider the action of Judges Waite and Drake, in 
assisting the Governor to pervert justice and violate the sacred palladium of the 
people's rights, as subversive of the principles of justice, degrading to their high 
calling, an-d repulsive to the feelings of honest men. 

"Resolved, That we consider that a serious attack has been made upon the 
liberties of this people, and that it not only affects us as a Territory, but is a di- 
rect assault upon Republican principles, in our own nation, and throughout the 
world.; and that we cannot either tamely submit to be disfranchised ourselves, 
nor witness, without protest, the assassin's dagger plunged into the very vitals of 
our national institutions. 

"Resolved, That while we at all times honor and magnify all wholesome laws 
of our country, and desire to be subservient to their dictates and the equitable 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jii 

administration of justice, we will resist, in a proper manner, every attempt upon 
the liberties guaranteed by our fathers, whether made by insidious foes, or open 
traitors. 

'■'•Resolved, That a committee be appointed, by the meeting, to wait upon 
the Governor and Judges Waite and Drake, to request them to resign their offices 
and leave the Territory. 

'^Resolved, That John Taylor, Jeter Clinton and Orson Pratt, Senior, be 
that committee. 

^^ Resolved, That we petition the President of the United States to remove 
Governor Harding and Judges Waite and Drake, and to appoint good men in 
their stead. 

''The Chairman called upon the meeting for an expression of their wishes 
and the building rang with a glorious ' Aye ' for their adoption. 

"The following petition was likewise read and committed to the people for 
their action : 

THE PETITION TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

" To his Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States : 

"Sir — We, your petitioners, citizens of the Territory of Utah, respectfully 
represent that: 

" Whereas, From the most reliable information in our possession, we are sat- 
isfied that his Excellency Stephen S. Harding, Governor, Charles B. Waite and 
Thomas J. Drake, Associate Justices, are strenuously endeavoring to create mis- 
chief and stir up strife between the people of the Territory of Utah and the 
troops now in Camp Douglas (situated within the limits of Great Salt Lake City,) 
and, of far graver import in our Nation's present difficulties, between the people 
of the aforesaid Territory and the Government of the United States. 

" Therefore, We respectfully petition your Excellency to forthwith remove 
the aforesaid persons from the offices they now hold, and to appoint in their places 
men who will attend to the duties of their offices, honor their appointments, and re- 
gard the rights of all, attending to their own affairs and leaving alone the affairs 
of others ; and in all their conduct demeaning themselves as honorable citizens 
and officers worthy of commendation by yourself, our Government and all good 
men; and for the aforesaid removals and appointments your petitioners will most 
respectfully continue to pray. 

•' Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, March j, i86j." 

The same unanimous appDval followed the reading of the petition. The 
band then played " The Marsellaise," and the chairman dissolved the meeting. 
The News says — 

" By way of conclusion, we must add that we never saw a more earnest, vet 
calm and deliberate assembly in Utah or elsewhere; the rights of the people were 
threatened, and they solemnly entered their protest, leaving the results for the 
future in the hands of an overruling Providence. Before eight o'clock last even- 
ing, upwards of 2,100 signatures were affixed to the petition, and, no doubt, there 
will be a large addition to that number in the course of to-day." 



312 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 

The following is the report of the committee : 

"G. S. L. City, March 5, 1863. 
" To the citizens of Great Salt Lake City : 

" Gentlemen : 

" Your committee, appointed at the mass meeting held in the Tabernacle on 
the 3d inst., waited upon his Excellency Governor Harding and their Honors 
Judges Waite and Drake, on the morning of the 4th. 

"Governor Harding received us cordially, but, upon being informed of the 
purport of our visit, both himself and Judge Drake, who was in the Governor's 
office, emphatically refused to comply with the wishes of the people, notwith- 
standing the Governor had repeatedly stated that he would leave whenever he 
learned that his acts and course were not agreeable to the people. 

" Upon being informed that, if he was not satisfied that the action of the 
mass meeting expressed the feelings of the people, he could have the expression 
of the whole Territory, he replied, * I am aware of that, but that would make no 
difference.' 

*' Your committee called at the residence of Judge Waite, who, being absent 
at the time, has since informed us, by letter, that he also refuses to comply with 
the wishes of the people. 

JOHN TAYLOR, 
JETER CLINTON, 
ORSON PRATT, Sen." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A COUNTER PETITIO.N FROM CAMP DOUGLVS TO PREST. LIN'COLN. IMPENU- 
ING CONFLICT BETWEEN CAMP DOUGLAS AND THE CITY. A SUPPOSED 
CONSPIRACY TO ARREST BRIGHAM YOUNG AND RUN HIM OFF TO THE 
STATES. JUDGES WAITE AND DRAKE HOLD UNLAWFUL COURTS IN JUDGE 
KINNEY'S DISTRICT. THE CHIEF JUSTICE INTERPOSES WITH A WRIT TO 
ARREST BRIGHAM YOUNG FOR POLYGAMY. IT IS SERVED BY THE U. S. 
MARSHAL INSTEAD OF A MILITARY POSSE. THE CITY IN ARMS, EX- 
PECTING A DESCENT FROM CAMP DOUGL.\S. THE WARNING VOICE OF 
CALIFORNIA HEARD. BOOMING OF THE GUNS OF CAMP DOUGLAS AT 
MIDNIGHT. THE CITY AGAIN IN ARMS. FAI^E ALARM. CONNOR CRE- 
ATED BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 

'A counter petition signed by the officers of Camp Douglas and the non-Mor- 
mons of Salt Lake City was sent to President Lincoln urging the retention of 
Governor Harding, and Judges Drake and Waite. 



HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITl. jij 

The issue of affairs had now reached the condition of impending war between 
the camp and the city, while Chief Justice John F. Kinney occupied a similiar 
position in the case to that of Governor Gumming, when the conflict was 
threatened between the city and Gamp Floyd. It jvas the prevailing opinion of 
the citizens that a descent upon the city by Golonel Gonnor and his troops to 
arrest Brigham and his counselors might be expected at any moment. It was also 
further believed that could this be accomplished, by a dashing "surprise," the 
intention was to run these Mormon leaders off to the States for trial. General 
Gonnor and his officers have indignantly denied any such intentions on the part 
of Gamp Douglas; but, it is certain, that the citizens thus viewed the prospect in 
those days, which to them signified the prospect of a fierce conflict and the shed- 
ding of much blood ; for the citizens never would have permitted Brigham